An application to hold a rally in support of Non-Constituency MP (NCMP) JB Jeyaretnam was denied by the licencing authorities in a fax on 23rd March 2001 (dated 22nd March). In the fax they said that since it was a political rally there are likely to be law and order problems. They also went further to state that a licence is needed for public solicitation of funds which the police normally issues only for charitable causes. The application was made on 1st March 2001 when the new Public Entertainment and Meetings Act came into place. The Act was criticised locally for still having a strangle hold on political meetings.
Organisers say that there have been no significant changes in the procedure, transparency and processing time for the application of this licence when compared to past applications.
It also raises the question of licensing for political parties, organisations and individuals to legitimately solicit funds for their actitivities under the Political Donations Act.
The committee for SAVE JBJ will continue to explore ways to assist NCMP JB Jeyaretnam.
Licensing Division
5 Pearl's Hill Road
Singapore 168996
Tel: 437 4502
Fax: 324 6065
22nd March 2001
Jacob George
Dear Sir
PROPOSED POLITICAL RALLY IN SUPPORT OF J B JEYARETNAM
I refer to your application for a public entertainment license to hold the above event.
2 I regret to inform you that your application is unsuccessful.
3 Due to the wide publicity in the Think Centre web-site and the media, the event may attract a large crowd and will require the deployment of significant resources to manage the crowd. The resources will have to be raised and organised by the applicant.
4 I also note the nature of the event is a political rally. There is thus potential for law and order problems. I have also considered that you have made the application as an individual. Given the nature and scale of the intended event, the concern is the issue of accountability in the event of any law and order problem. Moreover, it is noted that the event involves a public solicitation for funds for a non-charitable purpose. Licenses for public solicitation of funds are normally issued for public fund raising for charitable purposes. No application has been made for public solicitation of funds in this case.
5 Your application is refused for the above reasons.
6 Please note that under the Public Entertainment and Meetings Act, it is an offence to provide public entertainment without a license. Also, under the House to House and Street Collections Act, it is an offence to appeal for funds in a public place without a licence.
Yours sincerely
Gan Ah Lek
Asst. Director Operations
Licensing Division
Singapore Police Force
