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Foreign Publishers????-Chee's Chall



Subject: Foreign Publishers????-Chee's Challenge (fwd)

Chee needs funds and support, if anyone has contacts to western
publishers, he should get a book contract NOW and support during this
trial. No one should let him and this opportunity for him to raise funds
in a CHEE DEFENSE FUND. He needs help, not ridicule or trial. With all
the media, shouldn't publishers step in now for a wide open look at the
Singapore drug connection?

dawn star


Htun Aung Gyaw wrote:
> 
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> Dear Netters,
> We can see the meaning of Asian's value in Singapore, Malaysia, Indonesia
> and Burma.  Here is Singapore example.
> 
> >Associated Press
> >January 30, 1999
> >
> >Singapore-Chee's Challenge
> >JASMINA KUZMANOVIC
> >
> >SINGAPORE
> >
> >
> >Chee Soon Juan goes on trial Monday for an unprecedented challenge to
> >Singapore's free speech restrictions that has created some buzz for
> >the nation's weak opposition movement.
> >
> >But the question is whether the 36-year-old politician has misjudged
> >the readiness of people to support political reform in this closely
> >regulated island state where opposition groups hold only three of
> >Parliament's 84 seats.
> >
> >Chee, leader of the tiny 200-member Singapore Democratic Party, faces
> >trial because he ignored a requirement that he get a police permit to
> >speak in public. He will have a separate trial on Feb. 9 on a second
> >count of the same charge.
> >
> >It is no small matter in Singapore. Each count carries a maximum
> >penalty of a dlrs 3,000 fine and a possible five-year ban on running
> >for office.
> >
> >But the former university lecturer said in a speech Wednesday that he
> >would rather go to jail than pay a fine, in order to focus attention
> >on what he considers Singapore's unjust restrictions on speech and
> >assembly.
> >
> >''I'm trying to raise the level of consciousness of Singaporeans,''
> >Chee told The Associated Press in an interview.
> >
> >During one speech that resulted in the charges he read parts of the
> >constitution to Singaporeans, who are often unaware of what the
> >document says.

> >
> >''It's time to break the atmosphere of fear, to say it's all right to
> >criticize the government, to hold it accountable for its actions,'' he
> >said. This ''entire generation of Singaporeans have grown up reading
> >just one paper and listening to just one TV station. It's time for
> >change.''
> >
> >This thriving financial center has been controlled for 40 years by the
> >People's Action Party. The government bans movies or videos made or
> >distributed by political parties, including campaign ads. It controls
> >the sole TV corporation and only newspaper publishing house. Police
> >can detain people indefinitely without charge, and opposition
> >politicians are frequent losers in libel suits brought by government
> >leaders.
> 
> >
> >The constitution guarantees freedom of speech and assembly. But the
> >governing party has imposed tight restrictions on civic activity,
> >citing fears about the emotions that could be generated in discussions
> >of political, religious, ethnic and language differences in
> >Singapore's multiethnic society of 3.1 million people.
> >
> >Police have the power to deny requests for speaking permits, including
> >at indoor functions. They can order the timing or the venue changed,
> >sometimes to inconvenient or more expensive locations.
> >
> >Chee argues that permits, when they are granted, can take up to six
> >weeks and are often issued at the last minute in a city that prides
> >itself on efficiency.
> >
> >He wants all that changed, even if he has to break the law.
> >
> >But civil disobedience does not sit well with Singaporeans, most of
> >whom believe the government is the guarantor of the nation's
> >prosperity and racial harmony.
> >
> >Although Chee attracted crowds of up to 600 at his speeches in the
> >central business district, few of his countrymen feel his effort will
> >succeed.
> >
> >''It's a valiant campaign, but he's going up a huge mountain. The
> >government is too powerful,'' said Kevin, a 28-year-old banker, who
> >like many Singaporeans would not give his full name when talking to a
> >foreign reporter.
> >
> >Like other middle-class kids in rich Singapore, Chee studied in the
> >West, earning a doctorate in psychology from the University of
> >Georgia. He returned in 1990 to become a lecturer at the National
> >University.
> >
> >Then, in 1992, he joined the Singapore Democratic Party, which has
> >never won a seat in Parliament.
> >
> >Three months later he was fired for allegedly misusing dlrs 100 of his
> >research funds. When Chee alleged that his dismissal was politically
> >motivated, his boss, who is a member of the ruling party, won a
> >defamation case for dlrs 235,000.
> >
> >''We had to sell our house,'' Chee said.
> >
> >He said he now supports himself and his wife, eight months pregnant,
> >by selling his book, ''To Be Free,'' on the streets at lunch time.
> >
> >The book is about Asia's political prisoners and democracy advocates,
> >and was written in Australia over the past two years after Chee lost a
> >bid for a Parliament seat in 1997.
> >

> >During that campaign, a government-controlled newspaper ran a cartoon
> >depicting Chee as a puppet in the hands of the foreign press. And
> >government leaders now dismiss him as an attention-seeking,
> >out-of-touch expatriate.
> >
> >Bruce Gale, analyst for the Hong Kong-based Political and Risk
> >Consultancy, feels Chee has mistimed his actions.
> >
> >''Supposedly he was thinking that if Singaporeans are going to change
> >the law, now is the time,'' Gale said, referring to Asia's recession
> >and rising unemployment. ''But he must have known how they will
> >react.''
> >
> >Chee, however, told the Foreign Correspondents Association on
> >Wednesday that his defiance of the permit rules was only one step on a
> >long road toward creating a ''level playing field'' in civic matters.
> >
> >''I've been sacked, sued, fired, harassed and robbed of my career,
> >robbed of the means to make a living,'' Chee said. ''When you push
> 
> >someone into a corner where there is no way out, he either submits or
> >fights back. I have a family to raise and a party to lead.''
> >
> >
> >Copyright 1999 Associated Press
> >
> >
> >
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