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 racially or religiously sensitive speech has been criticized as possibly curtailing free speech on genuine political matters and limiting the scope of constitutionally entrenched fundamental liberties. Despite such criticisms, some social activist groups remain optimistic that Speakers' Corner represents a step towards political liberalization and the promise of a wider political space. Although Dr. Kenneth Paul Tan, Assistant Dean of the Lee Kuan Yew School of Public Policy, has noted that initial cynicism was inevitable as Speakers' Corner was a top-down initiative, he recognizes that civil society activists have since actively occupied and made use of Speakers' Corner to generate