and also almost exactly one year anniversary that I decided to be a cyber-filmmaker as well (thanks to the "Film Act" and of course the youtube) :P
Yesterday April 30 was a momentous day for me.
Encouraged by Martyn See's film "Speakers Cornered" that got passed by Board of Film Censors (BFC) with a NC-16 rating and as part of the 13 bloggers that submitted a proposal to Minister of Information and the Arts, Dr Lee Boon Yang to ensure internet freedom and to scrap the film act... I have submitted six films to BFC for classification.
Glad that three of my friends (Seelan, Kaixiong and Shafie) and a journalist accompanied me to BFC. The process of submitting the films was pretty non-event. A lady staff in BFC was friendly and helpful. She seemed to be pretty cool even while two of my friends were busy photo-taking and filming the whole process.
In case you are curious, here's an important note about the nature of these six films out of the many films that I have uploaded on youtube (Why submit only these six videos to BFC?):
For the past two years since the IMF protest as documented in the film "Speakers Cornered", We have observed a phenomenon spate of protests and demonstrations in Singapore by ordinary Singaporeans and foreigners, for instance Brown's T-Shirt protest by 30 Singaporeans against the newspaper suspension of columnist Mr Brown, "pink picnic" by the gays community at the botanical gardens, protest against the military junta in Burma by NUS international students and the Burmese in Singapore during the Asean Summit etc etc. Never before since 1969 have we witnessed such frequent demonstrations taking place in Singapore where laws against "illegal assemblies" are harsh.
For myself, I could only recall that prior to the above incidences, the only person who dare to constantly conduct such acts of defiance is none other than Dr Chee Soon Juan (secretary general of the Singapore Democratic Party) where he and some SDP members have been jailed a number of times for gathering without a permit. Previously his methods were considered out of sync and insane as the authorities wanted Singaporeans to believe it can lead to violence and democracy such as freedom of assembly is against the "Asian Values" shared by many Singaporeans. I guess in a way Dr Chee's persistence and courage has paid off. More young people in Singapore are inspired to take on the form of civil disobedience to voice their discontent. Yet curiously enough recently the authorities seems to be "softening" their approach in dealing with protestors or are they doing more covertly or perhaps they are quite clueless what to do with them or maybe they have finally throw up the towel.
consider this few observations I made:
- The Singapore Police Force (SPF) has increasingly use woman police officers to do the dirty work of breaking up the protest and they seem to be pretty courteous even while arresting the protesters (as witnessed in the consumer rights day where 30 Singaporeans protested outside parliament house)... my guess is that SPF always got ridiculed in the eyes of the international community as being heavy handed on peaceful demonstrators that the police decided that women officers have a softer but lethal touch when it comes to arrest (no insult to SPF, but the males officers especially those in plain clothes usually look like Ah Bengs and Ah Sengs)
- A few days ago 27 April must be yet another record breaking news.... more than one THOUSAND Burmese protested outside the Burmese Embassy in Singapore and the police did not disperse them.
- In fact today at the tak boleh tahan protest by SDP members and supporters at Toa Payoh Central (incidentally in Minister of Home Affairs Mr Wong Kan Seng's consitutency)... there were no incidences of Police arresting or videotaping them!
- Lastly on February this year, Mr Wong Kan Seng even talk about maybe allowing demonstration in Speakers Corner.
Has the tide changed? :)
Like Speakers Cornered these six videos I have submitted are straight documentations of demonstrations and protests that took place over the past one year. I think it is timely that if BFC allows them to be screened, I will like more Singaporeans to be aware of such happenings and I look forward to see a healthy discussions among Singaporeans about the possibility of having peaceful assemblies in tiny red-dot.
HAPPY MAY DAY AND SCRAP THE FILM ACT
Links to the six videos:
(Morning May day Montage)
(NUS international students Vigil Walk)
(Burmese staged peaceful demonstration in Singapore)
(Singaporean started 5 days fasting against ISA on Hindraf 5)
(Human rights torch relay by Falungong in Singapore)
(Burmese says NO)
Alternative information: Filmmaker submits six videos featuring political protests by Martyn See
pictures by Kai Xiong
