ST Forum letter – Monitoring of media coverage of Hougang By-Election

5 June 2012

Please see below for our letter to the Straits Times Forum.

NGO’s media coverage findings
We read with interest the recent exchange between Workers’ Party (WP) chief Low Thia Khiang (1)(2) and the editors of The Straits Times and Lianhe Zaobao (‘Low explains comments on media’; last Wednesday).

MARUAH believes media monitoring during elections is pivotal to free and fair elections. Such monitoring to ensure balanced coverage has to be done by neutral parties, and the conclusions shared with the public.

We conducted a media monitoring exercise during the Hougang by-election. Due to limited resources, the immediate analysis was limited to the English-language newspapers and Lianhe Wanbao. We had conducted similar exercises for the General Election and Presidential Election last year. Read the rest of this entry »

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Speech by Ms Braema Mathi, MARUAH President – 25th anniversary of alleged “Marxist Conspiracy”

4 June 2012

Speech on 2 June 2012
In Search of Justice – That We May Dream Again
Remembering the 1987 “Marxist Conspiracy”

Good afternoon everyone.

Twenty-five years ago, while we were sleeping, 16 persons were dragged off under the Internal Security Act (ISA) and later were presented to the public as Marxists with clandestine communist connections.

Over the next few weeks in 1987 we saw images of those arrested in the media. We were told many times by the government and the media that these individuals were subversive and out to harm Singapore, a security threat. Hence the need for the ISA to contain this spread of Marxism, Communism, Socialism – it is still not that clear what really was the charge. Read the rest of this entry »

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Dignity Defined – Inaugural issue of MARUAH’s newsletter

4 June 2012

We are delighted to present the first issue of Dignity Defined, MARUAH’s newsletter. In this issue, we put the spotlight on the Internal Security Act (ISA), and the ISA arrests in 1987/88.

Please download the full newsletter here (PDF).

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Saying no to arbitrary detention – 25th anniversary of ISA arrests under alleged “Marxist Conspiracy”

3 June 2012

On 2nd June 2012, MARUAH and Function 8 commemorated the 25th anniversary of ISA arrests under the alleged “Marxist Conspiracy”.

An exhibition area included mock-ups of detention cells, original items created during detention, and posters detailing the profiles of the ex-detainees.

Read the rest of this entry »

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