Letter from Singapore: Citizens Are Trapped in a Corner over Free Speech

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Tight-lipped Singapore is planning a forum for public speech, which has split opinion on whether this heralds greater tolerance or trumpets more loudly what regulations remain.

The Speakers' Corner, inspired by its namesake in London's Hyde Park but requiring speakers to be licensed, is intended to bring citizens out of Internet chat rooms, editorial pages and private venues to air views before the nation of four million.

But Singaporeans, in online discussions on the location and purpose of the proposed corner, are sceptical about just how free expression would be and who would dare test the limits.

'Will the government tape my speech secretly and use it …