Reference: Opposition leader jailed for contempt, Bangkok Post, June 3, 2008

What China can learn from Singapore is that it is not necessary to cling to the old and clunky one-party system to run an autocracy. It is perfectly safe to allow other political parties to exist as long as you have the right kind of legal and criminal justice system in place to make sure that they don't actually get to rule. Once it does that, China can become a full-fledged multi-party democracy with constitutionally guaranteed freedom of speech and human rights but with certain safeguards in place to protect the state from lunatics and anti-state elements. That way the world can fully embrace China as an upstanding and democratic member of the international community just as they fully embrace Singapore today.

Cha-am Jamal
Thailand