Singaporean police has given the go-ahead to the first public discussion on human rights to be held in the republic on March 10.

Think Centre, the NGO which is organising the forum, was told by an officer from the licensing division yesterday that their application for the gathering had been approved. Previously, the organisers were warned by the police against organising a public forum without a police permit.

Entitled "Every Singaporean matters", speakers at the forum will be constitutional law specialist Val Winslow, Aware president Khoo Heng Keow, Asian Human Rights Commission programme coordinator Sinnapan Samydorai and Singapore Democratic Party leader Dr Chee Soon Juan.

The forum is part of a series of public political discussions in Singapore jointly co-ordinated by the Think Centre, a political research NGO and political discussion group Socratic Circle.

James Gomez from Think Centre expects the forum to draw a strong crowd.

"T

o date over 40 participants have registered either online or via e-mail," he said.

"Participants can register online at [#1]politics21.mainpage.net[/#] . In order to avoid disappointment, we urge participants to register early."

He said that one of the key issues to be discussed at the public forum will be the need to set up a National Human Rights Commission in Singapore, in response to similar commissions being established in other Southeast Asian countries.

A recent spate of liberalisation in the city-state's financial and telecommunication sectors has created an expectation that state-society relations are slowly loosening up in Singapore.