Politician stopped from leaving Singapore

Singapore: A Singapore opposition politician has been stopped from leaving the country to attend a university programme in the United States because she had failed to pay costs linked to a court case, a newspaper reported on Saturday..

Chee Siok Chin, a committee member of the Singapore Democratic Party and sister of party chief Chee Soon Juan, was stopped by the Official Assignee's office, which must give permission before a bankrupt can leave the country, the pro-government Straits Times newspaper reported.

The newspaper said the Official Assignee's office deemed the programme was of no benefit to her creditors. Chee had enrolled for the summer programme at Stanford University's Centre on Democracy, Development, and Rule of Law, the newspaper said.

2005 court case

She was declared a bankrupt last year after failing to pay legal costs linked to a 2005 court case.

Chee had challenged a move by the Singapore police to disperse a peaceful protest in August 2005. The protest, by Chee Siok Chin and three others, took place outside a public building in Singapore and called for greater transparency in state institutions. The case was thrown out and three of the four were ordered to pay costs of about Singapore$23,700 (Dh63,461), the newspaper said.

Protests in Singapore are rare and an assembly of five or more people requires a permit from the police. Singapore says it needs tough laws on assembly for the maintenance of peace and stability.