Speakers Corner? Lame....
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Speakers' Corner or SNEAKERS' CORNER?
Free speech gives way to free pitch. Football players are the only
frequent visitors at Hong Lim Park 5 1/2 years later
By Esther Huang
April 18, 2006
IN September, Speakers' Corner at Hong Lim Park will turn
six.
IN 2000: Choo Zheng Xi, then 15, enjoying his day in the sun as he
grabs the attention of listeners young and old.
But there will be little celebration.
Why?
Because you can hardly hear any fiery speeches these days.
It has become just another park.
More so than speakers, qigong practitioners in the mornings and
football players in the evenings and weekends are making better use
of the space.
The rest are just passers-by heading for the nearby Clarke Quay MRT
station.
Are the people who hang out at Hong Lim Park even aware that it is
Speakers' Corner, which is open from 7am to 7pm every day?
The New Paper visited the park four times recently.
Each time, we found fewer than 10 people there on average. (See
report on facing page.)
Said Mr Wei Lian Chang, 63, who was in the park: 'I have no idea
what this place is for. This is my first time here.
Today, Hong Lim Park's the more popular with footballers and qiqong
practitioners. --CHOO CHWEE HUA
'I decided to check it out today because I was waiting for my
granddaughter.'
The qigong group of about 10 to 20 people have been practising
there every morning for two years.
One of them, retiree Lau Ai Ting, 70, said: 'We live nearby and
there's fresh air and a sheltered area.'
FREE PITCH
The youngsters who frequent the place either hang around the new
stage, which was completed this year, or play football.
The organiser of one such group, who wanted to be known only as
Vincent, said the players consist of his colleagues and friends,
many of whom work in the nearby CBD.
They have been playing there on most Tuesdays for more than a
year.
The 34-year-old accountant said: 'The pitch is good enough for a
small group of five to six to play soccer.'
However, for Mr Chellieh Setharam, 50, going to Speakers' Corner
three times a week is part of his job.
The foreman waters the plants, does landscaping and maintains the
plants.
He had been servicing the park for NParks for about three weeks
when The New Paper spoke to him in February.
He said: 'I've only seen two to three old men sitting on the
benches, chatting or just dozing off.'
When Speakers' Corner was first opened in 2000, 400 people signed
up to speak.
In 2004, there were 89 speeches by 29 people, a police spokesman
said in an e-mail reply.
Last year, there were 106 speeches made by 26 people.
That's about two speeches a week.
Most days, there are no scheduled speakers at all.
In June 2003, The New Paper reported that most of the 140 speech
registrations that year were made by only two men: former lawyer S
Kunalen and retired stockbroker Tan Kim Chuang.
By September 2004, Mr Tan, who contested in the 2001 General
Election as an independent candidate, had chalked up 205
appearances since 2000.
Mr Kunalen, 49, has been going to Speakers' Corner every Friday
evening - except on public holidays - to give speeches.
On 7 Apr, he spoke to an audience of about 10 on the coming
elections and the methods used by political parties to woo
voters.
Dr Cherian George, 40, an assistant professor at NTU's School of
Communication and Information, felt that Speakers' Corner should
never have been a benchmark of the desire for political expression
in Singapore.
He is a founding member of the Roundtable, a non-partisan political
discussion group.
He said that there have been successful forums and events to show
that people do talk politics in more conducive settings such as in
a recent seminar where former political detainees shared their
stories.
