Singaporeans For Democracy (SFD), will explore jointly with both its festival partners KOMAS and The Substation into the possibility of making the Singapore leg of Freedom Film Festival (FFF) an annual mainstay.
Some 140 people attended the Singapore leg of the FFF at The Substation on 28 October 2011. Hosted by SFD, this is the second time the FFF has been held in Singapore and has been widely seen as a second year of success. Read more »
THREE members of the Singaporeans For Democracy (SFD) political association were questioned by police yesterday over the sale of a book about the Singapore judiciary.
The three are artist and film-maker Seelan Palay, 27, businessman Jarrod Luo, 27, and activist Rachel Zeng, 28.
Police yesterday confirmed that investigations are being conducted.
This is 'a case where books containing matter which is potentially defamatory and in contempt of court were reportedly sold on Nov 14, 2010 during an event at the Substation', they said. 'As investigations are ongoing, we are unable to comment further on the matter.'
The book, Once A Jolly Hangman: Singapore's Justice In The Dock, is written by British journalist Alan Shadrake.
The book is not banned here, but in November last year, Shadrake was found by the High Court to have impugned the impartiality, integrity and independence of the courts in 11 passages in the book.
He was sentenced to six weeks' jail and fined $20,000, but has appealed against the sentence. Read more »
IN LAST Saturday's report ('The battle for eyeballs is on'), we learnt that political parties have been using the new media.
The article noted that since the ban on party political films was lifted last year, 'parties are able to produce and disseminate videos so long as they are factual and objective'.
Indeed, some opposition parties have posted politically themed videos online, with the Singapore Democratic Party chalking up 47 videos on its YouTube channel so far. My own check on the People's Action Party website reveals the ruling party has posted more than 30 videos. Read more »
POLICE have turned down an application by the Singaporeans For Democracy (SFD) political association for a permit to stage a march on Friday to commemorate International Human Rights Day.
The association, which said it applied for the permit on Nov 18, planned to hold the march from Hong Lim Park to Parliament House, less than 1km away.
But the organiser was informed by the police in a letter yesterday that the application was unsuccessful.
The police told The Straits Times last night that the application was turned down because of 'law and order considerations'. The police are advising the organiser to hold the event at Speakers' Corner in Hong Lim Park.
The association, registered in February this year, said last night it would appeal against the decision. Read more »
The need for an independent election commission and abolishing the GRC are the key recommendations that came out of SFD's first Election Consultation forum on 2 October (Saturday). Hence, this will be the focus of the SFD report to the UPR process in 2011.
Several supplementary recommendations to be included in the SFD report were also brought up during the forum.
One recommendation in the report will be the idea of a vote of no-confidence whereby voters in an uncontested GRC can have the right to cast a no-confidence vote against a walkover team. Another recommendation is the mandatory disclosure of MP health reports so as to allow voters to keep themselves in the loop of their representative's physical ability to carry out their duties. Read more »
Singaporeans for Democracy is deeply concerned over the killing of protestors in Bangkok by Thai government troops.
SFD calls on the Thai government to immediately stop hostilities against the protestors and enter into talks.
SFD further calls on the Singapore government to go beyond advising Singaporeans not to travel to Bangkok and expressing “dismay” and to talk directly with the Thai government to halt the shooting of protestors in Thailand. Read more »
Each time Mr Seelan Palay has had to fill in the “race” column in application forms, he feels “awkward”. “I’ve cultivated a practice of avoiding to fill it in completely, and many of my friends do the same,” he says in a brief interview with The Online Citizen (TOC).
Mr Seelan feels so strongly that “race” should be removed from the NRIC, an identification card which all Singaporeans carry, that he has started a Facebook group asking others to support the call. The Facebook group currently has 710 members. Read more »
FILM-MAKERS now hold three of the four key posts in the fledgling civil society group Singaporeans For Democracy (SFD).
They are Mr Martyn See, who is its executive secretary; Mr Seelan Palay, its communications director; and Mr Ho Choon Hiong, its finance director.
The group's executive director is Dr James Gomez, a former Workers' Party member now based in Melbourne, where he teaches public relations at Monash University. He plans to continue living in Australia. Read more »
Filmmaker Martyn See speaks to Reporters Without Borders on censorship in Singapore and his run-ins with the authorities for his two political films, Singapore Rebel and Zahari's 17 years.
Singaporeans For Democracy (SFD), will explore jointly with both its festival partners KOMAS and The Substation into the possibility of making the Singapore leg of Freedom Film Festival (FFF) an annual mainstay.
James Gomez speaks on SFD trio investigations
3 quizzed over sale of Shadrake book 
The need for an independent election commission and abolishing the GRC are the key recommendations that came out of 
Each time Mr Seelan Palay has had to fill in the “race” column in application forms, he feels “awkward”. “I’ve cultivated a practice of avoiding to fill it in completely, and many of my friends do the same,” he says in a brief interview with The Online Citizen (TOC).
3 film-makers at helm of civil society group
