Only a miracle can save Nguyen, Downer says

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There will be no appeal to the International Court of Justice to stop convicted drug smuggler Van Nguyen's execution.

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Foreign Affairs Minister Alexander Downer says nothing but a miracle will save Van Nguyen from execution, as all diplomatic and legal options are exhausted.

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Former prime ministers Gough Whitlam, Bob Hawke and Malcolm Fraser have joined the chorus of politicians and lawyers calling for Van Nguyen to be granted clemency.

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An editorial in the Straits Times is the best clue so far to the Singapore Government's thinking on the case of Van Nguyen.

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From ABC News

Foreign Minister Alexander Downer says only a miracle can now save Melbourne man Van Nguyen, who is due to be executed in Singapore next Friday for drug trafficking.

The Federal Government has shut the door on taking Singapore to the International Court of Justice.

Mr Downer says he has received expert legal advice supporting the opinion of Government lawyers that Australia has no basis for court action.

But Mr Downer says he will continue to make representations to the Singaporean Government.

"And hope that by some miracle they decide to change their minds," he said.

Nguyen's lawyer Lex Lasry QC says his legal team will not give up.

He says the issue of a mandatory death penalty should be considered by those attending the Commonwealth Heads of Government Meeting (CHOGM).

Mr Lasry says Singapore should also allow its position on Nguyen to be tested in the International Court of Justice.

"So my request with respect to the Australian Government is to formally ask the Singapore Government to consent to the jurisdiction of the international court and let's hope that it's made with Singapore's consent," he said.

Mr Downer says CHOGM offers no hope to those seeking to prevent the execution of Nguyen.

Mr Downer doubts the matter would get much traction at CHOGM.

"In the context of CHOGM, in the context of the Commonwealth it might be slightly less than, but around half of all the members of the Commonwealth do have capital offences," he said.

"They do execute people."

Former Labor prime minister Gough Whitlam says Australia has acted too late.

"They should have been taking it up with Singapore and our neighbours for many years," he said.

The Government says it has always argued strongly against capital punishment.

Execution presence denied

Nguyen's lawyers say they have been denied permission to attend his execution.

Mr Lasry says he and lawyer Julian McMahon wanted to offer support to their client.

Mr Lasry says Singapore's decision is hard to understand.

"We applied to be present for our client's sake for the comfort that it would give him," he said.

"Although we'll say more about this later, but it's difficult to understand why our attempt to comfort our client by being present would be rejected out of hand by the Government but it has been."

Singaporean media

The Singapore media have warned that more Australians will probably face a similar fate.

Nguyen's family visited him for the fourth day in a row, knowing their time together is quickly coming to an end.

The case is attracting more attention in Singapore with the nation's biggest newspaper the Straits Times warning that more Australians will be hanged if they try to smuggle heroin.

Strongly defending Singapore's death penalty policy, the paper's editorial said Australians had to show their breeding by learning to accept it.

The English language paper has close links to the Singaporean Government and its editorials are considered a clear indication of official views.

Anger as Singapore hanging looms

Story from BBC NEWS:
http://news.bbc.co.uk/go/pr/fr/-/2/hi/asia-pacific/4468644.stm

A former Australian prime minister has called Singapore a "rogue Chinese port" for ignoring appeals to save a drug smuggler from the death penalty.
Gough Whitlam, in office in the 1970s, made the remark in an interview about the case of an Australian national who is due to be hanged next week.

Australia has appealed for clemency to be granted to Nguyen Tuong Van.

Singapore insisted the law must take its course, saying that drugs ruined the lives of addicts.

Nguyen's lawyer welcomed Mr Whitlam's support but said his remarks about Singapore would not help.

Mr Whitlam said the Australian Prime Minister, John Howard, should go further by raising the issue at the Commonwealth Heads of Government Meeting in Malta on Friday.

"If [the meeting] is of any use then it should be raised there, because it concerns many other countries - some larger, some smaller than the rogue Chinese port city," he told The Age newspaper.

Nguyen is due to be executed on 2 December after being convicted of trafficking 400 grams (14.11 ounces) of heroin in 2002.

Mr Howard said he would not campaign for support in Malta for his clemency pleas, saying that would likely harden Singapore's determination.

Published: 2005/11/25 02:29:25 GMT

Australians Call for Singapore Boycott Over Nguyen Execution

Nov. 25 (Bloomberg) --

Australian consumers and politicians called for boycotts of companies including Singapore Airlines Ltd. and Singtel Optus Ltd. to protest Singapore's decision to hang convicted Australian drug smuggler Nguyen Tuoang Van next week.

``I want our government to yell more loudly and make it very clear to Singapore that this will have consequences in our relationship and our dealings with them,'' said Democrats Senator Natasha Stott-Despoja, who urged investors to shun a planned A$1.6 billion ($1.2 billion) initial public offering of Australian assets this month by Singapore Power Ltd.

The public outcry may derail an improvement in relations between the two countries, which signed a free-trade accord in 2003 that helped expand bilateral trade to more than A$15 billion a year. Government-controlled Singapore Airlines is lobbying for permission to fly lucrative Australia-U.S. routes, while customers could desert Optus, which contributes two-thirds of Singapore Telecommunications Ltd.'s sales.

``This is a very dramatic turnaround as the relationship with Singapore, especially since the advent of the free trade agreement, has been on a high,'' said Garry Rodan, director of the Asia Research Centre at Murdoch University in Western Australia. ``For the last three decades I can't think of an incident that has whipped up such public concern.''

Nguyen, 25, was caught at Singapore's Changi airport in 2002 with 396 grams (14 ounces) of heroin. He claims he was carrying the drug to Australia for a Sydney syndicate to help his brother Khoa, a former heroin addict, pay A$30,000 in debts. Nguyen was sentenced to death and will be hanged on Dec. 2.

`Serious Criminal'

His fate has dominated Australian newspapers and talkback radio. ``Stop this injustice. Let him live,'' said the front-page of the Sydney Morning Herald on Nov. 19.

``Nguyen was a fool. And he's a serious criminal. But he should not be executed,'' Sydney's top-selling Daily Telegraph said in an editorial yesterday.

Prime Minister John Howard, opposition leader Kim Beazley, Governor-General Michael Jeffery, the British Queen's representative in Australia, and Pope Benedict XVI have asked the Singapore government to spare Nguyen's life. Thousands have signed petitions calling on Prime Minister Lee Hsien Loong to grant clemency for Nguyen, according to the Sydney Morning Herald.

Howard, who met Lee at an Asia-Pacific Economic Cooperation forum leaders' meeting in Busan, South Korea last week, dismissed calls for boycotts and economic sanctions as counterproductive.

``It's a desperately sad case, and we remain very regretful that the execution is going to go ahead,'' he told Australian Broadcasting Corp. radio on Nov. 21. ``But it's not going to contaminate our relationship with Singapore.''

In a Nov. 2 letter to Australia's Foreign Minister Alexander Downer explaining the decision not to grant clemency, Singapore Foreign Minister George Yeo said his government has ``a responsibility to prevent Singapore from becoming a conduit for the trafficking of illicit drugs in the region.''

Nguyen's 396 grams of pure heroin was enough to supply more than 26,000 doses to drug addicts, Yeo said.

Boycott

Some newspaper readers are calling for customers to switch from Optus, the Australian unit of Singapore Telecommunications Ltd., Singapore's biggest telephone operator.

``If just a half million current Optus subscribers immediately transferred their business to an Australian telco, a resounding message would reverberate in Singapore government circles,'' reader Geoff Temple-Smith wrote to the Australian newspaper this week.

``Australians are free to make their own purchasing decisions, as are Optus' own customers,'' said a spokesperson for the unit. ``As a company, we have no comment on the issue.''

Another target is government-controlled Singapore Airlines, the world's second-largest airline by market value.

``A simple form of protest is for Australians not to fly on Singapore Airlines,'' said a letter from Donal O'Sullivan, published in the Australian.

The carrier has tried to distance itself from the case. ``We hope our customers in Australia will understand this matter isn't connected, in any way, with Singapore Airlines, and that they will make their choice on commercial grounds,'' the company said in an e-mailed statement.

`Bargaining Chip'

Government legislator Bruce Baird said Singapore's decision to proceed with the hanging should be taken into account when assessing whether to give Singapore Airlines permission to fly between Australia and the U.S.

``I'm not saying it's a bargaining chip, but the execution is one of the things that should be considered as we look at the proposal,'' Baird told ABC radio yesterday.

Nguyen is the latest high-profile case of a young Australian facing drug-related charges in Asia.

Model Michelle Leslie, 24, returned to Sydney this week after a Bali court sentenced her to three months in jail for ecstasy possession. Schapelle Corby, 28, is serving 15 years in prison for smuggling 4.1 kilograms (9 pounds) of marijuana into Bali. Nine other Australians are awaiting trial in Bali on heroin trafficking charges that carry the death penalty.

In Vietnam, two Australians have been sentenced to be executed for heroin trafficking, said Tim Goodwin, coordinator of Amnesty International's Asia Pacific Anti-Death Penalty Network.

Mandatory Death

Singapore, which has mandatory death penalties for murder and drug trafficking, has executed more than 420 people since 1991, Goodwin said. The nation has granted clemency only six times, and ``never as late as this in the process,'' he said. ``It's an extremely grave situation.''

Australia's Foreign Minister Downer discouraged hopes he could save Nguyen's life by taking the case to the International Court of Justice in The Hague, a court whose jurisdiction Singapore doesn't recognize.

``It seems to us there's nothing much more we can do,'' Downer told ABC television on Nov. 23.

The gathering tide of public protest may overwhelm government attempts to avert an economic backlash against Singapore. ``Public opinion has had a strength to it I don't think the Prime Minister anticipated,'' Murdoch University's Rodan said.

Burma the Focus of Drugs Row Between Australia and Singapore

November 24, 2005
By Clive Parker
Irrawady Online

Burma today remained the focus of a dispute over a death sentence imposed by Singapore on Australian citizen Nguyen Tuong Van, as Canberra’s Foreign Minister Alexander Downer entered the argument, saying the city-state was not hypocritical on drugs.

The case has created a media frenzy in Australia this week after the Singaporean opposition leader, Dr Chee Soon Juan, condemned his government for double standards due to its alleged involvement in Burma’s opium trade.

The leader of Singapore’s Democratic Party has called on the government not to hang Van and instead go after the “big fish,” which he says includes drug lords with strong ties to Singapore.

Chee Soon Juan’s comments were immediately picked up by the Australian media, making Rangoon the epicenter for those seeking the release of Van and the end of capital punishment in Singapore. The opposition figure has made similar statements repeatedly in the past, calling on the government to answer questions about its involvement in Burmese drug money.

However, Downer backed the Singaporean government, saying it was not guilty of hypocrisy and stressing the debate would not prevent the hanging from taking place on December 2 as planned.

“I don't think we're going to get anywhere in this discussion about trying to save Van…by suggesting Singapore is giving a nudge and a wink to drug traffickers,” Downer told The Australian.

“I don't think they are being hypocritical,” he added.

Singapore is accused of providing an outlet for drug lord Lo Hsing Han and his son, Steven Law, to launder money generated from Burma’s opium trade, which has then entered the international financial market. Lo Hsing Han—who was granted an amnesty by the Burmese authorities—owns Asia World Construction Company with his family, which built Traders Hotel in downtown Rangoon.

It is not known whether Singapore has current ties to any drug producers in Burma, although experts contacted by The Irrawaddy considered it unlikely. Its government enacted a law in 1999 that criminalizes the laundering of money made through the drugs trade, while the US State Department considers the country to have a good record on fighting narcotics.

"As a matter of policy, Singapore strongly opposes money laundering and terrorist financing,” it says.

Experts say the Singaporean government has done little to help drugs prevention in Burma, instead concentrating on hitting small-time dealers once they reach its borders. The city-state remains the largest investor in Burma, but—like most other countries—it is yet to contribute to the UN Office of Drugs and Crime, which runs the main program to eradicate opium in Burma. Australia has donated money on numerous occasions.

One political analyst based in Singapore, who requested anonymity and claimed that commenting on Singaporean politics “is more dangerous than talking about Burmese politics,” agreed with Downer that talk on Burma in this case was largely irrelevant.

“The Singapore government would not care that much about what the media wrote, but if the US government pressured it to do something about Burma, it might do something about it. Other than that, I don't think the inclusion of Burma in the debate would have any impact on this case,” he said.

Govt preparing Nguyen case for ICJ

ABC Online
AM - Govt preparing Nguyen case for ICJ
AM - Friday, 25 November , 2005 08:05:24
Reporter: Alison Caldwell

Transcript

This is a transcript from AM. The program is broadcast around Australia at 08:00 on ABC Local Radio.

You can also listen to the story in REAL AUDIO and WINDOWS MEDIA and MP3 formats.

TONY EASTLEY: The Federal Government is trying desperately to find a way to mount a case before the International Court of Justice on behalf of convicted heroin trafficker Van Nguyen, who has only seven days to live.

Nguyen is scheduled to be executed this time next week, and so far all of the diplomatic pleas for clemency have failed.

The only hope now for Van Nguyen is a legal argument based on a series of conventions signed by both Australia and Singapore which contain clauses allowing recourse to the International Court.

The case though would have to be lodged in The Hague by Monday, as Alison Caldwell reports.

ALISON CALDWELL: On the diplomatic front, there's now very little if anything Australia can do to save Van Nguyen.

The Prime Minister John Howard has ruled out lobbying other countries to put pressure on Singapore at the Commonwealth Heads of Government Meeting in Malta.

The Commonwealth Secretary-General Don McKinnon is even refusing to buy into the subject of capital punishment.

DON MCKINNON: I'm not going to say whether it should or should not be raised, but I certainly know that any leader has the opportunity to raise anything they wish on the issue of capital punishment.

Yes, there are a number of Commonwealth countries that still do have capital punishment.

ALISON CALDWELL: The best hope is here in Australia, where the Federal Government is trying to find a way to mount a case in the International Court of Justice.

The Government is examining a legal opinion put forward by barrister, Dr Christopher Ward, which focuses on narcotics conventions agreed to by Australia and Singapore.

The conventions contain clauses permitting recourse to the ICJ.

Challis Professor of International Law at the University of Sydney, Don Rothwell, has been involved in the discussions with the Federal Government.

DON ROTHWELL: We were impressed by the sincerity with which the Government was coming to the table on this matter and it was quite clear to us that they were very seriously looking at the legal options we'd put on the table to take this matter to the International Court of Justice.

ALISON CALDWELL: The stumbling point all along seems to have been jurisdiction, that Singapore just wouldn't agree to going to the ICJ. Has that somewhat been overcome now?

DON ROTHWELL: Yes, I think we've fairly conclusively resolved the issue of jurisdiction, because the treaties that were considering ones in which Singapore has already consented to the court's jurisdiction.

So, what we now have been investigating is finding a dispute under those relevant treaties which could be taken to the court.

ALISON CALDWELL: Is it fair to say that lawyers who are acting for the Government are actually sort of finding ways of bolstering the case?

DON ROTHWELL: Yes, look, I think it's clear from our discussions that Government lawyers have looked seriously at the options we've raised, they've done some further investigations, they've bolstered certain aspects of the argument.

So, to that end, it's very clear that Government lawyers are very much engaged in exploring ways to put forward a credible case.

And I think as Mr Downer says, the last thing the Government wants to do, and I think quite understandably, is to put up a stunt before the International Court of Justice.

And so any case that Australia takes forward clearly has to be credible, not only in terms of initially convincing the court to issue provisional measures some time next week, but further on down the track in terms of actually winning the final legal argument before the court.

ALISON CALDWELL: Let's look at the deadline. Initially we thought it would be by the close of business today, but you think that deadline can be pushed out into early next week, do you?

DON ROTHWELL: Yes, look I think the deadline has been extended, but it is possible that if the Government does make a decision over the next few days, the legal documentation and the application to take the matter to the court can be drawn up in Canberra on Monday, it can be lodged by the Australian Ambassador in The Hague on Monday, Netherlands time, and that would still permit time for a hearing before the court on Thursday of next week.

TONY EASTLEY: Professor Don Rothwell, the Challis Professor of International Law at the University of Sydney speaking there with Alison Caldwell.

© 2005 Australian Broadcasting Corporation

More Aussies 'to die over drugs'

By Jake Lloyd-Smith in Singapore

25-11-2005
From: AAP

MORE Australians would face the hangman if they tried to smuggle heroin through Singapore, the city-state's biggest newspaper said today, in a warning that echoes its government's tough anti-drugs stand.

In a strong defence of Singapore's decision to execute convicted trafficker Van Tuong Nguyen, the Straits Times newspaper also commended Prime Minister John Howard for the "polite" way he had raised concerns about the case.

In an editorial, headlined "Execution of a drug runner", the paper held out no hope for Nguyen, who is scheduled to die next Friday.

"The reality is more Australians can expect to face the death penalty here because too many choose to dice with death," it predicted.

The daily said while it "shared the anguish" of Nguyen's family, Australians needed to understand why the Melbourne man deserved to die for his crime.

The newspaper is Singapore's main English-language daily, and like all the domestic press has intimate links to the governing People's Action Party.

The paper is not "free" in the mainstream Western sense.

It supports what local officials dub nation-building and editorials typically, but not always, reflect government positions.

Today's broadside comes exactly one week before Nguyen, 25, is scheduled to hanged at dawn on next Friday.

The Melbourne man was arrested carrying almost 400 grams of heroin while in transit at Singapore's Changi airport in 2002.

All pleas for clemency have been rejected, and the chances of a reprieve appear almost non-existent.

The newspaper described the looming execution as "churning up a wash of angst from across the seas".

It recommended that "Australians should take an objective look at the crime, not only the punishment".

"The drugs trade is a destroyer of lives and society, vividly so in this region. Australians who have an imperfect understanding of this can only learn to educate themselves."

The editorial praised Mr Howard's "polite" diplomacy, but it also recited the city-state Government's position that it was up to Singapore to choose its own criminal justice system.

"As much as Singaporeans make no judgment on the value of jurisprudence which has served the Australian Commonwealth well, Australians show their breeding by learning to accept what the Singapore situation requires."

The paper's salvo reflects the Singapore Government's more muscular approach in recent days to defending its position on Nguyen's case.

Earlier this week, Singapore's Speaker of Parliament Abdullah Tarmugi wrote a powerful letter to his Australian counterpart defending the decision not to grant clemency.

And yesterday there was a similar rebuttal from a mid-level minister after he met Victorian Attorney-General Rob Hulls.

Today's editorial added: "The message has been forthright: Singapore shall not be laid low by narcotics and the drugs trade.

"From this vantage point it would seem all of establishment Australia, from the Howard Government on down, has an ideological problem with Singapore's judicial act of giving the worst drug offenders mandatory death."

ABC Forum and Views on Capital Punishment in Singapore

Singaporeans who are against the death penalty are not alone.


Death Penalty a Sign of Society's Weakness

"Australians travelling overseas have to be respectful of the laws of those countries in which they visit.

It is not as though travellers aren't warned of the consequences of trafficking in drugs.

That said though, I do not believe in the death penalty. Countries that impose the death penalty do so as an easy fix and it is usually a domestic political decision.

It is hypocritical of a society to have laws against murder, for example, and yet put to death a murderer. Murder is murder whether it is State sanctioned or not. No person or society has the right to take another's life.

An execution cannot be reversed and the victim cannot be compensated. At present in the United States, the legal and illegal murder capital of the world, the death sentence has not deterred would-be criminals.

The death penalty treats the symptoms of crime rather that the root causes - it is simply an easy fix."

"I think question we should being ask is if we are comfortable with the state killing someone in our name. In a western liberal democrcay all stake holders and in essence we can all have a responsobility for the actions of our government. I for one would be deeply uncomfortable and the thought of a society I was part of advocating state sanctioned killing."

Singapore Government Support Drugs lords?

"What about the people who produce the drugs? Are they not supported by the Singapore Government as we heard on Lateline last night? The usual hypocrisy! Anyway count yourselves lucky, compared to our poor Singaporean cousins, we can even talk like this in Australia!

They support the drug lords!

Don't blame the Singaporeans, blame the PAP!"

Sentencing is all wrong.

"Can any one give life to anyone? If the answer is no, u have no right to take another person's life.

Life is the most precious gift of nature and if it is taken away the person can never regret for the crime committed, so what is the use of capiatl punishment if the person is killed?

Is it fair to punish some one to scare others?

A governmetn is there to save lives and protect its citizens. How come a democratic government such as Singaporean, can hang a citizen? It is bullying and misuse of authority by government? What is the difference between govt and tessrorist if both take life in an open day ligh infront of a mother? The civilisation is heading towards its end I am afraid. Ego and illusions are changing human to a cruel being of this universe. Please appreciate our life, its is easy to bring up a 25 yr old human. Let him an opportunity to regret for his did."

CAPTAINS OF LIVES?!?!?

"Did you see the detail on the letter to Mrs. Nguyen from the Singapore Prison at Changi? It is awful that there is the Singapore Prison Service's "CAPTAINS OF LIVES" logo directly UNDERNEATH the prison superintendant's signature. That must have been very offensive to Mrs. Nguyen when she read it! Their spiel is to "...protect society through the safe custody of offenders, as well as the rehabilitation of inmates..." despite the fact that they want to hang Van Nguyen on 2nd December"

Freedom of Speech

I was emailed the following via Sg Review. I believe it was written by Sarong Party Girl although I will have to wait for confirmation.

Singapore ranks a dismal #140 on the Press Freedom index, and our eminent Senior Minister has pointed out that a more liberalized press does not necessarily result in ‘ a clean and efficient government or economic freedom and prosperity’. Looking at the Press Freedom index, with Singapore ranking behind countries like Argentina, the Philippines and even Indonesia, that statement certainly has more than an ounce of truth in it.

It must be acknowledged that the press has the potential to be as corrupt as any government, and that an independent media has as much propensity towards corruption as a press controlled by the government. A corrupt independent press would not necessarily encourage an efficient government, economic freedom or prosperity. As such, the purpose of a free press is questionable.

The inability to discern between the level of education of the general public of a nation and its economic state is where the Freedom of Press index falls short. An independent press is no use if people are not educated, open-minded or affluent enough to first understand and then change or make reasonable demands for change, of the state of their society.

An independent, objective press however, that seeks the truth beyond government interests, for the benefit of the country as a whole, while being aware that the government and the people make up the state of the nation, and that one cannot function efficiently without the other, is what is desired.

A press that is able to function autonomously within legal guidelines run by sensible people that is biased to no one, who’s aspiration is the thoroughly considered opinion of the truth, is what will eventually be needed for any country that desires to be taken seriously as part of the democratic elite of the developed countries.

The point for a more liberalized press, in my humble opinion, isn’t a clean and efficient government or economic freedom and prosperity, although given the right social situation in which people are educated and open-minded enough to discern truth from mere opinion, more economic freedom and prosperity will result. This is clearly observable in the developed nations that rank highest on the freedom of press index. Switzerland, one of the world’s richest nations, after whom much of Singapore’s democratic aspirations and politically neutral state with respect to the rest of the world is modelled after ranks #1 on the index.

A more liberalized press in a country of Singapore’s status as an educated nation is necessary for the freedom of expression in matters that Singaporeans feel strongly about. Matters that go beyond public spending for peripheral social desirables like toilets for the disabled, or the necessity for later opening hours for shops or even the changes in the education system and the opening of casinos upon our shores. In matters that question bureaucratic and corporate decisions without the fear of expulsion from the country without the means to appeal to a judiciary system that rests each decision upon her people. Because fear taints the sincerity of any opinion, and would naturally lead it to being biased towards the entity to which the fear is responsible.

An independent press, desirably, is the rational, objective voice of the people, not set up to be at odds with the government, but to bring out a broad public opinion on decisions that affect the core of Singaporean society. It allows for the communication of the genuinely taboo at its most unadulterated, taking into consideration all its factors, from cultural resistance to even and especially, political complication and corporate interests.

A press that is independent and thus freer is an outlet of expression for the people. It is important, not to mention only humane, that Singaporeans live in a state knowing that they are free as individuals, and that they have a collective right and thus a collective power to change things for the general good of society.

That capitalist aspirations and corporate interests initially came before the welfare of the people was necessary for Singapore’s economic development, and necessary for the development of an affluent society. But if Singapore is ever to become dynamic economically and culturally, a nation that truly belongs to the people, an independent press is inevitable, because her people need a voice that is our own.

Singapore opposition leader preaches disobedience

Thu Nov 24, 2005 4:32 AM GMT

By Geert De Clercq

SINGAPORE (Reuters) - Singapore's most vocal opposition politician believes that politics in the city-state will not be reformed through elections but by civil disobedience against what he calls "unjust laws".

Chee Soon Juan, secretary-general of the Singapore Democratic Party (SDP), said he plans to use forthcoming elections to talk about democratic reform and will continue to promote civil liberties in the face of libel laws and limits on political activities.

Prime Minister Lee Hsien Loong is widely expected to call a general election at the end of this year or early in 2006.

"For us it is not a matter of getting into parliament. Under the current system you will be used as window dressing to show that Singapore is a democracy when in fact it is not," Chee, 43, told Reuters in an interview last week at the dilapidated shophouse that serves as his party headquarters.

Singapore has been ruled since independence in 1965 by the People's Action Party (PAP), whose economic policies have made the city-state the second-wealthiest nation in Asia after Japan in terms of income per capita.

Opposition parties complain the deck is stacked against them.

"In order to have free and fair elections we need to have free speech and a free press," Chee said.

Singapore bars demonstrations or speeches without a permit but allows unlicensed public talks if they are held indoors and avoid "sensitive subjects" such as race or religion. Public gatherings of more than four people require a police permit.

Comparing his struggle to Mahatma Gandhi's non-violent fight against British colonisers and drawing parallels with the American civil rights movement, Chee said he would continue to defy curbs on public expression and free assembly.

"It is never enough to appeal to the good sense of the government. Authoritarian governments never budge. It really takes action on the part of the citizens," Chee said.

Chee's attempts at civil disobedience have landed him in jail several times and in 2002 he was slapped with a S$3,000 fine for speaking in public without a permit. A fine of S$2,000 or more bars a person from standing in a general election for five years.

The government has warned against acts of civil disobedience that break the law.

Home affairs minister Wong Kan Seng said in a speech in August that one's beliefs did not give a person the right to break the law and it was up to an elected government to change laws that were deemed out of date or oppressive.

FAILING TO STRIKE A CHORD

Critics say Chee has failed to strike a chord with the Singaporean public because of his adversarial style and because he fights for abstract causes such as human rights rather than the bread-and-butter issues Singaporeans care about.

Chee blames that on the government's success at wearing potential opposition politicians down.

In 1993, months after Chee ran in a by-election for the SDP, he was sacked from his job as a lecturer at the National University of Singapore, which accused him of improperly using S$226 (US$137) of his research grant to send his wife's academic papers to a U.S. university.

When Chee said the evidence was fabricated, he was sued by his former department head -- a PAP member of parliament -- and ordered to pay $200,000 plus court costs.

This year he lost another libel case for comments made during the 2001 poll and was ordered to pay about $300,000 in damages.

Chee said he is set to be declared bankrupt as a result, which could permanently block him from elections as the law bars declared bankrupts from holding political office.

The U.S. State Department says the threat of libel has stifled political opinion in Singapore. Singapore leaders say such actions are necessary to protect their reputations.

Chee said the next poll is set to be another walkover as the opposition will probably not be able to field enough candidates.

"Who in their right mind would jeopardise their career, their future, their family, given what has happened to the opposition before. We have been jailed, we have been sued, made bankrupt, driven out of the country," said Chee, who lives with his wife and three young children in a two-bedroom flat.

In the 2001 election all the opposition parties combined fielded 29 candidates for 84 seats, a three-decade low.

The opposition had its best showing in 1991 when the SDP won three seats out of 81 and the Workers Party one. But a conflict between then SDP leader Chiam See Tong and Chee led Chiam to form a new party. Chiam now has one of two opposition seats, whereas the SDP has never made it back into parliament.

Unveil the Violent truths

Thursday • November 24, 2005
Constance Singam

THIS Friday is the International Day to End Violence Against Women.

Violence, especially that which takes place behind closed doors, is not an easy subject to talk about.

Most men are uncomfortable when confronted with the issue and a lot of women don't want to be labelled victims. Unfortunately, there are many victims.

A 2002 World Health Organization (WHO) report states that domestic violence constitutes the majority of violent acts, yet is the least reported.

I remember my first speech about domestic violence at the Marine Parade library, 19 years ago, as part of a national campaign to raise awareness of the problem.

We went around to community centres and libraries to speak about domestic violence. Nobody wanted to hear about it.

When I went to make that first speech, nobody turned up. The librarian was so embarrassed that she rounded up a few people still in the library!

The WHO report stresses how violence affects not only the victim, but also entire communities and nations, socially and economically.

For example, in some countries, health care expenditures caused by violence account for up to 5 per cent of the gross domestic product.

There are other forms of violence against women:

• Systematic rape, used as a weapon of war, has left millions of women and adolescent girls traumatised, forcibly impregnated or infected with HIV.

A study by the United Nations Development Fund for Women revealed that 20,000 women were believed to have been raped during the fighting in Kosovo. Perhaps as many as 500,000 women were raped during the genocide in Rwanda.

• In Singapore, approximately one rape takes place every three days.

• In Asia, at least 60 million girls are "missing" due to pre-natal sex selection, infanticide or neglect.

• Female genital mutilation/cutting affects an estimated 130 million women and girls. Each year, 2 million more undergo the practice.

Violence against women also takes the form of other harmful practices — such as child marriage, honour killings, acid burning, dowry-related violence, and widow inheritance and cleansing.

• Forced prostitution, trafficking for sex and sex tourism appear to be growing problems (as it is between Singapore and Batam).

Each year, an estimated 800,000 people are trafficked across international borders — 80 per cent of them women and girls.

Most of them end up trapped in the commercial sex trade.

This figure does not include the substantial number of women and girls bought and sold within their own countries.

Nelson Mandela once commented on "the pain of children who are abused by people who should protect them, women injured or humiliated by violent partners, elderly persons maltreated by their caregivers".

"We must," he said, "be tireless in our efforts not only to attain peace, justice and prosperity for the country, but for communities and members of the same family."

The very idea of child abuse, trafficking, incest or elderly abuse is abominable and in some ways, as controversial as domestic violence was and continues to be in some cultures.

But we must raise questions and talk about such issues.

The writer is a former president of Aware — which also marks its 20th anniversary on Friday — and the Singapore Council of Women's Organisations.

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