Democracy fighter Chee courts publicity

SIX weeks ago few Singaporeans had heard of Chee Soon Juan. Now the secretary-general of the Singapore Democratic Party has made himself a household name by challenging the authoritarian government's clinical suppression of democracy.

Earlier this month Chee, who has a doctorate in neuropsychology, was convicted and fined S$1400 for holding a public political meeting on December 29 without a permit.

"Even though the constitution of Singapore guarantees me my right to freedom of speech, assembly and to associate," he said.

Seven days after the first gathering he held a similar meeting, attended by about 500 people. It too passed off peacefully. Even so, he was charged.

After he refused to pay the fine, the court sentenced him to a week in prison. On February 9, less than 24 hours after being released, he was back in court facing similar charges for the January 5 event, which was the first political free-speech forum held in Singapore's central business district.

If he is fined more than S$2000 he will be automatically banned from public office for five years.

With him in the dock is Wong Hong Toy, a party member who did little more than adjust Chee's microphone a couple of times. The police are investigating a third man who was caught on video applauding a little too enthusiastically for their liking.

"All this just shows how paranoid the government is about somebody coming along and talking about openness, talking about the need for more transparency, more accountability," Chee said, between the end of the day's proceedings and a special evening sitting which will begin trying him for illegally selling his latest book, To Be Free: Stories from Asia's Struggle Against Oppression. "The political situation in Singapore has come to a point where everybody's just so fearful and we're just going on autopilot," he said.

"People know that there's something amiss. They know that what the government gives them through the local media is not what is really going on, but you're talking about an entire generation of people brought up knowing only one newspaper, having only one TV station, and not knowing how to think anymore for themselves."

There was no mention of Chee's trial on the main afternoon radio news on February 9. In the Straits Times, the English-language morning daily, his release appeared on page 26.

In Singapore's last election, in December 1997, the People's Action Party, which has governed the country for more than 33 years, intimidated voters by openly warning during the campaign that any constituency that voted against it would be put at the bottom of the list of public-sector housing upgrades.

The result, in a country where more than 90 per cent of the people live in state-owned homes, was that the Singapore Democratic Party lost all its seats and the other opposition parties mustered only two seats.

Chee does not mind being in the political wilderness. "What is more important is to allay the fears of Singaporeans; to tell them it's OK, it's even all right to talk about politics or even join a party," he said.

His party has "a few hundred members".

"In the 21st century we're going to have to compete economically on ideas, on creativity, on innovation. The kind of authoritarian control we have right now is just not going to sustain us in the long run ... "