Here she goes again, the two headed snake pink heroine strikes back.
https://sg.news.yahoo.com/blogs/sin...us-snow-globe-of-hong-lim-park-150130452.html
Kirsten Han is a Singaporean blogger, journalist and filmmaker. She is also involved in the We Believe in Second Chances campaign for the abolishment of the death penalty. A social media junkie, she tweets at @kixes. The views expressed are her own.
The crowd at the latest #ReturnOurCPF protest in Hong Lim Park over the weekend didn’t have many good things to say about the government. They were suspicious and angry, and all-too-ready to cheer the anti-PAP rhetoric coming from the speakers.
Such protests used to be unheard of in Singapore, but are becoming more and more common. As this article points out, the number of events – often protests or rallies – held in Hong Lim Park has been increasing year on year.
The article goes on to wonder if Singapore is facing any real threat of civil unrest, or whether the government should be worried. Devadas Krishnadas, the managing director of a risk consultancy, rightly points out that peaceful protests to date have been organised in accordance with the law. A government spokesperson also highlighted Speakers’ Corner in Hong Lim Park as having become “more vibrant, used for a variety of purposes and provides an avenue for citizens to air their views on various issues openly and responsibly”, and something that the “government will continue to encourage”.
I’ve been to Hong Lim Park more than enough times to know that it has become one of the focal points of civil society in Singapore. There are things that can be said to crowds there that will probably not be said anywhere else in the country. That’s the beauty of the space. It’s also a big problem for Singaporeans.
The sad truth (hard truth?) of the matter is that Hong Lim Park is like a snow globe, stuck in the middle of a busy city that has no real time for it. Once in awhile something happens, and the snow globe is shaken: the scene turned upside down, glitter everywhere. Then, as time passes, the debris settles and everything returns to what it was before, nothing changed.
This is probably why the government is happy to “encourage” the development of activities in Hong Lim Park.
There are now many protests in Singapore, but they can't be compared to the civil disobedience one might see in other countries: they’re either shunted off to the lovely-but-easily-forgettable Hong Lim Park, or require organisers to jump through hoops for police permits. Examples include how two anti-racism events have had different responses from the police and how the Pink Run in support of LBGT rights in Singapore was not allowed to go ahead unless it moved to Hong Lim Park.
All this leads Singaporean activists to some difficult questions: how can we continue to safely push the boundaries? How much of a difference are we really making? Or are we simply constructing an illusion of participatory democracy?
So is there a threat of civil unrest and instability in Singapore? Hardly. Things are changing, that’s for sure, but there are still many ways in which civil society has to mature and grow before we can start talking about anything more than tweaks in the system.
https://sg.news.yahoo.com/blogs/sin...us-snow-globe-of-hong-lim-park-150130452.html
Kirsten Han is a Singaporean blogger, journalist and filmmaker. She is also involved in the We Believe in Second Chances campaign for the abolishment of the death penalty. A social media junkie, she tweets at @kixes. The views expressed are her own.
The crowd at the latest #ReturnOurCPF protest in Hong Lim Park over the weekend didn’t have many good things to say about the government. They were suspicious and angry, and all-too-ready to cheer the anti-PAP rhetoric coming from the speakers.
Such protests used to be unheard of in Singapore, but are becoming more and more common. As this article points out, the number of events – often protests or rallies – held in Hong Lim Park has been increasing year on year.
The article goes on to wonder if Singapore is facing any real threat of civil unrest, or whether the government should be worried. Devadas Krishnadas, the managing director of a risk consultancy, rightly points out that peaceful protests to date have been organised in accordance with the law. A government spokesperson also highlighted Speakers’ Corner in Hong Lim Park as having become “more vibrant, used for a variety of purposes and provides an avenue for citizens to air their views on various issues openly and responsibly”, and something that the “government will continue to encourage”.
I’ve been to Hong Lim Park more than enough times to know that it has become one of the focal points of civil society in Singapore. There are things that can be said to crowds there that will probably not be said anywhere else in the country. That’s the beauty of the space. It’s also a big problem for Singaporeans.
The sad truth (hard truth?) of the matter is that Hong Lim Park is like a snow globe, stuck in the middle of a busy city that has no real time for it. Once in awhile something happens, and the snow globe is shaken: the scene turned upside down, glitter everywhere. Then, as time passes, the debris settles and everything returns to what it was before, nothing changed.
This is probably why the government is happy to “encourage” the development of activities in Hong Lim Park.
There are now many protests in Singapore, but they can't be compared to the civil disobedience one might see in other countries: they’re either shunted off to the lovely-but-easily-forgettable Hong Lim Park, or require organisers to jump through hoops for police permits. Examples include how two anti-racism events have had different responses from the police and how the Pink Run in support of LBGT rights in Singapore was not allowed to go ahead unless it moved to Hong Lim Park.
All this leads Singaporean activists to some difficult questions: how can we continue to safely push the boundaries? How much of a difference are we really making? Or are we simply constructing an illusion of participatory democracy?
So is there a threat of civil unrest and instability in Singapore? Hardly. Things are changing, that’s for sure, but there are still many ways in which civil society has to mature and grow before we can start talking about anything more than tweaks in the system.
