TR EMERITUS

Written by Our Correspondent Education Minister Dr Ng Eng Hen was asked a sensitive and difficult question during his dialogue session with NUS Society (NUSS) members. Mr Dennis Tan, a 49 year old workplace safety and health trainer and NUSS member asked Dr Ng why MM Lee Kuan Yew is not stepping down. Lee is currently the oldest member in the Singapore cabinet at 86 years of age. He was the first Prime Minister of Singapore from 1959 to 1990 before stepping down. He subsequently held the positions of Senior Minister and the Minister Mentor presently. To his credit, Dr Ng gave a diplomatic reply without offending both Singaporeans and his political master: "The question is, does MM add value to Singapore? I'm not talking about in history, I'm talking about now. That's the question that should be asked, not whether he should retire or not. Singaporeans must decide. MM spots pitfalls, he tells you what to avoid. He pushed for F1, for the IRs. So you decide. At the end of the day, it's the vote. If his constituents at Tanjong Pagar feel he's not adding value, they are free to vote." Lee has attracted the ire of many Singaporeans by continuing to stay on in the Singapore government. Though he admited that he "is not doing much work except forecasting", some still regard him as the "real power" behind the scenes. He currently draws about an annual salary of $3 million dollars, more than 5 times that of U.S. President Barack Obama. The Singapore government is the only one in the world with a Minister Mentor, two senior ministers and two deputy prime ministers in addition to the Prime Minister himself. Besides his portfolio in the cabinet, Lee is also the Chairman of Government Investment Corporation (GIC) which manages much of Singapore's national reserves. Lee's son Lee Hsien Loong is currently the Prime Minister of Singapore. His daughter-in-law Ho Ching heads Temasek Holdings, Singapore's other sovereign wealth fund. One of his nephrew-in-law Wong Kan Seng is both the Deputy Prime Minister and Home Affairs Minister of Singapore. The elder Lee has ruled Singapore with an iron fist since first assuming his position in 1959. He spent the later part of his political career traveling around the world to dispense his usual "pearls of wisdom" to other leaders on how to run their countries. Lee has yet to reveal if he will contest in the next general election due by 2012. The last three elections had been walkovers for him. Perhaps the opposition can consider sending a young team to contest against him in the next election to see if voters still want him to "add value" to Singapore.      Read More →

作者：Phil Robertson （Human Rights Watch）22-1-2010 译者：新加坡文献馆 近日一些民运活动分子的判刑展示了政府对多元政治缺乏容忍。 新加坡持续成为课本上的政治压制型国家(politically repressive state)，批评或者挑战执政党权力的任何人会招致不断的骚扰，诉讼或者甚至于监禁。 人权观察组织(Human Rights Watch)在今日发布的2010年世界报告书中指出，当新加坡正从国际金融危机的阴影中走出，并将准备在今年稍后时间举行大选的当儿，政府应该利用这时机改善其人权记录。 这本612页的报告书是该组织的第20份全球人权常年报告书，简述超过90个国家的主要人权发展大趋势。新加坡篇章中指出政府在数个重要的人权领域中犯错，其中包括表述自由，结社与集会自由。当新加坡自豪在东南亚经济群体中表现不凡时，却对其人民人权持续不于理睬。 人权观察组织的副亚洲司长费尔罗柏遜(Phil Robertson)指出：那些指责或挑战执政党的政治权力者会招致不断的骚扰，诉讼或者甚至于监禁。 在公开场所表述观点的自由是受局限在市区内的一个演说广场。在公众行为2009法令规定下，任何一个有活动目的的游行或者集会都必须在事前先行获得警方的许可证。 严峻的法制下，比如内部安全法令(Internal Security Act )，刑事法（临时条款） (Criminal Law (Temporary Provisions) Act )，滥用药品法(Misuse of Drugs Act)，以及不良出版物法(Undesirable Publications Act) 都是政府可以用来鉗制温和性批评言论。2009年12月，3名长期的政府 批评者 – 徐顺全博士(Dr. Chee Soon Juan)，徐淑珍(Chee Siok Chin)和甘尼安巴南(Gandhi Ambalam)，因为派发批评政府的传单而被定罪。过后，3人因为拒绝缴付罚款而被判入狱受短期囚禁。 关注形象的新加坡有时会选择放弃刑事诉讼而改用骚扰，比如以诽谤诉讼获取巨额赔偿来打击华尔街日报和远东经济论坛，并以新闻印刷与出版法令(Newspaper and Printing Presses Acts)来规范流通量等权利上的限制。 人权观察组织呼吁取消体罚和死刑，其中在刑法典内约30种罪行要受到鞭刑处罚，20种与药物有关的罪行是必须以死刑处决。人权观察组织指出新加坡拒绝所有要 求取消末经审讯的强制性拘押，拒绝接受鞭刑是残忍，非人道和有辱人格的处罚，并坚持以死刑处罚毒品走私，这些都违反国际人权组织的标准。 人权观察组织批评新加坡持续不顾呼吁推翻对在法制上禁止男性进行私人与双方同意的性行为。 罗柏遜认为当新加坡展望未来以及即将举行大选的当儿，应该放下长期的固执去接受国际人权组织的人权准则。新加坡应该有相信人民的信心，让他们享有表述自由，集会自由和结社自由，因为人民的持续参与有助国家的继续繁荣。 来源：http://www.hrw.org/en/news/2010/01/20/singapore-textbook-example-repressive-state  Read More →

Written by Our Correspondent The Singapore opposition has received a boost in its membership over the last few months with more tertiary-educated young Singaporeans joining them one of whom is a vocal online critic of the PAP, 22 year old project engineer Mr Alex Tan who embarrassed two PAP MPs with his sensitive and difficult questions during a YPAP forum last month. Contrary to the Straits Times report that Alex joined the Singapore People's Party recently after an online spat with the YPAP, he wrote on his "Vote out PAP" facebook which has garnered more than 2,700 members so far that he joined the opposition because he wants to serve fellow Singaporeans. A mechatronics graduate from Temasek Polytechnic, Mr Tan told the Straits Times that he is ready to stand as a candidate in the next general election. "I don't think I'm too young. In fact, I think it might be an advantage because I could inspire younger Singaporeans not to be apathetic," he was quoted in the Straits Times as saying. Besides Mr Tan, former foreign service officer in the Ministry of Foreign Affairs Mr Gerald Giam has joined Workers' Party and Mr Jarrod Luo, a biomedical science and microbiology graduate from Australia's University of Queensland was elected the honorary secretary of the Singapore Democratic Party's Youth wing last year. The Reform Party has seen an influx of new members who are graduates and professionals. One of them is Mr Justin Ong, the president of its Youth Wing, who graduated recently with a Bachelor's degree in Political Science from NUS and Mr Tony Tan, a former SAF scholar. With more young Singaporeans joining the opposition, the next election will be the one to watch. The PAP has seen its support base eroded over the last few years due to some ill-conceived policies such as its liberal immigration policies which had caused much unhappiness, frustration and resentment among Singaporeans. Their cause isn't helped by the fact that its Youth Wing is unable to reach out to the young IT-savvy Singaporeans which is further exacerbated by a string of scandals involving YPAP members. To compound matters, Singaporeans are turning increasingly to the alternative media for news and the influence of the state media's daily propaganda is fast wearing thin. A few years ago, there are hardly any socio-political news sites with a high enough readership to challenge the mouthpieces of the ruling party. Now, the new media is set to tilt the playing field increasingly in favor of the opposition with sites like The Temasek Review having a readership higher than TODAY Online. Young Singaporeans between the age of 21 - 35 will form a critical voting bloc in the next few elections and may emerge as the kingmakers in a closely fought contest. Time is fast running out for the PAP which has yet to establish a foothold for itself in cyberspace despite controlling all the major papers and internet forums in Singapore.  Read More →