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US President ignored Chee's open letter.

gobuster

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Singapore Sidestep
The president passes on a chance to push his "freedom agenda"
Ellen Bork
Weekly Standard
December 6, 2006

While President Bush was in Singapore last month, Chee Soon Juan, a leading democracy campaigner, addressed an open letter to him. The letter asked Bush to press Singapore's prime minister, Lee Hsien Loong, on democracy, arguing that "a democratic and free Singapore will not only benefit the people of this city-state but also contribute to a more stable and prosperous Asia."

In fact, Chee had reason to hope President Bush would assist the cause in Singapore. The president's national security adviser said that the speech would "talk about the he freedom agenda and what freedom and democracy since the end of the Second World War have done to help transform Asia." Precisely one year before, at Kyoto, Japan, the president had made a memorable speech extolling his "freedom agenda" and highlighting the importance of democracy to relations between the United States and Japan.

In Singapore, by contrast, it took quite some time for the president to get around to talking about democracy. And, since Singapore isn't one, the president couldn't speak about how democratic values are the bulwark of the partnership between the two countries. Nevertheless, the president could have made remarks in support of freedom of speech and democracy in Singapore itself--he could have praised people like Chee. But he didn't.

One week after the president's speech, Chee reported for a prison term. Libel suits against him for insulting Singapore's authoritarian leaders have ruined him financially, barred him from electoral politics, and made jail terms inevitable. His party reports that he has become ill in prison. Chee is not the only victim of such tactics, just one of the most vulnerable. The American media company Dow Jones is now enmeshed in litigation as a result of an interview published in its magazine, the Far Eastern Economic Review, in which Chee said such dreadful things as: "If we had parliamentary debates where the opposition could pry and ask questions, I think he [Lee Kuan Yew, the prime minister's father and the most powerful man in Singapore] is actually afraid of something like that." The Review is now banned in Singapore.

Singapore's soft authoritarianism shields it from the kind of attention that Burma and other such regimes attract. But on two counts, Singapore is a test case for the world's democracies. It is a place where proponents of the argument that trade and development lead to democracy have to put up or shut up. And Singapore, with its mixed population including a significant Muslim Malay minority, and its proximity to Malaysia and Indonesia, also has a role to play in the cause of a moderate, pro-democratic Islam. In Singapore, as President Bush said, "young people who have a say in their future are less likely to search for meaning in extremism." Very true. And so there is a connection between the treatment of Singapore's most prominent democracy activist and the president's "freedom agenda."
 

gina

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<p>Singapore Sidestep
</p>
<p>The president passes on a chance to push his "freedom agenda" Ellen Bork
</p>
<p>Weekly Standard
</p>
<p style="color: rgb(255, 0, 0);"><strong><font size="7">December 6, 2006 </font></strong>
</p>
<p>&nbsp;
</p>
 
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Alu862

Guest
Us wil definitely not care--not when the Middle East crisis is so much more a pirority.
 

samurai1110

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Who is this Ellen Bork?
Just another arse-hole as far as one can see fr her writing.
All these talk about human rights.
She sh be talking US using torture in Guatanamo on those people captured and kept there. What happened to human rights there?:rolleyes:
 

guavatree

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Who is this Ellen Bork?
Just another arse-hole as far as one can see fr her writing.
All these talk about human rights.
She sh be talking US using torture in Guatanamo on those people captured and kept there. What happened to human rights there?:rolleyes:

old fart faggot fake monk PAP dog Bob Sim Kheng Hwee,

temple thief, swindler, fraudster, cheat, con-artist, liar, hypocrite, deceiver, all rolled into one!

you only suck lanjiaos how do you noe she did not talk to US on the gitmo issue?
 

Singa Crew

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Alu, why doesn't Singapore deserve USA's attention? Why Burma and not Singapore?

Perhaps that's only your irrational opinion?
 

Singa Crew

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And why on earth is this gobuster posting ancient news from 2006? Has the standard of the PAP Internet Brigade dropped so low that they cannot find fresh material to use?
 
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Alu862

Guest
Irrational, come las Singa shit do you want to suffer under sanctions? blockade? Perhaps you want Operation Singapore Freedom so that you can die of an IED?

Africa, the Middle East and North Korea deserves the US attention. NOT SG. Even Hillary Clinton is visiting Japan first.
 
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Alu862

Guest
US democracy promotion is great--the shoe thrower is a great measurement of US success.

Silly people like Singa Crew think Obama will care. Th economy is in shambles, troops are dying in the ME, there's global warming and you think he'll lift a finger for SG?

I rather he spend his attention of reaching the MDGs in Africa
 

khunking

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Loyal
Why was he addressing an outgoing President? Even if the message got through, the new administration may just ignore it.

Singapore Sidestep
The president passes on a chance to push his "freedom agenda"
Ellen Bork
Weekly Standard
December 6, 2006
 

Singa Crew

Alfrescian
Loyal
US democracy promotion is great--the shoe thrower is a great measurement of US success.

Silly people like Singa Crew think Obama will care. Th economy is in shambles, troops are dying in the ME, there's global warming and you think he'll lift a finger for SG?

I rather he spend his attention of reaching the MDGs in Africa

I cannot help but correct your post.

The shoe thrower is a great measurement of Bush's 'success'. Please do not equate Bush with America. They are 2 different entities.

The economy has always face one crisis after the other. Global warming has been going on for ages now. These threats you mentioned are nothing new. So what's your point?
 

Singa Crew

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Irrational, come las Singa shit do you want to suffer under sanctions? blockade? Perhaps you want Operation Singapore Freedom so that you can die of an IED?

Africa, the Middle East and North Korea deserves the US attention. NOT SG. Even Hillary Clinton is visiting Japan first.

Why are you even thinking of sanctions, blockades and IEDs? Is your mind working right? All those hours working in an air-conditioned ISD office finally wearing you down?

Are you trying to say the PAP has screwed things up so bad that sanctions, blockades and IEDs will come to Singapore? :eek:

Stop making up stories and tell us exactly why getting the international community to pay attention to our plight will cause sanctions, blockades and IEDs.

I think perhaps you neglected to mention your worst fears. That when Singapore gains democracy and freedom, the government will no longer pay you to surf the internet and make up stories like this. :smile:
 

sinren67

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Burma deserves US attention, not SG.

I do agree, but which countries are supporting Burma by providing arms and finanical aids to build roads and facilities like military camps? I think the main contibutors are still China and Sg.
 

Ramseth

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Asset
I do agree, but which countries are supporting Burma by providing arms and finanical aids to build roads and facilities like military camps? I think the main contibutors are still China and Sg.


China is 90% Chinese and Singapore is 75% Chinese. Therefore, Chinese overwhelmingly support Burmese? :biggrin:
 
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Alu862

Guest
Why are you even thinking of sanctions, blockades and IEDs? Is your mind working right? All those hours working in an air-conditioned ISD office finally wearing you down?

Are you trying to say the PAP has screwed things up so bad that sanctions, blockades and IEDs will come to Singapore? :eek:

Stop making up stories and tell us exactly why getting the international community to pay attention to our plight will cause sanctions, blockades and IEDs.

I think perhaps you neglected to mention your worst fears. That when Singapore gains democracy and freedom, the government will no longer pay you to surf the internet and make up stories like this. :smile:

Simple minded pro democracy idiots like you think everything is fine and dandy in a democracy. Ukraine is a democracy? Do you want to experience theri standard of living? Have you seen what US and Western policies did to African nations?

Are you blind you simple minded fool? Have you seen US democracy promotion or are you like Bush? US supported right wing anti communist DICTATORSHIPS in Latin America. They supported the corrupt South Korean regime in the 1950s. They supported the evil Shah of Iran who tortured his peole as badly as the current leadership. Oh democracy promotion--invaded a sovereign country whose people HAD NOTHING TO DO WITH 911?

if you want deomocracy, go live in the US. You can be killed by your neighbour who has the right to carry assault rifles. Your telephone can be tapped by the government especially if you are not a white american. And you can join the anti PRC divorced Gopalan Nair who thinks he is American.

And since when is everyone ISD? Are you that simple minded?
 
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