Dr Chee
has problems importing his book
Singapore
June 16, 1999
OPPOSITION leader Chee Soon Juan
is having difficulties getting a shipment of his latest book into Singapore.
The shipment of his book, To Be Free: Stories From Asia's Struggle Against Oppression, has been held up for one week.
According to the transport company Dr Chee is using, the normal processing time is one day.
In a letter, June 11, to Minister for Information and the Arts, Mr Lee Yock Suan, the secretary general of the Singapore Democratic Party said he was informed there will be further delays as the book will be sent to the Controller for Undesirable Publications for "clearance".
The book which has been reviewed and reported on in several newspapers and magazines, is about the struggle of Asian democratic leaders against oppression by authoritarian regimes in the region. The chapter on Singapore relates the treatment of Mr Chia Thye Poh, who was incarcerated for 23 years without trial and other political prisoners by the PAP government.
Dr Chee asked that the Ministry not continue to delay the delivery of his book.
He said the book cannot, "by any stretch of the political imagination, be considered an 'undesirable publication' - at least, not if the Ministry has no intention of censoring or banning the book.