Singapore suppresses dissident
Singapore suppresses dissident
Friday, November 5, 2010
The Singaporean government is disciplining a British author for a book that criticizes the country’s judiciary system, but administrators said Yale will continue with plans to establish a liberal arts college in the island nation.
A Singaporean judge found Alan Shadrake in contempt of court Wednesday because the journalist’s recent book, “Once a Jolly Hangman: Singapore’s Justice in the Dock,” accuses the court system of overusing the death penalty and sentencing convicted criminals inconsistently. Although Yale has said it will not solidify plans to build a college in conjunction with the National University of Singapore until this winter, Provost Peter Salovey said the University is confident academic freedom will not be curtailed at the proposed campus.
“We have been following Mr. Shadrake’s case closely and are not surprised by the result, given the very different laws in place in Singapore relating to contempt and defamation,” Salovey said in an e-mail. “I would have hoped for a different result, but Mr. Shadrake’s book openly challenged the country’s legal constraints on public criticism of identifiable governmental officials and institutions.”
When Yale announced plans to partner with NUS in September, University President Richard Levin and Salovey said their primary hesitation about the project was the low level of academic freedom present in Singapore. Administrators cited Shadrake’s July 19 arrest and said it led them to question the level freedom of expression for students and faculty in Singapore, Levin and Salovey wrote in the Sept. 12 prospectus they sent to University faculty.
Shadrake’s legal proceedings have raised the question of whether or not Singapore — which is an autocratic state — will provide the level of free speech required by a liberal arts college.
Garry Rodan, a professor of political science at Murdoch University in Perth, Australia and an expert in Singaporean politics, said teaching in a tight political climate such as Singapore’s can encourage professors to self-censor to avoid controversy with the government without realizing they are doing so. Yale, Rodan said, could play an important role in opening up Singapore’s academic culture, but this would require the University to be “firm and clear” about its independence and mission.
Salovey said although Yale administrators value academic freedom highly, they will make sure that everyone affiliated with the new college knows the dangers of denouncing the Singaporean government.
“We will make certain that all faculty and students are aware of the reach of principles of academic freedom,” Salovey said, “[as well as] the risks currently associated with public, personal condemnations of governmental officials and institutions.”
Rodan said the Shadrake incident is one of several similar cases to occur in Singapore over the past few decades. The charge of “contempt of court,” for which Shadrake was found guilty, is “extremely restrictive,” he said, adding that it is virtually impossible to get away with criticizing Singapore’s judiciary.
When the University first announced plans for Yale-NUS College, three Yale professors raised concerns that Singapore’s history of clamping down on free expression would hinder Yale’s academic mission. Two of them — classics professor Victor Bers and political science lecturer Mark Oppenheimer – said Yale should reconsider establishing the college, but expressed doubt that University administrators would change their minds, even in light of the verdict against Shadrake.
Bers said apathy has kept many professors from taking a stand against the issue, and he thinks the fact that few have raised concerns about the proposed college makes it that much easier for administrators to press forward with their plans.
“I don’t think [the administration is] seriously contemplating withdrawing,” he said.
Shadrake’s sentence will be determined on Nov. 10.
Alison Griswold contributed reporting.
Correction: November 8, 2010
The article “Singapore jails dissident” contained several errors. By saying Provost Peter Salovey was “not worried” about Singapore’s laws curtailing academic freedom at the propsed Yale-NUS college, the article mischaracterized Salovey’s sentiments on the matter. After consideration and “written assurance” that local laws would not affect scholarly activities, Salovey said he is confident academic freedom will not be curtailed at the proposed campus. Second, the article’s print headline stated that Singapore had already jailed British writer Alan Shadrake. He was being held in contempt of court and awaiting sentencing. Finally, a caption of a photograph accompanying the article should have identified Kishore Mahbubani as the dean of NUS’ public policy school and that he came to Yale last month for a Master’s Tea, not to speak about the proposed college.
Comments
FailBoat 1 year, 6 months ago
Hypocrisy at its finest. If such a law was ever passed in America, we'd all be up in arms (rightly so) over the violation to our civil liberties.
The Singaporeans, however, probably don't deserve the same rights, the savages.
SY10 1 year, 6 months ago
For once I agree wholeheartedly with River Tam. The notion that the appropriate response to the existence of criminal penalties for exercising what should be a basic civil liberty is to warn faculty and students not to exercise that liberty is absurd. Yale has no need to tie its name or credibility to basic violations of academic freedom and freedom of speech.
JE14 1 year, 6 months ago
I can't agree more with the two first posts.
theantiyale 1 year, 6 months ago
Money trumps principle:
For God, For Money, and For Yale
pablum 1 year, 6 months ago
An embarrassment to the mission of the University.
vitalism 1 year, 6 months ago
Have you read the 82-page judgment (SGHC 327) on Alan Shadrake? Go google it. Do you actually know anything about Singapore's judiciary or political system? Go visit the place.
Is this even on the same level as Abu Ghraib and Guantanamo Bay? Talk about throwing stones in a glass house.
SY10 1 year, 6 months ago
Look, I hate Guantanamo too. But nothing about it impinges on the mission of a university, which is involved with the exchange of ideas and honest inquiry into the truth. Our country doesn't arrest people for criticizing its political system. We can criticize our government and our courts for things like Guantanamo. In Singapore, we would no longer have that right.
And excuse me if I don't think I need to read an 82 page court judgment to know that it's wrong to punish someone for criticizing your country's judicial system. I do in fact know enough about Singapore's judicial system to be pretty sure it deserves the criticism.
pablum 1 year, 6 months ago
@vitalism
I'll get back to you as soon as Yale opens up a campus at Guantanamo Bay.
JohnL 1 year, 6 months ago
It is shameful that Yale would even consider this Singapore partnership. The regime there wants the "seal of approval" of respected universities like Yale, coming in and associating their name with the city-state. But what of the long-term damage to Yale's reputation?
rjvnr 1 year, 6 months ago
There exists an element of fear in Singapore. People understand that they are free to pursue wealth, but that strong criticism of the organs of state and the ruling party are unacceptable. If criticism is expressed too strongly, the individual risks losing his wealth or his ability to acquire wealth.
A positive international reputation is carefully cultivated by the government. Such a positive international reputation is an important part of wealth accumulation by Singapore vis-a-vis the rest of the world, making it a desirable place to live and work in.
National socialism modernized for the 21st century.
FailBoat 1 year, 6 months ago
Yes, namely that making a politically partisan film is illegal in Singapore, that Singapore has the highest execution rate in the world, and that several bloggers have been caned and jailed for political speech.
theantiyale 1 year, 6 months ago
"Infiltrate and subvert" is a more generous interpretation than "bald, barefaced greed" of Yale's interest in China.
rr22 1 year, 6 months ago
My Singaporean-Yalie friend was very offended at the suggestion that the human rights and political rights situation in Singapore is bad enough that it is unworthy of having a Yale-affiliated liberal arts college.
Is this a case of America imposing our values on a foreign sovereign nation that has its own values? Do we have a right to impose our political system on something that seems to be working fine over there? Is there anything objectively better about the American system?
JE14 1 year, 6 months ago
rr22. No one said we have to "impose our values", but we don't have to get associated with their values. See it as Singapore "imposing their values" on a Yale named campus.
theantiyale 1 year, 6 months ago
I thought "The Academy" was a universal, invisible, hundreds-year-old nation of its own: A NATION WITHOUT BORDERS, with freedom of inquiry and expression its highest values and intellectual curiosity its government. PK
SY10 1 year, 6 months ago
rr22: as JE14 said, this isn't about imposing our values on anybody. It's that Singapore's "values" (I use scare quotes because I am uncomfortable implying that the general population of a country actually values political repression) are entirely incompatible with the mission of a liberal-arts university like Yale. Our values include free speech and the open exchange of ideas - most Yalies would probably agree that much of the value of a university comes from allowing people to pursue and publish their ideas regardless of whether those ideas violate some sort of political orthodoxy. If Singapore will not let us put those values into practice, we have no business being there. If Yale really wants to extend the liberal arts model to parts of the world that don't have it, maybe we should consider countries like Japan, South Korea, and Taiwan that have laws on free speech much more in line with those in Europe and the United States, but still have relatively rigid, test-based, academic systems.
pablum 1 year, 6 months ago
One thing is certain: if Singaporeans had different "values" than those approved by their government, we would surely never know.
Isn't that precisely the point of political repression?
y10alum 1 year, 6 months ago
@rr22 "Is there anything objectively better about the American system?"
Yes. Yes there is. We don't jail people who write books that are critical of our judicial system.
rr22 1 year, 6 months ago
Point taken.
What about the idea that if we build a liberal arts college but play by their rules we will slowly but effectively subvert them through positive education and induce positive political change? It's not like they're totally crazy subversive of dissent like China is...
y_07 1 year, 6 months ago
I think the broader point here is that opening a campus in Singapore threatens academic freedom throughout the university. If Singapore is willing to jail academics it dislikes, might it also be willing to crack down on an entire campus if a Yale affiliated scholar (in Singapore, New Haven, or anywhere else) expresses an opinion offensive to Singapore's government? How will Levin or a future Yale President weigh a billion-dollar investment against academic freedom? Is this a risk Yale should or needs to be taking?
pablum 1 year, 6 months ago
No.
FailBoat 1 year, 6 months ago
Yes, because those foreigners over in Asia would never want to express a dissenting opinion. They all look the same and probably all think the same too.
lenox 1 year, 6 months ago
This discussion also practised censorship..... This is double-standed.
lenox 1 year, 6 months ago
SY10, if you do not read the judgement, how would you deem fair if what the author wrote is fair to Singapore ?
BobbyTan 1 year, 6 months ago
If Michael Moore does what He did in US in Singapore I am very sure He will be incarcerated wihout trial under the Internal Security Act of Singapore and the key thrown into the Pacific Ocean. The longest serving prisoner of conscience in the world (32 years) is a Singgaporean.
A really sad day if the tie up of the Liberal Arts of College comes to past.
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