Remember May 21st Operation Spectrum at Speaker's Corner
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Anti-terrorism laws are specific acts to target terrorist, unlike ISA which is a catch all act, prolonging it's life is a clear indication of their intent to use it on her citizens with or without merits.
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Anti-terrorism,_Crime_and_Security_Act_2001
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unlike ISA which is a catch all act,
Because of this barbaric ISA, Chia Thye Poh was imprisoned for 32 years by Lee Kuan Yew.
His only crime was to oppose Lee Kuan Yew.
Security act must go, says victim of 32-year ordeal
FORMER political detainee Chia Thye Poh, lashed out at the city-state's Internal Security Act yesterday immediately following the official end of his 32 years of prison and house arrest.
"The best part of my life was taken away just like that, without even a charge, let alone a trial in court," Chia Thye Poh, 57, said in a statement. "As a victim of the notorious Internal Security Act, I sincerely call on the government to abolish the act," the statement said...
http://www.singapore-window.org/81128sc.htm
This Lee Kuan Yew, really a mother fucking bastard.
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Monday, June 15, 2009
Ops Spectrum forum to go on - with new date and venue
"Political space has opened substantially. In 2004, political activities conducted indoors also became exempt from permits."
- 2nd Home Affairs Minister K. Shanmugam, quoted by Straits Times, Apr 14 2009Despite the unforseen cancellation of the previous venue, I hereby announce that the Operation Spectrum open forum will proceed . It will now be held at 2pm, 28th June (Sunday) at Quality Hotel, off Balestier Road.
I state with a fair amount of confidence that there will no police intervention this time. Reason being that I've just found out that Bestway Building, the previous intended venue, is actually a Government-owned building. No an excuse for the clampdown but still, our Singapore Police Force should be commended for their constant vigilance and efficiency. By their (over)reactions, they have lend an added touch of notoriety (and publicity) to this event. Thank you.
At this point, I reiterate - all views are welcomed in this forum, including the government's. I am encouraging open, transparent discussions, not cloak-and-dagger operations, especially by men who are supposed to be public servants.REVISITING HISTORY
Operation Spectrum - Breaking The Ice After 22 Years
An open forum.
No designated speakers.
Admission is free.
All are welcome to speak.
Date: 28 June 2009 (Sunday)
Time: 2pm - 5.30pm
Venue: Diamond Room, Level 3, Quality Hotel, 201 Balestier Road
Organiser : Martyn See
Blog : singaporerebel.blogspot.com
Members of the press (and the ISD) are welcomed.
Audio recordings are welcomed but no photography and video taking in the auditorium please.
Donations at the event to help me defray the costs of venue rental will be appreciated. -
Now all the laws in Singapore are bullshit laws.
They use them to silence dissent.
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then they should be repressive laws not bullshit laws.
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Saw this report of yesterday's forum: Operation Spectrum open forum: a good start
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Operation Spectrum open forum: a good start
Sunday, 28 June 2009
Singapore Democrats
After 22 years, we are beginning to see more public events that address the Internal Security Act (ISA) detentions in 1987.In May a group of five activists came together to mark the 22nd anniversary of the Marxist arrests. Led by Seelan Palay, the group got together at Hong Lim Park and called for the for the abolishment of ISA. (See here and here.)
On Sunday afternoon, Martyn See organised discussion forum about the 22 arrests. The indoor event was supposed to have taken place last Saturday. However, about before that, the owner of the venue called Martyn to inform him that he had to cancel the booking to to an ongoing CID investigation (see here.)
Undeterred and despite further police harassment, Martyn sought out another venue and held the forum yesterday. Activists, bloggers, politicians, civil society actors and reporters turned up for the event.
Ex-detainee Michael Fernandez spoke about why he was detained by the Internal Security Department (ISD) in 1964 for nine years for his role in championing for workers rights back then.
Alex Au pointed out whilst Singaporeans were bombarded with the Marxist plot propaganda, that the other side of the story, has never quite been told. He urged the ex-detainees to write about their arrests and their experiences thereafter.
Former ISEAS senior fellow, Russell Heng wondered why the government had arrested these 22 young men and women when it flew against the face of logic. He was also unsure if civil society has evolved to become less afraid of the threat of the ISA being used on them.
SDP's Chee Siok Chin then spoke about the lack of public outrage when it was clear that the arrests were farcical. She spoke about the current JI detainees and how similar it is to the 1987 arrests in that there have been no questions asked about these non-transparent detentions. Ms Chee also spoke about the PAP's strategy of making sure that the people do not come together to challenge oppressive policies. She urged those in the audience to contact groups who are advocating for transparency and to work with them, including the Singapore Democrats.
John Tan encouraged the audience not to turn a blind eye to injustice and violations of human rights. Civil participation is badly needed in our society if we want to be a vibrant democracy. He honed in the point that Singaporeans must look out for each other and even those beyond our shores. In the final analysis, Mr Tan argued, the ISA must be abolished in order to prevent another Operation Spectrum in the future, and to remove the fear that grips Singaporeans when it comes to citizen participation.
The forum discussion was peppered with Martyn reading excerpts of torture from So That We May Dream Again, a compilation of brief essays of the 1987 arrests, To Catch a Tartar by Francis Seow and also an extract about Chia Thye Poh from Chee Soon Juan's book To Be Free.
Martyn ended the forum with the assurance that this will not be the last forum he will hold about the ISD's unlawful arrests of the 22 young people some 22 years ago.
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Why were the 24 persons arrested between May 1987 and May 1988? The common denominator for nearly all those arrested was that they were trying to help low-paid factory workers and other underprivileged. They were Roman Catholics, and moved to manifest their faith by social action.
As Vincent Cheng, one of those detained, wrote:What is justice and how do you bring it about? Was Jesus bothered about justice? Why are some churches more interested in charity than in justice?
[snip]
The old theological understanding of justice as commutative justice – that is, the kind of justice that deals with how individuals relate to one another – clouds the newer understanding of justice as a Kingdom value that is fundamental to the Old and New Testaments of the Bible. Individual justice has to be understood as part of the larger whole of social justice, not the other way round. Thus, justice is to be understood primarily as being concerned with how society is organised, Working for justice means working to build a society that is intrinsically just. The World Council of Churches summed it up best: "What the world needs is a just, participative, and sustainable society."
-- Vincent Cheng in That we may dream again, published 2009 by Ethos Books, edited by Fong Hoe Fang,
Cheng, who had trained as a priest, committed himself to working for migrant workers and domestic helpers.In 1982, the Geyland Catholic Centre needed someone to help coordinate its various functions as a mediation centre fo runaway domestic helpers, an activity centre for young Malaysian workers, a halfway house for ex-prisoners and a counselling centre for troubled people. I took up the job and concentrated on the issues of migrant workers. These foreigners came to develop our economy, many leaving their homes at high personal and financial cost to take up lowly-paid jobs here which were shunned by the locals. They lived in substandard housing conditions and faced various restrictions on their personal and social life.
- ibid.
Tang Lay Lee wrote about her involvement with the Young Christian Workers (YCW) Jurong Centre, 1980 – 1987.I remember the long bus journeys to Jurong which seemed so remote. So when the YCW asked me to take one of their English classes for factory workers – mostly Malaysian and young females – why did I agree? I felt I wanted to do something practical, I wanted to see for myself what factory workers were like, and I wanted to see Jurong, our largest industrial estate.
-- Tang Lay Lee in That we may dream again, published 2009 by Ethos Books, edited by Fong Hoe Fang,
Such was the idealism of youth. Further on, she wrote,I chatted, cooked, joked and laughed with the workers who came to the Centre for English classes, or games, or just to relax and socialise in the evenings and during weekends. We also had activities like Labour Day celebrations, labour discussions , outings and overseas holidays.
[snip]
Knowing the law is one things, claiming workers' rights is an entirely different ball game.
[snip]
So anyone who thinks that it is easy to "instigate" workers to do what seems to right should have his head examined and his heart replaced. Well, the YCW was not involved involved in instigating workers, which would be disrespectful, dishonest and heartless.
[snip]
One thing we did together was to organise a modest survey on the effects of the 12-hour shift and publish our findings and recommendations in the Catholic News. Workmen's compensation was another issue workers were concerned about, so we organised volunteer lawyers to provide legal counselling and representation.
-- ibid.
My guess is that most younger readers of Yawning Bread would find all the above to be news to them. Was that all they were doing? And they got detained under the ISA and subsequently tortured, for that?
The horror of such heavy-handedness may be one reason why Singapore's political conversation in the years since has avoided discussing these arrests. It's as if we have been so traumatised by these events, we suffer a collective amnesia and mental block.
Our mainstream media, naturally, cannot delve far into it either. The problem is that the injustice is to stark, and official explanation so ridiculous, there is no credible way for journalists with any shred of integrity to revisit this story without poking huge holes in the government's case.
As my friend Russell Heng pointed out at the forum, by the late 1980s, Marxism was in terminal decline. The Soviet Union was on the verge of collapse, workers in Poland -- the same workers that Marxism and communism claimed to champion -- were demonstrating under the banner of Solidarnosc against the communist state, while in China, Deng Xiaoping had buried Mao-Tse-tung thought and opened Special Economic Zones for capitalists. Did Lee Kuan Yew really think that labelling Vincent Cheng et al "Marxists" would convince anybody?
In my view, it didn't. That being the case, how does anyone -- journalists, academics, etc -- discuss this case without drawing attention to the absurdity, and thus the likelihood of illegal abuse of power, at its very heart? Yet, accusing the government of abuse of power is fraught with risk. Hence, talking about it became a kind of taboo for 22 years since.
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The irony is, Martyn See said, non-government organisations today, such as TWC2 and HOME, are doing ten times more than what those early activists did for migrant workers. Indeed, it seems to me that people Like Bridget Lew, Jolovan Wham and Stephanie Chok are far more outspoken than any of those lay Catholics in the 1980s.
Heng, who is active in TWC2, reckoned that many of the younger volunteers would know very little of the 1987 detainees and their work history. Today's young volunteers go about their work driven by their own idealism.
If that is so, I asked, shouldn't we let forgetfulness stand? Why recall the details of 1987 and 1988 and scare a new generation away? Why not let the young beat a new path blissfully unaware of the pain suffered by others?
Because those who are unaware of history may end up repeating it? suggested See.
I don't know if history is programmed to repeat itself. Our government leaders change too, and old instincts to crack down on the slightest attempt by anyone to pursue an agenda not to the government's liking, may not stay the same. Or am I wrong?
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I was a little surprised to see The New Paper send a reporter to Martyn See's forum. I thought our mainstream media would studiously ignore the forum. Even so, I was skeptical about a report eventually appearing in the newspaper.
Yet, there it was on the next day's print edition. And a pretty fair account it was too, one that even carried what Chee Siok Chin said. She is the sister of opposition leader Chee Soon Juan and herself one of the leaders of the Singapore Democratic Party. I had thought there was a complete ban on any publicity for the Chees.
Have some things changed?
Or is the editor going to get the rap for going out on a limb? We shall see.
* * * * *
The initial response of the Catholic Church in the days following the first arrests, was quire supportive, with a solidarity mass held. But by the second week, Archbishop Gregory Yong's arm had clearly been twisted by the government. After that the Church no longer stood by its lay workers, a betrayal that some of the detainees have written bitterly about. The archbishopric owes them all an apology.http://singaporerebel.blogspot.com/2009/06/reviews-operation
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Ah well,Singaporeans are blissfully apathetic as long as someone else fights for them.
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Panda, heard that you were declared sane.
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