Obama's Human Rights Opportunity in Singapore

The effusive praise President Barack Obama has for former Singaporean Prime Minister and now Minister Mentor Lee Kuan Yew is another gesture that has led many to wonder where the present administration sits on human rights issues. The forthcoming APEC summit in Singapore presents an opportunity for the president to set the record straight.

Asia is vital for the Obama Administration for a number of reasons, not the least of which is the imperative that even perceptions of democracy must be judged against not just American values, but universal values. Amnesty International recently released an open letter to Canadian Prime Minister Stephen Harper calling attention to this very topic. In it, the organisation urges him to uphold Canada's reputation as a human rights supporter while attending the APEC summit by addressing ongoing human rights concerns in the island nation. Among these concerns is the case of Dr. Chee Soon Juan, one which President Obama would be well-advised to consider.

Dr. Chee, the oft-jailed leader of the Singapore Democratic Party, has extended an invitation to meet with President Obama and/or his entourage to leaven the president's praise of Singapore's autocracy with an acknowledgment that destroying political opposition should not be acceptable in any culture. Dr. Chee has been incarcerated seven times for attempting to exercise the basic human right to freedom of expression, which includes free speech and assembly, and recently recounted the conditions under which he has been held:

I have been jailed seven times in the past. In jail I spend 23 hours in a cell with a metallic door - no bars. The cell measures 15 feet by 6 feet and is shared with three cellmates (I was in solitary confinement during my first two terms). We have 45 minutes of 'yard time' and another 15 minutes for a shower. If it rains, we have no yard time. Sometimes it rained during yard time a few days in a row and so we spent 24 hours a day in the cell for a few days straight.

In one corner is a latrine, the squatting kind. There is no sink, nor is there a wash area. We brush our teeth over the toilet bowl. Meals are adequate except that on one occasion, I felt ill after taking the food and realised that my food tray was marked. I refused to eat after that and insisted on seeing my wife. They didn't allow me and so I went without food for more than a week. They then transferred me to the hospital when I got too weak and after seeing my wife and getting assurances from them that my tray will not be marked, I resumed eating. That was quite an ordeal.

I spend much of my time running the party and getting projects done: maintaining the website, publishing and selling the party newspaper to raise funds, organising activities, etc. Over the last couple of years, I have spent much time in court for several trials all proceeding simultaneously. At the moment, one has just ended and another one is being immediately brought on by the attorney general. There are five trials running simultaneously and the hearings overlap one another.

If you collapse all the hearing dates, I've spent in total about 7-8 months in court over the last year or so battling these cases. I represent myself in all of them because no lawyer in Singapore dares to represent me

I have three children, aged 5, 7, and 10. They need attention and I make sure that I don't neglect them and their needs.

Apart from this I sell my books to earn income for my family.

A crucial point of these Kafkaesque circumstances is that part of the punishment is being made to sit through endless legal proceedings. With all due respect to the judicial officers, these proceedings concern nothing more than attempting to exercise basic rights allegedly guaranteed under Singapore's constitution.

Dr Chee has also filed for bankruptcy as a result of a series of defamation suits brought against him by government leaders. He was ordered to pay more than a million dollars in total and has lost all his possessions trying to pay this sum. As a result of his being made bankrupt, he is barred from standing elections and banned from traveling out of Singapore. He has been subject to the aforementioned conditions for the following charges:

• Speaking without a permit (3 counts)
• Contempt of court (2 counts)
• Attempting to speak and trespass (of presidential residence)
• Speaking on a religious topic
• Attempting to leave the country without a permit
• Selling books without a license

No American president should be anything but horrified by the conditions under which Dr. Chee and other loyal opponents of the regime have been harassed.

What mention the president makes, if any, of this critical failing of the Singaporean model should give a very good idea of how much priority the Obama Administration really gives to human rights.

It is an opportunity that should not be wasted.

 

Follow Robert Amsterdam on Twitter: www.twitter.com/robertamsterdam

Comments

[Ken Eddy]

Cleanest country in the southpacific not in the world... have you visited china town? have you eaten at those restaurants, if they were in europe they would shoot down long time ago. there is no hot water washing dish nor laundry machine in singapore. so those dishes are just washed in cold water only ain stream avenues are clean... mostly food served in plastic plates and plastic spoons and they just keep wash them with cold water...

and there is a trapp when you come to country ... singapore is it the only country where there is no duty free tabacco and if you dont know that you get treated like a drug dealer and there is no any sign before you enter or before you board. they dont catch illegal cigarette sellers but innocent foreign buyers.

[MatthewTan]

SINGAPORE GOVERNMENT RESPONDS TO THE “WHITE PAPER ON THE REPRESSION OF POLITICAL FREEDOM IN SINGAPORE” BY CANANDIAN LAW FIRM

http://www.news.gov.sg/public/sgpc/en/media_releases/agencies/pmo/press_release/P-20091111-1

[chlai88]

The western political model revels in open confrontation, loud opposition and is anti-monopoly of power but the east tends towards stability, peace, compromise and hierarchy. Singapore is arguably the most progressive and developed country in SEA, this despite the perceived lack of democracy and human rights. It's success rests on giving the people economic freedom while constricting political freedom coupled with a zero tolerance policy on corruption. The ruling party has skilfully and successfully maintained this control in spite of having an open economy and society constantly exposed to western influence. It can be said that some parts of its model is also being copied by China today. It works wonderfully when you have good, capable benign dictators like Singapore's Lee Kuan Yew but in the long run, it has yet to prove able to adapt and change without imploding.

[gerryheng]

Singaporeans at home and the world over should have the current Singapore Government be up to date on its Human Rights Practice. After almost 50 years of post British Imperilaism rule and its Iindependence since 1963 and thereon the Opposition Parties haven't a Chinaman's Chance in Hell of making an impact where the issues are ventilated without threats and Defamation Actions in Law that have had chilling effects on public discourse of the issues!It has taken a Vindictive Character and Tone which is really very depressing and sad ! I don't know whether this is perhaps the Asian Style Democracy where the majority party holds the thrump card on most media outlets!If the British Colonial Masters have had such media controls and punitive Court Actions against its Opponents in politics I seriously doubt, with respect, that the current People's Action Party would have won the Independence and continue to lead the Country !I am amazed that the lessons of the Democratic Process and its Governance hasn't been learned and second natured!

GCW Heng Sr.
Metrowest Framingham,MA,USA.

[overcat]

Visited Singapore a couple of years ago for a few days. Clean, orderly, friendly, and great food. Didn't see but one cop the whole time, which I found confusing, given the places law and order reputation. Later found out from a cabbie that most cops are plain clothes cops.

[qussl3]

It says alot of the singaporean govt's control of its media that I learn more about Dr Chee's plight on an American centric site than i am able to on ANY media channel in singapore.

[iamwatching]

The onslaught of American Business and Banking abuses towards all people around the world, including who should be considered 'their own' , leaves Obama powerless to say any thing about another countries purported abuses. That would be the ultimate hypocrisy! Human rights? Americans cannot even get basic human rights from their government and business leaders.

[Warthog]

$ingapore: Cleanest country in the world, authoritarian to a terrifying degree, and a lovely place to visit. Please leave your indignation and ethics at your port of entry.