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 the PEMA and POA if the conditions specified in the subsidiary legislation are complied with. Speakers' Corner has been criticized as a token gesture, though others have pointed to its use by civil society activists as evidence that it has widened the political space in Singapore. Singapore's political model has been described as a representative democracy, and Singaporeans have constitutional rights to freedom of speech and assembly under Articles 14(1)(a) and (b) of the Constitution of the Republic of Singapore. The constitutional rights to free speech and assembly extend only to Singapore citizens. Hence, the Singapore Court of Appeal has