Singapore's Shame

Diana Francis, Editor at Large for the National Post, wrote this in her blog/column on October 21, 2008. Here is a portion from her blog/column. You can read the entire article and the Q&A with Dr. Chee @ http://network.nationalpost.com/np/blogs/francis/default.aspx

Singapore's Shame
Singapore represents itself as a democracy with the rule of law and a good place to live and do business.

But Singapore is a bully and its strong-arm tactics against critics, domestic or foreign, is unrecognized by the rest of the world, thanks to its carefully crafted public relations strategy designed to show the city-state as a model of government, democracy, economic development and the rule of law.

“The frustrating thing is that people continue to see Singapore as a rules-based society. I want the international community to realize the abuses,” said opposition leader Dr. Chee Soon Juan in an exclusive telephone interview yesterday from his home in Singapore with the National Post. “Fortunately, International organizations are getting involved like Lawyers Rights Watch, the International Bar Association, the International Commission of Jurists. All have criticize Singapore.”

Dr. Chee should know. His saga since 1992 reads like the Book of Job and shows that the reality is the city-state of five million people is an autocracy whose leaders use dafamation lawsuits and other court techniques to harass Chee or any other democratic activists, the media or corporate entities which fall out of favor.

This Thursday, Dr. Chee, secretary-general of the Singapore Democratic Party, will be on trial for the eighth time in a handful of years. This time he is accused of the “crime” of holding a meeting with more than five persons without a permit. The Singapore constitution guarantees freedom of opinion, expression and assembly.

“Every time we applied for a permit we have been turned down and the minister said that he would never grant a permit,” said Dr. Chee.

His ordeal began after he joined the opposition party and criticized the cronyism and secrecy of the Singaporean government. Since then, lawsuits have bankrupted him personally, are about to bankrupt his political party, have sent him to jail because he is unable to pay fines anymore, have cost him his university position as a lecturer and denied him basic legal rights such as legal representation or the right to cross-examine or present a defense.

And every time he criticizes such unjust treatment he is sued for defamation, then fined huge amounts or sent to jail.

Singapore also muzzles the press. Local media is government-owned and foreigners have been harassed.

“International newspapers, the Dow Jones, Wall Street Journal, Far Eastern Economic Review, Time, the Economist, International Herald Tribune, Bloomberg have all been sued and/or prosecuted for making statements about these matters,” said Dr. Chee.

International effort underway
Fortunately, a team of lawyers, led by Canadian law firm Amsterdam & Peroff in Toronto, has been set up in order to help Dr. Chee defend himself in court and to embarrass Singapore before the world for its failure to uphold the rule of law. The team is headed by Bob Amsterdam (who defended Mikhail Khodorovsky and other high-profile Russians against the oppressive Putin regime), UK defamation expert Anthony Julius (who represented Lady Di) and American law professor William Burke-White.

"The Singaporean authorities are using the law to repress political rivals and as punishment,” said Amsterdam in a phone interview from his headquarters in London. "It's a myth that Singapore is a democracy, a complete myth.”

The team is going to help Dr. Chee represent himself in court and also intends to bring the injustice to the attention of the United Nations and others. They also intend to register the Singapore Democratic Party in their jurisdictions so that it may continue its work as an exiled entity.