AFTER a short flirtation with openness, the Singapore PM has fallen back on the authoritarianism favoured by his father, as the prosecution of social worker and activist Jolovan Wham will show, said a participant in one of Wham’s vigils who is now under investigation.

In an article on Asia Times today, Kirsten Han wrote that Wham, who has spent his career fighting for the rights of low-wage migrant workers, has been investigated multiple times by the police for various events deemed “illegal” under Singapore’s Public Order Act.

Police have announced that Wham will be charged for organising public assemblies without a permit, vandalism, and refusing to sign police statements, “even though there has been no suggestion that any of Wham’s actions had been disruptive, dangerous or harmful”, she said.

Wham is being charged for allegedly organising three illegal assemblies: an indoor forum at which Hong Kong pro-democracy activist Joshua Wong Skyped in as a panelist, a silent protest on an MRT train calling for accountability for activists detained without trial 30 years ago, and a vigil for a death row inmate who was hanged for drug offences.”

Han said the watershed election of 2011—in which the ruling People’s Action Party (PAP) turned in their worst ever performance – had resulted in promises from the state of better engagement with the people.

“It was widely assumed at the time that Singaporeans had found their voice, that the government’s climate of fear had been eroded, and that the PAP-led administration would have to make more allowances for activism and advocacy in the national conversation.

“It has not been the case. The 2015 general election – where the PAP regained lost momentum by winning 70% of the vote – showed that the appetite for political change in Singapore was not as big, nor as determined, as many had expected post-2011. 

“Now, the space for civil society and the exercise of civil liberties is not growing, but shrinking.”

Han said the announcement of Wham’s prosecution was not a shock, coming hot on the heels of several arrests and incarceration of those who dared dissent in the city state.

“This year, over 20 people have been investigated under the Public Order Act, a law so overbroad and oppressive that even a single person can constitute an illegal assembly.”

Han listed as an example Yan Jun, who held one-man protests with placards outside the US Embassy, British High Commission and Raffles Place in Singapore’s Central Business District. in August, he was found guilty of holding illegal public assembly without a permit and of disorderly behaviour and sentenced to three weeks’ imprisonment and a fine of S$20,000 (RM60,000).

In October, the same law was applied to artist-activist Seelan Palay, who was arrested while performing an art piece outside Parliament House. His routine was to stand holding a mirror, solo. He is currently out on police bail while investigations are ongoing.

The PM’s nephew, Li Shengwuis also currently embroiled in a contempt case for a private Facebook post that was only visible to his friends, in which he said the Singapore court system was “pliant” and the government, “very litigious”.

The Administration of Justice (Protection) Act, dealing with contempt of court offences, was passed in Parliament last year.

Others on the Singapore authorities’ bad books listed by Han in her article are a civil servant, who was recently charged with breaching the Official Secrets Act for giving information to a journalist about a new initiative related to resale units of public housing flats that had not yet been made public, and the journalist, who received a “stern warning”.

Meanwhile, teen blogger Amos Yee who posted a video deemed offensive to Christians and an obscene image of late leader Lee Kuan Yew, will be released after the court sentenced him on Monday to jail time already served. The court sentenced the 16-year-old  to four weeks of imprisonment from June 2,  for his blogging activities. 

Han warned that further restrictions on civil liberties were on the way. 

“The government has promised to introduce legislation next year to tackle ‘fake news’—a move described by Freedom House’s ‘Freedom of the Net 2017’ report as one that ‘did not appear to be referring to content deliberately fabricated to drive revenue or mislead the public’.

“Home Affairs and Law Minister K Shanmugam has also said that legislation is being reviewed to tighten regulations against hate speech and extremist teaching.

“That doesn’t sound so illiberal in theory until recalling that the government characterised teen blogger Amos Yee’s YouTube harmless rants as hate speech, suggesting that the state’s tolerance threshold is low.” she wrote.