I woke earlier than usual today to visit Hong Lim Park, where the group of 8 protesters are still standing surrounded by a crowd of policemen, prevented from proceeding onto Parliament House.  As far as marches go, these people certainly haven't marched far.  They are only a few hundred metres from Speakers Corner, where the event was to begin yesterday, 16th September.  When I arrived, I had at first thought that my sources were outdated or misinformed, for there was astounding quiet and peace in the area.  I couldn't see a crowd as I approached the Park, nor could I hear anything except the calls of insects.  I had half expected, no doubt from the endless associations drawn for us between rallies/protests and violent shoot-outs, water canons and bottle-slinging, for there to be more of a disturbance.

When I found the area where the face-off was occurring, however, only one jarring sound seemed out of place from the usual hustle and bustle.  As I drew nearer, the puzzle was solved:


Several strapping German Shepherds had been tethered to trees and were making an unearthly din at a nearby stray whom no one was bothering to chase away; I surmise they were police dogs, anyone else's would probably have been culled or something.  They were straining at their bonds and generally being scary.  If this was a tactic to scare away anyone thinking about joining in the protest, I must say it worked pretty well.  Another dog lounged on the lawn with its handler and several other people I assumed to be plainclothes policemen.  Several other "keepers of peace" and defenders of public morality included:

I hung around for a little while, just watching the proceedings.  Everyone was calm and collected; there was no shouting, badgering, or heatedness.  Then a protester walked past me (I later found out he was on his way to the washroom) and I snapped a photo of him from behind:


I felt compelled to talk to this man, so on his way back, I accosted him and asked him for a short interview.  I found out that he was Gandhi Ambalam, a member of the Singapore Democratic Party.  Despite frequent claims by the PAP that opposition members -- perhaps those belonging to the SDP in particular -- are unqualified and sub-par, the government evidently did not find him unqualified for a PSC scholarship in his youth, and a later career as a civil servant.

I sat him down at a chess table in the park, and we began a simple chat.  I asked him how many protesters there were, and if they were all from the SDP.  "Eight," he said, "Some of them are graduates waiting to go into national service."

"That's...brave of them." I said bemusedly, thinking that trigger-happy conspiracists would be eager to condemn those men to hell in national service for having participated in dissident activities.

"Brave? What brave? There is no bravery.  There is no fear.  It should be natural." He said heatedly.  "It is natural that citizens want to think for themselves instead of simply following what we're told."

I simply nodded, inclining my head and murmuring agreement, and the conversation moved onto other areas.  He expressed his anger at the media for what he alleged was biased and irresponsible journalism.  "They said the event ended last night.  Those are lies.  The rally is still going on, we were here overnight and we will continue to stay.  I just went to wash my face." Here he rubbed his face and apologized, explaining, "Didn't sleep last night." I expressed my sympathy and let him continue.

"The media should tell the truth," he said firmly.  "They said the public complained about a disturbance.  Who complained?" (I wondered briefly if someone had complained about the German Shepherds; if they hadn't yet, someone jolly well should have).  "We had an appreciative crowd.  This is low level journalism.  I should know -- I was a journalist."

This threw me off quite a bit.  A journalist? Surely he couldn't have worked in Singapore? I asked him for clarification, and he informed me that he was Chief Editor in TCS (now known as Mediacorp) of News, "in all four languages".  When I returned home, a quick check confirmed his background as someone who used to work for the state media.

I couldn't resist.

"So was there censorship?" I asked.

He paused a while, and his mouth worked soundlessly for a moment before he grinned, and we both shared a laugh.

"You shouldn't be asking that," He reproached.

"No fear!" I quoted him.

"No, what fear, no fear," he hastened.  A short pause.  "I was there for almost 20 years.  Censorship is there.  Censorship is complete and total."

He qualified this statement, however, by adding that they chose people to fill the top positions whom they didn't need to censor, seeming to imply that the censorship was not direct nor immediate, but rather an unspoken agreement that made interference unnecessary.  "No media is free," he added.  "What we want is a pluralistic media.  If the Straits Times wants to be pro-PAP, go ahead.  Just don't come and lie to us and say that they always publish the truth as the national newspaper, as PM Lee claims.  Now you can go home, on your blog, and you can write what you think about me.  I won't change anything or interfere.  That is a pluralistic media, where there is a clash of views."

He also claimed that the media had published that the event had ended so as to dissuade supporters from turning up to watch (this was when I promised him to publish this on my blog so people would know what was going on, whether or not he was right about the media's intentions).  Aside from the media, he also cited the group's frustration with the authorities, whom he claimed had not told them why they were not being allowed to proceed despite repeated inquiries.

"But you are breaking the law," I pointed out.

"Which law?" He asked a little belligerently.

"The law that says that you can't gather in public without a permi --"

"Permit? What permit?" He asked me.  "Permit to walk? I was arrested in 2002 on the May Day Rally under the Public Entertainment Act, with Chee Soon Juan.  It used to be just the Public Entertainment Act, but it was changed later to become the Public Entertainment and Meetings Act.  They change the law as and when it suits them." (Note: Apparently the act was amended in 2000 and came into effect in 2001.)

He paused, calming down.  "We accept traffic rules.  But if a law is unjust, to hell with it.  We defy an unjust law to stand for the rule of law.  If we are doing something wrong, why don't they arrest us?"

"Probably to avoid negative publicity," I offered.

"Then that is inconsistency.  Oh, wait -- smile for the camera!"

I turned around to find myself face to face with a young chap holding a big big video camera, only a few metres away from us, directly and very obviously filming the interview (there was no one else in our vicinity and he had the equipment pointed straight at us).  I gave the camera my most brilliant smile and waved in several different poses.  Then I whipped out my own camera and snapped this:

...and after a few moments, he wandered off, now apparently filming the greenery at Hong Lim Park.  I turned back to the interview, dismissing any discomfort with amusement, and we continued.  I asked him about his interaction with Chee Soon Juan and for his opinion of the man.

"I've known him since 1993 to be a man of sincerity and honesty," he said.  "If the man is untrustworthy or a congenital liar, then why are we too afraid to interview him? And if Lee Kuan Yew is not afraid to be cross-examined in the witness box, as he has said, then why the summary judgment against the Chees?"

I wrapped up the discussion as the conversation dwindled by asking him how long they planned to carry on.

"Until they let us march," He said.  I was about to point out that that would be, well, never, when he qualified -- "Or until Tuesday, when PM Lee will make a speech for the World Bank and IMF meetings.  Then we will see what we will do.  We might respond to his speech, and by then we may have said what we wanted to say."

"So you will be here at least until Tuesday?" I asked, and he affirmed it.  That concluded things, and I snapped a final picture: