Do you find this amazing? Do you find this ridiculous? Do you find that the police have no other reasons in their thick skull but "contrary to public interest" therefore have to be banned?
I was reading the article and was so stunned when I read this line
The groups included the Vegetarian Society, the Cat Welfare Society and
two gay support groups Pelangi Pride Centre and Women Who Love Women.
"(We) informed the organisers of our position of not allowing outdoor
events assessed to be contrary to public interest," the police
spokesperson added.
Now their position on the gay support groups is legendary so that comes as no surprise but vegetarians and cat lovers? It seems that now any civil society group can be banned from having a booth or whatever using the legendary phrase "contrary to public interest". I bet you if it was a booth for the ruling party or the YPAP, it wouldn't be "contrary to public interest" because only non-PAP stuff is "contrary to public interest".
And I can bet you that if a lot of noise is made about this issue, the police will issue another statement saying that it was because of safety or traffic problems or whatever in other to "explain" themselves. It is amazing I find that they couldn't give the real reason (we don't want gay groups to have booths to "promote" their cause and since we cannot just ban them, we ban all). Or even a plausible excuse (it wouldn't be real but at least plausible). If these are the "top brains" the PAP is trying to woe into civil service with money......
Today
26 September 2007
A CHANGE OF SCENE
-----------------
Substation event gets police nod after civil society groups excluded
Zul Othman
zul@mediacorp.com.sg
THE police have turned down a request by The Substation to organise an
outdoor flea market that would have included booths run by 19 civil
society groups.
The flea market was supposed to be part of a six-hour event, The Tunnel
Party, last Saturday to mark the 17th anniversary of The Substation,
Singapore's first independent, non-profit, multi-disciplinary arts centre
founded by late theatre doyen Kuo Pao Kun.
It was to have been held next to the Fort Canning Tunnel and also feature
music and arts shows.
A police spokesperson said: "In the Substation's initial application for
the event, the police noted it would include outdoor booths for civil
society groups to promote their cause."
The groups included the Vegetarian Society, the Cat Welfare Society and
two gay support groups Pelangi Pride Centre and Women Who Love Women.
"(We) informed the organisers of our position of not allowing outdoor
events assessed to be contrary to public interest," the police
spokesperson added.
Rather than call off the show, the organisers decided to rebrand it as the
SeptFest Gig and moved it to the pavement area behind the Singapore
Management University (SMU) School of Law and School of Accountancy.
The change was met with approval by the authorities.
The organisers "have done away with the outdoor booths for civil society
groups. As such, the police have approved the application for SeptFest",
said the police spokesperson.
The SeptFest Gig had some 23 outdoor booths, ranging from flea markets
vendors to stalls peddling homemade jewellery. It attracted some 700
visitors.
The Substation's artistic co-director Lee Weng Choy told Today "it was
important for us to continue with the event because we see it as part of
a large process".
The group deems such events as important because if these gatherings are
successful, it said, it sets a positive precedent for engagement between
the arts, civil society and the authorities.
Mr Lee said: "Some of our stakeholders, such as the bands, the commercial
flea market groups and the public, might lose faith in The Substation if
we cancelled an event again."
Last year, the police turned down its application to close down Armenian
Street for a street party, also a collaboration with artists, arts groups
and civil society groups.
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