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Newsroom/Yahoo! Photos - HRW: SMRT 'illegal strike' crackdown
demonstrated poor human rights recorda
Singapore has made little
progress in terms of human rights – said the Human Rights Watch in
its recently released ‘World Report 2013’.
According to HRW, while the island country has relaxed its laws on
the mandatory death penalty and has reduced its curbs on opposition
politicians, it still imposes severe restrictions on civil
society.
These restrictions extended to controls on free association,
assembly of persons, and freedom of expression.
HRW’s deputy Asia director, Phil Robertson, referred to specific
cases where human rights had been ignored in Singapore.
“Singaporeans who hand out political leaflets or publicly criticize
a senior official can face a gauntlet of punishments, including
bankruptcy-inducing fines, travel bans, and prison terms. In
Singapore, rights are only for those who reliably toe the
government line,” Robertson is quoted as saying on the HRW’s
website.
In particular, government officials have recently invoked laws like
the Official Secrets Act, the Sedition Act, and the threat of civil
or criminal defamation to silence their critics.
Prominent blogger Alex Au, also known as Yawning Bread, was
warned in July 2012 by the Attorney-General’s chambers for alleging
government bias in an ongoing town council saga.
He took down the post immediately and apologised.
HRW also cited a case where freedom of association was denied
– to
Chinese bus drivers who were arrested in December 2012 for
allegedly holding an ‘illegal strike’ in protest against
discriminatory wages and poor living conditions.
Five have been charged and are awaiting the results of their case,
while another 29 have been deported.
The Singapore government also made it clear during the development
of the upcoming Yale-NUS campus, set to open in August, that it’s
students will not be allowed to organise political protests on
campus or form political party student groups. This drew flak from
Yale’s academics, who argued that the democratic spirit of the
university would not be truly represented.
“Singapore’s status as a world-class economy has not kept it from
having a remarkably poor record in respecting the rule of law, and
civil and political rights,” Robertson said on the HRW website.
“The Singaporean people must be wondering when their government is
going to trust them enough to exercise the same basic rights as
people elsewhere.”
“The international community should not be taken in by Singapore
claims on human rights. Ask a rights advocate, an opposition
activist, or a migrant worker what they think about today’s
Singapore, and the repressive back-story of this glistening
city-state will come out.”
++++++++++++++++++++
They have made
progress to lead Singapore to doom.
