Activists slam Singapore crackdown on Chinese strikers

Activists expressed outrage on Wednesday over Singapore’s crackdown on Chinese bus drivers who staged the city-state’s first industrial strike in 26 years to demand better pay and conditions.

The two-day work stoppage last week at state-linked transport firm SMRT, declared illegal by the Singapore government, has resulted in the deportation of 29 drivers and a six-week jail term for one driver.

Four other arrested drivers, who have been remanded for a week, are expected to be produced in court on Thursday, with each facing a maximum one-year jail term and a possible S$2,000 (US$1,640) penalty if found guilty of involvement in the strike.

The Asian Forum for Human Rights and Development, which represents 47 non-governmental organisations from 16 Asian countries, urged the release of the jailed and remanded drivers and demanded that charges against them be dropped.

“We condemn the Singapore government’s criminalisation of the exercise of fundamental rights by the bus drivers who went on strike,” said the Bangkok-based group’s executive director Yap Swee Seng.

“The swift and harsh actions overlook the bases of their complaints about wage discrepancies and poor housing.”