The Age : International look at the Singapore elections

• LazerLordz

  3 May 06, 01:48

  Singapore's farcical election undermines its achievements
  
  By Michael Backman
  May 3, 2006
  The Age
  
  ASIA ONLINE
  
  ELECTIONS will be held in Singapore on Saturday. There's no doubt that the ruling People's Action Party will win. It always does. So do the elections matter to business, or indeed to anyone?
  
  These elections are different. They are attracting more adverse international media attention than usual.
  
  And in an age when business can no longer proceed in a vacuum but must consider the full context of its operating environment, the degree to which the Singapore elections are free and fair does matter.
  
  The elections were announced on April 23. Nominations for seats closed only last Thursday. That means candidates will have had just nine days to explain their policies and to campaign. It's little wonder the opposition holds only two seats in the 84-seat parliament.
  
  Short election campaigns favour the incumbents as they are already known to voters. They also limit the time frame for damaging headlines in the international media.
  
  Election rule changes and petty administrative requirements that have had the effect of constraining almost any legitimate opposition to the PAP are too numerous to catalogue.
  
  But one announced earlier this month deserves mention, if only for its abject pettiness. Podcasting, or making audio files available on the internet, was made illegal for the duration of the campaign, if the files contain political messages.
  
  Podcasting was one of the few means by which the opposition could get its message out in a country where all media outlets are ultimately owned by the Government.
  
  A 2005 survey by Reporters Without Borders ranked Singapore at 140 out of 167 countries in terms of press freedom — worse than Russia or Afghanistan.
  
  Past measures have not been so petty. Opposition figure Chia Thye Poh was detained between 1966 and 1989. Lee Kuan Yew said he was a communist. Maybe he was. But importantly he was never tried or charged. So we don't know.
  
  But what we do know is that he became the world's longest-serving political prisoner after Nelson Mandela.
  
  read the rest Here
• countdracula

  3 May 06, 01:55

  the best line is this;
  
  'Joshua Jeyaretnam can tell you that. He has devoted his life to politics but is barred from standing and campaigning. But go and see him. Buy one of his books. Practically every other souvenir you'll buy in Singapore has been made in China. But this souvenir is entirely of Singapore's making.'
• SG,LauBaiXing

  3 May 06, 02:05

  Originally posted by LazerLordz:

  Singapore's farcical election undermines its achievements
  
  By Michael Backman
  May 3, 2006
  The Age
  
  ASIA ONLINE
  
  ELECTIONS will be held in Singapore on Saturday. There's no doubt that the ruling People's Action Party will win. It always does. So do the elections matter to business, or indeed to anyone?
  
  These elections are different. They are attracting more adverse international media attention than usual.
  
  And in an age when business can no longer proceed in a vacuum but must consider the full context of its operating environment, the degree to which the Singapore elections are free and fair does matter.
  
  The elections were announced on April 23. Nominations for seats closed only last Thursday. That means candidates will have had just nine days to explain their policies and to campaign. It's little wonder the opposition holds only two seats in the 84-seat parliament.
  
  Short election campaigns favour the incumbents as they are already known to voters. They also limit the time frame for damaging headlines in the international media.
  
  Election rule changes and petty administrative requirements that have had the effect of constraining almost any legitimate opposition to the PAP are too numerous to catalogue.
  
  But one announced earlier this month deserves mention, if only for its abject pettiness. Podcasting, or making audio files available on the internet, was made illegal for the duration of the campaign, if the files contain political messages.
  
  Podcasting was one of the few means by which the opposition could get its message out in a country where all media outlets are ultimately owned by the Government.
  
  A 2005 survey by Reporters Without Borders ranked Singapore at 140 out of 167 countries in terms of press freedom — worse than Russia or Afghanistan.
  
  Past measures have not been so petty. Opposition figure Chia Thye Poh was detained between 1966 and 1989. Lee Kuan Yew said he was a communist. Maybe he was. But importantly he was never tried or charged. So we don't know.
  
  But what we do know is that he became the world's longest-serving political prisoner after Nelson Mandela.
  
  read the rest Here

  What a disgrace of Learder's in the eyes of others.
• NuLife

  3 May 06, 05:15

  "A 2005 survey by Reporters Without Borders ranked Singapore at 140 out of 167 countries in terms of press freedom — worse than Russia or Afghanistan. "
  
  Singapore is worst than Afghanistan.
  A first world nation?