Straightened Times
Saturday, July 22, 2006
Irony of ironies. The Straits Times, mouthpiece of the Singapore dictatorship, has a journalist facing possible execution in China. A report in today's Independent is here. As a member of the NUJ and a passionate believer in freedom of speech, I abhor threats to journalists and attempts to silence truth. It seems fairly clear that the charges against Ching Cheong stem from his possible support for the Tiananmen Square protest and his connection to Zhao Ziyang.
Singapore's PAP - the ruling party - were, it hardly needs to be said, not exactly vocal in their protests at the time of the massacre of the protesting students. Freedom of speech is not a cherished ideal within the PAP's range of 'Asian values'. They prefer the notion of 'support for the ruling party'. Truth, too, is a frequent victim of news reporting within the island republic, where to stand as an opposition candidate in an election is to risk being sued by the government for libel/slander. For in a perfectly run country, how can the expression of policies that are opposed to those of the government be anything other than gross libels on the existing policies. I kid you not. The fabled banning of chewing gum was an example of the PAP at its most benevelent.
So here is a journalist working for Singapore's equivalent of Pravda facing death in China. The fact that he is not actually Singaporean means there is little chance of anything but the most cursory rumble arising from his employers. (The belief in the inferiority of other nationals is another appealing Singaporean trait.) When a government and its pet paper play so freely with notions of honesty it is hard to feel surprised when the universe rears up and bites it on the arse. The shame is that the victim is probably one of the most honest of the paper's staff - a genuine journalist who honoured free speech above his persoanl safety. The paper he chose to work for did not deserve him.
Singapore's PAP - the ruling party - were, it hardly needs to be said, not exactly vocal in their protests at the time of the massacre of the protesting students. Freedom of speech is not a cherished ideal within the PAP's range of 'Asian values'. They prefer the notion of 'support for the ruling party'. Truth, too, is a frequent victim of news reporting within the island republic, where to stand as an opposition candidate in an election is to risk being sued by the government for libel/slander. For in a perfectly run country, how can the expression of policies that are opposed to those of the government be anything other than gross libels on the existing policies. I kid you not. The fabled banning of chewing gum was an example of the PAP at its most benevelent.
So here is a journalist working for Singapore's equivalent of Pravda facing death in China. The fact that he is not actually Singaporean means there is little chance of anything but the most cursory rumble arising from his employers. (The belief in the inferiority of other nationals is another appealing Singaporean trait.) When a government and its pet paper play so freely with notions of honesty it is hard to feel surprised when the universe rears up and bites it on the arse. The shame is that the victim is probably one of the most honest of the paper's staff - a genuine journalist who honoured free speech above his persoanl safety. The paper he chose to work for did not deserve him.
