李光耀之女罕见公开批评新加坡政府

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.

在一项拟议法律引起的公开争吵中，新加坡国父李光耀(Lee Kuan Yew)之女批评这个城市国家的政府为“威权”政府。人权组织担心，该法将被用来压制不同意见。

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.

新加坡现任总理李显龙(Lee Hsien Loong)的妹妹李玮玲(Lee Wei Ling)，在Facebook上把本国国民比作是对烟味太过习惯乃至无法感觉到烟味对自身幸福潜在威胁的民众。

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

李玮玲抨击了藐视法庭法律草案，称之为“一次让舆论缄默的企图”。

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.

周日发表于网上的干涉言论，是今年4月李光耀逝世纪念活动引起一次公开不和以来，李玮玲第二次抨击自己兄长的统治。

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.

人权组织表示，这样的公开批评在新加坡是不多见的。在新加坡，审查法律为媒体划定了严格的边界，相关方面一直通过反诽谤诉讼让批评者噤声。

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.

定于周一在新加坡议会进行二读的拟议的藐视法庭法律，针对不同形式的藐视法庭行为——其中包括“诽谤法庭”罪——设定了至多10万新加坡元的罚金和3年监禁的惩罚。

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

该法被压力集团“人权观察”(Human Rights Watch)批评为压制质疑言论的一项“现成工具”。

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

李玮玲在Facebook上写道：“或许，新加坡人已习惯了一个威权政府，直到不久前，这个政府一直是为了他们的幸福而行动的。”

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.

今年早些时候，新加坡政府表示，这项草案法律将使藐视的定义变得“更加确和具体”，并详细说明辩护和惩罚。这个城市国家的法务部(ministry of law)并未立即回复记者通过电子邮件发出的置评请求。

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.

互联网削弱了新加坡政府对于异议的传统控制，使民众得以发泄不满情绪。4月，李玮玲利用Facebook指责她哥哥滥用权力，李显龙则完全否认了这一指责。李玮玲还声称，《海峡时报》(The Straits Times)曾审查她写的一篇专栏文章，不过该报表示，她已在网上发表了那篇文章，而有关编辑修订的讨论仍在进行中。

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.

即便在互联网上，新加坡也对言论自由的边界实施管理。去年，新加坡一个高级法院命令一位博客作者鄞义林(Roy Ngerng)向总理支付15万新加坡元赔偿金，因为他声称李显龙挪用了国民公积金，构成犯罪行为。那是新加坡政府第一次以诽谤罪起诉一位博客作者。