Now, get up and speak

EVEN for a government that acts swiftly, to have a new avenue for public discourse operative within a year of conception still leaves many Singaporeans breathless. By August, Parliament was told on Tuesday, the Hong Lim Park Speakers' Corner will be available to all and sundry who care to speak their minds. It will be a novelty to Singaporeans, who tend to shy away from contending with people in authority, much less to submit their thoughts and beliefs to public scrutiny. There is no tradition of public jousting, of being put down and popping up again fighting or grinning. Singaporeans so roused would as likely repair to a quiet corner of their club or neighbourhood coffeeshop to grumble. This is where one wishes for a change of attitude to take root. There is a generation of the educated, fired-up and allegedly world-weary which seems ready for it. Let them come forward. The Speakers' Corner would be only a qualified success if it turns into a podium solely for opposition politicians and disaffected lone rangers like Dr Chee Soon Juan. It can do no harm, and probably contribute to the public good, although opposition parties are not starved of media attention if they have worthwhile things to say. Hong Lim Park, which had its share of seminal political happenings in its time, honours its pedigree best if it can draw concerned citizens to talk honestly about their fears, doubts and hopes. That said, government leaders who expect this development to foster participatory citizenship should be prepared for Speakers' Corner to degenerate into a tourist oddity, rather like the one in London's Hyde Park. One hopes not. The wish must be that it lives up to the expectations of thinking Singaporeans as this is an event of some significance, never mind the doubts and private sniggers.

At least, the control measures which critics feared might make Speakers' Corner a farce have turned out to be mild. Home Minister Wong Kan Seng told the House the Government had assessed the small risk of public disturbance as worth taking. We doubt such a risk is a factor in a 21st century metropolis whose inhabitants are career-driven and have sizeable material stakes to protect. Prohibitions on exploitation of religion and racially delicate issues are a basic starting point. There can be no objection to that, or compromise either. Regarding the restriction to citizens, this is consistent with Singapore's standard operating procedure that non-citizens resident here are valued for their economic contributions, but should leave politics and bedrock policies to those whose home this is. As for approval for speakers, the process is simplicity itself. Just put down one's name at the nearby police post and off one goes. This is the most helpful element of the exercise.

Concern was expressed in the House about security monitoring. This can be characterised either as paranoia or plain naiveté. A certain amount of screening can be expected; it would be a surprise if public-order people did not have a look in in the early phase of this experiment. Conversely, those who dice by provoking public sentiments beyond the norm need not go to Speakers' Corner to attract attention. Finally, it is a mercy the forecourt of Ngee Ann City was not chosen as the location. Those who plumbed for this spot had in mind the easy access and heavy foot traffic. That would be precisely the problem. Orchard Road is commerce writ large. Alongside the lunch-time pop and fashion shows often staged there, a Speakers' Corner would be indistinguishable from the banal. No, staid Hong Lim Park is a good choice.