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(More customer reviews)Like most Americans, I knew a few odd things about Singapore and nothing much about its history, politics, or the manner of life of its citizens. This terrific reporting done by Chris Lydgate reveals a lot to me that the strange episode of the kid getting caned for vandalism did not.
I did not know of the one party rule in that city-state and the ruthless and extreme measures taken to keep that power in the hands of the PAP. Small states in hostile areas often justify their need for police state measures because of their size and context in the nations around them. However, in nearly all those cases the threat never ends and the police powers are the normal way of life. In Singapore dissent was crushed by torture and long imprisonments (decades) without ever being charged with anything. This kind of brutality is beyond the comprehension of Americans. Why? Why the need to keep power by any means? This kind of government corrupts the fabric of the society it claims to protect.
Mr. Lydgate brings us the story of one Joshua Benjamin Jeyaretnam. He is a person who has given everything to the fight for social justice and political plurality in Singapore. Mr. Jeyaretnam is a man of talents and strength who led the opposition party (the Workers Party) to the PAP. The PAP used EVERY means to drive Jeyaretnam out of government including the courts. Singapore apparently has very strange laws about defamation and the PAP influence on the courts makes these strange laws subject to even stranger interpretations. For example, the suit that finally broke Mr. Jeyaretnam happened because he mentioned that an associate had placed a report on the podium in front of him. Somehow that constituted an endorsement of what was in the report! This subjected him to hundreds of thousands of dollars in fines and court costs.
This kind of abuse of the legal system to break anyone who would speak out is obscene to Americans. As are the threats of the prime minister to not refurbish the government-subsidized buildings in districts that voted for the opposition. These naked power plays seem something out of America's Tammany Hall days.
Singapore suffers from being a country that is really a huge city. The Prime Minister is a mayor with too much power over the other aspects of government. It isn't big enough to have sufficient other structures to dilute his power. While Singaporeans justly resent outside influence and recommendations for improvement, I think the advanced democracies need to work to make Singapore a more open and free society in terms of the rights of speech and freedom from government harassment for raising questions.
Mr. Jeyaretnam is the hero of this book and yet in his old age he is reduced to selling books from a stand on the street and is still harassed by hundreds of thousands of dollars in fines and court costs. Lovers of freedom and pluralism in the west should reach out and help the aged warrior. There must be some agency that could put together a fund to help him live the dignified life he deserves.
Thanks to Mr. Lydgate for bringing our attention to this important story and this hero of Singapore.
Click Here to see more reviews about: Lee's Law: How Singapore Crushes Dissent
The perils of dissent in Singapore are at the heart of this poignant story of the country's most prominent opposition politician, J. B. Jeyaretnam. Following the career of this ambitious lawyer, prosecutor, and judge, the book traces his subsequent disenchantment with the system, his stunning political breakthrough at Anson in l981, and the devastating consequences of his direct opposition to Lee Kuan Yew and the ruling government. A chilling insight into Singapore's politics, the book also raises questions about Singapore's brand of "Asian democracy."
Click here for more information about Lee's Law: How Singapore Crushes Dissent
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