Those accustomed to thinking of this booming city-state as a bastion of apolitical strivers and shopaholics might be stunned by the burst of civic activism sweeping this crowded flyspeck of an island.
On a recent weekend, hundreds clamored in a downtown park for a repeal of the country’s draconian antisubversion law, while a dozen urbane Singaporeans made a quiet stand by photographing the banyan trees and historic tombstones that the government plans to bury under a highway. Across the city, gay-rights campaigners were finalizing plans for a rally that is expected to draw thousands.
While no one is predicting a new era of noisy, public agitation or the imminent end of Singapore’s single-party rule, social activists and political analysts point to the increasing number of people who are shedding a long nurtured reluctance to challenge the nation’s paternalistic leaders and their “autocratic light” style of governance.
“People are beginning to feel a bit more at ease, and the government is also loosening up,” said Vincent Cheng, 65, a former Roman Catholic social worker who was tortured and imprisoned for three years in the late 1980s after the government accused him of helping orchestrate a Marxist conspiracy. Full story...
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On a recent weekend, hundreds clamored in a downtown park for a repeal of the country’s draconian antisubversion law, while a dozen urbane Singaporeans made a quiet stand by photographing the banyan trees and historic tombstones that the government plans to bury under a highway. Across the city, gay-rights campaigners were finalizing plans for a rally that is expected to draw thousands.
While no one is predicting a new era of noisy, public agitation or the imminent end of Singapore’s single-party rule, social activists and political analysts point to the increasing number of people who are shedding a long nurtured reluctance to challenge the nation’s paternalistic leaders and their “autocratic light” style of governance.
“People are beginning to feel a bit more at ease, and the government is also loosening up,” said Vincent Cheng, 65, a former Roman Catholic social worker who was tortured and imprisoned for three years in the late 1980s after the government accused him of helping orchestrate a Marxist conspiracy. Full story...
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