Singapore Yale-NUS College’s class on dissent ‘not training for Hong Kong-style protests’

Programme organiser Alfian Sa’at defends week-long course after liberal arts school scraps event citing law banning ‘partisan politics’ on campus

Classes included a workshop on banner design and screenings of several films including a documentary about Hong Kong democracy activist Joshua Wong

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A man holds up his hand to symbolise the five demands of Hong Kong protesters as demonstrators protest in the background. Photo: AFP

Published: 6:00pm, 16 Sep 2019Updated: 11:18pm, 16 Sep 2019

A Singaporean liberal arts college’s 11th-hour decision to scrap a week-long course on dissent and civil disobedience has sparked a fresh row over academic freedom in the city state, with the programme’s speakers locking horns with pro-government commentators who sought to suggest the event would foment Hong Kong-style violent protests in the Lion City.

Yale-NUS College, a joint project with the National University of Singapore (NUS) and Yale University, on Friday said it axed the programme titled Dissent and Resistance in Singapore as it infringed the college’s “commitment not to advance partisan political interests”.

Yale, the elite US Ivy League school, over the weekend said it would conduct a “fact-finding” mission over the saga.

The course – expected to run from September 27 to October 4 – was to have been convened by the prominent local playwright Alfian Sa’at, who is well known for political plays that are critical of the long-ruling People’s Action Party’s (PAP) policies.

Singapore politician Tan Chuan Jin. Photo: Handout

Among the programme’s activities was a visit to the free-speech park Speakers’ Corner, a screening of a documentary about Hong Kong activist Joshua Wong Chi-fung, a presentation on censorship in Singapore, and an open rehearsal for a play by Alfian.

Alfian and Kirsten Han, a civil activist and journalist who was among the event’s speakers, led the charge in pushing back against claims that the course had nefarious motives.