Singapore promotes itself as bustling modern state but is a repressive place: Human Rights Watch report
Human Rights Watch slams Singapore
The international rights agency which frequently produces reports on country's social, economic and political affairs openly criticised the Singapore's government.
Human Rights Watch in a report named “Kill the Chicken to Scare the Monkeys” said beneath the slick surface of gleaming high-rises in Singapore resides a "repressive place, where the government severely restricts what can be said, published, performed, read, or watched."
In a hard hitting report, the human rights agency said those who criticize the government or the judiciary, or publicly discuss race and religion, "frequently find themselves facing criminal investigations", adding,"peaceful public demonstrations and other assemblies are severely limited."
"Suppression of speech and assembly is not a new phenomenon in Singapore," the report obeserved, saying: "Leaders of the ruling Peoples’ Action Party (PAP), which has been in power for more than 50 years, have a history of bankrupting opposition politicians through civil defamation suits and jailing them for public protests.
The international rights agency which frequently produces reports on country's social, economic and political affairs openly criticised the Singaporegovernment.
"The right to peaceful assembly is extraordinarily restricted in Singapore," the rights agency noted.
"The only place a resident of Singapore can hold a public assembly without a permit from the government is at "Speakers' Corner," an area of tiny Hong Lim Park," the Human Rights Watch said.
The rights agency was particularly severe on Singapore's poor handling of its media saying the government has "increased its regulation of internet content providers."
"Websites found to be engaged in discussion of political or religious issues relating to Singapore can be required to undertake additional registration procedures and are subjected to additional restrictions," it said, adding,"The government can also unilaterally declare that a website is a “political association” under the Political Donations Act and thus subject to stringent reporting requirements."
"Whether accurate or not, there is a real sense that, if you challenge the government of Singapore, you will pay a price," the agency said.
The rights body said the Singapore government can penalize people for dissent in several ways through "criminal prosecution, a government job, grants from the government for a project, or the imposition of additional regulatory burdens."