a more open field

Does not imply a more level playing field.

Come 01 September, our dead Speakers' Corner at Hong Lim Park will be revived and given new life as a demonstrators domain.

Yes, Singaporeans will now be able to organise and participate in any demonstrations at the Speakers' Corner - except those that involve race and religion - without having to obtain a police permit. However, one is still required to register online with NParks before heading down with their angry mob and loud-hailers.

Anyway why is NParks the regulating authority? I dunno. Do they anticipate our local tree-hugging groups coming together frequently to campaign against the indiscriminate chopping down of old trees (think Braddell Road), or does JBJ need fertilisers for his bald spot? Weird.

And isn't it futile to have a rule prohibiting foreigners from participating in these protests? Hong Lim Park, being a park first and foremost, is a public space. Anyone, ranging from your expatriate angmohs to your backpacking globetrotter, can and will head to the park. Will there be passport controls at the park entrance? How do we distinguish a foreign protester from a tourist just sitting down and enjoying the cool shade of the trees?

Bizzare.

Methinks that rather than this being a gradual liberalisation or sudden magnanimity of the government, it is just a case of the inevitable. With the Internet, politicians can no longer pull sheeps' wool over the electorate. With higher education, Singaporeans are also becoming more politically savvy and capable of deciding on their own brand of political leadership. With the influx of foreigners, politics is no longer a game played solely by Singaporeans.

Society is changing. And the government knows it.

Therefore, what they are trying to do now, is to keep abreast of these changes - and making a big show out of it in the process.

Somehow methinks that just like in 2001, the Speakers' Corner will die yet another natural death, because demonstrations, just like free speech, cannot be regulated and confined to geographical boundaries. Wouldn't it be absurd to protest about the unethical treatment of the chickens at the farms at Kranji in the heart of town? Wouldn't it be puzzling to speak about the plight of foreign workers to a largely metropolitan crowd who treats them as invisible? Where would the target audience be? And why would they bother?

Somehow, methinks that Speakers Corner 2.0 will just be another token act for the Aung San Suu Kyis of Singapore; the latest example to cite to foreign journalists when they ask about our pathetic state of human rights in Singapore.

"See, have what. Welcome to our Speakers Corner, where you can burn effigies of Lee Hsien Loong, where the homosexuals can parade in pink, where Chee Soon Juan can stand there for five days and five nights. See, we have freedom what! Who say donch have?"

Indeed. Who say donch have?