Author: nicholasyeo

  • Book Launch: A Shift In The Wind

    In the 1980s, Singapore’s first opposition member of parliament since 1966 was elected. A group of political observers sensing this “shift in the wind”, decided to lay bare the ideological threads that linked the PAP’s policy choices, governance approach, and by extension, the current social structures formed by the ruling government.

    The result was a book providing an overview of the local socio-political landscape. Written almost 40 years ago when a historical shift in Singapore’s democracy seemed imminent, the same hope echoes today as we see the opposition gaining more seats in Parliament after the recent 2020 General Election. The critiques of the government’s authoritarian tendencies and elitist meritocracism are even more relevant today, after more than 58 years of nation building under one party.

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  • Book Launch: Ridiculous — Untold Tales of Singapore

    Function 8 will be launching our new book, Ridiculous: Untold Tales of Singapore, in a hybrid event at 7:30pm on 30 March 2022. The livestream will be available on Function 8’s Facebook page, as well as the Transformative Justice Collective’s YouTube page. If you would like to attend the event in person, please write to us at 2010Function8@gmail.com for reservation of seats by Monday, 28 March 2022.

    The launch event will include a panel discussion moderated by lawyer Jeannette Chong-Aruldoss. The panellists are: playwright Alfian Sa’at, SDP leader Dr Chee Soon Juan, journalist and activist Kirsten Han, and actor Lim Kay Siu, covering a range of experiences and encounters between civil society, the media, the arts, and organs of the state.

    Ridiculous: Untold Tales of Singapore is a new collection of never-before-told stories and personal insights into our socio-political landscape. The book also contains a collation of past events involving the curtailment of civil liberties, and judicial decisions with an impact on public interest and civil and political rights. By recounting these experiences and milestones, the book seeks to highlight the ways that Singaporeans’ access to fundamental rights and freedoms have been excessively curtailed over the years, and reflect on how such repression has affected us as a people.

    Coverage of the launch event is welcome. 

    Media Contact:

    Chan Wai Han at 98183992
    Teo Soh Lung at 92960031

  • Statement on prosecution of Jolovan Wham

    We are alarmed and disappointed that Jolovan Wham, a promising, award‐winning young social worker and a courageous human rights defender, was charged with 7 offences under the Public Order Act, Vandalism Act and the Penal Code on 29 November 2017.

    We are dismayed that Jolovan Wham faces three counts of unlawful assembly under the Public Order Act. He was alleged to have been involved in holding a vigil outside Changi Prison for a man who was to be executed at dawn, organising an assembly without permit in a train and a forum involving a foreign speaker through skype. He also faces one count of vandalism for temporarily sticking two A4 size papers with the words “MARXIST CONSPIRACY? #notodetentionwithouttrial” and “JUSTICE FOR OPERATION SPECTRUM SURVIVORS #notodetentionwithouttrial” on a panel of an MRT train and three counts of refusal to sign his recorded statement under the Penal Code.

    For more than a decade, Jolovan Wham has been the voice of the voiceless. He tirelessly championed human rights causes. He spoke up for migrant workers who suffered abuse and ill‐ treatment by unscrupulous employers. He sought and continues to seek improvement for their work and living conditions.

    Jolovan Wham has spoken up against the death penalty and detention without trial. He is an advocate for freedom of speech and assembly. He is a constant reminder that we as a first world country, should strive to attain the standard of human rights enjoyed by other first world countries. He is our conscience and we should appreciate his contributions to the nation.

    Jolovan Wham was recognised for his work with the Promising Social Worker Award in 2011. This award is nominated and judged by his social work peers and seniors and which accords recognition to social workers who are newer in the field but who have made a difference in the lives of their clients as well as the community. It is an award conferred by the President of the Republic of Singapore and presented at the Istana.

    We do not understand why the State is pursuing the seven charges against Jolovan Wham for events which were all peaceful and non‐violent. He works for the good of our country, which we are told, aims to be inclusive and which respects diverse voices. We support Jolovan Wham and his humanistic ideals.

    We urge the Attorney‐General to exercise his prosecutorial discretion, reconsider the case and drop the charges against Jolovan Wham and cease all proceedings against him.

    We urge the Government to review the law to ensure that genuine and peaceful civil actions like those of Jolovan are not prosecuted by the overly wide provisions of our legislation.

    We call on the Singapore government to give space for loyal citizenship in all peaceful forms.

  • Book Launch: — 1987 Singapore’s ‘Marxist’ Conspiracy 30 Years On

    21 May 2017
    Projector at Golden Mile

  • Changing Worlds #19 — Professor Emeritus David Boggett

    Topic: Forgotten Victims of the Death Railway
    Speaker: Professor Emeritus David Boggett
    Date: Saturday, 24 September 2016
    Time: 2:00 – 4:00 p.m.
    Location: The AGORA, 28 Sin Ming Lane #03-142 Midview City, Singapore 573972

    Synopsis: The haunting legacy of the World War II Death Railway, often known from the film “Bridge over the River Kwai,” primarily focuses on the captured Allied soldiers’ ordeal. Yet, an underrepresented truth lies in the Asian victims who have faded into the shadows. Beyond the Western narratives that romanticize the railway’s notoriety as a “killing field” for Allied prisoners of war (POWs), a larger number of Asian civilians were conscripted to work on the Siam-Burma Death Railway. Their plight, arguably even graver than that of the Allied prisoners, has been overshadowed and underestimated in historical discourse.

    While post-war Allied estimates suggested around 270,000 Asians were coerced into working on the Railway, closer examination of available documentation raises concerns about its accuracy. The actual figures may have exceeded 500,000, with mortality rates ranging between 25% and 50%.

    About the Speaker: Professor David Boggett holds the title of Professor Emeritus at Kyoto Seika University in Japan, where he dedicated over 30 years to teaching Japanese and Asian history. He enriched his students’ understanding through field trips to Kanchanaburi, a focal point of the Death Railway’s tourism. His contribution includes around ten scholarly papers that shed light on the plight of Asian workers on the railway.

    Join us for a compelling exploration as Professor David Boggett unravels the forgotten stories of the Asian victims entwined in the tragic narrative of the Death Railway. With his expertise and insights, he will broaden our understanding of this historical chapter, shedding light on a lesser-known aspect of this wartime tragedy.

  • Statement on Roy Ngerng & Teo Soh Lung

    Function 8 deplores the intimidation of Roy Ngerng and Teo Soh Lung and the unnecessary seizure of their mobile phones and computers on 31 May 2016. This follows their interviews with the Singapore police at the Police Cantonment Complex pertaining to an investigation into facebook postings on cooling off day on 6 May 2016. The police have clearly abused their power of investigation as both Roy and Soh Lung had never denied, and indeed confirmed at the interview, that they had commented on, and shared postings on Facebook which had been made by others.

    Function 8 deeply regrets the actions of the police in this unnecessary seizure which is an invasion of privacy and an act of intimidation against Roy and Soh Lung. In our view, it is part of a chain of recent incidents that encroach upon the work of civil society which contribute to the legitimate exercise of good citizenship.

    We, at Function 8, condemn the use of governmental powers against sincere individual citizens and civil society groups that are striving to make our nation a more inclusive, and a more caring one, accountable for the welfare of our fellow human beings. This is truly an act of legal opportunism.

    — Function 8 Ltd