Human Rights Day Forum and Human Rights Defenders Award: A Report

The highlight of Human Rights Day Forum at Oxford Hotel on 6 December was the presentation of the First Human Rights Defenders Award to veteran opposition party politician and human rights activist, Mr JB Jeyaretnam.

In his acceptance speech, Mr Jeyaretnam stressed the universality and importance of human rights and asks Singaporeans to stand up for their beliefs. He added that Singaporeans, used to living under a constant climate of self- inflicted fear, under the incumbent ruling one party government, needs to overcome the psychological barrier. He suggests participants write to their MPs and stress the importance of human rights from time to time.

Mr Jeyaretnam also relate tales of befriending Mr Chia Thye Poh; and how he was impressed with the man’s determined resolution and cheerfulness despite being imprisoned for years under the regime. He cites current Burmese leader in detention, Aung San Suu Kyi as another freedom fighter and source of inspiration for other human rights fighters.

Besides honouring him with the Award, Think Centre has also invited Mr Jeyaretnam to be its Ambassador for Human Rights and a Honorary Think Centre Member.

The 3 hour forum with about 50 invited participants included presentations by Mr Sinapan Samydorai, president of Think Centre, who gave a brief and useful introduction on Think Centre and the importance of human rights in Singapore.

Mr James Gomez, Former Executive Director of Think Centre and Deputy Secretary general of Worker’s party paid tribute to Mr Jeyaretnam by explaining the purpose of the award and reading out excerpts of congratulatory messages from other worldwide human rights organization such as Amnesty International and Forum Asia.

In his speech, “Freedom of Expression in the Theatre”, Dr Tan Chong Kee, Board of Director of the Necessary Stage, reveals governmental reluctance to use Internal Security Act to clamp down artistic expression in recent years because of international pressure. Instead, artists are forced to practice self - censorship through licensing, fines and funding limits to ensure they toe the line.

Dr Tan suggested that the superficial liberalization could be counteracted by commodifying human rights and freedom of speech into social products. Citing local gay and lesbian website, Fridae.com, which promotes the pink dollar, as an example, he suggested that these social goods could be translated back into social goods once market demand is viable.

Think Centre is an independent, multi-partisan political non-governmental organisation (NGO) in Singapore. First registered as a business (RCB) on 16 Jul 1999 and today as a society (under ROS) on 20 Oct 2001, the Centre aims to critically examine issues related to political development, democracy, rule of law, human rights and civil society. Think Centre's activities include research, publishing, organising events and networking.

This article is initially posted at the Think Centre website   ¶ 9:55 am