Police Investigates filmmaker Martyn See on Private Forum
-
Police Investigates Private Forum Under Public Order Act
Posted on 12. Oct, 2011 in isa, Press Release, public order actSFD Media Release
12 Oct 2011Police Investigates Private Forum Under Public Order Act
Martyn See, Executive Secretary, Singaporeans For Democracy (SFD), today spent an hour and a half at the Cantonment Police Complex from 10am to 11.30am answering questions pertaining to an investigation under the Public Order Act 2009 for a private forum he organized on behalf of SFD on 24 September 2011.
The forum was held at private function room at the Public House, after the original venue administrator, Singapore Human Resources Institute (SHRI), cancelled the pre-paid booking by locking its venue and preventing entry to participants.
About 30 participants then proceeded to attend the talk at an alternate venue – Public House - after they were informed of the change at the site of the original venue.
The forum featured Members of Parliament, Tian Chua from Malaysia and Mu Sochua from Cambodia, ex-ISA detainee Vincent Cheng and blogger Alex Au.
Following a phone call on 3 October 2011, Mr See received a formal notice dated 5 October 2011 requesting him to present himself to appear in front of S. Vickneshwaran (Officer-In-Charge, General Investigation Squad 5, Central Police Division) to answer questions for the said investigation.
The nub of the questioning surrounded whether inviting participants through a Facebook events page and email was a private or public activity.
This is the second time Mr See has been investigated by the police. In 2005, See was placed under police probe for 15 months following the banning of his documentary 'Singapore Rebel'. In 2009, See had to postpone a public forum on the Internal Security Act (ISA) after the original venue, Bestway Building, was visited by CID officers after the event was publicised on See's blog. Police then called See to apply for a permit, to which See wrote to the Law Ministry requesting an explanation. The event was subsequently held at Quality Hotel without any permit application.
SFD emphasizes that the forum was organised as a private event and urge the police to cease investigations immediately.
Dr. James Gomez
Executive Director
Singaporeans For DemocracyMore information about the forum
Video of the private forum: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=JyFqBitxCoo
Forum on human rights runs into problems with venue mgmt
Andrea Ong, Straits Times website, 24 Sept 2011A forum on human rights and democracy organised by the Singaporeans for Democracy (SFD) political association ran into some problems on Saturday afternoon.
The forum was to have taken place at 2pm at a Singapore Human Resources Institute (SHRI) training room at The Verge shopping mall, but a dispute arose between the event organiser, SFD executive secretary and film-maker Martyn See, and the SHRI management.
Mr See, 42, said the institute's management had cancelled his venue booking at the last minute. He received an email from SHRI on Friday afternoon saying that his booking was cancelled 'due to unforeseen circumstances'. This was despite him making his booking three weeks ago and paying the fee of around $600 in full, he said.
However, SHRI executive director David Ang, 64, said Mr See had not stated the subject matter of the forum in his application form. The institute's constitution states that it is not allowed to hold events of a political nature, he added. Mr Ang said he only found out about the subject of the forum, titled 'Lee Kuan Yew: liberal democracy will do us in. Will it?', when he visited a web page advertising the event two or three days ago.
Mr See is asking for a refund of the booking fee because of the inconvenience the last-minute cancellation caused the speakers and audience, who had to be turned away from The Verge. The forum was shifted to the Public House at Circular Road at 4pm.
There are four speakers lined up for the event: Cambodian MP and human rights activist Mu Sochua, Malaysian MP Tian Chua, Singapore Democratic Party member Vincent Cheng and activist Alex Au.
Both Mr Chua and Mr Cheng were former detainees under their countries' Internal Security Act.
Singapore ‘faces pressure to repeal ISA’, Andrea Ong, Sunday Times, 25 Sept 2011
Malaysian opposition MP Tian Chua believes the Singapore Government is under ‘tremendous pressure’ to follow in Malaysia’s footsteps in repealing the Internal Security Act (ISA), he said at a forum here yesterday.
He cited two key factors: a less fearful electorate arising from the evolution of the democratic process, and historical links between both countries’ uses of the ISA.
Mr Chua, who was detained for two years from 2001 under Malaysia’s ISA, was speaking at a forum organised by the Singaporeans for Democracy (SFD) political association.
‘The ISA experience through these 40 years in Malaysia and Singapore is a process of the nation overcoming our own fears and phobias,’ said Mr Chua, 47, a Parti Keadilan Rakyat MP.
On democracy in the region, he said Singapore and Malaysia used to practise ‘Asian-style democracy’ where the state provided economic success and citizens allowed it to have near-total control.
That was the environment which produced the ISA, he said.
Now, however, ruling parties have to reform and fulfil the people’s demands if they want to stay in power, he said. In Malaysia, the awakened electorate has become less fearful as more dare to speak up. He said: ‘The discourse has changed. I’m not surprised that finally (Malaysian Prime Minister) Najib (Razak) had to stand up.’
Singapore and Malaysia’s uses of the ISA have also been ‘interlinked’, he said. The ISA in both countries has roots in the 1948 Emergency Regulations passed by the colonial government to fight communists.
Said Mr Chua: ‘When the Malaysian regime acknowledged the ISA is anti-democratic… Singapore cannot resist. It will have to react, maybe faster than we can imagine.’
The Singapore Government has said it will not repeal the ISA as it ‘continues to be relevant and crucial as a measure of last resort’ to keep the country safe and secure, it said in a statement last week.
It also said Singapore’s ISA has evolved and is now different from Malaysia’s in having additional safeguards to prevent its misuse.
Another speaker was Singapore Democratic Party (SDP) vice-chairman Vincent Cheng, a former ISA detainee and one of 16 signatories of a recent statement calling for the ISA to be abolished.
He spoke of his detention in 1987 as part of an alleged Marxist conspiracy and said he had been beaten, placed in a cold room, and forced into a false confession.
The two other speakers at the forum, attended by about 50 people, were Cambodian MP and activist Mu Sochua and blogger Alex Au.
Mr Au said human rights and the rule of law must be in place before democracy can take root.
SFD executive director James Gomez yesterday announced that the association wants to explore the possibility of forming a coalition of political parties, non-governmental organisations and individuals to champion the abolishment of the ISA here.
The forum, which was meant to be held at a Singapore Human Resources Institute (SHRI) training room at The Verge shopping mall, had to be moved to Public House in Circular Road at the last minute.
Organiser and SFD executive secretary Martyn See said that was because SHRI e-mailed him on Friday to cancel his booking of the training room. He wants a refund of the $600 booking fee he paid.
SHRI executive director David Ang, 64, said Mr See did not provide his organisation’s name or the forum’s subject matter when he booked the room. SHRI’s Constitution states that it is not allowed to hold events of a political nature, Mr Ang added.
http://sfd.sg/content/police-investigates-private-forum-under-public-order-act
-
Forum on Freedom and Democracy in
Singapore...
the one that almost didn't happen
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=JyFqBitxCoo
Interesting talk by Vincent Cheng at 16.30.
...Lee Kuan Yew...you bastard!...screams the man as he was being massaged...he..he..funny.... -
........