Ladies and Gentlemen,
Singapore's Lee Kuan Yew government in its
state controlled newspaper Straits Times on Feb 29, 2008 reports
"Protests may be allowed at Speakers' Corner". Don’t be fooled. This is
yet another attempt to continue restriction of Singaporean’s human
right of free expression, not expand it. Not only that, if you really
think about it; it is utterly ridiculous.
Yet again, this
authoritarian government where every aspect of society is controlled by
the state; including newspapers, the courts, the judges, the entire
Parliament, and everything else in between; continues with its
nonsensical rules, reasons and explanations fit only for the pages of
Lewis Carroll’s Alice in Wonderland.
Since 1959, the date when
Lee Kuan Yew came to power, his government has never allowed even one
dissenting protest to take place. Of course, Lee Kuan Yew himself and
his ruling party have held as many protests as they want; but not even
one by the opposition was allowed. This is despite the fact that the
constitution specifically gives Singaporeans the right of assembly;
which right Lee has continued to ignore.
Recently Lee Kuan Yew
and his son's government have come under increasing pressure in this
regard. Dr. Chee Soon Juan and his political party have clearly begun
to become a thorn in Lee Kuan Yew's flesh which is becoming
increasingly difficult to dislodge.
Unlike the majority of
Singaporeans, a small but growing number of them, including Dr. Chee,
have finally decided that they are going to exercise their right
enshrined in the Constitution. They are going to publicly protest the
glaring injustices that Singaporeans suffer with or without the
government's blessing.
So we have seen at the most recent
protest on March 15, 2008 in front of Parliament House; the ugly
spectacle of police brutality and police lawlessness when they used
excessive force, manhandled and dragged unarmed peaceful citizens into
waiting police vans, almost breaking the fingers of Chee Siok Chin one
protestor and causing another, John Tan, a diabetic to almost suffer a
heart attack.
And all this being watched by hundreds of passing
onlookers at a busy intersection in Singapore, next to a busy shopping
mall; not to mention the thousands, if not millions of both
Singaporeans and foreigners, thanks to the Internet.
March 15,
2008 protest in front of Parliament House, called "Ta Boleh Tahan",
which means "I cannot take it anymore" in Malay; was the last of a
series of public protests which have been gaining both momentum and in
numbers. In a country, not much different from North Korea in political
style, where every citizen lives in fear, this last protest of 50
people shows that more and more Singaporeans are willing to publicly
protest and are not allowing their fear of Lee Kuan Yew to stop them
anymore.
Lee Kuan Yew now finds himself in a quandary. Dr. Chee
is not prepared to let up, no matter what Lee Kuan Yew throws at him.
As you know he has been bankrupted a number of times, gone to prison
several times, he has been prevented from traveling, denied a passport
and thrown out of his job.
Normally a person having gone through
this much pain, would normally be expected to give up. And Lee Kuan Yew
and his son, the Prime Minister thought so too. But the problem, which
they never expected, is this. This Dr. Chee has turned out to be one
tough nut to crack! And what is worse, the bulldog within this man is
causing many others to emulate him.
Mr. Lee Kuan Yew has finally
found out that it is not just one stubborn prize fighter that he has to
face but 50 others with their number steadily increasing. Yap Keng Ho,
Gandhi Ambalam, Chee Siok Chin, Chia Ti Lik and Lawrence Chua, Seelan
Pallay, are some like Dr. Chee who have decided they will fight Lee no
matter Hell or High Water.
Facing this unstoppable demand from
the people for their rights which they have been denied so far; we see
this government making their typical lame attempts in desperation to
somehow placate the enraged Singaporean. And as expected of this
government which has clearly lost its bearings; it is suggesting some
nonsence as a favor to the people. Treating Singaporeans no better than
children, they are suggesting that protests might be allowed at
Speakers Corner at Hong Lim Park; as harebrained a suggestion as any
harebrained suggestion will go.
Anyone can see, this is no
concession at all by this authoritarian government. Protests are
intended to show the world that some injustice is happening at a
certain place. For instance if you are protesting against unjust laws,
the best location will be the Parliament House, since that is where
they make laws. If you want to protest against HDB price rises, you may
want to protest outside the HDB office in Toa Payoh. If you want to
protest against CPF policies, you may want to do it outside the CPF
Building in Robinson Road. If you want to protest against the
unacceptably high salary that is being paid to Lee Kuan Yew, you may
want to protest outside his house at 10 Oxley Rise, Singapore 090001
where this dictator lives.
What is the point of asking the
unjust laws protestor, the HDB protestor, the CPF protestor and the Lee
Kuan Yew protestor to go and protest several miles away in Hong Lim
Park where Speakers Corner is located?
Look at the Constitution.
It says Singaporeans have a right to assemble. It does not say,
Singaporeans have a right to assemble at Speakers Corner at Hong Lim
Park. In any case, is not plain nonsensical and comical for a man to be
standing at a specific location called Speakers Corner in Hong Lim Park
in protest against his illegal sacking from his job as a welder at
Sembawang Shipyard, 20 miles away nearer the Malaysian waterfront?
And
is it not time for someone to suggest to Wong Kan Seng, the Minister
for Home Affairs that he should have his head examined for even
suggesting this. I believe, in Wong's case, it was not a problem with
his mind at all. He did not care what people think of him. After all he
has the patronage of his benefactor Lee Kuan Yew to say or do anything
with impunity. At least that is what he has been thinking so far.
My
answer to Wong Kan Seng is no. This won’t do. And I am sure Dr. Chee
and Company is with me on this. We are not prepared to restrict our
protests to Speakers Corner. Thanks but no thanks. The Constitution
gives us the right. It is not restricted to Speakers Corner. Had it
been so, the Constitution would have said so.
I am sure the
message of Dr. Chee, Gandhi, Siok Chin, Yap, Ti Lik, Seelan and the
other 50- protestors to Wong Kan Seng is this. Brace yourself. The
constitution will finally be resurrected. It was dead so far, but it
has come alive once again.
The people will exercise their
rights. The next protest is being planned. This time there are going to
several hundreds. Be prepared to deploy your riot squad with
truncheons, dogs and red marias. Charge and beat up the protestors like
you did on March 15, 2008 before Parliament House. And cameramen both
local and foreign will have a field day posting the images of police
brutality on the Internet. And then tell me, how small you feel.
The
march for democracy in Singapore has begun; while in Malaysia they have
reached their destination. Singaporeans are slowly turning from sheep
into lions.
We can only wait to say this about Singapore. "What a pleasant transformation".
Gopalan Nair
http://singaporedissident.blogspot.com/2008/03/singapores-lee.html
duh.......
A number of forumers already protesting in sgforum's speaker's corner le ![]()
The only protest I know is when police not happy and protest by arresting the protesters.
what is the use.