Singaporean opposition leaders challenged the establishment of Yale-NUS at a panel discussion in Sheffield-Sterling-Strathcona Hall Friday afternoon.
Chee, whose speech elicited a prolonged applause from the audience, said his worst fears were realized when he found out the Singaporean government would restrict political activity on the Yale-NUS campus, and urged Yale not to be complicit with the ruling party’s oppressive policies toward the Singaporean people. In October, Yale-NUS administrators announced that branches of existing political parties in Singapore as well as organizations “promoting racial or religious strife” would be prohibited on the college’s campus in accordance with the nation’s laws.
Jeyaretnam said he thinks healthy political debate cannot exist in a society that is not free. In Singapore, he said, all national media and bloggers who attempt to circumvent state control are frequently threatened with defamation suits by the government, which he added are facts that Yale-NUS President Pericles Lewis has overlooked. Full story
