S’pore govt should ease restrictions on freedom of expression: HRW

“But we either believe in democracy or we not. If we do, then, we must say categorically, without qualification, that no restraint from the any democratic processes, other than by the ordinary law of the land, should be allowed… If you believe in democracy, you must believe in it unconditionally. If you believe that men should be free, then, they should have the right of free association, of free speech, of free publication. Then, no law should permit those democratic processes to be set at nought.”
- Lee Kuan Yew as an opposition leader, April 27, 1955

SPH is among of of the huge disgrace to the nation.

LKY and LHL have unlimited rights of expression - LKYs "HARD TRUTHS" is a fine example. So give the basic human right of expression to the people, and do away with ISA and Criminals Law (Temporary Provisions) Act. They had become tools of the PAP to suppressed not only free expressions but demolishing oppositions as well.

Having freedom of expression is as important as having dignity.

Singapore belongs to the people NOT the politicians!

Whahahaa...
PAP deserves this insult !!!
Democracy in Singapore ?? It is as true as Singapore Govt being "clean" !!!

I totally agree with this article. I have to say that Singapore still has very limited freedom expression over its people. People here are not given sufficient rights to say about its Government, and if they do say, the Government immediately prosecutes them. I find this quite very controlling. Whatever it is, Singapore has to relax on its freedom of speech and rights.

If anybody else had written "Hard Truths" he would have been locked up and the key thrown away.

Freedom of Expression is very important for singapore's creative future.....

I guess the most important is the REFORM THE HIGH COURT AND SUBORDINATE COURT structure, REPLACE BENCH TRIAL WITH JURY TRIAL IN ALL civil procedure and criminal procedure!!!!

A jury is a sworn body of people convened to render an impartial verdict (a finding of fact on a question) officially submitted to them by a court, or to set a penalty or judgment. Modern juries tend to be found in courts to ascertain the guilt, or lack thereof, in a crime.
The size of the jury varies; in criminal cases there are usually 12 jurors, although Scotland uses 15. A number of countries that are not in the English common law tradition have quasi-juries on which lay judges or jurors and professional judges deliberate together regarding criminal cases.

In civil cases many trials require only eight.

In most common law jurisdictions, the jury is responsible for finding the facts of the case, while the judge determines the law. These "peers of the accused" are responsible for listening to a dispute, evaluating the evidence presented, deciding on the facts, and making a decision in accordance with the rules of law and their jury instructions. Typically, the jury only judges guilt or a verdict of not guilty, but the actual penalty is set by the judge. An interesting innovation was introduced in Russia in the judicial reform of Alexander II: unlike in modern jury trials, jurors decided not only whether the defendant was guilty or not guilty, but they had the third choice: "Guilty, but not to be punished", since Alexander II believed that justice without morality is wrong.

Guys... stop whinning, we had our chance in 2011 (2 times to be exact), 60.1% want Singapore to have no or little human rights..... its sad, but true, hope more will join the 40% in 2016

If PAP will listen to HRW, i'll chop off my you know what ,man!

after reading so many suicides cases in our country, i come to the conclusion that i agree with what HRW says;

THE TROUBLE WITH US SINGAPOREANS IS:

We have been very good at complaining about the Govt for the past 5 decades but, sadly, nobody wanted to take the lead in stemming the tide of abuses of the PAP GOVT. This has allowed the govt to get away with their crimes and be emboldened to continue to violate our human rights, ignore our pleas, etc. They have always been arrogant to the people due to their monopoly on power.

We need a firebrand leader that can mobilize a few thousand people to PUBLICLY confront the PM, peacefully, that enough is enough. Give us our full democracy! They can't arrest everyone. People Power ousted corrupt and despotic leaders in Philippines, Egypt, etc. And the UN and the world is on the side of the protestors cos every leader in the world knows about how dictatorial LKY and son are...

Short of the above, we will still be whining until the ballot box removes the PAP's monopoly on power which is just a matter of time as PAP will never give us total freedom -- cos they are very scared of losing their power.

In Singapore, one does not even have the right to terminate membership of NTUC without some form of penalty. An existing membership has to pay three more monthly subscriptions after tendering its resignation. It reminds me of the former Kidney Fountation when a letter terminating donation took three months to handled during which period three more monthly donations were deducted. Greediness or inefficiency or tyranny?

Can we sue SG gov for human rights? I seriously think that they are inhuman!!

I don't really like most of western cultures but I agree with this article fully that Singapore Government is placing too much restrictions on civil liberty using lame excuses.

40 percent want their FREEDOM, 60 percent, " I dont know what to say" ?

what a joke!! a 1st world country like SINgapore do not have basic human rights like freedom of speech?

PAP only good for using DRACONIAN laws to pursue for their own Political interest.