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Human Rights Watch Submission to the Universal Periodic Review of Singapore
October 2020
Introduction
Human Rights Watch submits the following information regarding Singapore’s implementation of recommendations received and accepted following its second Universal Periodic Review (UPR) in 2016. The major human rights issues raised in this submission are a continuation of many of the concerns raised during the last review. While Singapore agreed to improve its legal instruments in the field of human rights and social protection[1] and to further include international human rights norms into its national legislation,[2] there has been very little progress in this regard. The government continues to use overly broad laws restricting freedom of speech to prosecute critical speech or to label it as false or “fake,” and the right to peaceful assembly remains severely restricted.
Asia Sentinel
Rigid selection process thrown into confusion by heir-apparent’s sudden departure
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The sudden decision by Deputy Prime Minister Heng Swee Keat (above) to step down from the succession to become the country’s next prime minister, officially because at 60 he is too old to succeed the 69-year-old Prime Minister Lee Hsien Loong, has raised confusion and intense speculation on who will replace him to become the country’s next leader.
Except for an interregnum from 1990 to 2004 when Goh Chok Tong held office under the watchful eye of modern founder Lee Kuan Yew as “minister mentor,” the Lee family has dominated politics for the entire 62 years since independence in 1959. The process of selecting a new leader has thus been a good deal more fraught than for other countries.
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Singapore opposition politician crowdfunds US$98,840 to pay PM Lee Hsien Loong in defamation case Singapore Prime Minister Lee Hsien Loong. Photo: Reuters
A lawyer for the Singapore opposition politician ordered by a court to pay Prime Minister Lee Hsien Loong S$133,000 (US$98,840) for defamation said he had raised enough cash from donations to fully cover damages.
Leong Sze Hian of the Peoples Voice Party was ordered on March 24 to pay S$133,000 to Lee for posting a link to a Malaysian news site that alleged the city state s leader had helped launder 1Malaysia Development Berhad funds.
Since then more than 2,000 people had donated to a crowdfunding campaign on social media to raise the full amount, Lim Tean, Leong s lawyer, said in a Facebook post on Monday.