Petition against harassment of Martyn See

Join the cause. Add your name and voice to petition against police harassment of Martyn See, a Singapore filmmaker at: PetitionOnline.com.

Alternatively, you can cut and paste the following letter, add your own name at the bottom and forward it to Amnesty Malaysia:

Dr LEE Boon Yang
Minister for Information, Communications and the Arts
c/o High Commission of the Republic of Singapore.
209, Jalan Tun Razak, 50400 Kuala Lumpur.
(Date)

Dear Minister,

CONCERN ABOUT HARASSMENT OF MARTYN SEE

I am writing to express concern about harassment of Martyn See, the threat of his prosecution under the Films Act, and restrictions on freedom of expression, including artistic freedom.

I call for an end to the misuse of restrictive laws, including the Films Act, which can serve to punish perceived government opponents and to deter Singaporeans from expressing dissenting political opinions and participating in public life.

I would like to state that freedom of expression is a fundamental right protected by international human rights instruments, including the Universal Declaration of Human Rights.

Yours sincerely,

(Your Name/Location)

More information on this appeal can be found at Amnesty International in Asia & The Pacific

Great Wall

Like a "gwai loh" outside the kingdom
is how I feel
everytime my "tng nang" friends
talk amongst themselves
in their mother tongue
as we sit and dine
at the same table.
But we do not share a meal
for words have built
the Great Wall.

Performance

The turmoil inside,
Now nakedly displayed.
Through mechanical motion,
Raw emotion is flayed
With frantic hands;
His soul is laid
Bare,
There on the stage.

No flashing lights in the hall,
For fear he should fall
In a spasmodic heap.
How far would he leap
For his art?
But always something
Holds him apart.

Obeying dark demands
On body and soul,
How often he would
Lose control.

Look in his eyes,
See the desperation take hold.
His crystalline voice,
Shards of his soul.
He would cross the line
Between life and art,
But always something
Keeps him apart.

Though it shall wait,
Yet it shall come -
A blue Monday,
Late in May.

In memory of Ian Curtis, lead singer of seminal post-punk band, Joy Division. An epileptic and manic depressive, Curtis hanged himself on the eve of his band's first concert tour of the U.S. In my opinion, the dark and moody songs he wrote and performed with Joy Division rank up there with the best of late-20th century poetry. Today, the surviving members of Joy Division soldier on under the name of New Order.

The Presidential (Non-) Election

Here are some comments on the last presidential election (or rather, non-election) in this fair, balmy (barmy?) isle from yawning bread at the yahoo group, Singapore Review:

http://groups.yahoo.com/group/Sg_Review/message/1861

As far as I'm concerned, the essay says it all rather well. Let me know what you think of it.

Four Protesters met by 40-strong riot squad

Found this article on the 'net: : News Flash: Police send in riot squad to deal with 4 protesters - 11 Aug 05

Below is the mainstream press' version of the same events as shown in an extract from an article, "Protesters sent packing" from TodayOnline:

"Singapore News // Friday, August 12, 2005

Protesters sent packing
by Ansley Ng

Police dispersed a group of six people (bolding mine - Joe90) who had gathered outside the Central Provident Fund (CPF) building yesterday after receiving several calls that a crowd had gathered at Robinson Road.
.The group were protesting against a lack of transparency and accountability in three Government organisations.
.Wearing white T-shirts painted with red words and carrying placards printed with the slogan "Singaporeans spend on HDB; Whole life earnings, on CPF; Life savings but cannot withdraw when in need", protesters Monica Kumar, Yap Keng Ho, Charles Tan and Chee Siok Chin arrived at 12.30pm and stood outside the building for nearly an hour before being ordered by police to leave for being a "public nuisance".
.Ms Chee, the sister of opposition leader Chee Soon Juan, said the protesters did not represent any political party or group.
."We are members of a civil society," said Ms Kumar, who distributed a statement to reporters during the protest. "

Having read the TodayOnline reporter's version of events, one has to come to the conclusion that Mr. Ng probably either doesn't know how to count, or there is an unspoken reason for the deliberate miscount. There were only four protesters, but he says it was "a group of six people." From this, one can only surmise that the words used in Mr. Ng's report were carefully chosen to make the police appear justified in their act of breaking up the peaceful protest. TodayOnline probably included Mr. Chee Soon Juan and his friend as part of the so-called "group of six," even though both the group of four protesters and Mr. Chee clearly denied being connected with one another. As pointed out in the SDP's article, "The law clearly states that only five or more people gathered in a public place constitutes an illegal assembly." So, it also begs the following questions: Why were 40 policemen called in to break up what was essentially a peaceful and lawful gathering of only four people? From the same report it says, "Police said they had received several calls that a crowd had gathered at Robinson Road." Does a group of only four people constitute a crowd? Also how could this group of four people be construed as a "public nuisance" when all they were doing was just standing in a public place and holding up placards in silence, and not calling out or shouting out or harassing any passersby at all? If anyone was doing any harassing that day, it certainly wasn't this peaceful group of four citizens.
.