(Clearwisdom.net)
(Continued from Part One)
Part One: http://www.clearwisdom.net/emh/articles/2005/5/2/60268.html
Many Chinese Falun Gong practitioners in Singapore have had a lot of difficulties in renewing many types of permits and in applying for permanent residence or citizenship in Singapore since Jiang Zemin started to openly persecute Falun Gong in July 1999, and especially since the year 2000. When these Chinese Falun Gong practitioners had interviews with Singapore Immigration, all the questions raised by the immigration officers had to do with their spiritual belief in Falun Gong. Hence, it has been deduced that these immigration officers have been taking advantage of the interviews for an ulterior motive - to collect information about Falun Gong practitioners in Singapore and their activities of clarifying the truth about Falun Gong.
When meeting Falun Gong practitioners in public, Singapore police would often ask to copy the information on their ID's. Moreover, practitioners have been suspecting for a long time that the Singapore police may have worked undercover as civilians who feign interest in learning Falun Gong and taken the opportunity to spy on Falun Gong practitioners and secretly collect the names of Chinese Falun Gong practitioners in Singapore. They might have compiled a list of Falun Gong practitioners in Singapore and entered the information in their information systems at the Immigration Office. This may be why many Chinese Falun Gong practitioners in Singapore have been rejected without any valid reason in their applications for permits, permanent residence, or citizenship. Many of them have had their applications repeatedly rejected.
When faced with these obstacles, many practitioners from China had no choice but to leave Singapore and move to another country.
Rejected Applications for Singapore Citizenship
Case 1: Ms. Qiu was a permanent resident of Singapore, and her daughter is a citizen of Singapore. In the latter half of 2000, she sent an application for citizenship to the immigration office. In the three-hour interview with the Immigration Office, the immigration officers spent the majority of the interview asking her about Falun Gong. Some of the questions were: What is Falun Gong? When did she start practicing Falun Gong? Which group practice site does she usually join for practice? What is the location of the group Fa study she attends? Who are the coordinators of Falun Gong? What activities do they coordinate? Which practitioners usually participate in these activities?
Later, Ms. Qiu's application was rejected. The Immigration Office did not provide any reason for the rejection.
Case 2: Ms. Li was a permanent resident of Singapore. She got her Master's degree in Singapore, and her son is a citizen of Singapore. Prior to July 1999, she once received a letter from the Singapore government, inviting her to become a citizen of Singapore. When she did put in an application to become a citizen of Singapore in 2001, she was asked to have an interview with the Immigration Office that lasted more than two hours. The immigration officers asked her a series of questions about Falun Gong. Some of the questions were: What is the schedule and the location of the Falun Gong group exercise practice site she usually attends? What Falun Gong activities has she attended? Who else attended these activities? What does she think of the incident in MacRitchie Reservoir? The officer also asked her to provide names of all the Falun Gong practitioners she knows.
The MacRitchie Reservoir Incident: On December 31, 2000, Falun Gong practitioners in Singapore held a candlelight vigil to memorize 107 Falun Gong practitioners that have been verified as having died in China as the result of the Chinese Communist Party's persecution. The Singapore police interfered with their vigil. They illegally arrested 15 practitioners and prosecuted them in court. Seven of them were sentenced to one month in prison and the rest eight were each fined 1,000 Singapore Dollars (SGD.)
Ms. Li's application was rejected without any reason. It is more than likely that the Singapore immigration office rejected her application because she practices Falun Gong.
Case 3: Mr. Xin has been a permanent resident of Singapore since late 1995. He was once invited to become a citizen of Singapore in 1997. In 1999, Mr. Xin finally applied for citizenship. Singapore's Immigration Office had a three-hour interview with him for the citizenship application, but instead he was asked a lot of questions about Falun Gong during the interview. Some of the questions were: When did he start practicing Falun Gong? What is the Falun Gong group practice site he usually attends? He was also asked about Falun Gong's activities in Singapore and fellow practitioners he knows of. He was even asked not to reveal any of the content of the interview.
His application was later rejected without being given a reason.
Rejected Applications for Singapore Permanent Residency
Case 1: Mr. and Mrs. Dong both have a Bachelor's degree in China. In January 2000, they both applied to the Singapore Immigration Office to become permanent residents. In April 2000, they were notified by the Immigration Office to come in for an interview. However, during the interview they were questioned at length about their spiritual belief in Falun Gong. One of the questions was: Which countries have you been to for Falun Gong's activities? The immigration officers told them it was all right to practice Falun Gong, but they mustn't be too active in participating in Falun Gong activities.
Later their application was rejected. In the same year, they reapplied, but it was again rejected.
Case 2: Ms. Wo was an MBA student at the National University of Singapore. In 2002 she applied to the immigration office for permanent residency in Singapore, but the application was rejected. However, her friends from other colleges in Singapore easily became permanent residents of Singapore.
Under normal circumstances, people who have graduated from colleges in Singapore are usually granted permanent residency.
Case 3: Ms. Song was a graduate student of the National University of Singapore. In 2002 she applied to Singapore's Immigration Office for permanent residency, but her application was rejected. During the two-hour interview, the immigration officers kept asking her questions regarding her spiritual belief in Falun Gong and information about other Falun Gong practitioners in Singapore.
Later her application was rejected.
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Category: April 25 Events
