Kirsten Han -

After having studied overseas for the past three-and-a-half years, in 2010 I returned to Singapore and almost immediately began working with The Online Citizen.

2010 has been an eventful year, not just for TOC, but probably for Singapore as well (*ahem* freak events *ahem*). Below I highlight some of the stand-out moments of my experience with TOC.

The boy on death row – Yong Vui Kong and the Mandatory Death Penalty

“Hello sir, m’am. We’re just from The Online Citizen, can we ask you just three questions? It’s about the Mandatory Death Penalty.”

Like many of the ordinary Singaporeans we spoke to, I had had a very limited knowledge of the Mandatory Death Penalty when I first started with TOC. But as I began to read up and find out more about it, I was shocked by the clear injustice of such a harsh and inflexible punishment.

On the 15th of March 2010 I was faced with the harsh reality of the Mandatory Death Penalty as I sat in the Court of Appeal staring at the meek and scrawny figure of Yong Vui Kong. A mere 6 months older than I, he sat silent and immobile as his lawyer M Ravi argued against the constitutionality of the Mandatory Death Penalty.

While the judges reserved their judgement, we at TOC threw ourselves fully into our campaign for a moratorium on the Mandatory Death Penalty. We shot more vox pops, and edited together our TOC campaign video:

There were also a few events held related to Vui Kong’s case and the Mandatory Death Penalty, such as Give Vui Kong a Second Chance.

Along with Damien Chng, I also founded the youth-oriented campaign We Believe In Second Chances, aimed at getting Singaporean youth to voice out their opinions about Vui Kong’s case and appeal for clemency.

Vui Kong, who had been given the deadline of August 26 2010 to file his petition for clemency, had not had much hope of living out the year. On the 13th of August, the High Court dismissed his appeal for a judicial review concerning the President’s powers in granting clemency. His appeal hearing has been set for the week of 17 January 2011, allowing Vui Kong to not only live out this year, but to also celebrate his 23rd birthday on the 16 January.

Call us irresponsible – Homeless in Singapore

In April 2010 I received an SMS: “Dr Vivian Balakrishnan said in Parliament that ‘some irresponsible websites’ have been circulating falsehoods about the homeless! I think he means us…”

The Minster of Community Development, Youth and Sports had stood up in Parliament and accused Al-Jazeera for not checking its facts in the homeless story that had been done in Singapore. He had also gone on to say that “some irresponsible websites have also caused these falsehoods to circulate widely on the Internet”.

Even before 2010 TOC had been writing reports about various homeless people and families in Singapore, people living in tents at Sembawang Park, Changi Beach, East Coast Park or West Coast Park. TOC had also run a focus week on the homeless issue, and so we assumed that Dr Balakrishnan was referring to us.

Many of us were utterly shocked by the Minister’s comments. We had been working on homeless stories in the hopes that more help would be extended towards these people once their plight had been highlighted. We had never expected that the response from the government would be such accusations and humiliation.

We thus kicked into overdrive, going to speak to the homeless couple – who were understandably distraught – in the Al-Jazeera story so as to be able to prepare our replies to the Minister’s comments. We responded in two parts: Part One, Part Two.

Why is he here? – The Elected President is NOT a Rubber Stamp

On the 13th of August High Court Judge Steven Chong handed down the ruling that “the President has no discretion under the Constitution, and specifically under Article 22P, to grant pardons. The power to do so rests solely with the Cabinet.”

I was extremely confused when I first heard this verdict. Surely it was the President who had the power to grant clemency? Why else would we call it a “presidential pardon”? After all, previous Presidents had been lauded for granting clemency to death row inmates before, hadn’t they?

An event at Speakers’ Corner called The Elected President is NOT a Rubber Stamp was quickly organised, and a letter-writing campaign to President S R Nathan launched.

I was put in charge of collecting and posting the letters. In that weekend I posted approximately 50 letters to the Istana requesting that the President convene a Constitutional Tribunal to ascertain his powers in the matter. Many letter-writers also requested that the Istana give them some reply within 7 days.

As we now reach the end of the year, almost 4 months after our letter-writing campaign, I think I can safely say that not a single one of us letter-writers had received any form of reply from the Istana at all. Neither has President S R Nathan commented on the High Court ruling, nor convened a Constitutional Tribunal.

The Political Event of the Year – Face To Face

It was my second day back in Singapore after travelling in Laos and Thailand for a month when I received a call from Andrew. “Hey, welcome back! Do you have time to meet tonight to talk about the TOC event?”

“What TOC event?”

“We’re doing a forum! You free?”

“Can lah!”

Little did I know that it wasn’t just any little cosy Q&A session, but what would be publicised as “The Political Event of the Year”.

For someone like me who generally sees the political scene of Singapore as having only two categories (i.e. PAP vs. Everyone Else), Face To Face highlighted some of the more significant differences between the various political parties in Singapore. Although it was a pity that the PAP did not attend the event, and thus did not engage with the audience or the other political parties, it was interesting enough to see the panelists express their views to an audience sizing them up for the next General Elections.

Being the first big political forum TOC had organised and run, the night was obviously not perfect. Many people made comments, complains even, but on the whole I still feel a lot of pride for my fellow volunteers for having pulled this off. We all learned a lot from the experience of organising Face To Face, and with any luck will have the opportunity to apply all these lessons learned to future forums.

“Will he, won’t he?” – TOC gets a new head honcho

Farewell drinks for Andrew!

In the year with which I have been involved with TOC, our Chief Editor Andrew Loh kept talking about leaving TOC and going to India. He said he was going in March. Then in May. Or maybe July. Perhaps October? Every time he made up his mind to go, something would happen and he would find himself working/editing/planning/writing all over again.

But he’s really done it this time. After Face To Face, Andrew finally took his leave of TOC, handing the position of Chief Editor to the zany but well-loved Joshua Chiang (see how smoothly I start flattering my new “boss”?)

His flights all booked, Andrew is leaving Singapore for at least six months. I think I can speak for the whole of the TOC team when I thank him for all the work he’s done and wish him all the best. Hope you find everything you’re looking for, Andrew! And then come back and do TOC again, ‘cos you know you love us.

Heading towards the countdown…

On the whole, 2010 has been a great year for me, and TOC played a very large part in making it so. As part of the TOC team I learned more about my home country than I could have ever learned in any History or Social Studies class in school. I also learned more about myself and how I want to live my life. Spending time with the rest of the team showed me what it really means to care, to want to initiate change and to stick by what you really believe in no matter what anyone else says about you.

In the new year I hope that all of us at TOC will be able to keep up with what we’ve been doing – telling stories that will not otherwise get told. And perhaps one day we will reach the democracy and freedom that we all hope to have in our country.

Thank you TOC for this great 2010, thank you to all the readers for your support, and here’s hoping that we’ll have a great 2011 to come!

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