Friday, September 15, 2006
Whither Civil Society?
it's crammed up my ass.
So these three guys met up to distribute facts about the IMF and the perils of globalization. Whats the harm in that? But of course this is Singapore. Someone complained that they were possibly disturbing the peace. WTF. So the coppers rounded them up and asked them to go the station to make a statement. The funny thing is they decided not to ask any more than just two friends because of that nasty "illegal gathering" law which stipulates a '4 or more' condition for arrest. And now they're being investigated under Sec 151A of the Penal Code Cap 224 - printing & possessing material which may incite violence or counsel disobedience to the law. Wa lau eh... that's one thing about this gahmen... if they wanna get you to (not) do something, they'll find some fuckin loophole to screw your ass. You can count on it. (now, not that i'm not saying the police is the gahmen, cos they probably have no choice. but that's a debate for elsewhere).
I guess it's become so pathetic that even a quiet protest, unless its not surrounded by police, registered, and held in an enclosed room, is a threat to national security. We seriously
MUST be
that fragile that a mere word, paper, or even tee shirt let alone a cartoon poster of a white elephant could unravel our social fabric. i bet you if a group of Race A farted in a group of Race B's direction, we'd be in trouble. There'll be racial riots. We're not portraying a nation of peace and stability, we're portraying a nation of weaklings and racists, constantly on the verge of racial and political breakdown and violence. In other words, we're showing that we are
inherently unstable for economic and social development.
Please, screw the government and take your business to somewhere else. China sounds like a good place. Sure, this may hurt our pockets, but sometimes in order to change a hardass and show them that the people are in charge, not them, you have to take some shit yourself.
___
Police have interviewed three Singaporean men following a tip-off that some disturbances may be caused at the Suntec City Convention Centre.
As a security precaution, Police traced the identity of three men on receiving the information. They were contacted and asked to come to be interviewed by the Police. The three men, a Chinese National Serviceman in his late teens; a Sikh in his late 20s - a part-time tutor, and an Indian in his early 20s - a student, voluntarily agreed to provide their statements at Clementi Police Division yesterday evening (13 Sept 06). Some pamphlets concerning IMF-related issues, and some computer hardware have been seized for investigations. Police are investigating the offence under Sec 151A of the Penal Code Cap 224 - printing & possessing material which may incite violence or counsel disobedience to the law.
The 3 men had not been arrested. They left the station early this morning (14 Sept 06) after providing their statements.
PUBLIC AFFAIRS DEPARTMENT
SINGAPORE POLICE FORCE
14 Sept 2006 @ 6.15pm
http://www.spf.gov.sg/mic/2006/060914_threemenassist.htm
