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Singapore
opposition figure declared bankrupt
Reuters
19
Aug
07
http://in.news.yahoo.com/070818/137/6jllb.html
Singapore's
High Court has declared an opposition politician bankrupt, the
Straits Times newspaper reported on Saturday, a ruling that could
cripple the tiny Singapore Democratic Party (SDP).
Chee
Siok Chin - sister of SDP leader Chee Soon Juan, and herself a
senior member of the party - was declared bankrupt together with
two other party supporters after they failed to pay about
S$24,000 ($15,700) in legal costs.
Under the city-state's
law, she would be unable to run for parliament as a bankrupt,
putting the SDP's future at risk.
Chee Siok Chin had
incurred the costs after she challenged a move by police to
disperse a peaceful protest calling for greater transparency in
state institutions.
Public protests are rare in
Singapore. Any public gathering of more than four people requires
a police permit and a person convicted of unlawful assembly can
be fined up to S$1,000.
Chee Siok Chin led a handful of
SDP candidates in last year's general election. The party did not
win any seats in parliament but did get 23 percent of the vote in
the wards it contested.
Her brother, Chee Soon Juan - the
country's most vocal opposition politician - was declared
bankrupt in February after failing to make libel payments of
S$500,000 to former Prime Ministers Lee Kuan Yew and Goh Chok
Tong.
Activists and critics such as human rights group
Amnesty International say Singapore's leaders used defamation
lawsuits to cripple opposition politicians.
Government
leaders have also filed defamation law suits against foreign
media, such as the Far Eastern Economic Review. They say such
legal action is necessary to safeguard their reputations.
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