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Civil society members have lauded new moves by the government
to make it easier for Singaporeans to speak up.
Prime Minister Lee Hsien Loong announced on Sunday that licences
would not be needed for indoor talks and that the free speech
venue, Speakers' Corner can also have performances and exhibitions.
Currently all public talks require a Public Entertainment
Licence, but now indoor talks will be exempt from these requirements
unless they touch on sensitive issues such as race and religion.
The announcement comes after the government, last year, rejected
some recommendations by the Remaking Singapore Committee to
give people and artists more space to express themselves.
The committee had asked for, but failed to obtain, a "designated
space" for artists to perform without a Public Entertainment
Licence.
Bharati Jagdish (BJ) spoke to Nominated Member-of-Parliament,
Chandra Mohan Nair (CMN) who explained why the government
decided that now is the right time to relax public speaking
rules.
CMN: "It has something to do with perhaps having a new
Prime Minister, to give some "sweeteners" so to
speak and I think he's very concerned about the youth in Singapore
and giving more space to arts groups, non-governmental organisations,
civic organisations is a positive sign and I think, genuinely,
the new ministers and junior ministers in the cabinet may
have a new set of thinking and I would like to think that
the idea is to get people to be all-inclusive, get more people
involved in ideas, in the process of decision-making and so
I believe this is definitely a positive sign."
BJ: Now, Prime Minister Lee announced that licences would
not be needed for indoor talks unless they touch on sensitive
issues such as race and religion. So organisations would still
have to take the initiative on their own to go through some
sort of a registration process, wouldn't they?
CMN: "It could be either in the form of registration
or the burden will be left on the organisations. If they're
going to discuss something on religion or race then the burden
falls on them to get the requisite permit from the police
or other authorities."
BJ: But in discussing any issue there will inevitably be
grey areas. How do you think we should deal with the situation
if you're not quite sure about the potential sensitivities
of a particular issue?
CMN: "The government is probably going to push the buck
to the organisers and say, "it's for you to decide".
In a sense, it's the "red lane" and "green
lane", so if you're sure that whatever it is you want
to discuss has nothing to do with race or religion or the
potential sensitivities are not too grey, then you can just
move on in the "green lane" and you don't have to
apply for anything, but if you're unsure, then I suppose you
have to write in to the authorities and probably a permit
will be required for that."
BJ: So, in other words, organisations and people or individuals
just need to be more responsible about what they're going
to do, and they can enjoy the freedoms as well.
CMN: "I believe so and I think the government must have
the confidence to pass on the responsibility to the citizenry
and let them take on this role of being responsible and being
accountable instead of having to apply for everything. In
fact, it eases the burden on the government too. And if there's
a mistake committed, I hope that the government won't be too
harsh as long as the repercussions of the event or talk are
not too drastic. I think it's just like being an entrepreneur,
taking risk of succeeding or or not succeeding. Similarly,
in organising these things, some organisations might make
mistakes, but give them a chance and I think after a while,
things will fall in place."
BJ: In your opinion, would these moves really encourage Singaporeans
in general to come forward and speak and express themselves
or could there still be apprehensions or perhaps a sense of
apathy?
CMN: "I think it would be a mixture of both. Singaporeans
are very pragmatic, but having said that, it seems like an
excuse for the possibility that actually they don't want to
bother and they leave it to others to bring up certain issues.
The government has given the signal that actually you can
do it, so now the burden falls on the people to do it. I think
here's an opportunity so I hope civic organisations and schools,
etc. would take this opportunity to do what is available today
as compared to yesterday. The opportunity is here, so no more
excuses from the public about not getting more involved."
BJ: Do you expect these moves to also perhaps spawn the formation
of new civic groups?
CMN: "In a sense, yes. I think more people would be
willing to come forward because in the old days, there was
always the fear or the perceived fear that something might
go wrong so why take the risk. Now with the Prime Minister
himself encouraging people to do it and in fact, he seems
to be genuine about it and I hope he will practise what he
preaches, then I think it is for, especially the younger generation
of people to get together and under the constitution of Singapore,
you're allowed to form associations - take full advantage
of this. I hope not just the Prime Minister but the Cabinet,
the MPs and especially the Registrar of Societies and the
Ministry of Home Affairs would come up with statements encouraging
people to come forward, form associations and get more active."
Nominated Member-of-Parliament, Chandra Mohan Nair (CMN),
speaking to Bharati Jagdish (BJ).
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