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SINGAPORE - -Will a huge crowd turn out? Will somebody be prosecuted for libel? Will conservative Singaporeans even speak up? And if they do what will they say?These are some of the questions journalists both from local, regional and international media are hoping to find out come September 1st at the Republic's first Speakers Corner at Hong Lim Park. There has been a flurry of activity as many news agencies and wire service make preparations to descend on the island city state later this week. Yet the reaction of most citizens have been generally lukewarm. The Singapore government led by the People's Action Party surprised many by announcing earlier this year that it will make allowances in its strict Public Entertaiment's Act for limited free speech. Presently, anyone who wants to speak in public in Singapore will have to apply for a public entertainments licence at the cost of S$7. Application time is approximately three weeks and the police do not have to given any reason if they choose to turn any applications down. With the recent changes in legislation, to accomodate a speakers corner, the registration process has been simplified. Speakers will have to go the Kreta Ayer Police Post next to the park to hand over their identity card for registration. The police officer manning the "Speaker's Corner" counter will key the information into the computer and generate a print out for applicants to sign. This will enable registrants to speak but only at Hong Lim Park from 7am-7pm on the day or days of their choice. Religious and ethnic issues are a no-no and the Republic's usual libel laws apply. The police opened registration for Speaker’s Corner from midnight 21 August 2000. And to date about 20 people have registered to speak. A local discussion group, The Roundtable, is organising an event from 5.30-7pm that day. The local police have kept mum to all queries by the media about the names of speakers, willing only to let out the numbers. It will be interesting to see how the local and foreign media report this event. James Gomez is now with the Think Centre, Singapore |
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Singapore's
Speaker's Corner Attracts Media Interest