Modelled on the more famous version in London's Hyde Park, it was set up as part of the Singapore government's largely superficial recent efforts to project an image of a tolerant, open society.

This has also led to the legalisation of bungee jumping, table-top dancing and oral sex (only between a man and a woman, however, as homosexual activity in Singapore is punishable by life in prison).

But in both its geography and its philosophy, speakers' corner in Singapore is a long way from Hyde Park.

First, anyone brave enough to mount a soapbox and let off some steam is required to get permission in advance from the local police.

Then there are strict, Singapore-style limits on what people can actually say.

Any criticism of the domineering government or the long-ruling People's Action Party of Prime Minister Goh Chok Tong, is outlawed, as it is throughout the country, and offenders are likely to be hauled off to government-friendly courts to face libel suits.

Sensitive topics such as race and religion are similarly off limits and megaphones, microphones and posters are banned lest they disturb the city's uniquely sterile, regimented character.

Four years after its establishment, speakers' corner is today a largely forgotten concept in Singapore.

But it remains a symbol of the country's identity crisis since 1998, when Asia's financial meltdown put an abrupt end to decades of guaranteed economic growth of almost 10 per cent and forced a reappraisal of the government's Orwellian role in society.

Singapore has effectively been buffeted by three recessions in the past six years the economic crisis of 1998, the collapse of the technology boom in 2001 and last year's SARS epidemic, which killed 33 of its residents, cut GDP growth to about 1 per cent and sent unemployment soaring to a 17-year high.

The tiny country's place in the world is also under threat due to the emerging economic clout of China and India, which have established themselves as cheaper centres of manufacturing.

Before the economic crisis, Singapore created 11,000 jobs a quarter in its vital manufacturing sector; now it creates about 1000. Singapore once accounted for 45 per cent of total global output of hard discs; that figure has slipped to about 33 per cent. Wages in Singapore's manufacturing sector are estimated to be 13 times higher than those in China and 18 times higher than India.

On the positive side, Singapore has established itself as the region's financial and business hub and it offers better conditions for foreign investment than any of its rivals.

But to prosper in the manner to which it was once accustomed, Singapore needs to change.

One thing it must do is halt the brain drain through which thousands of its young, Western-educated citizens choose to live overseas, usually in countries with greater political and social freedoms.

And those who have stayed must procreate: the birth rate dropped to a new low last year, with just 38,000 babies born, prompting the government to launch a campaign to get people back into the bedroom.

Singapore's rulers are also worried purely for economic reasons that after 40 years of oppressive rule, its citizens have become resistant to change and, if anything, too compliant.

The country's next prime minister, Lee Hsien Loong, has indicated he will continue to loosen some government controls when he takes over from Goh late this year or in early 2005.

In a speech late last year, Lee, the son of Singapore's founding father Lee Kuan Yew and the deputy prime minister and finance minister, outlined a vision of a Singapore with fewer controls.

"If we want a more participatory citizenry, the government will have to cut the apron strings and leave more matters to the private and people sectors," he said.

"Nanny should not look after everything all the time."

But for all this apparent enthusiasm for reform at least by Singapore standards Lee will never lead his country down the path of Western- style democracy and freedoms.

This means that Singapore will remain an authoritarian state in which political opposition is limited, the media is muzzled, films like Titanic are censored and thousands of websites are banned.

(Equally worrying to groups such as Amnesty International are claims that Singapore executes more people per head of population, many for minor drug offences, than any other country in the world.)

"I know that some groups would like us to open up even faster and not just loosen restrictions but remove them altogether," says Lee, who is said to have opposed the establishment of speakers' corner.

"But we will not ape others blindly and do something just because it appears fashionable."


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