Singapore Opposition Party to Fight Ban on Podcasting
May 26th, 2006 | By James Lewin | Category: Audio Podcasting, Citizen Media, Podcasting Law 
Defeated Singapore Democratic Party candidate Ms Chee Siok Chin has filed a summons in the High Court asking it to declare the results of the 2006 General Election null and void. She also wants the High Court to declare the ban on podcasting during the general election as unconstitutional.
“The banning of podcasting and blogging in GE 2006 amount to intimidation, vote-buying, and censorship which contravenes the Parliamentary Elections Act,” said Chee Siok Chin.
In 2005, the Singapore Democratic Party adopted podcasting as a tool for political speech. Earlier this year, political podcasting, video podcasting and streaming video were banned in Singapore.
The PAP has been the ruling party in Singapore for more than 40 years and has won more than a dozen elections, always in landslide victories.
Singaporeans must begin to question why this is so. The PAP will have you believe that opposition candidates lack credibility and integrity. Mr Lee Kuan Yew has gone as far as calling his political opponents “scum”, “liar”, “cheat”, “hooligans” and other derogatory names.
This is, however, not the reason why the PAP continues to dominate parliament with more than 95 percent of the seats in the House. The real reason lies in the way the elections system is designed, and the way the PAP fights the elections.
This is why I have taken out an Originating Summons to examine the way the elections were conducted and to seek a declaration from the Supreme Court that the 2006 General Elections were unconstitutionally run, and therefore, null and void.
