[New Mandala has received this contribution from Stephen Dobbs of the University of Western Australia.]
It is frankly very disturbing that Australia’s national university would bestow upon Lee Kuan Yew an honorary Doctor of Laws degree. It also seems rather odd that this important visitor and event are not mentioned on the ANU events calendar. Is there some reason (beyond security) that there is apparently a degree of secrecy surrounding this event? Is the ANU embarrassed by this choice of candidate? Given a recent report in Crikey that the Vice-Chancellor at ANU told staff they would be supported for exercising free speech it seems somewhat inappropriate to be awarding Singapore’s Lee Kuan Yew with a Doctor of Laws. Lee has demonstrated a complete lack of respect over the years (and certainly no honour) for free speech and used the laws of Singapore to ensure he gets his way.
If the ANU wishes to recognise the role Lee has played in Singapore’s economic development or his success as a social engineer then by all means award him a degree in government, development or perhaps even business but not any kind of degree with the word “law” attached to it. Can there be anyone at ANU who does not know something of Lee’s total disregard for legal process and decency when it comes to dealing with his country’s own citizens?
For more than forty years now under Lee’s stewardship the Peoples Action Party (PAP) government of Singapore has manipulated and controlled the country’s legal processes as one of many measures to help ensure the status quo with respect to governance. The laws of Singapore under Lee and his successors (really no true successor while he lives on forever in the background) have been used as a very blunt instrument to bludgeon any and all political opposition, academic independence, freedom of the press and citizenry generally who are deemed to have stepped out of line. Has no one at ANU heard of Chia Thye Poh and his thirty two year detention by the Singapore state without ever being convicted of any crime?
Is it possible that no one at ANU knows just how the judiciary of Singapore is compromised by and compliant to the wishes of Lee and other senior government voices? Or does everyone really believe that all those newspapers and news journals were guilty of a crime because they were sued successfully in Singapore’s courts for hundreds of thousands of dollars by Lee and other government figures? Were they not doing what a free press is supposed to do? I think you will find that between them various news outlets such as the International Herald Tribune and others have paid out millions of dollars to settle various liable claims. Let us not forget that the Far Eastern Economic Review (FEER) is currently banned in Singapore and is being pursued by Lee Kuan Yew and Lee Hsien Loong for damages simply for daring to allow an opposition party leader to speak his mind on PAP efforts to silence dissent. Perhaps someone at ANU should read the FEER’s account (easily accessible on the web) of how the law is being manipulated by the government of Singapore to shut them up. Thailand’s king hides behind the archaic law of lèse majesté and Singapore’s leaders hide behind a tamed and obedient judiciary.
I suggest instead of rewarding Lee (with a Degree in Laws at least) the ANU honour some of Lee’s victims with this degree, particularly those who have been mercilessly pursued by him through the country’s legal system for no other crime than attempting to have a say in their country’s future. There is quite long list of these people, some former insiders who fell out with Lee and others who were never part of the Lee clique. There is no doubt that some of these characters were as disreputable as Lee would make them out to be but many others, whatever their personal faults and weaknesses, were simply citizens who wanted something more from their government.
Notable among the victims of Lee’s manipulation of the legal process are Joshua Benjamin Jeyaretnam, and more recently Dr Chee Soon Juan. Jeyaretnam has struggled for more than two decades to create and maintain a viable political opposition in Singapore in the face of intense political persecution backed up by a complicit pro-government judiciary. From the moment he won a seat in Singapore’s parliament in 1981 he became the target of a relentless pursuit by Lee and the PAP more broadly. In fact he was already a victim of Singapore’s legal system in 1976 when he was found to have defamed Lee and had to pay a large damages settlement. His persistence and refusal to be cowed has cost him dearly. He has been publicly derided by the government of Singapore on a regular basis, imprisoned, bankrupted through endless and baseless lawsuits (baseless because in any other democratic legal jurisdiction the government’s claims would have been thrown out of court) and prevented from running for parliament on the basis of the outcome of these lawsuits.
Dr Chee Soon Juan a former lecturer at Singapore National University now finds himself treading similar political ground to Jeyaretnam. It is his interview reported in the FEER last year which has lead to its recent banning in Singapore. As leader of the Singapore Democratic Party he has been bankrupted by libel and jailed more than once for organising public meetings and speaking publicly without the proper permits. He has spoken out often on the tainted judiciary of Singapore particularly in conflicts between the government and opposition politicians. There simply is no such thing as a fair trial for anyone who enters the political fray as an opposition politician in Singapore.
On its profile web page under “Research at ANU” it states that ANU is “Home to some of the world’s finest minds … expanding the boundaries of human understanding through research of the highest quality”. I have always believed this very big claim to have some substance. However, if the ANU bestows on Singapore’s strong man Lee Kuan Yew a Doctor of Laws honoris causa degree then clearly not all the minds are as “fine” as we would wish them to be nor are the “boundaries of human understanding” being pushed too hard.
18 responses so far ↓
1 ANU Graduate // Mar 22, 2007 at 1:15 pm
It is indeed “expanding the boundaries of human understanding” how as prestigious an institution as the ANU can award an honorary doctorate of law to a man who throughout his political career has shown no respect for the integrity of the law, and who has continually used it as a political weapon to destroy his enemies. Is this what the ANU expects of its own graduates in law?
Let us hope that there is a large group of hecklers both inside and outside the ceremony who will stand up for the academic integrity of the ANU even if the Vice Chancellor and the administration will not.
2 Srithanonchai // Mar 22, 2007 at 4:15 pm
Is there any way we can find out whether the majority of Singaporean citizens is “very disturbed” by the ANU giving an honorary degree to LKY, or rather by the reactions on this planned act? Just wonder.
3 Srithanonchai // Mar 22, 2007 at 4:20 pm
Also wonder whether we are about to continue the “Asian values” debate on this occasion.
4 June Lowe // Mar 22, 2007 at 6:00 pm
ANU – whatever next, an honorary degree in Social Work for Mugabe perhaps?
5 soci // Mar 23, 2007 at 4:09 am
Srithanonchai – to answer your question. I feel that at the moment the ANU award of the degree on Lee is receiving almost zero coverage in Singapore’s state controlled press. The Singapore blogosphere is also silent on the issue, apart from a few sites, Singabloodypore.rsfblog.org and tomorrow.sg have covered a few articles. [If anyone is aware of others can you place them in this thread]
As the editor and main contributor to singabloodypore, I think I speak with some knowledge. There is little interest in the issue and I imagine the award is unlikely to be given anything other than a positive slant on Singapore’s national media. If heckling were to be heard during the ceremony they will simply edit it out.
As for this thread falling into the old ‘Asian Values’ debate, I doubt it, even the People’s Action Party have dropped that little piece of ideology. The main argument will be ‘Yes he may not respect human rights, but look at how much cleaner and more modern we are compared to our neighbours.’
6 Young Labor Left » Blog Archive » Snap Action! Protest ANU’s Honorary Doctorate for Lee Kwan Yew // Mar 23, 2007 at 4:34 am
[...] on their personal blogs. Andrew Walker of the RSPAS at New Mandela has also posted a letter from Stephen Dobbs of the University of Western Australia which is well worth a read. Andrew Leigh of the [...]
7 nganadeeleg // Mar 23, 2007 at 8:37 am
‘Yes he may not respect human rights, but look at how much cleaner and more modern we are compared to our neighbours.’
Srithanonchai & Soci: There is also the ’survivalism’ ideology, which is probably just as relevant today.
Of course ANU should not be giving LKY an honory law doctorate, but there is a fair chance that Singapore would be a much worse place without having had LKY in control.
8 Srithanonchai // Mar 23, 2007 at 12:34 pm
Soci: Thanks for this info.
“The main argument will be ‘Yes he may not respect human rights, but look at how much cleaner and more modern we are compared to our neighbours.’” Well, that’s an understandable position. Even many foreign academics like working in Singapore, not just because they are well-paid, I guess.
9 Al Fakhem // Mar 24, 2007 at 9:06 pm
When I was relocated to Singapore in the mid-90s, we were shocked to be told by the then headmistress our two sons’ international school to avoid discussing Singapore domestic politics in front of our boys, lest they repeat our opinions in public. Wow – we had not expected to land in a remake of Nazi Germany or of the Stalinist USSR. After only one week at school, I picked up my elder son – then 10 years old – one evening and we drove past Tanglin Road Police Station. Without prompting, he said to me: “Dad, that’s where they make you talk.”
I find it hard to digest that the supposedly learned people at ANU are collectively mentally less astute than my son was at the age of 10.
10 therapod // Mar 25, 2007 at 5:43 pm
wait, no, no, i think its perfectly alright to give him a degree – a degree of law, since he’s manipulated the law so well!
11 Ian Austin // Mar 26, 2007 at 1:16 pm
Forget criticising Lee. He is just receiving ‘another’ one of these things. All criticism should be directed towards ANU’s so-called leadership. I was at a forum late last year when ANU’s VC talked of academic freedom. Clearly from this decision such freedoms apply to Canberra based academics only, and not colleagues globally! This is just another case of university ‘leadership’ ignorance and arrogance. No consultation with ANU staff, alumni and students seems to have taken place. How democratic!
12 Kin Mun // Mar 26, 2007 at 2:09 pm
We may criticise Lee for many of his acts against the opposition and perhaps we should. As someone who grew up in Singapore, I greatly regret the fact that 140 years of British colonial rule did not result in much appreciation of human rights among the population. In fact the British were just as ruthless in crushing critics and opposition, among them a member of my family. Perhaps Lee learnt his tactics from them.
13 Pig Latin // Mar 26, 2007 at 4:43 pm
Professor Coper (Dean of the law faculty at the ANU) has responded to recent inquiries regarding the decision to bestow LKY with the Doctorate of Laws by denying any Law faculty involvement with the decision. …
Dear Students
I am copying to you an email I have just sent to my colleagues here.
In a nutshell, the purpose of the email is to make it clear that the recent decision of the ANU to award an honorary doctorate of laws (Hon LLD) to Mr Lee Kuan Yew, former Prime Minister of Singapore, was a decision of the ANU Council, not a decision of the ANU College of Law. In fact, the College was neither consulted about, nor had any part in, the decision. Had the College been consulted, it is clear from the protests lodged with the Vice Chancellor that many colleagues would have opposed the decision.
I re-emphasise the point made in the attached about how much ANU values its relationship with the National University of Singapore, with Singapore itself and with its people. Nothing in the current controversy detracts from that.
Regards
Michael Coper
14 Pig Latin // Mar 26, 2007 at 4:50 pm
(the attached message)
Dear Colleagues
As you know, the ANU is on Wednesday of this week conferring an honorary doctorate on the former Prime Minister of Singapore Mr Lee Kuan Yew. This has produced a storm of protest, both within our College and outside it. The essence of the protest is that it does not sit easily with a College and a University that values human rights and academic freedom to honour a person, whatever his tangible achievements in nation-building in Singapore, whose regime was associated with the erosion of those values and the suppression of freedom of speech and expression.
It is a matter of particular concern that, because Mr Lee Kuan Yew is to be awarded an honorary LLD, there may be an assumption in relevant communities that the ANU College of Law is somehow implicated in the decision, whether by way of initiation or endorsement.
In fact, neither I, as Dean of the ANU College of Law, nor, to the best of my knowledge, anyone else in the College, was consulted on the proposal or took part in the decision. Indeed, I was unaware of the decision until I received an invitation to the ceremony. As I understand it, the decision was a decision of the ANU Council, following a proposal from the Chancellor.
Given that the decision is a fait accompli and, in the nature of things, effectively irreversible, it is a matter for individuals now to determine how they wish to respond. Many have registered their protests with the Vice Chancellor, who has forwarded them to the Chancellor. I have informed the Vice Chancellor that I will not be participating in the degree ceremony. I have also informed him that neither do I expect many, if any, colleagues in the ANU College of Law to participate, if only because of our College Advisory Board meeting that day.
I believe that the decision to honor Mr Lee Kuan Yew was driven in part by the desire to strengthen our ties with the National University of Singapore, with whom we are a partner in the International Association of Research Universities. May I say that, whatever one thinks of the decision, and whatever criticism one makes of it, the controversy surrounding it should not be taken to detract from our good relations and connections with the National University of Singapore, with whom we continue to explore opportunities for fruitful collaboration.
Regards
Michael
15 david // Mar 27, 2007 at 12:37 pm
kin mun = brown?
16 But why a Doctorate of Laws? | terryjohal.com // Mar 27, 2007 at 12:42 pm
[...] Stephen Dobbs of University of Western Australia writes “The laws of Singapore under Lee and his successors (really no true successor while he lives on forever in the background) have been used as a very blunt instrument to bludgeon any and all political opposition, academic independence, freedom of the press and citizenry generally who are deemed to have stepped out of line.” [link] [...]
17 anon // Mar 28, 2007 at 2:27 am
Thank you. Please upload to youtube any video of your protest. Public is not allowed to protest in Singapore so it will be good for Singaporeans inside and outside the country to see that even Mr Lee can be protested against.
18 Kin Mun // Mar 30, 2007 at 2:03 pm
In reply to a comment,
kin mun NOT EQUAL TO Brown
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