Police show up at roy’s home at 9pm to demand he come in for questioning
[h=1]POLICE SHOW UP AT ROY’S HOME AT 9PM TO DEMAND HE COME IN FOR QUESTIONING[/h]
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20 Oct 2014 - 11:24pm
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The police visited Roy Ngerng at his home tonight at
9.00pm. He was handed a letter to ask him to go to the police station to be investigated for “unlawful assembly” at 2.30pm tomorrow.
Roy is being investigated for taking part in the #ReturnOurCPF protest on 27 September 2014 at the Hong Lim Park Speaker’s Corner.
The protest was intended to advocate for the Singapore government to return to Singaporeans their CPF retirement funds which according to the protestors, have been siphoned off by the government and not returned.
The organiser of the protest, Han Hui Hui, and several other attendees and volunteers were also investigated a week ago. The police had also wanted to investigate Roy a week ago. However, he was overseas to attend the Media and Internet Freedom Conference in Kuala Lumpur. Upon returning to Singapore last night, the police were quick to haul Roy up to be interviewed.
Under the law, “illegal assembly” refers to “an assembly of 5 or more persons. It is understood, however, that the Hong Lim Park Speaker’s Corner is exempted and is unrestricted for Singaporeans to protest and demonstrate.
However, even though there is the existence of a law which criminalises the assembly of 5 or more persons as “illegal assembly”, the constitution of Singapore actually caters for otherwise.
According to the constitution, “every citizen of Singapore has the right to freedom of speech and expression”. Also, “all citizens of Singapore have the right to assemble peaceably”.
However, also written into the constitution is that the Singapore parliament is able to override Singaporeans’ citizenry rights if it is “to provide against contempt of court, defamation or incitement to any offence” or if it is considered “necessary or expedient in the interest of the security of Singapore”.
However, even so, it is unclear how the Singaporeans who had attended the #ReturnOurCPF protest would have done anything that can be considered against the “security of Singapore”. It is unlikely that Singaporeans would agree that a protest to advocate for the transparency and accountability of the Central Provident Fund (CPF) system and the return of Singaporeans’ return of their retirement funds can be considered a national threat.
On the contrary, it is more likely that the Singapore government’s lack of response to the protest demands to increase the CPF interest rates and to be more transparent and accountable to Singaporeans on the use of the CPF is more detrimental to the national security of Singapore.
If so, it would be more pertinent that the Singapore government and ministers responsible are investigated for their role in the Singapore CPF system.
In fact, Roy is currently undergoing a lawsuit against him by the Singapore prime minister Lee Hsien Loong, who has sued him for defamation. The prime minister has accused Roy of defaming of misappropriation of Singaporeans’ CPF retirement funds. Roy has countered that his aim is to demand for the government to be transparent and accountable to Singaporeans on their management of the CPF system.
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A similar thread seems to run along the defamation suit and current police investigations – they surround the demand for the transparency and accountability of the CPF retirement funds. However, the response from the government – the defamation suit and the police investigations – seems to suggest an unwillingness to engage with the issue of the CPF at hand and to instead use dogmatic measures to distract from the issue.
When Han was investigated by the police, she was held for more than 8 hours. It is understood that some of the other attendees who were investigated were also held for 6 hours or more.
When Han was being investigated, she had claimed that the police refused her dinner and took her notebook forcefully and which was only returned, after her lawyer, M Ravi intervened and accused the police of being over-handed.
Roy will be going to the Police Cantonment Complex at 2.30pm. If the investigations last for more than 8 hours, Roy might be kept until late in the night.
According to Roy, in his latest updates, he explained that, “The reason why we should speak up is not because it is cool to do so, or that it is fashionable. We speak up because we want to make our lives better and improve the lives of Singaporeans.”
He also said that, “The PAP government also spends the least in social protection for Singaporeans among the developed countries, and things have fallen behind so badly in Singapore that Singaporeans have one of the least adequate retirement funds in the world” and explained that, “if each Singapore decide at once that for our own lives and our own survival, we have to speak up, imagine how change can come to Singapore overnight and how the things we have been waiting to happen, to improve the lives of Singaporeans, will finally happen.”
He ended off by saying that, “The PAP is very afraid of you, my friends. We can let fear affect us or we can make the PAP government buckle at its knees, because we find our voice, use it and demand for our rights to be returned and get the government to finally do its job.”
If so, it seems that the police investigations of Roy and the attendees to the #ReturnOurCPF protest seems to only affirm that it is indeed true that the Singapore government is fearful to the repercussions that Roy’s speaking up has to its governance.
You Stinkee wanna mess with me? I will "fix" you!
