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Chee's
trial for speaking in public begins tomorrow
Singapore
Democrats
26 Nov 07
Dr Chee Soon Juan will be back in
court tomorrow to face charges for speaking in public with a
permit. Mr Yap Keng Ho is the other defendant.
The two men
are charged for speaking at the Woodlands MRT Station on 8 Apr 06
during the elections period. This is the second of a total of
eight charges.
In Nov last year Dr Chee, Mr Yap and Mr
Gandhi Ambalam were convicted of a similar charge for speaking at
the Yishun town centre, also during the election period. The
three served prison sentences of five weeks, ten days and three
weeks respectively.
In all the eight incidents Dr Chee was
selling the SDP's newspaper, The New Democrat, with party
members and supporters in the run up to the general elections
held in May 06.
The defendants will make the case, as
they did in the previous trial, that the charges are politically
motivated and that the police, as with cases involving political
issues, are acting at the behest of the PAP Government.
The
courts did not want to consider this argument even though the
defendants have evidence that the police allow PAP and its
affiliated organisations to conduct political activities in
public while prohibiting opposition and NGO groups to do
likewise.
Also street vendors often verbally advertise
their wares to potential buyers. And yet when the SDP does the
same, it is prosecuted. The only difference is that Dr Chee is
advertising and selling The New Democrat which focuses on
political issues.
But the rule of law and the
Constitution categorically states that every citizen must be
treated equally under the law. To prosecute the Dr Chee and Mr
Yap for acts that other citizens widely and openly conduct is
discrimination
Worse, the discrimination is against the
PAP's opponents – and during the elections to boot where
parties are trying to reach out to the electorate.
Without
the ability to effectively communicate with supporters during
election time especially when the media is owned and run by the
PAP Government, how are opposition parties going to succeed at
the polls?
The courts have, however, repeatedly ignored
such arguments.
The hearing will take place at
Subordinate Court No. 15 at 9:30 am tomorrow.
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