The Case of Chee Soon Juan
Being intelligent, well-educated, articulate, young, and ethnically Chinese, he probably posed an unprecedented threat to the Singapore governing elite.
His Department Head at the National University of Singapore (NUS), S. Vasoo, was a PAP (the ruling party) MP.
In 1993, Dr Chee was sacked by NUS for using Singapore $226 (US$ 137) of his research fund to mail his wife's dissertation.
Even granting that Dr Chee erred (which he disputed), this is the most grossly disproportionate punishment that I have ever heard of in academia anywhere in the whole world. Can anyone doubt the real motive behind the sacking?
The litany of legal proceedings against Dr Chee, as detailed below, began then.
Quoting from East meets West: human rights and democracy in East Asia by Daniel A. Bell (p274):
SUMMARY CHRONOLOGY OF DR CHEE’S
CONVICTIONS AND ACCUSATIONS
(Source: Annex B, http://www.robertamsterdam.com/2009.Nov04.Repression_of_political_freedoms_in_Singapore.CheeSoonJuan.pdf )
1 Date, charge, punishment
1993, defamation, ordered to pay US$350,000 in damages
1996, contempt of Parliament, fined US$17,000 by Parliament
1999, speaking in public without a permit, jailed 7 days
1999, speaking in public without a permit, jailed 12 days
1999, selling books, fined US$400
2002, attempting to hold a rally on May Day, jailed 5 weeks
2003, speaking on Muslim schoolgirls’ head scarves, fined US$2,000
2006, defamation, ordered to pay US$350,000 in damages
2006, contempt of court, jailed 8 days
2006, attempting to leave country without permit, jailed 3 weeks
2007, speaking without a permit, jailed 5 weeks
2008, defamation, ordered to pay US$400,000 in damages
2008, contempt of court, jailed 12 days
2 On-going trials
participating in the assembly with 18 others outside
Parliament House on 15 March 2008
participating in a procession with 18 others outside
Funan Centre on 15 March 2008
attempting to participate in a procession at
Speakers' Corner during the WB-IMF
meeting on 16 September 2006
speaking in public without a permit
during SDP’s newspaper sale at Blk 269
Queens Street
on 12 April 2006
speaking in public without a permit
during SDP's newspaper sale at Blk 269
Queens Street
on 16 November 2005
participating in an assembly without
permit at the entrance of City Hall MRT,
Raffles City Shopping Centre on 10
September 2006
3 Awaiting trial or appeal
speaking in public without a permit
during SDP's newspaper sale at Blk 105
Yishun Ring Road
on 16 April 2006
speaking in public without a permit
during SDP's newspaper sale at Blk 260
Bangkit Road
on 15 April 2006
speaking in public without a permit
during SDP's newspaper sale at Blk 19
Marsiling Lane
on 9 April 2006
speaking in public without a permit
during SDP's newspaper sale at Blk 494
Jurong West Street 42
on 13 November 2005
4 Current police investigations
distributing fliers at Toa Payoh Central on
National Day; assembly without a permit
on 9 August 2008
holding a vigil outside of Central Police
Station at Cantonment Road;
Participating in an assembly without a permit
on 3 June 2008
holding a one-man protest against Burma at the
Istana Park; providing
public entertainment without a license
on 15 October 2007
participating in a protest against Burma
outside the Istana; public assembly
without a permit; public procession
without a permit
on 8 October 2007
participating in the Burma petition-signing
campaign outside the Burmese Embassy;
holding an assembly without a permit
on 30 September 2007
distributing fliers at Orchard Road
outside Takashimaya Shopping Centre;
participating in an assembly without
permit
on 31 March 2007
