SDP secretary-general Dr Chee Soon Juan will take up a fellowship at the National Endowment for Democracy (NED) from March to July this year. The award is given under the Reagan-Fascell Democracy Fellows Program.
Based in Washington, DC, the NED (www.ned.org) was established in 1983. The program is named after former US president, Mr Ronald Reagan, and a former US congressman, Mr Dante Fascell, the two principle founders of the NED.
The organizations primary objective is to help strengthen democratic institutions around the world through nongovernmental efforts. NEDs mission statement states that its work is to “create a community of democrats and that it believes in systems that guarantee freedom of expression, belief and association, free and competitive elections, respect for the inalienable rights of individuals and minorities, free communications media, and the rule of law.
Dr Chee will use the fellowship to work on another book as well as to broaden international support for the democratic movement in Singapore.
In 2001, Dr Chee was at the University of Chicago doing a human rights fellowship at the Department of International Studies. He wrote his book Your Future, My Faith, Our Freedom whilst there.