Yale Professors oppose tie-up with NUS
September 27th, 2010 | Author: Your Correspondent
<--- http://www.temasekreview.com/2010/09/27/yale-profs-oppose-tie-up-with-nus/
A few Yale professors have opposed a joint collaboration with the National University of Singapore (NUS) to set up a proposed liberal arts college in Singapore.
Professor Mark Oppenheimer, the coordinator of the Yale Journalism Initiative and a lecturer in political science wrote on his blog questioning if Yale should be involved with a country which bans books and limits freedom of speech.
“Let’s be frank: I believe they oppose caning. But if they cannot say so, or if they think it rude to say so while Yale is negotiating with Singapore, then something has been lost,” he wrote.
Another Professor Victor Bers expressed his reservations on the partnership based on the banning of a book “To catch a Tartar: a dissident in Lee Kuan Yew’s prison” by the PAP regime.
The book was written by Singapore’s former solicitor general Mr Francis Seow who was detained under the Internal Security Act in 1988 on dubious grounds. He later fled to United States in exile citing concerns for his personal safety.
Despite the hype played up by the Singapore media, the teaching staff at Yale appeared to be lukewarm over the proposal. A meeting last week to deliberate on the proposed liberal arts college drew attracted only 25 people from over 2,000 invited.
Though Singapore is an advanced economy, its political system resembles that of a repressive, totalitarian, fascist state like North Korea where the ruling party dominates everything in the public sphere of life including political discourse.
The Singapore media is no more but a mouthpiece of the PAP regime – alternative and critical views are often censored in the press.
A variety of laws are put in place to suppress political dissent such as the Internal Security Act, Sedition Act and Criminal Defamation Act.
Recently, another Singapore university NTU sparked a massive outcry after the Dean’s Office issued an “advisory” forbidding students to blog on religious or political affairs unless they have a licence from the Media Development Authority to do so. (read more here)
Singaporeans can provide their feedback about freedom of speech in Singapore under the PAP regimei to Professor Opphenheimer here.
September 27th, 2010 | Author: Your Correspondent
<--- http://www.temasekreview.com/2010/09/27/yale-profs-oppose-tie-up-with-nus/
A few Yale professors have opposed a joint collaboration with the National University of Singapore (NUS) to set up a proposed liberal arts college in Singapore.
Professor Mark Oppenheimer, the coordinator of the Yale Journalism Initiative and a lecturer in political science wrote on his blog questioning if Yale should be involved with a country which bans books and limits freedom of speech.
“Let’s be frank: I believe they oppose caning. But if they cannot say so, or if they think it rude to say so while Yale is negotiating with Singapore, then something has been lost,” he wrote.
Another Professor Victor Bers expressed his reservations on the partnership based on the banning of a book “To catch a Tartar: a dissident in Lee Kuan Yew’s prison” by the PAP regime.
The book was written by Singapore’s former solicitor general Mr Francis Seow who was detained under the Internal Security Act in 1988 on dubious grounds. He later fled to United States in exile citing concerns for his personal safety.
Despite the hype played up by the Singapore media, the teaching staff at Yale appeared to be lukewarm over the proposal. A meeting last week to deliberate on the proposed liberal arts college drew attracted only 25 people from over 2,000 invited.
Though Singapore is an advanced economy, its political system resembles that of a repressive, totalitarian, fascist state like North Korea where the ruling party dominates everything in the public sphere of life including political discourse.
The Singapore media is no more but a mouthpiece of the PAP regime – alternative and critical views are often censored in the press.
A variety of laws are put in place to suppress political dissent such as the Internal Security Act, Sedition Act and Criminal Defamation Act.
Recently, another Singapore university NTU sparked a massive outcry after the Dean’s Office issued an “advisory” forbidding students to blog on religious or political affairs unless they have a licence from the Media Development Authority to do so. (read more here)
Singaporeans can provide their feedback about freedom of speech in Singapore under the PAP regimei to Professor Opphenheimer here.
