in july 2009, the police installed closed circuit television (cctv) cameras for "safety and security". the police said that the cameras complemented the presence of their officers on the ground and did not record audio inputs. the move drew some negative reactions from the public. former nominated member of parliament siew kum hong felt that the installation of cctv cameras was "pretty ridiculous", and wondered if the move might feed the perception in some quarters that singapore is a police state, since speakers' corner is "the one place in singapore" where people can demonstrate. nevertheless, the cameras have not affected various events from being held. with effect from 1 december 2009, the size of speakers' corner was reduced so that it only occupies the half of hong lim park nearer new bridge road. from 1 march 2012, speakers' corner was expanded to include an area behind kreta ayer npp, near the junction of north canal road and south bridge road.