By Dan Sloan
TIGHT-LIPPED Singapore is planning a forum for public speech, which has split opinion on whether this heralds greater tolerance or trumpets more loudly what regulations remain.
But Singaporeans, in online discussions on the location and purpose of the proposed corner, are sceptical about just how free expression would be and who would dare test the limits.
Will the government tape my speech secretly and use it in their favour? one Internet post said.
Can I speak as and when I like, or do I have to apply to do so? There are just too many questions.
Singapore has strict censorship laws and rigorously enforces libel and slander statutes. Opposition leaders have been hit with huge damages for libelling members of the ruling People's Action Party (PAP); the actions have crippled them and served as a deterrent to others.
Singapore's Internal Security Act permits detention without trial for renewable two-year periods, which authorities say protects against racial and religious extremism, international terrorism, espionage and subversion.
GOH BACKS CORNER
Prime Minister Goh Chok Tong, head of PAP, only recently accepted the plan mooted by the city state's founding father Lee Kuan Yew.
Ong Keng Yong, press secretary to Goh, said economic recovery and a desire for greater public involvement had influenced the timing of the prime minister's decision.
The prime minister was comfortable with developments as a gradual evolution, Ong said.
The PM's consistent thinking has been, 'If our society is ready to discuss in a mature, non-agitated way, it's a positive development.'
Political scientist Lee Lai To said other factors, including use of the Internet and the immediacy of information had also been catalysts.
They have to move with the times, he said.
But Lee and others cautioned against reading the move as a change in the political tide or system.
The government will not have liberal democracy in Singapore. That is not the model they have in mind, Lee said.
Others were more critical of the plan.
The whole idea is not going to cut it, said opposition leader Chee Soon Juan.
There is a huge difference between freedom of speech and the Speakers' Corner... for the government to give us such an opportunity, is it something we should be thankful for?
CHEE WAS JAILED
Singapore tried and jailed Chee last year for making public speeches without a permit, in violation of the Public Entertainment Act.
With the Internal Security Act still in place... how does the Speakers' Corner give anyone the idea that we're opening up? Chee said.
Others noted that the corner would have its own restrictions such as the permit and possibly its location.
According to the government it's automatic, but you still have to go through an application process, Lee said, adding that while anyone may speak, they had to do so carefully..
Chee said the opposition would apply for a permit and use the corner, but public expression in Singapore remains restrained.
There is a self-censorship that is sometimes quite frustrating. People are always looking over their shoulders.
Some said the corner would actually be easier for the government to monitor than the Internet, comparing it to the one cable television provider for the island country.
The government is fully aware that chat rooms exist and it is very difficult for the government to control this kind of discussion, said Lee.
It's easier with the Speakers' Corner than with the 'net.
Signs have emerged, however, that Singapore is willing to broach issues with more openness if not impunity.
Questions in the most recent session of parliament, where the PAP holds 81 of 83 seats, had grown in frankness compared with recent years, analysts said.
But some say even this reflected government control.
The opposition is so weak that PAP backbenchers who speak out can't be accused of criticising the government, said Bruce Gale, analyst at the Political and Economic Risk Consultancy.