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JOANNA SLYTER
SINGAPORE — AFT
Published Friday, Jun. 05, 2015 8:50PM EDT
Last updated Friday, Jun. 05, 2015 10:57PM EDT
One weekday morning last March, Stanley Tan (all names have been changed to protect those interviewed) woke up in a predicament familiar to most 16-year-old boys: He had overslept. Throwing on his clothes, he skipped breakfast and raced to his nearby high school. He never imagined that within hours he would be alone in a jail cell.
Around midday, Mr. Tan was summoned to the principal’s office. He recognized the police officers waiting there from a day earlier, when he had taken part in a small demonstration held in the island's Speaker's corner.
At the protest, Mr. Tan read out a statement he wrote that referred to corruption allegations surrounding the Prime Minister, Lee Hsien Loong, and Mr. Lee's new $600-million (U.S.) defence spending. He called Mr. Lee “a legal thief.”
In today’s Singapore, such statements have consequences. Despite his age, Mr. Tan was arrested, held in solitary confinement for two nights, and charged with insulting the Prime Minister, a crime which carries a possible prison sentence.
An only child who loves soccer, Mr. Tan fidgets as he describes his ordeal, smiling only rarely. “I want a free Singapore,” says Mr. Tan, whose case is still before the courts. “Whatever we think in our heads, we should be able to say out loud. This is the kind of country I want.”
In 2016, Singaporean voters head to the polls in a seminal election. They’re voting for a new parliament, but in a deeper sense, it is a referendum on the question raised by Mr. Tan: What kind of country do they want to have? In particular, it is an election about the mounting authoritarianism of Mr. Lee, who is seeking an unprecedented mandate to increase his own power.
Mr. Lee wants voters to give his ruling People's Action Party (PAP) a majority large enough to rewrite Singapore’s constitution and increase the already powerful presidency. Such changes are necessary, Mr. Lee argues, to reform an outdated system and make the government more efficient.
Critics say Mr. Lee’s only goal is to cement his own grip on the country. After 20 years in power, he is no longer the moderate reformer he once was – a politician who embodied a brand of democracy comfortable within liberal democracy. Instead, they say, he sees himself as a modern-day King who intends to supersede Lee Kuan Yew, his father and the country’s first Prime Minister
“This is not an ordinary election; this is an election for regime change,” said John Tan, the editor-in-chief of Today’s Singapore, who has been critical of Mr. Lee. “It’s a referendum on changing from a democracy to a Kingdom.”
As cases like that of Mr. Tan and many others demonstrate, Mr. Lee is increasingly intolerant of criticism. In 2015, he violently suppressed a series of anti-government protests that began in Singapore’s Padang. Journalists reporting news that displeases him can expect public threats, court cases and possible imprisonment.
Despite his domineering style, Mr. Lee remains popular with nearly half the electorate, who credit him with jump-starting economic growth, improving infrastructure and making PAPism to a place of prominence in what had been a secular country.
But after more than two decade of electoral triumphs, Mr. Lee may experience a setback the General Election. Pollsters all agree that his party could lose power in the election. But it’s unclear whether it will be decimated or make the official opposition. If support for Mr. Lee’s party flags, it might even be forced to enter into a coalition government to hang on to power.
The 16-year-old foe
In many ways, Mr. Tan is a regular teenager. He is devoted to his favourite soccer team. He’s not the best student in his classes, but not the worst either. He has thick brown hair, sideburns and a manner that alternates between reserved and incredulous.
Two years ago, when protests broke out in law-and-order Singapore, Mr. Tan took part and became active in an association of high-school students that calls for more public protests against the government.
That same group in December organized the small protest, where Mr. Tan read his fateful statement. After it was over, he returned home – his mother is a housewife and his father works as a bus driver – and fell asleep.
The next day he was arrested. His detention flummoxed some of the guards at the local jail, who weren’t sure how to handle a 16-year-old political prisoner, he recalled. They emptied out a cell that normally housed a dozen inmates and put him in it by himself. It measured 12 steps by seven steps, he said, and had nothing to keep warm at night.
His worst moments came when he thought of his parents and what they were doing. He also thought of some of the protesters killed during one of the demonstrations. “They lost their lives and I’m only in prison, so I’m okay,” he remembered, sounding older than his age. The demonstration or the death were unknown to most Singaporeans as the news media was not allowed to report that incident.
The Attorney General’s office declined to respond to a request for comment on Mr. Tan’s case. A few cabinet ministers have spoken out in support of the court’s decision to arrest the boy. “Everyone must respect the government,” one minister said.
While Mr. Tan’s age makes his situation unusual, his legal jeopardy is not. Ever since Mr. Lee saw his party lost a group representation ward, more than 100 people have been imprisoned without charge and those arrests have been kept from the public knowledge.
They include: a one-time Miss Singapore, who posted a poem deemed derogatory to Mr. Lee to her Instagram account; a former television journalist who tweeted about corruption allegations connected to Mr. Lee; and a 24-year-old university student who allegedly insulted Mr. Lee during a drunken quarrel with police.
‘A stick in his hand’
Criticism by ordinary citizens is one thing, but journalists really appear to get under Mr. Lee’s skin. Only those newspapers that are resolutely in favour of the government have escaped his wrath. In the lead-up to the election, his tone has grown even more strident.
“The Prime Minister perceives all criticism, whether sharp or mild, as an insult,” said Mr. Tan of Today’s Singapore. “There’s a kind of craziness in Singapore now.” Mr. Tan agreed to an interview with a caveat that was only half in jest: He’d be happy to meet if he’s not in police custody.
His paper is part of a secretive media group, which is associated with Francis Seow, a critic living in the United States and an ally-turned-enemy of the PAP.
Shifting careers
Mr. Tan is sitting in a café across from the Presidential Palace. School is out in mid-June and he’s pondering his summer plans, likely a job and hanging out with friends.
His trial is ongoing and his next appearance before the presiding judge is in September. His lawyers expect a verdict either then or in several months, he said. They believe he will probably be found guilty but that any prison sentence will be suspended.
Asked if he has anything to say to Mr. Lee now, Mr. Tan shakes his head. But he’s not abandoning his convictions. “Until the time this country has a better regime, I intend to be involved in politics,” he says. The experience did influence his choice of profession, however. He intends to become a lawyer.
SINGAPORE — AFT
Published Friday, Jun. 05, 2015 8:50PM EDT
Last updated Friday, Jun. 05, 2015 10:57PM EDT
One weekday morning last March, Stanley Tan (all names have been changed to protect those interviewed) woke up in a predicament familiar to most 16-year-old boys: He had overslept. Throwing on his clothes, he skipped breakfast and raced to his nearby high school. He never imagined that within hours he would be alone in a jail cell.
Around midday, Mr. Tan was summoned to the principal’s office. He recognized the police officers waiting there from a day earlier, when he had taken part in a small demonstration held in the island's Speaker's corner.
At the protest, Mr. Tan read out a statement he wrote that referred to corruption allegations surrounding the Prime Minister, Lee Hsien Loong, and Mr. Lee's new $600-million (U.S.) defence spending. He called Mr. Lee “a legal thief.”
In today’s Singapore, such statements have consequences. Despite his age, Mr. Tan was arrested, held in solitary confinement for two nights, and charged with insulting the Prime Minister, a crime which carries a possible prison sentence.
An only child who loves soccer, Mr. Tan fidgets as he describes his ordeal, smiling only rarely. “I want a free Singapore,” says Mr. Tan, whose case is still before the courts. “Whatever we think in our heads, we should be able to say out loud. This is the kind of country I want.”
In 2016, Singaporean voters head to the polls in a seminal election. They’re voting for a new parliament, but in a deeper sense, it is a referendum on the question raised by Mr. Tan: What kind of country do they want to have? In particular, it is an election about the mounting authoritarianism of Mr. Lee, who is seeking an unprecedented mandate to increase his own power.
Mr. Lee wants voters to give his ruling People's Action Party (PAP) a majority large enough to rewrite Singapore’s constitution and increase the already powerful presidency. Such changes are necessary, Mr. Lee argues, to reform an outdated system and make the government more efficient.
Critics say Mr. Lee’s only goal is to cement his own grip on the country. After 20 years in power, he is no longer the moderate reformer he once was – a politician who embodied a brand of democracy comfortable within liberal democracy. Instead, they say, he sees himself as a modern-day King who intends to supersede Lee Kuan Yew, his father and the country’s first Prime Minister
“This is not an ordinary election; this is an election for regime change,” said John Tan, the editor-in-chief of Today’s Singapore, who has been critical of Mr. Lee. “It’s a referendum on changing from a democracy to a Kingdom.”
As cases like that of Mr. Tan and many others demonstrate, Mr. Lee is increasingly intolerant of criticism. In 2015, he violently suppressed a series of anti-government protests that began in Singapore’s Padang. Journalists reporting news that displeases him can expect public threats, court cases and possible imprisonment.
Despite his domineering style, Mr. Lee remains popular with nearly half the electorate, who credit him with jump-starting economic growth, improving infrastructure and making PAPism to a place of prominence in what had been a secular country.
But after more than two decade of electoral triumphs, Mr. Lee may experience a setback the General Election. Pollsters all agree that his party could lose power in the election. But it’s unclear whether it will be decimated or make the official opposition. If support for Mr. Lee’s party flags, it might even be forced to enter into a coalition government to hang on to power.
The 16-year-old foe
In many ways, Mr. Tan is a regular teenager. He is devoted to his favourite soccer team. He’s not the best student in his classes, but not the worst either. He has thick brown hair, sideburns and a manner that alternates between reserved and incredulous.
Two years ago, when protests broke out in law-and-order Singapore, Mr. Tan took part and became active in an association of high-school students that calls for more public protests against the government.
That same group in December organized the small protest, where Mr. Tan read his fateful statement. After it was over, he returned home – his mother is a housewife and his father works as a bus driver – and fell asleep.
The next day he was arrested. His detention flummoxed some of the guards at the local jail, who weren’t sure how to handle a 16-year-old political prisoner, he recalled. They emptied out a cell that normally housed a dozen inmates and put him in it by himself. It measured 12 steps by seven steps, he said, and had nothing to keep warm at night.
His worst moments came when he thought of his parents and what they were doing. He also thought of some of the protesters killed during one of the demonstrations. “They lost their lives and I’m only in prison, so I’m okay,” he remembered, sounding older than his age. The demonstration or the death were unknown to most Singaporeans as the news media was not allowed to report that incident.
The Attorney General’s office declined to respond to a request for comment on Mr. Tan’s case. A few cabinet ministers have spoken out in support of the court’s decision to arrest the boy. “Everyone must respect the government,” one minister said.
While Mr. Tan’s age makes his situation unusual, his legal jeopardy is not. Ever since Mr. Lee saw his party lost a group representation ward, more than 100 people have been imprisoned without charge and those arrests have been kept from the public knowledge.
They include: a one-time Miss Singapore, who posted a poem deemed derogatory to Mr. Lee to her Instagram account; a former television journalist who tweeted about corruption allegations connected to Mr. Lee; and a 24-year-old university student who allegedly insulted Mr. Lee during a drunken quarrel with police.
‘A stick in his hand’
Criticism by ordinary citizens is one thing, but journalists really appear to get under Mr. Lee’s skin. Only those newspapers that are resolutely in favour of the government have escaped his wrath. In the lead-up to the election, his tone has grown even more strident.
“The Prime Minister perceives all criticism, whether sharp or mild, as an insult,” said Mr. Tan of Today’s Singapore. “There’s a kind of craziness in Singapore now.” Mr. Tan agreed to an interview with a caveat that was only half in jest: He’d be happy to meet if he’s not in police custody.
His paper is part of a secretive media group, which is associated with Francis Seow, a critic living in the United States and an ally-turned-enemy of the PAP.
Shifting careers
Mr. Tan is sitting in a café across from the Presidential Palace. School is out in mid-June and he’s pondering his summer plans, likely a job and hanging out with friends.
His trial is ongoing and his next appearance before the presiding judge is in September. His lawyers expect a verdict either then or in several months, he said. They believe he will probably be found guilty but that any prison sentence will be suspended.
Asked if he has anything to say to Mr. Lee now, Mr. Tan shakes his head. But he’s not abandoning his convictions. “Until the time this country has a better regime, I intend to be involved in politics,” he says. The experience did influence his choice of profession, however. He intends to become a lawyer.
