Agence France Presse
May 14, 2005
SINGAPORE
A US democracy activist has been banned from entering Singapore
indefinitely for interfering in the nation's domestic politics, the
government said.
Yeshua Moser-Puangsuwan, the Southeast Asian coordinator for the
group Nonviolence International, was turned away from Changi
Airport and sent back to Thailand when he tried to enter Singapore
on Friday.
Opposition politician and Singapore Democratic Party secretary
general Chee Soon Juan told AFP Moser-Puangsuwan had been invited
to Singapore to give a lecture at a weekend training workshop on
non-violent political action.
The Home Affairs Ministry said in an e-mailed statement sent to AFP
that Moser-Puangsuwan had been banned after it was discovered he
had conducted a similar "political action workshop" in Singapore in
January.
"This was aimed to teach Singaporeans how to wage a non-violent
campaign of civil disobedience against the government so as to
liberate and expand civil rights of Singaporeans who, he deludes
himself to believe, are living under dire oppression and
injustice," the statement said.
"To mount such a campaign, he specifically recommended targeting
youth and women as the primary groups to co-opt and mobilize
against the government."
The ministry emphasised that "Singapore's politics are reserved for
Singaporeans".
"Foreigners like Yeshua with no stake in the future of Singapore
and of Singaporeans will not be allowed to interfere in Singapore's
domestic politics, much less to instigate, agitate and promote
civil disobedience among targeted segments of society, against the
laws of the country," the statement said.
"Foreigners who abuse the privileges accorded to visitors to our
country and seek to meddle in Singapore's politics are not welcome
here.
"The government has therefore decided to bar Yeshua
Moser-Puangsuwan from entering Singapore indefinitely."
The Nonviolence International website says Moser-Puangsuwan, a US
citizen, is the organisation's "main facilitator of training
programs in movement strategy and political struggle" in Southeast
Asia.
Singapore has one of the world's most open economies, but
international democracy and human rights groups regularly criticise
the government for what they say are major constraints on the
nation's political and media institutions.
The People's Action Party has ruled the country since independence
in 1965 and holds all but two elected seats in parliament.
Chee said in a press statement posted on his website that
non-violent action was the "act of non-compliance with oppressive
laws put in place by authoritarian governments to stifle the growth
of democracy".
"Refusal to cooperate with unjust laws, carried out in a systematic
manner, can bring about change," said Chee, who is facing
bankruptcy after former prime ministers Lee Kuan Yew and Goh Chok
Tong successfully sued him for defamation.
Chee said the decision to ban Moser-Puangsuwan was "yet another
attempt by (Prime Minister) Lee Hsien Loong to prevent the
development of democracy in Singapore".
The government also banned Amnesty International's Southeast Asia
specialist, Timothy Parritt, from speaking at a forum last month on
the death penalty, although he was allowed into the country to
attend the event.
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Let's see..what if he was a Singaporean?
