Dissident urges Obama to push Singapore on rights
The Associated Press
Wednesday, January 21, 2009
SINGAPORE: A Singapore opposition leader has called on President Barack Obama to take steps to encourage the island nation's government to stop committing human rights abuses.
Chee Soon Juan, the leader of the Singapore Democratic Party, praised Obama's record as a civil rights lawyer and said he hoped the new "administration's foreign policy will be as enlightened."
"I have every confidence that the U.S. will pay more attention to the human rights abuses of the Singapore government and take positive steps to help Singapore join the community of democracies," Chee said in a five-minute video posted on YouTube and his party's Web site on Tuesday.
He criticized the restrictions imposed on speech, assembly, the media and elections, but did not outline what he thought Obama could do to improve the human rights situation in Singapore and across Asia.
Chee called the government "effectively a dictatorship."
A spokesman for Prime Minister Lee Hsien Loong was not available for comment Wednesday.
The People's Action Party has ruled Singapore since independence in 1959 and holds 82 out of 84 seats in Parliament.
The government has previously said some restrictions are necessary to maintain harmony in the tiny, multiethnic island.
There was no immediate comment from Washington.
Last year, Human Rights Watch accused Singapore of using defamation lawsuits to stifle criticism of the government in the press and to bankrupt opposition leaders, including Chee. Singapore's leaders have also sued journalists several times in past years for alleged defamation. They have won lawsuits and damages against Bloomberg, The Economist, the International Herald Tribune, the Far Eastern Economic Review and the Wall Street Journal.
The Associated Press
Wednesday, January 21, 2009
SINGAPORE: A Singapore opposition leader has called on President Barack Obama to take steps to encourage the island nation's government to stop committing human rights abuses.
Chee Soon Juan, the leader of the Singapore Democratic Party, praised Obama's record as a civil rights lawyer and said he hoped the new "administration's foreign policy will be as enlightened."
"I have every confidence that the U.S. will pay more attention to the human rights abuses of the Singapore government and take positive steps to help Singapore join the community of democracies," Chee said in a five-minute video posted on YouTube and his party's Web site on Tuesday.
He criticized the restrictions imposed on speech, assembly, the media and elections, but did not outline what he thought Obama could do to improve the human rights situation in Singapore and across Asia.
Chee called the government "effectively a dictatorship."
A spokesman for Prime Minister Lee Hsien Loong was not available for comment Wednesday.
The People's Action Party has ruled Singapore since independence in 1959 and holds 82 out of 84 seats in Parliament.
The government has previously said some restrictions are necessary to maintain harmony in the tiny, multiethnic island.
There was no immediate comment from Washington.
Last year, Human Rights Watch accused Singapore of using defamation lawsuits to stifle criticism of the government in the press and to bankrupt opposition leaders, including Chee. Singapore's leaders have also sued journalists several times in past years for alleged defamation. They have won lawsuits and damages against Bloomberg, The Economist, the International Herald Tribune, the Far Eastern Economic Review and the Wall Street Journal.
