In 2004, the Alliance for Reform and Democracy in Asia) had sent election observers to Malaysia to monitor the general elections held in March. The Alliance sent another team to Hong Kong to study the election system in Hong Kong in August 2004 and followed that up with another team to observe the Legislative Council elections in the city a month later.

The ARDA team will visit Singapore on January 8-9, 2005 and will comprise of the following members:

Dr Paul Scott
Dr Scott is the team coordinator. He is Professor of Modern Chinese and Japanese Studies in the Asian Studies Program at Kansai Gaidai University, Osaka, Japan. Educated in the United States, Taiwan, and Japan, he has spent over half his life in East Asia. He has served as an election observer and has given numerous workshops in Mongolia, Pakistan, Cambodia, and Afghanistan. Paul is a director of the Sam Rainsy Deed Center (Democratization Education Empowerment Development) in Cambodia as well as a member of Transcend. Dr Scott serves on the editorial board of a variety of journals and magazines and was involved in the team that ARDA sent to observe the Malaysian general elections in March 2004.

Mr Herman Vermeer
Mr Vermeer was a European Member of Parliament from 2001-2004. A native of the Netherlands, Mr Vermeer has done much work in agricultural engineering and is deeply involved in environmental affairs. He has worked for electoral reform in Eastern Europe and the Middle East.

Mr Martin Lee
A well-established Queen’s Counsel, Mr Lee made his mark in Hong Kong politics when he challenged the Chinese government to allow China to become a democracy. He was the chairman of the Democratic Party in Hong Kong until recently when he had to relinquish his post because of the term-limits imposed by the party. An outspoken champion of human rights and democracy in Hong Kong, Mr Lee would easily become the Chief Executive of the Special Administration Region (a post currently occupied by Mr Tung Chee Hwa) if free and direct elections in Hong Kong were allowed.

Mr Earl Parreño
Mr Parreño is a senior journalist in the Philippines who has been involved in the elections there, both in partisan and non-partisan capacity. He sits on the board of trustees at the Institute of Political and Electoral Reforms. Mr Parreno is a political analyst and he has written books and articles on the subject matter of Philippine politics and elections. He has also been part in the making of governance and election module for Asian Network for Free Elections.

Mr Michael J. Mitchell
Mr Mitchell is a partner at Orion Strategies, a Washington, DC-based consulting group that specializes in strategic communications and political advocacy. Previously he was Senior Program Officer at the International Republican Institute, Washington, DC, where he specialized in Central and Southeast Asian affairs. During the George H.W. Bush administration, he was Director of Congressional Relations for the Department of State’s Office of International Narcotics and Law Enforcement Affairs. He also served as a special assistant to Senator Mitch McConnell (R-KY) during his tenure on the Senate Foreign Relations Committee’s Terrorism and Narcotics Subcommittee. Mr Mitchell is the author of several articles on building democracy in Mongolia and Burma. He has also testified before the US Congress on human rights and democracy in Burma. In 1999, he was awarded the Order of Freedom by the Mongolian government for his work in building democratic institutions in that country.

Dr Scott, the team coordinator, has written to the Elections Department, Singapore Press Holdings (a conglomerate that owns and runs major newspapers in Singapore), MediaCorp (the company that runs the city’s broadcasting stations, various political parties (ruling and opposition), and NGOs to ask for meetings in order to gain an insight into how elections in Singapore are conducted. Following the visit, the team will put up a report.

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