Timeline – Ban on Thaipusam Music

A Ban on the use of musical instruments was imposed in 1973. Singapore is the only country in the world that bans the use of musical instruments at Thaipusam. 

Thaipusam falls under the authority of The Hindu Endowment Board (HEB) . This is a statutory board under the Ministry of Culture, Community and Youth (MCCY). According to HEB, they had brought up the issue to the police licensing board on several occasions since 1973 but to no avail.

The issue was also brought up in Parliament seating’s but to no avail.

3^rd Feb 2015 -Three men were arrested   during Thaipusam 2015 and have claimed innocence.
Source: Singapore Police Force - FB post

4^th Feb 2015 - A Facebook page published by Voice of One  to 'Speak Up For Thaipusam' has garnered close to 9,000 Likes.

5^th Feb 2015 - Ms Sangeetha Thanapal publishes: Thaipusam & the right to cultural and religious expression in Singapore. Click here to read.

Ms Sangeetha also starts a petition calling for the re-instatement of Thaipusam as a public holiday. It has garnered more than 20,000 signatures.

6^th Feb 2015 - Law Minister Shanmugam gives his take on the rules behind the ban on musical instruments, saying Hindus in Singapore are in a 'privileged' position.

7^th Feb 2015 - Oddly enough, there is no mention about the Thaipusam incident on HEB's  website : although there is a statement by Mr R Jayachandran, Chairman of HEB on their Facebook

9^th Feb 2015 - The Online Citizen publishes an article by Arriffin Sha :'Now can we have our holiday back ?

10^th Feb 2015 - Ms R Angelina, represented by Lawyer Mr Ravi, filed an application challenging the constitutionality of guidelines prohibiting the use of musical instruments at Thaipusam procession. In response to media queries, the Attorney-General’s Chambers said it has filed an application to strike out her case “on the grounds that it discloses no reasonable cause of action, is scandalous, frivolous and vexatious, and is an abuse of process”.

11^th Feb 2015 - Law Minister Shanmugam seems to soften stand (Apparently Main Stream Media Channel News Asia has removed the post): Hindu Endowments Board should find out the wishes of the people.

11^th Feb 2015 - Warning by AG (Again Main Stream Media Channel News Asia has removed the post) ....The day free speech which is enshrined in our Constitution under Article 14 was lost in our country...
 
13^th Feb 2015 - Gilbert Goh's application to hold a peaceful protest at Speakers Corner was rejected by the Police.

13^th Feb 2015 - MHA Statement on Thaipusam Procession

24^th Feb 2015 - Martyn See's Open Letter to PAP MP Lam Pin Min over Thaipusam Incident. Full article here 

26^th Feb 2015 - Martyn See files a police report on PAP MP Lam Pin Min over the Thaipusam incident. The Straits Times carries the story.

29^th April 2015 - Lawyer Mr Eugene Thuraisingam of Eugene Thuraisingam LLP serves an Originating Summons (Case No.: HC/OS 394/2015) in court on the Attorney General, on behalf of 3 Singaporeans applicants, Mr Sathiyamoorthy s/o Murugiah, Mr Vijaya Kumar s/o Rajendran & Mr Balasubramaniam 

20^th May 2015 - Lawyer Mr Eugene Thuraisingam and state counsels from the Attorney General's Chambers attended before an Assistant Registrar for a pre-trial conference (PTC). The state counsel indicated that they needed more time to put in affidavits on behalf of the Government, given the serious nature of this judicial review application.

1^st July 2015 -  Affidavit filed by the Attorney-General (giving intention to pursue the matter in High Court) 

8^th July 2015 - Lawyer Eugene Thuraisingam and the AGC attended before the Assistant Registrar for a further Pre-Trial Conference today.  As affidavits have been filed, the Assistant Registrar has directed that fixed this matter for hearing before a High Court Judge on 14 August 2015.

14^th August 2015 - Email received from Eugene Thuraisingam's office to the 3 men who filed the appeal against the ban on playing drums during Thaipusam.

18^th Aug 2015 - The 3 men are in the process of considering their options in response to the High Court's instruction to place a security deposit of $20,000 if they want to appeal the case. Lawyer Eugene Thuraisingam pays the $20,000 security deposit out of his own pocket  

13^th Sept 2015 - The 3 men, led by Sathiyamoorthy have proceeded with crowd funding to fund their case in the high court. Visit the crowd funding site.
 

20^th Sept 2015 - The case was highlighted in mainstream media the Sunday Times yesterday (20^th Sept 2015) by Senior Law Correspondent, Mr K C Vijayan. The story was also carried by several other online news sites, including the Singapore Law Watch.

The Straits Times / Sunday Times 

Singapore Law Watch 

All Singapore Stuff 

States Times Review