A group of Singapore organisations have come together in a letter calling for greater freedom of expression. ‘Deeply troubled by the mounting charges’ brought against social worker and human rights advocate Jolovan Wham, these local groups have issue a letter calling for existing laws to be reconsidered.

In 2017, Jolovan was charged for illegal assembly, vandalism and refusing to sign police statements for various offences including organising a candlelight vigil with 16 other persons outside the Changi Prison Complex, a silent protest on the MRT train, and organising an outdoor public assembly featuring a foreign speaker.

Following these charges, six local NGOs immediate issue statements in support of Jolovan. There was also a petition signed by 6,533 people who registered grave concerns over his prosecution called for freedom of expression to be protected in Singapore.

Many regional and international groups have also urged for the charges against Jolovan to be dropped including EU parliamentarians, fifty-two Malaysian civil society organisations, the Office of the United National High Commissioner for Human Rights (OHCHR), Human Rights Watch, Amnesty International, CIVICUS, International Commission of Jurists, ARTICLE 19, ASEAN Parliamentarians for Human Rights and Forum Asia.

In their strongly worded letter, 25 local groups including Arts Engage, CARE, HOME, MARUAH, Pink Dot SG, Post-Museum, Singapore Unbound, TheatreWorks Singapore, Wake Up Singapore, and The Online Citizen said, “The strength and unity in these voices point to how profoundly the charges against Jolovan violate our shared aspirations for a society where we have the right to assemble, associate, protest peacefully, speak and write freely, and debate difficult issues openly, including with overseas allies or Singapore residents who may be non-citizens. If our expression is only free in Hong Lim Park, it is not free.”

They continued, “Regardless of the many calls to end legal sanctions against Jolovan, the charges against him have mounted, and he is currently being investigated once again by the police for taking a photo holding a piece of paper, alone, outside the State Courts, calling for charges of criminal defamation against Terry Xu and Daniel De Costa to be dropped.”

The letter states that the charges against Jolovan concerns everyone who lives in Singapore. “With such severe restrictions on civil liberties, our ability to stand up to injustice and pursue the changes we seek is heavily compromised. We must have the freedom to speak our truths – however disagreeable or inconvenient to the state – and to engage fellow citizens in frank conversations and collective action around shared concerns.”

The letter notes that the prosecuting of Jolovan has grave implications for all Singaporeans and is “an affront to all our freedoms”. It continued, “…in standing up for him, we are standing up for all Singaporeans to live free of fear”.

The letter ends with a plea to the state to “seriously reconsider” the laws under which Jolovan is being prosecuted and to ensure every Singaporean is afforded the protection of their constitutional right to freedom of assembly, speech and association.

Read the full letter here: