S'pore democracy rally hailed as a success

S'pore democracy rally hailed as a success

SINGAPORE (AP): Organizers of the first anti-government rally
in Singapore hailed the event as a step forward for democracy,
despite the suspected presence of government surveillance teams.

Civil rights activist James Gomez, whose group The Think
Center, organized the Saturday night event, said two men were
spotted taking videos of the crowd and the table where money was
collected from the sale of books, T-shirts and stickers.

"We noticed there was very tight surveillance," Gomez told The
Associated Press on Sunday. "We had photos taken of these
people."

About 2,000 people heard speaker after speaker denounce the
ruling People's Action Party and demand civil liberty for
Singaporeans.

The rally at an open-air sports stadium was the first of its
kind since Singapore became independent 35 years ago.

"Cast off this fear! Wake up out of your apathy!" declared the
country's leading opposition politician, Joshua "J.B.J."
Jeyaretnam, to enthusiastic applause on Saturday.

Speaker after speaker denounced the ruling People's Action
Party and demanded civil liberty for Singaporeans, who enjoy one
of Asia's highest standards of living but who live under some of
the world's strictest laws.

The rally was to show support and raise funds for Jeyaretnam,
who faces ouster from the 93-seat Parliament. His is one of only
three seats held by the opposition.

"The state has become ... a monster," Jeyaretnam said. "Some
people in this country begin to think that this is normal. It is
not normal. It's abnormal for a government to behave like this."

It was the first time a civil rights group has organized such
a large political rally openly critical of the government. Police
initially denied the activists a permit to hold the rally, but
relented after organizers agreed to hire their own security
guards to maintain order.

Gomez said the organizers had been expecting government
surveillance, and set up its own counter-surveillance team.

He said his team caught police officers -- hired as security
guards -- reporting the ethnic composition of the crowd to their
command center.

"We will take this up with them when we have a debriefing
meeting," said Gomez, adding that would take place later in the
week.

Police initially denied the activists a permit to hold the
rally, but relented after organizers agreed to hire police and
their own security guards to maintain order.

Singapore police said in a statement Sunday that there "were
no law and order problems throughout the event."

Gomez said they were told to hire 13 police and supply 18 of
their own guards for the expected crowd of 3,000 to 5,000.

The rally was organized to show support and raise funds for
opposition politician Joshua "J.B.J." Jeyaretnam, who faces
ouster from Parliament.

Jeyaretnam was recently declared a bankrupt after failing to
pay hundreds of thousands of dollars he owes in defamation
lawsuits brought by senior government officials and their
supporters.

He is appealing the decision which could see him lose his
seat, one of only three held by the opposition. Under Singapore's
constitution, a bankrupt cannot hold a seat in the legislature.

Critics accuse Singapore of using defamation lawsuits against
politicians and journalists as a political tool. However, the
government says the suits are necessary to protect officials'
reputations.

Gomez said the final tally of how much money was raised from
the sale of merchandise would not be known until later in the
week. But it is believed to be "modest."