Singapore arrests opposition members over price protest

Reuters - Sunday, March 16

SINGAPORE - Singapore police arrested a dozen opposition party members
staging a rare protest on Saturday in front of parliament house over rising
prices in the city-state.

About 20 protesters wearing red T-shirts that said "Tak Boleh Tahan" -- which means "Cannot Take It" in Bahasa Malay -- gathered outside parliament house, holding placards and shouting slogans. Singapore's annual inflation rate hit a 25-year high of 6.6 percent in January with food prices rising 5.8 percent in that month from a year earlier.

"We want to draw attention to these unbearable price hikes,"
said Chee Soon Juan, leader of the Singapore Democratic Party. "Our objective is to continue to encourage Singaporeans to speak up," he added.

Protests in Singapore are rare and an assembly of five or more people requires a permit from the police.

According to a Reuters witness, about 10 plain-clothes police surrounded the protesters and took Chee and 11 others into custody, following a tense 15-minute standoff that drew crowds of curious onlookers and tourists. Most of the protesters were dragged into waiting police vans.

"The protest was an "escalation in the level of defiance" by the group, the police said in a statement issued late Saturday.

"Chee has persisted to advocate civil disobedience and street politics as the means for political action in Singapore. In so doing, he disregards the law," said the statement.

A police spokesman told Reuters he could not confirm what charges the
protestors faced as investigations were ongoing.

The Singapore Democratic Party said on its Web site the protest,
which included children in strollers, was peaceful.

"The atmosphere was pleasant and joyful until the police showed up," the statement said.

Singapore defends its strict laws on public assembly citing the need for publicorder and safety.

From this article, Mr Chee Soon Juan, together with 11 others, staged a street protest last saturday. They spoke about the increasing inflation rates in Singapore. They were later taken away by the police and their act was viewed as a form of defiance.

The Singapore government themselves spoke about the rapid inflation rate in Budget 2008 and many Singaporeans also expressed their concerns over the media and through the MPs. Therefore, the message given by Mr Chee and company were not groundless. In addition, the protest was described as peaceful. If so, why should the act be considered as defiance?

In Singapore, confirmity is very important and it seems to be part of the social norm. It is not that we do not have an opinion, but most would choose to abid by the rules. Although what Mr Chee said during the protest could be what is in our hearts, he still was arrested because he failed to abid by the law of Singapore. Singaporeans are famous for our absolute comfirmity to the strict laws, and why is that so?

According to Deutsch and Gerard (1955), there are 2 reasons why people conform. Informative influence happens when people are affected by others because they want to be correct and to get accurate information. And normative influence happens when people are affected by others to get rewards or to avoid punishment. Putting that into context, Singaporeans seemed to be under normative influence. We would try our very best not to break any law because of the fear of punishment. And perhaps because the punishment is more than just heavy, Singaporeans conform to the laws more than the others. Thus, it does not matter if what Mr Chee and company said was right or wrong, as long as he fails to conform to our laws, he will be considered as "defiant".

In addition, probably also due to normative influence, most Singaporeans will not speak up for those arrested. As I mentioned above, it is not that Singaporeans do not have opinions, its just to avoid conflict as far as possible.