Ladies and Gentlemen,
With the most recent protest on March 15,
2008 by Singaporeans who seek an end to dictatorial rule in Singapore,
here are important things you need to know about Constitutional Law.
You are not breaking any law at all in engaging in peaceful protests.
It
is high time that you become aware of your rights now, with peaceful
protests becoming almost a common occurrence in Singapore. Since it is
impossible to seek change through Parliament, Singaporeans have now
realized that only through protests can they ever hope to see real
change.
These courageous protesters are mainly educated middle class Singaporeans, mostly upwardly and
geographically mobile and aware of their legal right to protest.
However there are some who are still are unaware, and it is these
people that this blog is intended to educate and enlighten.
Please
be clear in your minds about one thing. It is not illegal in Singapore
to engage in peaceful demonstration or to give public speeches; no
matter what the Singapore Police Force or Mr. Wong Kan Seng, the Minister for Home Affairs say.
The
law specifically permits you to engage in such activity; in fact all
democracies encourage people to participate in them, since collective
political participation and the robust exchange of ideas and debate can
only benefit society, not damage it.
Singapore is a constitutional democracy. If it is not one under Lee Kuan Yew's dictatorship, it is at least supposed to be one in which the
primary or most important legal document or law is the Constitution.
You
can consider the Constitution as the backdrop that supports or defines
every aspect of life in Singapore. You can also treat it as a template
by which every law has to pass muster by. If a law fails to live up to
the terms of the Constitution, such a law is struck down and declared
illegal and null and void; as it violates the very supreme authority
upon which all laws depend; the Constitution.
To put it very simply, every citizen, including Lee Kuan Yew and his son, and the government of Singapore are supposed to obey and submit to the Constitution. The problem is that Lee Kuan Yew and his son believe that they are too good for the Constitution, and they disobey by passing laws which are clearly ultra vires or contrary to the Constitution. This activity by Lee and his son is illegal and should be resisted.
What
does the Constitution say? It lays down the people’s rights. The
fundamental human rights. The right to free speech and expression
without fear from government action. The right to assemble freely. The
right to be treated equally. The right to elections. The right to
change governments.
These rights are so important that in most
countries governments are prevented from ever denying these rights. It
is there to stay in perpetuity regardless of which government comes to
power.
The Constitution exists so that men and women can hope to
live as free men and women and be safeguarded against the excesses of a
tyrants and bullies such as Lee Kuan Yew and his son.
Other
than the Constitution, there is Parliament. Parliament makes laws. But
laws made by Parliament are subordinate, secondary and subject to the
Constitution.
Therefore Parliament has to ensure that the laws
they pass at all times comport and comply with the intent and meaning
of the Constitution. If it violates any Constitutional provision, the
law itself becomes illegal and of no effect. It can be disobeyed at
will and any government that arrests people for violating that illegal
law, themselves are acting illegally.
The Constitution
specifically gives the right of peaceful assembly to citizens. Please
read the Constitution of Singapore for the exact wording of the law.
So, when Dr. Chee and 50 other Singaporeans assembled in front of Parliament House
Singapore on March 15, 2008 at 2 pm, they were engaging in an activity
which is entirely lawful and permitted by the Constitution of Singapore.
There
is an illegal law in Singapore, deliberately intended to prevent
Singaporeans from engaging in their constitutional right. I believe it
is the Public Order Act but correct me if I am wrong.
Under this
law, the government requires any public assembly of more than 4 people
to have a permit. As I said, any law which clearly violates a
Constitutional provision is null and void without more. Therefore since
this law requiring a permit is in direct violation of a Constitutional
provision, it is therefore without any legal force. That alone gives
one the right to ignore it and protest in any number.
There are
rare instances, such as serious national issues, where a constitutional
provision can be temporarily amended. But such instances, as I said,
are very rare.
For instance the constitution does prohibit the
government from carrying out random searches and seizures against the
person or property. Ordinarily the police need a magistrate’s warrant
for this. They cannot just barge in. But this rule can be changed in
emergencies, for instance during the unrest in Northern Ireland, where
the rule against searches and seizures was relaxed to permit searches
merely upon suspicion. But as I said, these challenges to the
Constitution are rare and only in emergencies.
In Singapore Lee Kuan Yew government's law that requires permits for a peaceful assembly for
4 or more people is clearly unjustified and illegal. There is no
compelling or urgent need based on national security reasons or
otherwise for a law requiring these permits. Singapore is a peaceful
place and peaceful protests pose not danger to anyone, not even to Lee Kuan Yew or his son.
Therefore this law is illegal and ultra vires the Constitution.
Second,
even if this law is permissible; which it is not; it again becomes
illegal when the government does not exercise it fairly, justly,
legally or in a judicious manner.
You will recall that Dr. Chee did apply for a permit; even though he did not have to; to hold the
assembly on March 15, 2008. Even though there was no danger to anyone
for Dr. Chee to hold the assembly; Mr. Wong Kan Seng, the Minister for Home Affairs flatly refuses it without any reasons.
Furthermore
the law requires the striking out of legal provisions that clearly
violate the provisions of the Constitution, unless the government can
show a compelling reason to justify it. Here, the government could show
no such compelling reason based on national security or otherwise.
There was clearly no danger to anyone by Dr. Chee and 50 others holding a peaceful assembly in front of Parliament House, Singapore. Therefore the denial of Dr. Chee's application for a permit was clearly illegal and without any basis. Again, this denial of a permit alone is sufficient for the protesters to break this law.
The other reason why these peaceful protesters were arrested was because the government claims the area outside
Parliament House was a gazetted security area and no one is allowed to
protest there. A whole load of humbug. Very convenient for Lee Kuan Yew, his son and his family but not so convenient to the citizens of Singapore.
This
practice of gazetting places as security areas is merely a ploy to
prevent ordinary citizens from exercising their constitutional rights.
This law is invalid and illegal. There can be no justification for such
a law in any part of Singapore unless a legitimate and compelling
reason based on national security is shown. No such reason exists for
the space in front of Parliament. Members of the public are there all
the time. In fact, you can see busloads of Japanese tourists in the
hundreds there with cameras at hand. Why were the Japanese tourists not
told to leave because the spot was gazetted?
Parliament of Singapore is a mere rubber stamp, as you know. There are 82 as well as 2 opposition MPs in Parliament who attend at its sittings ready at any moment to say that Lee Kuan Yew is Jesus Christ! So the laws these so called Members of Parliament pass are actually those of Lee Kuan Yew and his son. These two rule by dictate. The 84 MPs are stooges employed merely to say "Yes Sir."
Therefore
it is you who has to decide what rights you have and what you have not.
As far as Lee and Son are concerned, you don't have any at all.
Finally
you are within your right in these circumstances to protest. You can
realize by now that contesting elections every 4 years has not done you
any good. I hope you realize that by now. If you do, then you must know
that your only salvation lies in deliberately opposing this regime in
protests.
There are many books in Constitutional Law but the
book that I read at University was Stanley A De Smith's “Constitutional
and Administrative Law.” I understand it is available through Amazon
but I am sure the regular bookshops will carry other books on
Constitutional Law. It will tell you your rights.
Lastly remember that police officers such as Deep Singh, DSP, Tanglin Police Station, who misused his police powers dispersing and harassing
peaceful citizens at the Burmese protests; and on this occasion ASP
William Goh who arrested Dr. Chee and 10 others at Parliament House, were not being entirely honest when they kept repeating that the protesters were engaged in an illegally assembly. It was not illegal at all. If
anything was illegal, it was the actions of such dishonest officers
such as Deep Singh, DSP and William Goh, ASP.
As for further information on Constitutional Law, I am sure Mr. Chia Ti Lik, Lawyer, one of the protesters will be pleased to enlighten you. His phone number is 6225 9983. You can also Email me at [email protected] or call me at United States (510) 657 6107. Remember Pacific Daylight Time here is 15 hours behind Singapore time.
Don’t
let up in protesting against this regime. You are already winning, as
all the signs indicate. This government is finding it increasingly
difficult to function, despite the propaganda being put out daily by
its state owned and controlled media such as the Straits Times.
Gopalan Nair
http://singaporedissident.blogspot.com/2008/03/constitutional-law-for-singapore.html
Lee KY is above the law. He can be seen always with retired CJ Yong. He is not scare people will say the Judiciary is partial. Not like the Lingam case, where the judge went holiday with Lingam secretly. Over here they went openly. That 's why lee is above the law. He is like the ancient china emperor who the people fear.
emperor, no emperor, still no immortal, still have to die.
but his money go to where if he dies, never heard he donate to poor ppl
Your call to citizens to participate in expressing any problems caused by the government by peaceful demonstration or protest is laudable.
Just draft the constitutional changes which are needed such as abolition of laws which hinder or obstruct such rights of peaceful protests and many people I am sure would be happy to sign.
I believed that the protestors in Tibet meant to be a peaceful demostration. Just look at what happened. The armies and the police had yet intervene when things went wrong.
I am for democracy but against physical protest
actually, let's not spread disinformation.
here's the consitution:
Freedom of speech, assembly and association
14. —(1)
Subject
to clauses (2) and (3) —
(2) Parliament may by law impose —
(3) Restrictions on the right to form associations conferred by clause (1) (c) may also be imposed by any law relating to labour or education.
As you can see, the constitution does not protect you from holding illegal meetings and protests. It states you can assemble and protest, but only if you are not breaking any laws. If you need a permit, and protest without one, that's breaking the law.
As much genuine fodder as there is to slam the PAP gov, it's seriously fascinating that people like the OP constantly has to come up with nonsensical claims to smear the gov. If they would only do a little REAL research, they could actually help their cause by exposing REAL injustices, instead of these imaginary ones.