Silent Protest Greets Singapore’s Leader

About 70 students and faculty silently turned their backs on the prime minister of Singapore on Saturday as he entered a convocation ceremony to receive an honorary degree.

“We don’t think the college should honor the leader of a government that represses the same basic freedoms that are so valued on this campus,” said George T. Crane, political science professor and the protest organizer.

Goh Chok Tong did not react and the convocation proceeded without further incident. Goh, who earned a master’s degree at Williams in 1967, was awarded an honorary doctorate of law.

His critics complain that Goh’s government sometimes detains without trial, arrests without warrant, censors political opponents, squelches criticism, and canes convicted vandals.