Anuradha Narayanasamy reports for Think Centre from Hong Lim Park.
Perhaps not quite a big draw as Hello Kitty, but Speaker's Corner nevertheless saw a Mr. Tan Kim Chuang, registering to speak sometime after midnight last night, for a full 20 days. That's right, 1st-20th September and so did four other people after him!
The police opened registration for Speaker's Corner from midnight 21 August 2000.
By 1.30pm today, 9 people had registered to speak at the Kerta Ayer Police Post at Hong Lim Park, the base for the Speaker's Corner. Dr. Kevin Tan and Mr. James Gomez, both members of the Roundtable signing up as the 8th and 9th speakers respectively during their lunch break.
discussing plans for 1st September To record the event, journalists from Channel News Asia, Straits Times, Lianhe Zaobao and Project Eyeball where "parked" outside trying to pick-off the few who strolled in today to sign up. Dr. Tan and Mr. Gomez were immediately swamped for comments.
Think Centre's reporter and photographer were also at hand and were bolder. They went into the station to witness the Roundtablers' signing up and even tried to photograph the process. But out from nowhere jumps a plain clothes police officer who politely says "No photographs within the premises please".
The police: always near-by If you are keen to speak up, the registration process is easily enough. Enter the police post's main door, veer to the left and press the button marked "Speaker's Corner" on the automatic numbering machine. Wait for your number to be called, hand over your identity card and you will be given a logbook. Sign in your name, ic number and the date you want to speak. The police office manning the counter will key the information into the computer and generate a print out for you. Check your name, ic number and date that you booked, sign along the dotted line and hey presto, you are licenced to talk, but only at Hong Lim Park.
The whole process, with no pressing queue takes about five minutes. But finding a parking spot around the police post may not be so easy!
Note: The Roundtable is organisng a Speaker's Fest at Hong Lim Park from 5.30pm-7pm, 1 September 2000.
