李光耀之女罕見公開批評新加坡政府

The daughter of Lee Kuan Yew, Singapore’s founding father, has criticised the city state’s government as “authoritarian” in an unusual public row over a proposed law which human rights groups fear will be used to stifle dissent.

在一項擬議法律引起的公開爭吵中，新加坡國父李光耀(Lee Kuan Yew)之女批評這個城市國家的政府爲“威權”政府。人權組織擔心，該法將被用來壓制不同意見。

Lee Wei Ling, sister of current prime minister Lee Hsien Loong, on Facebook compared her fellow citizens to people who have become so used to the smell of smoke that they can no longer detect the potential threat to their wellbeing.

新加坡現任總理李顯龍(Lee Hsien Loong)的妹妹李瑋玲(Lee Wei Ling)，在Facebook上把本國國民比作是對煙味太過習慣乃至無法感覺到煙味對自身幸福潛在威脅的民衆。

Dr Lee attacked a draft contempt of court bill as “an attempt to muzzle public opinion”.

李瑋玲抨擊了藐視法庭法律草案，稱之爲“一次讓輿論緘默的企圖”。

The intervention, posted online on Sunday, is the second time Dr Lee has attacked her brother’s rule after a public feud in April over commemorations of their father’s death.

週日發表於網上的干涉言論，是今年4月李光耀逝世紀念活動引起一次公開不和以來，李瑋玲第二次抨擊自己兄長的統治。

Such open criticism is a rarity in Singapore, where censorship laws impose tight boundaries on the media and defamation actions have been used to silence critics, human rights groups say.

人權組織表示，這樣的公開批評在新加坡是不多見的。在新加坡，審查法律爲媒體劃定了嚴格的邊界，相關方面一直通過反誹謗訴訟讓批評者噤聲。

The proposed contempt of court law, due for a second reading in Singapore’s parliament on Monday, imposes penalties of up to 100,000 Singaporean dollars and three years in prison for various forms of contempt of court, including the offence of “scandalising the court”, a charge recently levelled against a satirical cartoonist in the city state.

定於週一在新加坡議會進行二讀的擬議的藐視法庭法律，針對不同形式的藐視法庭行爲——其中包括“誹謗法庭”罪——設定了至多10萬新加坡元的罰金和3年監禁的懲罰。

The law has been criticised by pressure group Human Rights Watch as a “handy tool” for the suppression of critical speech.

該法被壓力集團“人權觀察”(Human Rights Watch)批評爲壓制質疑言論的一項“現成工具”。

On Facebook, Dr Lee wrote: “Perhaps, Singaporeans have gotten used to an authoritarian government who until recently had always acted for their wellbeing.”

李瑋玲在Facebook上寫道：“或許，新加坡人已習慣了一個威權政府，直到不久前，這個政府一直是爲了他們的幸福而行動的。”

Singapore’s government said earlier this year that the draft law would provide “greater clarity and certainty” on what constitutes contempt, as well as specifying defences and punishments. The city state’s ministry of law did not immediately respond to an emailed request for comment.

今年早些時候，新加坡政府表示，這項草案法律將使藐視的定義變得“更加確和具體”，並詳細說明辯護和懲罰。這個城市國家的法務部(ministry of law)並未立即回覆記者通過電子郵件發出的置評請求。

The internet has weakened traditional controls on dissent in Singapore, allowing citizens to vent feelings of discontent. In April, Dr Lee used Facebook to accuse her brother of abusing his power, an allegation he completely denied. She also separately claimed that the Straits Times had censored a column she wrote, although the paper said Dr Lee had posted the column online while discussions were still taking place about editorial changes.

互聯網削弱了新加坡政府對於異議的傳統控制，使民衆得以發泄不滿情緒。4月，李瑋玲利用Facebook指責她哥哥濫用權力，李顯龍則完全否認了這一指責。李瑋玲還聲稱，《海峽時報》(The Straits Times)曾審查她寫的一篇專欄文章，不過該報表示，她已在網上發表了那篇文章，而有關編輯修訂的討論仍在進行中。

Even on the internet, Singapore polices the boundaries of free speech. Last year a Singapore high court judge ordered a blogger, Roy Ngerng, to pay the prime minister 150,000 Singaporean dollars in damages for claiming that he had criminally misappropriated retirement fund savings. It was the first time the government had sued a blogger for defamation.

即便在互聯網上，新加坡也對言論自由的邊界實施管理。去年，新加坡一個高級法院命令一位博客作者鄞義林(Roy Ngerng)向總理支付15萬新加坡元賠償金，因爲他聲稱李顯龍挪用了國民公積金，構成犯罪行爲。那是新加坡政府第一次以誹謗罪起訴一位博客作者。