TR EMERITUS

From our Correspondent

The Singapore government has found itself in the international spotlight again for the wrong reason!

Human Rights group Amnesty International has written an open letter to Canadian Prime Minister Stephan Harper urging him to use the occasion of his visit to Singapore to attend the APEC Summit to raise serious human rights issues with Singapore officials.

Canadian lawyer Mr Amsterdam had earlier published a White Paper – “The Repression of political freedoms in Singapore: The Case of opposition leader Dr Chee Soon Juan” which documents the repression of political freedoms in Singapore and outlines how the Government of Singapore, under the leadership of the People’s Action Party (PAP), has monopolized the state’s apparatus to its own benefit.

The press release by Amsterdam & Peroff was given extensive publicity by major news organisations like MSN, AOL, National Examiner and Reuters as well as global investment and trade organisations like Forbes, Breitbart, EuroInvestor and Bizjournals much to the embarrassment of the Singapore government which published a weak rebuttal to it on a government website.

The letter which was written by Amnesty International Secretary General for Canada Alex Neves, described Singapore has having two realities:

“its appearance as a progressive country with regular elections and economic success; and its record of human rights violations designed to maintain the political status quo of the People’s Action Party (PAP) during its virtual one-party rule over the past half-century. Lee Kuan Yew, now Minister Mentor, has led Singapore in a number of government positions since independence in 1959.”

Mr Neves criticized Singapore’s restrictive laws and defamation lawsuits as well as the recently enacted Public Order Act (POA) which restricts cause-related public assemblies:

“Restrictive laws and civil defamation suits brought for political motives against opponents of the PAP are ruinous to the victims and have a “chilling” effect on potential critics and the population at large…..The result is a climate of political intimidation and self-censorship that deters the expression of views alternative to those of the ruling party and dissuades many Singaporeans from exercising their right to take part in public affairs,” he wrote.

The letter also brought up the case of former Singapore President Devan Nair who was sued by MM Lee Kuan Yew for defamation in a Canadian court for remarks made in an interview article in the Globe and Mail.

Devan Nair described Lee’s technique of suing his opponents into bankruptcy or oblivion as an “abrogation of political rights.” He also remarked that Lee is “an increasingly self-righteous know-all”, surrounded by “department store dummies”.

In response to these remarks, Lee sued Devan Nair in a Canadian court and Nair countersued. Lee then brought a motion to have Nair’s counterclaim thrown out of court. Lee argued that Nair’s counterclaim disclosed no reasonable cause of action and constituted an inflammatory attack on the integrity of the government of Singapore. However, the Ontario Superior Court of Justice refused to throw out Nair’s counterclaim, holding that Lee had abused the litigating process and therefore Nair has a reasonable cause of action.

[Source: Lee v. Globe and Mail (2001), 6 C.P.C. (5th) 354 (Ont.S.C.J.)]

Another issue raised by Amnesty International is Singapore’s high per capita rates of execution. It described the trials as failing “to meet international standards for fairness.”

The letter ended by urging the Canadian Prime Minister to press the Singapore government to “ensure that the filing and judicial examination of civil defamation suits fully recognizes and upholds the right to freedom of expression and will not be used for political purposes.”

The APEC Summit is supposed to showcase Singapore as a modern, cosmopolitan and vibrant country to the rest of the world, but it ended up being hijacked by human rights groups to pursue their own agenda.

The constant barrage of criticisms and accusations hurled at the Singapore government during this crucial period not only distract international attention away from APEC, but is damaging to its international image and standing as well.

Despite widespread skepticism and doubts about its archaic political system, the Singapore government is adamant that “societal interests take priority before the individual” to justify the repressive laws put in place to curtail the civil liberties of its citizens.

Related articles:

>> Singapore govt rebukes white paper’s claims on repression in Singapore

>> Singapore’s ruling party embarrassed by white paper on its repression

>> White paper condemns repression of political freedoms in Singapore

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