How Optus deal curries favour with Singapore

24 August 2001

IN allowing Lee Hsien Yang's $14 billion takeover of Optus Communications, Peter Costello has done what governments in Malaysia, China and Hong Kong wouldn't.

He has sanctioned the expansion beyond Singapore's shores of the island's state-controlled business system in an age when governments are urged to get out of commerce.

SingTel's efforts to buy big in Malaysia and Hong Kong last year were blocked because Kuala Lumpur and Beijing authorities didn't want the Singapore Government owning its strategic assets.

So what does Costello know that Mahathir ... Read more »

Don't deprive youth of participation in nation's politics

15 August 2001

The Young Democrats (YD) opposes the latest Government's decision to bring the Internet medium to heel (Straits Times, August 14, 2001). After having effectively muzzled the print and broadcast media, both local and foreign, it is not at all surprising that the PAP is now focusing its attention on the Internet.

The speed in which the PAP government is acting to curb the use of the Internet by political parties, reveals the desperation in which the PAP finds itself. It shows that the ruling party is unsure of itself in the coming General Elections (GE). With the r ... Read more »

Today censors YD's reply

15 August 2001

On 7 August 2001, the MediaCorp newspaper Today published a letter by Mr Raymond Lee (see letter below). YD Vice-President Bryan Lim wrote back to answer some of the allegations that the writer had made. The reply (published on 13 August 2001, pg. 7) was, however, censored heavily by the newspaper to the extent that not only has the tone and spirit of the SDP's reply been altered, but many of the points in rebuttal to Mr Raymond Lee's accusations have been edited out.

The exchange of letters are reproduced below and readers can see for themselves how the local media works vis- ... Read more »

PAP makes it even more difficult for SDP to stage rally

13 August 2001

The SDP has applied for a license to stage its National Day Rally on 26 August 2001 at the Yio Chu Kang Stadium. The Police has stipulated that the Party has to engage 13 CISCO (Commercial and Industrial Security Corpn.) officers for crowd control purposes (see condition no. 11 below). The expenses would have to be borne by the SDP. This would amount to several thousand dollars.

This condition which has just been recently imposed is completely unacceptable. First, this rally is a public event to address national issues such as the current recession. It is not an ... Read more »