17 September 2006

Frontline: Hong Lim

Opposition politician Chee Soon Juan and his supporters, prevented from marching to Parliament House and Suntec Convention centre, camp out at Hong Lim Green. Full essay.

16 comments:

Anonymous said...

Could you help me to ask them, do they really think Singaporean care about what they are doing? Or are they showing off to the oversea medias another bad publicity?

Anonymous said...

Most Singaporeans, concerned with their day to day life of acquiring wealth and status, will not be concerned. They will not be reading about it in our media too. Coz it's blocked out.

But for those who look further down the road and saw what's coming, they will be concerned. A lot of us are worried. How long can such a brainwashing system last? How much more robots are we churning out?

This is a turning point of sorts. The more you try to shut, the more it worse it gets

Anonymous said...

I'm not sure about police hierachy but one of the women officers surrounding Ms Chee Siok Chin in that picture seems to be an ASP, in terms of rank.

From what I understand, an ASP is quite high in terms of rank, a senior officer. One of my friend's uncle retired as an ASP after more than 2 decades in the police force.

Anyway, I'm writing here to express my disappointment at the way which the police force has chosen to deploy its manpower. Why is a senior officer (maybe an equivalent of a lieutenant or captain in the army?) deployed to do ground work? I thought such roles are fulfilled by Constables, Corporals & (at most) Sergeants?

If anything, the police should have deployed these officers around Suntec City where there is a real need to ensure security. As far as I'm concerned, the protesters at Hong Lim Park were about as threatening as a mouse.

Anonymous said...

I passed by on Sat and it was just surreal. I mean can the police stop people from entering the park? Can they stop people from taking a stroll on public roads and pavement? They were blocking the SDP people from walking around. The police did not manhandle anyone but was using their bodies to bump and block the SDP, even though it is a public place. The police behaviour is so undignified and most pathetic and shameful. It is clearly harassment and can see they simply don't know how to handle such situations.

I now understand why LKY and the Leegime say demonstrations will lead to riot and violence. It is because the police are the ones who are flaming the situation.

Anonymous said...

Look at the protest rallies going on in Singapore. Does the Singapore Government pay attention to issues raised by Singaporeans?
1. Huge obscene salaries for PAP government officials, in the millions.
2. The continuing widening of the income groups of the rich, middle class and poor in Singapore.
3. The Indonesians who come with their millions, and squat in Singapore, and in Singapore banks.

Political power grows out of the barrel of a gun- Mao Tse-Tung

This phrase really puts everything in perspective.

Whether it will come out from or to the Singapore Army for control, or another source, it will happen. It is only a matter of time. It is just the way of political evolution.

TheJourneySoFar said...

Here is what its like on day 2 (Sunday) afternoon.

http://www.saltwetfish.net/journal/2006/the-scene-at-hong-lim-today/

Also... YB account of me in the sidebar is too dramatic lah... here is my blow by blow account of it.

http://www.saltwetfish.net/journal/2006/the-little-incident-at-hong-lim/

Anonymous said...

You would think that the Singapore Government would take postive action from the display of there protest rallies?
How ignorant of the ruling elite.
'Give them cake...'-Marie Antoinette
yeah...and eventually her head rolled.
The Singapore police can see what is happening, I am sure that they are not too happy either, just carrying out jobs.

Anonymous said...

ASP is not the highest rank there. I spotted the same commanding officer who was at the CPF protest, he was wearing a light blue polo and in civilian outfit. There is a full uniformed Superintendent who look like a drago. I overheard some ppl saying the poodle force's media spokeswoman Audrey Ang was there too. There were so many plain clothes around, all doing the bidding of the PAP.

Anonymous said...

The policemen should be ashamed. Their names and faces have been recorded. They are actually committing crimes against humanity. Perhaps someday, when Singapore changes and the court system comes in line with international standards, these police officers can be put up and tried for breaking international law and violating human rights. They are as responsible for their activities as police officers as Japanese soldiers were during the second World War. Regardless of how they actually feel, they are responsible (even if "just doing their jobs"). And they will bear that responsibility some day.

Anonymous said...

the civil disobedience idea was a flop;; no amount of argument can change the fact

as for whether WP approach is better, we will still have to see

it looks to me someone will actually have to think about how to make demos easier, because the present situation is just too moribound; speakers' corner, bartop, imf indoor demo all flopped; even batam was basically a flop

Anonymous said...

My hope is that if Dr Chee is not allowed to leave Hong Lim Green, then some of the people at the IMF could go to Hong Lim Green to look at Dr Chee and the real Singapore.

Surely some of those people would be interested - maybe not the officials, but what about the spouses, the NGOs, especially the NGOs on civil liberties, and also the international press.

My greatest respect for what Dr Chee has done. I'm hoping that he will stay his course and keep vigil a little longer, and especially don't take any other unecessary actions that may give police the excuse to cart him away from there.

Robert L

Anonymous said...

a not surprisingly partisan report: http://newpaper.asia1.com.sg/news/story/0,4136,113684,00.html?

Yawning Bread Sampler said...

The correct URL is
http://newpaper.asia1.com.sg/news/story/0,4136,113684,00.html?

A friend had pointed it out to me yesterday. "Rock-bottom journalism" he called it. Third world totalitarian stuff.

Yawning Bread Sampler said...

Oh dear, the URL still comes out wrong. The last characters should be

story/0,4136,113684,00.html?

but I don't know why it always cuts off after 684....

Anonymous said...

read Mr Wang"s comments: http://commentarysingapore.blogspot.com/2006/09/just-another-day-in-singapore.html

"....remember my first-year law school Law of Torts well enough, these police officers have probably just committed "the tort of false imprisonment". Basically this means that you're illegally confining a person and breaching her right to move about freely. Hey, police officers, she can sue you for that, you know?"

Anonymous said...

some of the pix here are definately taken by photog of the wire agencies, think proper credit is needed.