Mar 18

Singaporean activists protest against naming of Orchid after Burmese General

Published by Seelan Palay on Wednesday, March 18, 2009

3 activists including filmmaker Ho Choon Hiong, lawyer Chia Ti Lik and myself gathered at the Singapore Botanical Gardens this morning to protest against an “Orchid Naming Ceremony” hosted for the Burmese junta leader Thein Sein.

As Singaporeans we want to register our disapproval over the naming of Singapore’s national flower, the Orchid, after a leader of the despotic military junta of Burma.

We made our way through the park in red t-shirts, intending to hand a bouquet of 8 Orchid stalks (symbolizing the ’88 revolution) with a greeting card to the General, to request that he help deliver them to pro-democracy leader Miss Aung San Suu Kyi.

When we arrived at the location of the ceremony at 8.15 am however, we were approached by a group of National Parks staff who informed us that the event was over in 5 minutes and that the General had since left.

Plainclothes police officers who had also been present at previous similar events were spotted at various points in the park long after the General’s departure. I noticed one particular officer who was pretending to take photographs of flowers and told him, “Hey, you damn obvious lah!”. He took a nervous glance at me and then looked in another direction.

A decision was then made to walk to the Burmese Embassy on St. Martin’s Drive to request them to hand the bouquet and card over to Aung San Suu Kyi. After a brief inquiry, the security guard on duty shouted at us from a distance that they refuse to accept the gifts.

Standing outside the locked gates the embassy, I went ahead and read out the contents of the card:

“Dear Aung San Suu Kyi,

Today marks an unimportant occasion whereby an Orchid will be named in Singapore after Thein Sein, a general of the Burmese junta.

We feel that it is more befitting to be named after you.

This bouquet of 8 Orchid stalks is to honour you and your countrymen who have sacrificed so much for freedom and democracy in Burma.

Respectfully yours,
Singaporeans for Burmese democracy”

We then unfurled a banner bearing the words, “Long Live Aung San Syu Kyi”, and shouted out the slogan thrice with raised fists.

We left after placing the bouquet and card at the doorstep of the embassy, hoping that one day, an Orchid flower will be honoured in the name of Miss Aung San Suu Kyi, the rightful leader of Burma.

Related reports:
Spore Botanic Garden to honor Myanmar junta leader

Singapore urges Myanmar to reconcile with opponents

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Feb 27
Home News Singapore TODAY wants to know SDP’s response to Chiam’s criticisms
TODAY wants to know SDP’s response to Chiam’s criticisms PDF Print E-mail
Thursday, 26 February 2009
Singapore Democrats

The Today newspaper wrote to Dr Chee Soon Juan asking for his response to Mr Chiam See Tong’s criticisms about the SDP. Its Senior Reporter, Mr Loh Chee Kong, said that he had interviewed Mr Chiam on Wednesday in which Mr Chiam said that the Singapore Democrats had engaged in “conspiratorial and destructive politics.”

Mr Loh wanted Dr Chee’s “take on what had happened within the SDP then” and what is Dr Chee’s present relationship with Mr Chiam. He added that Mr Chiam was sore that he was “forced out” of the party he founded. Mr Loh said that the story is slated to be published in this Saturday’s edition of the newspaper.  Read Dr Chee’s reply to Mr Loh:

As apparent during the interview, Mr Chiam was still upset over the way he felt he was “forced out”– in his words — of the party he had founded. He was visibly sore that there were people in the party then who failed to understand his vision of a “two-party system” and were more interested in engaging in what he called “conspiratorial and destructive politics”.  Mr Chiam added that he is not on speaking terms with you because of what had happened.
-  Loh Chee Kong
Senior Reporter, TODAY

Dear Mr Loh,

First, let me say that I have no desire to let myself and my party be dragged by you into a mud-slinging match with another opposition party.

Readers will ask themselves: Why this and why now? The break up with Mr Chiam See Tong in the SDP happened nearly two decades ago. This was extensively covered and utilised by the PAP and its media to criticise the Singapore Democrats.

Yet, your newspaper decides to resurrect the issue today. One need not be a genius to see what motivates this present exercise. You are obviously trying to remind Singaporeans of the episode in the hope that you can turn opinion against the SDP again.

Why now? This is not hard to figure out given two recent developments: One, is that the general elections are expected to be called in the not-too-distant future and the PAP needs to run down the Singapore Democrats.

Two, the SDP has been calling for the opposition to work closer together. The PAP needs to halt this process as a united opposition is not in its interest. The PAP has always depended on the divide-and-conquer tactic to trump the opposition.

Mr Chiam’s views of the SDP are not news. If you are truly interested in political fallouts, a story about the “stepping down” of Ms Ho Ching as Temasek’s chief and what was really happening behind the scenes would thrill your readers no end, and assuredly send your newspaper’s sales to record highs.

Despite such real information that the newspaper should be telling your readers, you choose to write on something that happened in 1993 and which has already been milked dry by your colleagues.

Now that the Singapore Democrats are moving ahead and gaining momentum in attracting support especially on the Internet, the media knows that it needs to do something, however blatant and despicable, to halt our progress.

Thanks but no thanks, we prefer to concentrate our attention on the PAP.

Chee Soon Juan
Secretary-General
Singapore Democratic Party
Jan 14
One Country Two Systems (from Martyn See’s Blog posting)

200 Chinese workers is a crowd.

2 Singaporean protesters is an illegal assembly.

224 PRC workers held a sit-in in front of the Ministry of Manpower building to protest against salary arrears on December 30 2008. They were not arrested.
Singaporeans Seelan Palay and Chong Kai Xiong were arrested this afternoon in front of the same MOM building for staging a protest in support of Burmese nationals allegedly being forced to leave the country for their pro-democracy activities.

Link: 2 arrested for protest

Video of Seelan & Kai Xiong Protest by Choon Hiong http://vimeo.com/2808270
Jan 12

Two activists were arrested at around 1 pm outside MOM Building.

They were speaking out against MOM high handed ways of rejecting two  Burmese’s work permit.

Seelan and Kai Xiong, while holding placard,  were highlighting the plight of our Burmese pals whose work permit were rejected after working here for 11 years for their pro-democracy support in their own country.

Now tell me, last Sunday, 200 PRC gathered peacefully outside MOM building to protest against their bosses for not paying them, no arrest and MOM even render help immediately.  In stark contrast,  2 activists protesting against MOM high handed ways of rejecting the renewal of work permit were arrested!!

It makes me wonder;

1) 2 activists pose more danger than 200 protesters?

2)  2 activists pose more danger than a gathering of 200 foreign workers??

This is a sick country!

Press Release: More Burmese facing expulsion from Singapore

Seelan Palay

Yet another two Burmese nationals working in Singapore have fallen victim to the Government for their support of the pro-democracy movement in their home country.

In the latest development, Singapore’s Manpower Ministry is refusing to renew the work permits of Mr Moe Kyaw Thu, 35 and Mr Win Kyaw, 38, who had both worked here for 11 years each. Moe is a construction supervisor and Win, a technical supervisor.

This drastic turn of events resulted from the two men’s involvement in highlighting human rights abuses by the Burmese military junta following its crackdown of the pro-democracy movement in Rangoon led by monks in September last year.

Moe in particular appealed to MOM reiterating that he has no police record of any kind and he has fully respected the laws of Singapore while working here.

Both men have participated in the activities of the Overseas Burmese Patriots (OBP), an advocacy group formed in Singapore after the military crackdown. The group was involved in organizing and conducting a series of public campaigns in Singapore against the Burmese regime.

One of the activities was when over 40 Burmese, assembled in groups of four, held a peaceful protest along Orchard Road on 20 Nov 07 during the ASEAN Summit in nearby Shangri-la Hotel.

Following the event, the group was accused by the Singapore Government of deliberately breaking local laws. Its members were given a police warning for their participation in the protest. But none of the Burmese activists were ever charged with any unlawful act while pursuing their political objectives.

The hands of the PAP Government first became apparent in September this year when three members of the OBP were expelled when their work permits or residence in Singapore came up for renewal.

Deputy Prime Minister and Home Affairs Minister Wong Kan Seng defended the Government’s action then, stating that the Immigration and Checkpoints Authority “considers this small group to be undesirable persons and rightly decided they should leave.”

In the ongoing saga, despite their employers wanting to retain them, Moe and Win have been ordered to leave Singapore by the end of January 2009.

“If they send me back, my family will suffer greatly. I’d have to spend the rest of my life in prison.” said Moe.

The latest expulsions go against the sympathy and support that Burmese pro-democracy activists receive throughout the world. The inhumane act of the Singapore Government is an indirect endorsement of the murderous Burmese junta.

seelanpalay@gmail.com