Speakers' Corner, Singapore to these free speech concerns, Speakers' Corner was created as local adaptation of the Speakers' Corner in Hyde Park, London, in 2000. In a 1999 interview with "New York Times" columnist William Safire, the Prime Minister Goh Chok Tong said the idea had first been suggested by the Senior Minister Lee Kuan Yew, but Goh felt that it was not yet the right time to set it up. The following year, the Government decided to go ahead despite its fear of potential public disorder, as the idea enjoyed widespread support from the public and civil society groups. During a Parliamentary
Speakers' Corner, Singapore a permit as the topic of his speech was racially sensitive. A subsequent application for a permit was turned down. A contravention of the regulations renders speakers and organizers of demonstrations liable to fines of up to $10,000, or incarceration of up to six months. The penalty for displaying anything violent, lewd or obscene at a demonstration is a fine not exceeding $3,000 or, on a subsequent conviction, $5,000. Events which adhere to the regulations are also not immune from other existing laws such as those relating to defamation and sedition. In 2011, the regulations creating Speakers' Corner were suspended