Sceptics Challenge New Premier's Promises

SINGAPORE:


Marwaan Macan-Markar

BANGKOK, Aug 13 (IPS) - Lee Hsien Loong, Singapore's new prime minister who was sworn in Thursday, is offering his country's citizens a chance of enjoying the right to free expression -- a luxury that had only been the preserve of his family and a few members of the political elite.

But Lee, who was destined to head South-east Asia's tidiest dictatorship, will have to go beyond the words uttered during his first speech as premier to be taken seriously.

''People will not believe him, because such calls for change have been made before,'' Sinapan Samydorai, president of the Think Centre, one of the few independent groups in the city-state campaigning for political and civil liberties, said in an interview.

''They will not lift restrictions that make it impossible for citizens and members of civil society to criticise government leaders,'' he added. ''A person holding political office should be open to criticism.''

Lee told an audience shortly after taking over as the country's ruler that more openness and diversity will be permitted under his watch.

''Our people should feel free to express diverse views, pursue unconventional ideas or simply be different,'' the 52-year-old Lee told a carefully chosen audience that represented the breadth of Singapore's social spectrum among its 4.3 million people.

On the face of it, such an encouragement marks a change from the tight-fisted manner in which Singapore was run for decades by Lee's father, Lee Kuan Yew, now 80 years old.

The whiff of change in the city-state was first noted during the 14 years when Goh Chok Tong was the prime minister. The most recent testimony being the permission for a gay and lesbian festival to be held in August, which was part of a policy to open up parts of the social and entertainment sector in an otherwise strait-laced society.

But for change to be meaningful, say political activists like Samydorai, there must be amendments to the litany of laws and bureaucratic measures that have been regularly used to emasculate views that challenge the ruling order.

''After nearly 40 years of authoritarian rule the government doesn't need to tell people what to do,'' he added. ''Many people and voluntary organisations practice self-censorship because of the climate created to collaborate with the state.''

The bland quality of Singapore's media, most of which belong to a government controlled company, reflects this.

And an attempt by the government to offer a new platform for openness in 2000 - creating a Speaker's Corner for individuals to express their views openly like they do at the legendary Speaker's Corner in Hyde Park, London - has made little headway.

Critics point to the hurdles Singaporeans face if they want to use the local Speaker's Corner. They include showing identification and signing a police register before speaking. In addition the government has forbidden speeches that touch on religion, race and issues that the state considers a national security threat.

The Western media who often praise Singapore for its dramatic success at achieving developed country economic status within a couple of decades has not been spared either from the government's disdain towards criticism.

Publications like The 'International Herald Tribune,' 'Time' magazine, 'The Asian Wall Street Journal,' and the 'Far Eastern Economic Review' have been taken to task by the Singaporean authorities for their critical reportage.

Some commentators have remarked that with Lee taking over the country
that his father helped to build, words such as ''nepotism''
and ''dynasty'' in a Singaporean context may be forbidden.

The Singapore government's sensitivity to such references has already been felt by the financial news service 'Bloomberg News'. It was forced to pay damages after a case was brought against it by the two Lees and Goh for a comment made by a 'Bloomberg' columnist about the appointment of Lee Hsien Loong's wife as executive director of Temasek Holdings, the state investment corporation.

During the senior Lee's rule that spanned over two decades, he defended the tough political controls imposed on the country in the interest of development as 'Asian values.'

The People's Action Party (PAP) which he headed and now has the junior Lee at its helm imposed its will by denying political space for a healthy opposition to grow in the 84-member parliament, of which the PAP currently holds 82.

In the run-up to taking control of Singapore's parliament, Lee served as deputy prime minister, helped shape new economic reforms and rose to the rank of brigadier-general in the army.

He speaks four languages in addition to his impressive academic record, which includes degrees from Cambridge University and Harvard University.

His ''new team, which boasts many old hands, will continue the ongoing economic and foreign policies put in place by former prime minister Goh Chok Tong over the past decade,'' Thailand's English daily 'The Nation' commented in an editorial Thursday.

Lee's entry on to South-east Asia's political stage comes during a year when political leaders across the region have faced elections or are about to, such as Malaysia, Philippines, Indonesia and Thailand.

But Lee, of course, has still to face an election to affirm his legitimacy as a prime minister. He was appointed through a parliamentary formality. (END/2004)