SDP statement: Dr Chee Soon Juan says they want to thank the voters in their various constituents and to tell them that they "will continue to press on". Thanks volunteers and members who have worked tirelessly.
Poor guy sounds like he needs to sleep for DAYS. #GE2020
SDP's Paul Tambyah: Says problems with voting today shows "recklessness" of the PAP in choosing to hold #GE2020 in the middle of a pandemic. "I think we can all hold our heads up high" and says they had a strong campaign, always said it would have been a "miracle" to have got in.
RP's Kenneth Jeyaretnam reacting to the sample count: says they're "pretty pleased" with a "respectable result" considering the obstacles of an "unnecessary election" during a pandemic. Says they've proven RP is a "party of substance". #GE2020
When asked if Reform Party will continue walking the ground, Kenneth Jeyaretnam says they are here for the "long haul" and congratulates the Workers' Party on their result. He was stuck on stay-home notice until a few days ago. #GE2020
National Solidarity Party's Reno Fong says they "respect the view of the voters." Says the ruling party is not doing as well as they should have over the last five years based on the vote counts so far. #GE2020
Tan Cheng Bock speaks to the media, says they may not have won seats, but says an average of about 40% for a new party is something he's quite proud of and that the movement he created will grow. #GE2020
.@jamuslim flashes Singaporeans a finger-heart as he thanks voters and supporters that carried the team into Sengkang GRC and the Internet cries out for "Jamus oppa 😍😍😍" #GE2020
We end #GE2020 with 83 seats for @PAPSingapore, 10 seats for @wpsg and 2 NCMP seats up for grabs. For the first time ever an opposition party has 2 GRCs.
PAP sees a drop in vote-share to 61.24%, but wins 83 seats out of 93 seats.
First-past-the-post + the GRC system really denies us more proportionate representation in Parliament. #GE2020
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🧵 on Twitter and Mu*k, from the perspective of a journalist/activist from #Singapore (me)
1/ I am from a country that has significant issues with civil, political, and human rights. But my government also puts significant effort into public relations to bolster its reputation.
2/ I'm constantly meeting people who have no idea that, in #Singapore, you can be arrested for holding up a placard in public. That 11 men have been executed this year for #drugs. That we have serious issues with press freedom and media diversity.
3/ In this context, Twitter has been, and is, an extremely valuable tool in allowing me — a freelance journalist and activist with limited resources and no big institutional backing — to talk to people outside of #Singapore about our problems.
#Singapore will finally repeal Section 377A (which criminalises sex between men), while also undermining the main point of repealing Section 377A by enshrining the discrimination against #LGBTQ people elsewhere
Once the Constitution is amended it's going to be freakin' hard to change it again. And as Lee himself points out, this is not just about marriage. It affects housing, education, who gets to be recognised as next-of-kin, even advertising and film codes (media censorship).
Right now, Section 377A is not enforced. So the reason it should be repealed is not 'cos gay men are getting arrested for having sex, but 'cos 377A exists as a signal that #LGBTQ people are different and less acceptable and therefore can be discriminated against.
🧵 I’ve been sharing updates but wanted to put together a thread covering the substantive points of the Court of Appeal hearing today (well, yesterday now) involving 24 death row prisoners in #Singapore
On 1 August, 24 death row prisoners filed an originating claim against the state, in relation to their right to access to justice. They claimed that the practice of handing out punitive cost orders against lawyers have deterred lawyers from taking on late-stage capital cases.
Due to this fear, they say that they’ve faced difficulties finding lawyers to represent them. Therefore, this practice of imposing cost orders has affected their constitutional rights in relation to access to justice.
It’s been about an hour since the court stood down to deliberate the appeal brought by 24 death row prisoners against the High Court striking out their civil suit relating to their right to access to justice. The hearing is conducted on Zoom so the 24 are calling in from prison.
On multiple screens in the courtroom you can see the Zoom gallery. 24 of those little rectangles are the death row prisoners, representing themselves because they don’t have a lawyer to represent them in this application.
It took some time to bring them all into the Zoom room and make sure they were all connected, audio working, etc. So instead of putting them in the waiting room like it usually does, they’ve just been left in the room while the judges were put in the waiting room.
Okay, finally got access. If I understood what happened to me in interrogation correctly, after this morning there are now *more* offences that @justanotherock and I are on the hook for. Just going to sum it up as best I can…
The original 2 alleged offences that @justanotherock and I were questioned for this morning were: (1) when 4 of us hung out outside Changi Prison chatting the night of Kahar was executed, and (2) when we took photos outside of prison a couple of nights before Nagen was hanged.
However, ‘cos @justanotherock and I were wearing (different) T-shirts with anti-#deathpenalty slogans today, the police claim that we have committed another offence of “illegal procession”, ‘cos we walked from the market across the street to the police station this morning.