Singapore Forum Video Online
About 300 people were presentat the Singapore Forum on Politics 2006.
If you like to watch the proceedings of the Forum it is available to the public online at
http://nuscast.nus.edu.sg/ Just click on the 'playback' icon and a screen should pop up to play the video.
Restricting free speech: the impact on opposition parties in Singapore
Abstract:
Although cases of free speech restriction with regards to opposition parties and its members have received great publicity, in real terms, the value of free speech for opposition parties in Singapore is limited. First, defamation laws in Singapore continue to extract caution from the opposition, creating a pressure within the opposition movement to ensure political comments do not result in defamation suits. Second, free speech in itself is politically not useful for opposition parties if the content in their free speech exercises are not disseminated by the local media. As a result, both the fear of defamation suits and the limited dissemination of content in free speech exercises by the local media keep the mobilisation potential of free speech for opposition parties limited in Singapore. This means the contribution of free speech activities towards inter-party competition is low in Singapore, hence making democracy premised on fair inter-party competition weak.
This article has been submitted to a forthcoming special issue of the Copehagen Journal of Asia Studies.
Click to see draft version.
Is the S'pore political system a good one?
Hello,
My name is Jason Guimaron, my mother in singaporean but I am french.
I pay a lot of attention to the political situation in Singapore. I would like to know whether you consider the singaporean political system as a good one. If they are major problems in Singapore, what are they?
What is the program of the Working Party and howdifferent is it from the PAP's program.
Thank You,
Jason Ming Hai Guimaron
Response:Dear Jason, Many people have different views about lapses in the Singapore political system which they would like to see reviewed. Some of the major issues have been documented in a variety of news and academic articles. I suggest you use the internet to source for some of this information to get a sense of what are the broad points.With regards to the Workers' Party programme I invite you to access our Manifesto which in now available for reading online.Best wishes, James
