Singapore: Practitioners Call upon the Government to Take a Better Stance Toward Falun Gong

The eleven-year long persecution of Falun Gong has been condemned around the world, while practitioners' peaceful opposition has been praised by people from all walks of life. Falun Gong is now practiced in over 100 countries, yet authorities in Singapore still choose to succumb to Chinese Communist Party (CCP) pressure and unreasonably suppress local Falun Gong practitioners.

At 11:00 a.m. on August 16th, 2010, a group of practitioners who live in the northeast part of the country delivered a letter to the Singapore Government to call upon the government and police to take the CCP's brutal persecution of Falun Gong more seriously.

The letter addresses the fact that the Singapore Subordinate Court is scheduled to hold a pre-trial conference with seven practitioners on August 23rd, 2010. These practitioners were charged for doing the exercises and talking to tourists and others about the persecution at Esplanade Park and on the streets. The practitioners expressed their hope in their petition that the government will respect people's right to express themselves bestowed upon by the Singapore Constitution, and treat the practitioners in a fair and reasonable way.

The practitioners delivered the letter to No.1 Deputy Prime Minister and Minister for Home Affairs Mr. Wong Kan Seng and Mr. Tan Hung Hooi, the officer-in-charge of the case in the central police division.

Many of these native Singapore Falun Gong practitioners have practiced for over ten years and have witnessed the CCP's eleven-year brutal persecution.

Ms. Fu began the practice of Falun Gong in 1996. She said, "We are here today mainly hope that the police will withdraw the charges against Falun Gong practitioners. In both mainland China and overseas, Falun Gong practitioners have been using a variety of methods, and different channels to explain to the public the goodness of Falun Gong and expose the CCP's persecution, so that the world's people won't be deceived by the CCP's lies. At the same time, we also hope that the Singapore authorities would show concern over the persecution of Falun Gong in China, and offer aid to stop it. We also call upon all people with conscience to work together to end the persecution. We truly hope Singapore will have a wonderful future."

Mr. Chen and his wife have practised Falun Gong since 1995. They hope that the division director will treat Falun Gong fairly after reading their petition letter. Mr. Chen said, "I believe that Singapore government has learned about the facts, after all the persecution has persisted for eleven years. Since the CCP started the persecution, many Chinese Falun Gong practitioners who lived in Singapore have had to seek aid from the UNHCR, and become refugees in other countries. This is because they were unable to get approval for their applications or extend their different types of residence permits here in Singapore. Some mothers who accompanied their children to study in Singapore were unable to extend their long-term social visit passes and had to leave Singapore. The only reason was that they are Falun Gong practitioners."

The practitioners urge the Singapore government to work toward an end the persecution, and bring Singapore and its people a truly beautiful future.

Background

During the previous months, Singapore Central Police Division brought charges against seven Falun Gong practitioners who have been doing the exercises and distributing informational materials about Falun Gong and the persecution at a tourist site and on the streets. In addition, two Chinese national practitioners were denied work permit renewal and re-entry permits.

On October 5th, 2009, Singapore police arrested five practitioners at the Esplanade Park when they did the exercises and explained to the tourists about Falun Gong and the persecution. The police handcuffed and took them to the central police division, and impounded their passports. On May 6th, 2010, the five practitioners were brought to court, charged with "vandalising public property" and "abetting others."

From 2001 to 2006, Singapore authorities have six times brought Falun Gong practitioners to court with a variety of charges. These practitioners have done nothing but explained to the general public about Falun Gong and the persecution.