The annual report of Suaram said that despite reforms promised by Prime Minister Najib Razak when he came to power, the ruling coalition “continues to display intolerance towards dissent and free speech”.
The Malaysian government has also been accused of committing rights violations that mark a return to the era of authoritarian former PM Dr Mahathir Mohamed.
In this connection, what is the state of human rights in neighbouring Singapore?
Well, for starters Singapore does not have a national human rights commission, like Malaysia.
To the surprise of civil society in Singapore, Maruah (Singapore Working Group for an Asean Human Rights Mechanism) was gazetted in November as a political association by the republic’s government.
Maruah now has the distinction of being the fourth non-governmental organisation (NGO) in Singapore to be conferred ‘political association’ status.
The other three NGOs previously gazetted are the Singapore Open Centre (spearheaded by former member of parliament JB Jeyaratnam and former secretary-general of the Workers’ Party, and Dr Chee Soon Juan, the current secretary-general of the Singapore Democratic Party), Think Centre and Singaporeans For Democracy (SFD) (headed by former Workers’ Party candidate Dr James Gomez).
It is perhaps noteworthy that both Jeyaratnam and Chee were both made bankrupts due to defamation suits. In the case of Jeyaratnam, it was relating to his remarks during an election rally, and for Chee, it was the remarks in his party’s newsletter.
Jeyaratnam was discharged from bankruptcy after paying his creditors’ debts, and he went on to form a new party, the Reform Party, which is now helmed by his son Kenneth Jeyaratnam as its secretary-general.
His father did not live long enough to fulfil his wish to contest in an election following his bankruptcy discharge.
A political association in Singapore is barred from receiving foreign funding, and not more that S$5,000 (RM11,937) of anonymous donations in a year. Among other requirements, Maruah has also to register its website with the Media Development Authority of Singapore.
Without funding, it may be unlikely that Maruah will be able to repeat some of its activities last year, such as the Burmese film festival, Universal Declaration of Human Rights (UDHR) Day events, many of which were partly funded by the European Union, British Embassy, Canadian International Development Agency (CIDA), among others.
A Malaysiakini in Singapore?
Meanwhile, the Online Citizen is arguably the closest cousin to a Malaysiakini-type online alternative media that is generally respected in Singapore.
It too, I understand, has been under a state of starvation of funds. Its Google Ads were suspended because someone kept clicking on the advertisements, which is a violation of Google’s advertisement rules.
Its founder and chief editor Andrew Loh worked for four years on a full-time basis without any pay.
The Online Citizen has, and continues to be, run entirely by volunteers.
But without money, how can it ever become another Malaysiakini?
Unlike Malaysia, Singapore is one of the two Asean countries which have signed the least number of the nine major core United Nations Human Rights International Conventions. The other is Burma. Malaysia has signed five.
Unlike Malaysia, the only place where Singaporeans can protest is at the Speakers’ Corner in Hong Lim Park. There are five CCTV cameras there, which may discourage people from organising protests and making speeches.
Currently, only two out of 84 members of parliament in Singapore are elected opposition members.
The law has been amended, such that in the up-coming elections, up to nine will be nominated members of parliament (NMP) and up to another nine non-constituency members of parliament (NCMP). NCMPs are opposition candidates who lose, but garner the highest votes.
Both Malaysia and Singapore continue to have their respective Internal Security Act, which provides for detention without trial.
So, Singapore may have some way to go before its civil and political rights can play “catch-up” to Malaysia’s.
