Singapore scored 48/100 and received the status of “Partly Free” on the annual global report on political rights and civil liberties, Freedom in the World 2021, slipping two points from the previous year.
In a recent report by the international research firm Freedom House, Singapore scored 19/40 on political rights and 29/60 on civil liberties. It remains lower than close neighbours Malaysia and Indonesia which scored 51/100 and 59/100 respectively. Both countries are also classified as “Partly Free”.
Singapore scored lower than other Asian counterparts as well such as Hong Kong (52), India (67), South Korea (83), Taiwan (84), and Japan (96). Surprisingly, Singapore also scored lower than countries you wouldn’t expect such as Guatemala (52), Sri Lanka (56) and Sierra Leone (65).
The top three high scoring countries with full marks of 100 are the Nordic nations of Sweden, Norway and Finland, closely followed by New Zealand with 99. Canada, Uruguay and Netherlands scored 98. The United Kingdom comes in with a score of 93 while the ‘Land of the Free’ United States scored 83.
The Freedom in the World 2021 assesses real-world rights and freedoms enjoyed by individuals rather than government performance. This is assessed based on 10 political indicators and 15 civil liberty indicators including on the electoral process, political pluralism, freedom of expression and belief, the right of association, and personal autonomy.
In its report, Freedom House described Singapore’s legal and electoral framework as allowing for political pluralism but that it “constrains the growth of opposition parties and limits freedoms of expression, assembly, and association.”
On the question of whether the current head of government and other chief national authorities were elected through free and fair elections, Singapore only received a score of 1 out of 4.
The reported highlighted the election of President Halimah Yacob, backed by the ruling People’s Action Party (PAP), in 2017 in which she was declared winner by default as she was the only candidate to be eligible for the presidential election.
The report also notes Singapore’s lack of an independent election commission, which contributed to a score of 1 out of 4 for the question on the fairness of the electoral laws and framework.
“The electoral framework suffers from a number of other features—including the GRC system and the onerous eligibility rules for presidential candidates—that favor the PAP-dominated political establishment,” it added.
Unsurprisingly, the report also narrows in on the extensive restrictions to public assemblies in Singapore, which earn the country a score of one in one of the factors on association and organisational rights.
The score was, in fact, reduced from 2 to 1 due to the slew of arrests and prosecutions of activists in recent years, including those who were engaged in solo protests.
Another reduction in score from 3 to 2 was on the question of individual freedom of movement. Specifically, it was noted that Singapore’s score on this factor was reduced due to the special restrictions on the movement and housing of migrant workers that “disproportionately” exposed them to the risk of COVID-19, with nearly half that population ultimately testing positive for the virus and accounting for over 90 per cent of the nation’s cases.
On the higher end, Singapore score 3 out of 4 on the question of safeguards against official corruption. However, it was also noted that the “corporatist economic structure” requires close collaboration between the private and public sector which could lead to conflicts of interest, such as lawmakers serving on the boards of private companies.
Other high scoring factors include the freedom to practice and express religious faith and other social freedoms. On the factor of equality of opportunity and freedom from exploitation, Singapore scored a 3 out of 4.
However it was noted that some types of workers, such as foreign domestic workers, still face disadvantages and remain vulnerable to exploitation and abuse.
Malaysia
Northern neighbours Malaysia earned a score of 21/40 on political rights and 30/60 on civil liberties for a total of 51/100, down one point from the previous year.
Malaysia’s one-point decline was due to a decrease in score on the factor of press freedom. This was attributed to the increase government pressure on private media since the change of government in March 2020. This includes actions by law enforcement in response to critical coverage of the government using the pandemic as a pretext to prevent independent news agencies from covering key events.
The report also notes the current government’s resistance to reforms and the escalating concerns about narrowing freedoms. Additionally, it highlighted the charging of journalists, activists and others who have been critical or perceived as critical over the authorities with sedition or defamation.
Indonesia
As for Indonesia, the country’s two-point slide from the previous year was attributed to the factor of academic freedom and freedom for trade unions. Indonesia scored a total of 59/100, or 30/40 on political rights and 29/60 on civil liberties.
Specifically on the issue of academic freedom, the report notes an escalating pattern of arrests prosecutions, physical attacks and intimidation aimed at academics and students who engage in public discussion of politically sensitive topics. For example, the cancellation of academic discussions on Papua and West Papua, with organisers being surveilled and threatened; the expelling of students involved in a peaceful protests over human rights abuse in Paia and West Papua; and the continued intimidation and even charging of of students, student union leaders, and others who were involved in protests against anti-Papuan racism.
The lower score with regards to the freedom for trade unions or labour organisations was attributed to the passage of the 2020 omnibus law that removed key labour protections and weakened the position of trade unions, according to the report.
