Wednesday, December 03, 2008

OHCHR Country Framework - Historical context / Political context

Part 2 below should be more "exciting" than Part 1. Here we can draw references to past historical issues (which we may have forgotten) that affect current ongoing issues, e.g. peace process/agreement in Part 2d. With the election of Barack Obama in the United States, there was a discussion of whether Singapore was ready for a non-Chinese Prime Minister. History buffs would know that this is a moot point, as David Marshall was Chief Minister (the equivalent to a Prime Minister) during our self-governance years.

2. HISTORICAL CONTEXT/POLITICAL CONTEXT
    1. Historical brief:
      1. Temasek
      2. Raffles
      3. Farquhar
      4. Divide-and-rule (Chinatown, Kampong Glam, Little India)
      5. Japanese occupation
      6. David Marshall
      7. Lee Kuan Yew
      8. Housing & Development Board (HDB)
      9. National Trades Union Congress (NTUC)
      10. Operation Coldstore
      11. Merger
      12. Independence
      13. National Service
      14. Association of Southeast Asian Nations (ASEAN)
      15. Central Provident Fund (CPF)
      16. Operation Spectrum
      17. Group Representation Constituencies
    2. Self-determination (foreign occupation; alien domination; colonial presence; racist regimes; independence movements):
      1. colonial presence
      2. independence movements
    3. Parties to the conflict:
      1. no conflict
    4. Peace process/agreement:
      1. David Marshall
      2. self-government
      3. Lee Kuan Yew
    5. Recent political transitions (First elections; revolution; coup d'état; new constitution):
      1. none
    6. Form of government:
      1. parliament
      2. http://www.parliament.gov.sg/
    7. Principal political parties:
      1. People's Action Party
      2. Singapore Democratic Alliance
      3. Singapore Democratic Party
      4. Workers' Party
    8. Conflict level (international armed conflict; internal armed conflict; state of emergency; civil disorder/sporadic acts of violence; normality; post-conflict reconstruction; etc.):
      1. normality
    9. Relationships with neighbouring countries:
      1. generally cordial, with occasional issues
    10. Membership in political/military/regional alliances:
      1. ASEAN
      2. APEC
      3. PSI
      4. FPDA
    11. Legally sanctioned discrimination (race, colour, gender, language, religion, opinion, origin, property, birth, sexual orientation, other status):
      1. race
        1. race restrictions in the armed forces
        2. Group Representation Constituencies
      2. gender
        1. CEDAW reservations
        2. females excluded from Singapore Armed Forces Overseas Scholarship (SAFOS)
      3. religion
        1. jehovah's witnesses
      4. birth
        1. certain IC numbers indicate origin of birth
      5. sexual orientation
        1. 377A of Penal Code

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