Chee Soon Juan appeals to Obama on rights
I’m not sure what to think of this. I like Chee, I really do. The times I’ve met and talked to him, he’s always struck me as a soft-spoken, highly intelligent, and honest man.
But I can already see the “foreigners-shouldn’t-meddle-in-Singapore-politics” arguments coming in. And I know at least a handful of Singaporeans who dislike Chee because he seems determined to “paint a bad picture of Singapore to foreigners”.
Perhaps it is not our culture to wash dirty linen in public. Or really? Explain Stomp, that disgusting governement-controlled web portal, the pinnacle of public linen-washing. Then again, who else will listen? Definitely not our own government, who last week revealed that they will only engage citizens on existing government platforms i.e. REACH (who is doing such a hopeless job in engaging citizens, you wonder if they really want you to be involved, or merely put up a show that they want you to be involved).
A government’s role is to serve the people. Well, apparently not this government. How else do you explain the power inequality between the government and us “mere mortals“? I am sick of having to bow down and beg for what should be a given in the first place. If for nothing else, that is a good reason to celebrate Chee’s success — again — in reaching the international media.
SINGAPORE (AFP) — The leader of a Singapore opposition party, jailed numerous times for defying local protest laws and for other offences, has posted a video message asking for US President Barack Obama’s support.
Chee Soon Juan, secretary general of the Singapore Democratic Party, posted his “message to President Obama” on the video sharing website YouTube, where he called Obama’s Tuesday inauguration “an occasion of great moment.”
Chee expressed hope that the United States “will pay more attention to the human rights abuses of the Singapore government and take positive steps to help Singapore join the community of democracies.”
Chee, dressed in a dark suit and a tie, sat at a desk to deliver the message lasting more than five minutes.
He said his party was especially encouraged by what Obama, the first black president of the United States, has said about human rights.
“Under your leadership I look forward to a world that is freer, more democratic and more just,” said Chee.
He is one of the few Singaporeans who have publicly spoken against Singapore’s People’s Action Party, which has ruled since 1959.
Since independence in 1965, Singapore has grown from a Third World country to an Asian economic powerhouse. But critics say this has come at a price, in the form of restrictions on freedom of speech and political activity.
The ruling party has all but two of the 84 elected seats in parliament, and the opposition’s complaints include a lack of access to mainstream media in the country.
Except for a park that serves as a designated area for limited free speech, it is illegal to hold a public gathering of five or more people in Singapore without a police permit.
Singapore’s leaders say tough laws against dissent and other political activity are necessary to ensure the stability which has helped the city-state achieve economic success.
The government has said allegations that Singapore fails to meet international standards for political and human rights are without substance.
