Watch at YouTube if it doesn’t show up here
The story of Chee Soon Juan, leader of the Singapore Democratic Party, as told by Next Media Animation, a Taiwan-based company which produces animated news clips for news organisations and web sites.
Their report that accompanies the clip:
Its latest efforts to suppress political dissent include the impending imprisonment of Dr Chee Soon Juan. His crime? Speaking in public.
In Singapore, speaking in public requires a government permit. But the PAP government does not freely grant such permits to political opponents.
The prison term means Dr Chee cannot stand in this year’s parliamentary elections. The PAP presently controls 82 of Singapore’s 84 seats.
PAP also suppresses dissent by suing its opponents for libel. Where in other democracies politicians expect to be criticized, PAP politicians are thin-skinned.
For example, it is a libel to suggest nepotism is the reason why Prime Minister Lee Hsien Loong has his job – after his dad held it for 31 years.
Dynastic government? Kind of reminds you of Asia’s other political dynasty.
Next Media Animation is a unit of Hong Kong-based Next Media, publishers of Apple Daily, the newspaper founded by Jimmy Lai. Apple Daily and Next Media take a firm and unrelenting stand on civil and political rights. The newspaper and its web sites have been banned by China.
Noted Democracy Icon, Dr Chee Soon Juan
is going to Prison
Following the failed appeal against conviction, Dr Chee Soon Juan, Secretary-General of the Singapore Democratic Party (SDP) will be going to Prison on February 10 and will be spending the General Elections(GE) behind bars. This is despite an appeal made to the general public at large for donations in an effort to keep the democracy icon out of jail in order for him to helm the SDP’s General Elections campaign.
The imminent incarceration of the man who first burst onto the scene in the 1992 Marine Parade by-elections whereby he stood against the then-Prime Minister Goh Chok Tong is another sad indictment of the city state’s harsh and repressive political regime.
For Dr Chee Soon Juan, a former noted Professor of Psychology at the Department of Psychology at the National University of Singapore (NUS) who was dismissed under contentious circumstances, the latest salvo by the ruling PAP government against him is just one of many that he has accumulated in his bumpy career as the most outspoken critic and opposition leader.
Throughout his years as the leader of the SDP, Dr Chee has led numerous campaigns and protests to highlight the growing income inequality among Singaporeans and the desperate plight of the lower-income in Singapore to survive. As a result of his unrelenting and uncompromising stance on democracy, human rights and justice in Singapore, he has already spent numerous months behind bars to the detriment of his health. It is widely reported that during his 2006 incarceration, he developed complications that had resulted in him being transferred to Changi General Hospital for immediate medical treatment. Allegations soon surfaced, that he has been deliberately poisoned.
This latest spell of jail-time, is a result of charges of “speaking without a permit” that stems all the way back to the 2006 General Elections. The charges themselves are curious and a misnomer, given that the Republic’s constitution clearly states that…”every citizen of Singapore has the right to freedom of speech and expression”. The timing and length of the trial itself is curious, given that the tendency and history of the Singapore legal system are to process cases efficiently and without delay- this trial itself has dragged on from 2007 until now, conveniently enough to put the democracy icon behind bars just when the General Elections are approaching.
» Read more at Temasek Review…
The Temasek Review is an independent socio-political blog cum Internet newspaper. It carries a range of critical opinions and analyses of current affairs in Singapore. Another popular independent blog The Online Citizen recently faced Singapore government action, forcing it to sell the site for S$1.
uppercaise 
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No protests from the pro-Singapore chorus?
It is a lot worse in the “land of the fee and the home of the knave”. A disproportately high numner of non-whites – the millions, 13% of African American men – have lost the right to vote because of convictions, even where their offenses that did not involve other people. Law enforcement and “justice” are major industries. 43 mllion depend on food stamps to survive.
I certainly have no respect at all and don’t respect the view of this dissent when once he even tried to cheat his taxi fare ! Is that his reason why he opposes the one who charged him who the fraud for his taxi ride ?