MARUAH Singapore

MARUAH’s comments on verbal abuse incident

5 October 2012

Bus captain in trouble for insulting a transgender woman

MARUAH applauds Ms. Leona Lo for taking action against the SBS bus driver who verbally abused her because of her sexual orientation. Discrimination of any form is unacceptable and it is important that they are reported and addressed immediately.

Article 12 of the Universal Declaration of Human Rights (UDHR) states

“No one shall be subjected to arbitrary interference with…attacks upon his honour and reputation. Everyone has the right to the protection of the law against such interference or attacks.”

MARUAH commends Ms. Leona Lo for handling the situation with grace and for her efforts in raising awareness of the struggles faced by the Lesbian, Gay, Bisexual and Transgender (LGBT) community.

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Commemorating the UN International Day of Peace

26 September 2012

On 22 September 2012, MARUAH observed the UN International Day of Peace and participated in celebrations organised by the Jane Goodall Institute at Fort Canning Park, Singapore.

The International Day of Peace is observed every year to commemorate global peace and a cessation of hostility and violence. It was first declared by the United Nations in 1982 and constantly seeks to remind us that ‘our permanent commitment, above all interests or differences of any kind, is to peace’. Read the rest of this entry »

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Press statement on Archbishop retraction of letter

21 September 2012

PRESS STATEMENT

20 September 2012

Reference: Archbishop Clarifies Retraction of Letter to Group

MARUAH, a human rights NGO, is a partner with Function 8, in particular for the June 2nd 2012 event to mark the 25th Anniversary of the alleged Marxist Conspiracy. MARUAH’s position is that it is timely for a Commission of Inquiry to be set up to review the detentions under Operation Spectrum.

Read the rest of this entry »

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MARUAH letter to ST Forum on M Ravi

4 September 2012

MARUAH recently submitted a letter to the Straits Times Forum on actions taken by the Law Society of Singapore in respect of Mr M. Ravi.

The forum letter can be found at the link below.
http://www.straitstimes.com/archive/monday/premium/forum-letters/story/concerned-about-actions-taken-law-society-20120903

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Death penalty no longer mandatory for certain cases: MARUAH welcomes changes as first step towards universal human rights norms

9 July 2012

MARUAH welcomes the announcement by the Singapore Government today, that the death penalty will no longer be mandatory in certain limited circumstances. At the same time, MARUAH regrets the narrow scope of this move, and notes that the mandatory death penalty remains in place for many other offences.

Read the rest of this entry »

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3rd MARUAH submission on ASEAN Human Rights Declaration

9 July 2012

Please see below for MARUAH’s 3rd submission on the ASEAN Human Rights Declaration. Our submission can also be downloaded as a PDF. For reference, we include our 1st and 2nd submissions.

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8 July 2012

To the ASEAN Foreign Ministers & AICHR representatives,

Dear Sirs and Madams,

We take this opportunity to thank the members of the ASEAN Intergovernmental Commission on Human Rights (AICHR) for their dedication to the service at the regional level and to the teams that work with them.

In a very short period of time they have framed the most important document for ASEAN, with the help of the Drafting Group. We also thank the AICHR members for agreeing to meet Civil Society Organisations in a Regional Consultation on 22^nd June 2012, which we found useful.

As a human rights organisation from Singapore, we submit the following key areas of concern as the deliberation over the ASEAN Human Rights Declaration continues. This consultation among civil society actors was done over a 3-hour interaction and we submit these humbly to ask for a consideration on the most important document that will drive ASEAN and its people to a better future in the years to come. Read the rest of this entry »

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ASEAN Matters: consultation on ASEAN Human Rights Declaration, 7 July 2012

3 July 2012

The ASEAN Human Rights Declaration (AHRD) is a document that is going to be very important to all of us in ASEAN, Singapore included. The ASEAN Intergovernmental Commission on Human Rights (AICHR) has been working at this document with their team of experts for almost a year. Come this November, the document will be handed over to the 10 Heads of State in ASEAN for it to be formally accepted as a document that governs how ASEAN will observe human rights. Read the rest of this entry »

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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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