Political parties on the internet

James Gomez sums up a talk on political parties' use of the internet at International IDEA. He argues that the use of the internet by political parties thus far has not been able to make an impact on electoral design.

posted by JG Blog @ 10:52 PM

Lets Move On

For those of you who missed the End of a Saga.. access the video here!

posted by JG Blog @ 10:07 PM

SMS from Singapore

"I forgot to tell u... the guy from singpost sends u his regards. Apparently he is a WP fan. He spotted me when I was mailing stuff to u in Stockholm."

SMS while at the post office in S'pore.

posted by JG Blog @ 9:08 PM

"Hentam James Gomez"

This extract is from a speech by Chee Soon Juan delivered recently at a National University of Singapore Society forum. Click on the extract for the full speech:

Another Singaporean activist was asked by a former ISD officer, or former officer, to hentam (attack) Mr James Gomez. It would be “beneficial” for the activist to attack James Gomez as the government will look kindly upon the action and it would put the activist in the government's “good books".

posted by jacob @ 12:13 AM

Post GE Analysis- A Blog Reader's Perspective

Ah James, this is my post GE analysis for you. Just giving my two cents worth.

Speech from you is excellent and connects with the people well. It is good that dialects will use minimally. I have always encouraged that. You've stayed focus on the policies and did not allow the now famous "Gomezgate" affect you in anyway.

You have made yourself known (for all the wrong reasons though) and is seen by the supporters as the "Dark Horse". Well, every election there is always one maverick around to piss the PAP off and in this GE, you sure did your part. You can now join ranks with F.Seow, JBJ, Tang LH, Chee SJ. Well done!!!

I have predicted that your team will win by at least by 55% but it turned out the other way round partly because of the last minute strategy and a desperate one by George Yeo.

Another factor would be as you may know by now are the Malay voters. It would appear WP have not develop any strategy in their campaign to reach out to these voters. WP line up of the malay candidates for the next GE should have tie-ups with some malay organisations or alternatively, recruit more malay volunteers to reach out to this people. For that to happen, WP if resources are avaliable is to set up a self help group for them. As the malay issues are sensitive, WP really need somebody from the ground to understand them better. As it is, the party projects a very chinese oriented image. This has got to change.

I am sure that you will have no trouble getting yourself known in the next GE. In fact, the people will want to see more of you and what 'stunts' you are going to pull next. It is important to made oneself known through controversy and you know that. Controversy sells.

Also take note that some jokers might try to potray you as having a jolly good time in Sweden although you are holding down an international job. So you have to manage this.

I can only sum up this much for now as most of the post mortems would have already been done by others.

Looking forward to seeing you back in action.

Pat

posted by JG Blog @ 4:06 PM

Regional NGOs do not do enough for Singapore’s human rights issues, says media and political activist

by Forum-Asia

(Bangkok, 17 May 2006)

Regional NGOs (non-governmental organisations) lack proper responses to human rights issues in Singapore, said a media and political activist during a discussion held at the Foreign Correspondents’ Club of Thailand on 16 May 2006.
James Gomez, who was also an electoral candidate from the opposition Workers’ Party in Singapore, presented his observations and analysis at an informal discussion session in the Bangkok venue. This was attended by representatives from FORUM-ASIA, SEAPA (Southeast Asian Press Alliance), other organisations and journalists.

“Regional NGOs need to respond in a coordinated, timely and competent manner, and they need to show more interest,” said Gomez, referring to the recent Singapore parliamentary elections and the case involving himself in its aftermath.

Gomez was detained by the Singaporean authorities as he was about to leave the country after the elections, following a complaint by the Elections Department that he had intimidated and threatened some of its staff. This was due to an incident arising from an administrative foul-up in his dealings with the department, which was “blown out of proportion” by Singapore’s mainstream media and made into an election issue by the ruling People’s Action Party (PAP). Charges were dropped against Gomez after about a week, and he was allowed to leave the country. He spent a few days in Bangkok to hold meetings with several organisations, en-route to Sweden where he works as a researcher.

Although a few regional NGOs sent representatives separately to observe and monitor the Singapore elections, the lack of appropriately strong responses from regional NGOs led Gomez to question the efficacy of regional organisations such as human rights and press freedom groups. “What is the human rights focus of these groups and how much of a priority is Singapore for human rights issues in the region?” He asked.

He emphasised that there will be a growing “buzz of political party activity” because civil society organisations are weak or almost non-existent in Singapore, so regional NGOs should increase their monitoring of human rights violations committed in particular against individuals from Singapore’s Opposition parties.

Ruki Fernando from FORUM-ASIA said that Singapore needs more activists like James Gomez to stir up public and regional interest, as well as more time to develop this interest. Roby Alampay from SEAPA said that his organisation cannot work with the government-dominated traditional media in Singapore, but sees potential with new media, for example bloggers – people who have personal websites on the internet.

“We can work with bloggers, but they need to have the courage to come out on their own as well,” said Alampay. “Momentum has to come from Singaporean bloggers, and we also need to see trends and progress.”

Lance Woodruff from Thai news agency MCOT said most regional NGOs and civil society organisations do not do much on Singapore not because of a lack of interest or concern. Instead, he said, there is a common perception based on the authorities’ reputation for restrictions: “‘They won’t allow you to do anything anyway, so why bother [to cover Singapore]?’”

Singapore has been ruled by the PAP since its independence in 1965. It is considered a “one-party” or “dominant-party” state, and the recent elections returned the PAP to power on the polling day, 6 May 2006. The Opposition retained its previous two out of 84 seats and did not gain any more seats in parliament.

Asian Forum for Human Rights and Development (FORUM-ASIA) is a membership-based regional human rights organization in Asia and presently, it has 31 member organizations in 13 countries in Asia. It was founded following a consultation among human rights and development NGOs in Asia held in Manila in December 1991. Its regional Secretariat has been located in Bangkok, Thailand since 1994.

posted by jacob @ 12:45 PM

SBS radio's "Democracy in Singapore, Part 1"

Rebecca Henschke, a Producer for the World View programme for SBS Radio, was among the media gathered at the police cantonment complex on that first day, May 7, when Gomez was questioned by the police for 8 hours.

Here's an audio of one of the episodes titled Democracy in Singapore, Part 1. Among the individuals she spoke to are J B Jeyaretnam; Gomez & Catherine Lim.

posted by jacob @ 1:55 PM

Some blog postings on Gomez

posted by jacob @ 9:55 PM