TBT lawyer no. 3 - Mr. Dennis Chua Today I arranged for Mr. Dennis Chua to meet Mr. Ng E-Jay for his representation. It is confirmed now Mr. Ng E-Jay will be defended by Mr. Dennis Chua. Mr. Dennis Chua, I salute you. On the battlefield: A commando, the Infantry and the Armour and the Enemy The above title describes it all. The Commando - Yap Keng Ho - fearless as he is, he is not a team player. The Infantry - SDP and Confederates The Armour - Approved opposition and mainstream society The Enemy - The Panzer And Panzer Division The following are a brief description of the roles at the moment. The Commando The commando is not a team player. He perceives himself as the one man army. In as much as every soldier is supposed to be fearless. Fearlessness degenerating into ill-discipline and anarchy would instead jeopardize the operation. The commando has at times laid explosives which are placed very near the infantry. Given his firepower and courage, he should be charging into the enemy and blowing them apart well placed from his own comrades. Instead, explosives and traps are placed all too often, too close to the infantry. The commando feels answerable to no one and therefor does not wish to take the commands of the Infantry’s commanding officer. The commando is therefore by his own admissions suited for missions which involve himself only. He therefore should not intervene into operations of the Infantry and yet refuse to obey a co-ordinated attack plan. The Infantry Battalion The Infantry is the common foot soldier. Not very heavily armed. Not armoured as well. He only has the bravery of heart to engage in bloody combat and the unified strength of single-minded movements of his battalion on the battlefield as his strength. Indeed no single infantryman can take down an enemy tank but a platoon doing a co-ordinated attack might be able to. The infantry battalion has suffered casualties. It has scored kills as well. Despite being wounded and maimed, the morale is high. The Armour Regiment The Armour regiment suffers from jitters when it comes into entering into battle. It also suffers some cognitive disorder in terms of identifying itself closer to tanks and not so much of the banner under which they belong. The Armour’s gunners seem to see enemy Panzers as friendly and foot soldiers wearing their same insignia as the enemy. The armour therefore refuses to fire on the Panzers and more often than not fires shots at the infantry. The infantry in fighting the Panzers not only has to avoid the Panzer fire, they have to avoid “friendly” fire from their own Armour. The Enemy The Panzer division? Oh it is watching the battlefield and laughing itself silly at the moment. TBT Trials - Lawyers coming forward - Thank you Contrary to what people believed, altruism exists in Singapore. We have six confirmed lawyers and maybe up to eight lawyers coming forward to assist to defend a number of the 18 protestors. This morning it is confirmed that Ms Jaslyn Go will be represented by Mr. R. Thrumurgan of Thiru & Co. and Ms Surayah Binte Akbar will be represented by Mr. Amarick Gill from Amarick Gill & Co. Both of the lawyers will be representing two lady protestors on a special fee arrangement basis. Mr. R. Thrumurgan and Mr. Amarick Gill, I hereby salute you for coming forward. The Condescension of a Ruler towards his Peasants Until the front page news splashed over all papers on 26th August 2008, I never fully understood the meaning of condescension and insult. Indeed, I have never felt so insulted before in my life. Indeed throughout my 34 years. I have been bullied, punished, criticised, ridiculed, arrested, charged, soon to be jailed, maybe in time to serve extended detention in some alleged conspiracy and maybe to face the gallows for some trumped up charges in time to come. But i have never felt so insulted before. His Excellency, the Prime Minister Lee Hsien Loong has shown what it is like for him to behave like a ruler. He has LIBERALISED Singapore allowing outdoor demonstrations at Hong Lim Park. NOTE: Only at Hong Lim Park. Prior to that was a flurry of requests from reporters as a prelude to that announcement over the weekend. And what faces me now is a stark contrast of fiction and reality. Here i am. On on hand, running helter-skelter, left-right-centre defending multiple actions necessitated by the actions of the Singapore Police Force against the freedom of expression and freedom of assembly, on the other hand, Lee Hsien Loong cleverly protrays himself as an open, all magnanimous and all progressive leader in throwing the door open for demonstrations and protests in ….. Hong Lim Park. Little do people know that on one side, we have this facade of openness. On the other side activists are getting charged for doing things which in other democracies would not have even raised an eyebrow. Over here we have almost a picture of an entire machinery galvanised to arrest and charge democracy groups in Court. To-date, we have a total of more than 22 activists charged for at least 3 separate protest incidents stretching back to September 2006. It is likely that more charges are coming in even at this moment ludicrously. All of which are aimed at the opposition that provides the most sting - the Singapore Democratic Party. The Prime Minister’s father, his Excellency, Minister Mentor Lee Kuan Yew had ruled Singapore by a series of well placed and timed and handled ISD detentions, ColdStore 1, Coldstore 2, detentions in the 70s (someone tell me the codename if any) and Operation Spectrum. LKY’s style was that of a heavy hand, an iron fist which often left his opponents, or should i say perceived opponents, with a broken ribcage, coughing out blood, passing out and never really returning for a fight in a second round. His Excellency, the Prime Minister, Lee Hsien Loong has now done the honours in escalating the humiliation. Lee Hsien Loong has carried the superiority of his position and that of his minions and his establishment to an even higher level. In a rare master stroke of ingenuity, he has sidestepped true obligations of a leader who has promised political openness, yet strengthened his position protraying himself as an open minded leader who understood the changing times and need for progress to demonstrated political correctness and wit in allowing demonstrations and delegating the control of Hong Lim Park from the Singapore Police Force to the National Parks Board. The National Parks Board deals with plants and shrubs. And only mindless vegetation should be on the radar scope of the National Parks Board. As such, i have little wonder what our Prime Minister is actually trying to say. As an activist, ex-politician and soon to be jailed lawyer involved in so many dissident actions, the press naturally hounded me for my opinion on what those concessions meant to me. As there were so many queries, i could not answer them all given the number of court actions i need to give my attention to. I do recall now forgetting to answer the email request from Imelda Saad, i hereby apologise for that. I also recall stating quite abit of my unrestrained opinion to a reporter from FM95.8 a Ms Fengqin, Ms Esther Ng from Today, Ms Sue-Ann Chia from Straits Times just to name a few. As far as I am aware, Today carried my comments. I had stated to Esther “this is an attempt to retain control over what the government is unable to control.” but i was quoted as saying that ‘this is an attempt to “return” control…’ which essentially does not make sense. I also made it clear that such pseudo-openness does not measure up to the openness of true democracies in developed countries. I also stated that “it is akin to someone taking away all of your money and throwing 10 dollars back onto your face and expecting you to express gratitude for the return of the 10 dollars.” My most stinging statements never made it to print. Faced with such media blitz glorifying the establishment on their move for openness, this is what i have to say with regards to the FACADE, HYPOCRISY, and CONDESCENSION of the administration (PAP, AG-C, SPF, and NPB included) involved. Alex Au described it too meekly as he not wanting to dignify “tokenism” I say this move is nothing more than an insult to activists’ and citizens’ intelligence. Here we are getting charged left right centre by one arm of the government, yet the other arm of government has to cheek to seek self-glorification and praise for returning a mere pittance of what was robbed from a people in the first place. Here we are expected to be immensely grateful to the Ruling party for its little scraps thrown at us with little dignity and in the midst of it having to face the iron fist of the machinery. Is that possible? Imagine a rebellious peasant, one leg broken by the soldiers standing nearby, and forced into a kneeling position before the King. He would have expected the executioner’s sabre to cut his head off with a swift stroke. But that did not happen. Instead, the ruler rises from his throne and approaches the kneeling peasant. Slaps the peasant with a swift and deft stroke by the back of his palm, followed by a spitting onto his face. To top it all, the orders the grimacing peasant to salute the king, praise his greatness and express his gratitude. The ruler expects the peasant to be contented henceforth. The peasant instead views the episode as an insult both to dignity and intelligence - a fate worse than death. The peasant will remember this episode and he promises himself that the ruler and his soldiers will pay for this in time to come. The sudden bursting of the dam - Inspiration! Hey hey Labouring with multiple actions arrayed against the famed legal fighters of the Attorney-General’s Chambers is no easy task. So much so that i have neglected my blog. Even worse was this fatigue which set in and affected the inspiration needed fr articles. Then this morning, the damn burst. I have in line 4 articles. Waiting to be completed and to be published. I hope my readers will put up with my erratic blogging. This is somewhat uncontrollable. The last time i tried to space out a sudden gush of inspiration, the inspiration died out and i cancelled all six articles - all of which were not the lesser than that which i have published but they were in a sense out of time of the moment. Therefore, all of you should bear with me and at least relish in the deluge of writing inspiration that has been missing for months! cheers. Ti Lik A bit of grousing - cheap Starhub and Associates It has come to the end of my patience. These days many things test my patience. I do not normally wish to embarass anyone in my blog but since it is commonplace that blogs are used for venting frustrations and I do not think i have any other alternative. My mobile service provider is starhub. Upon renewing my contract several months ago, i discovered that i am being billed for items which i do not recall using. Despite my first discovery of the same and calling up both Starhub and the SMS company to cancel it. Months have passed and if not for the fact that i chose to open my starhub bill this morning instead of chucking it into the bin, i would not have discovered that Starhub is still allowing a billing of an addtional S$16 to my phone bill at $4 per SMS. As to how many months this has been going on - God knows. Does Starhub consciously choose to make money unscrupulously in conjunction with Third Parties in this manner? Starhub, i have already called customer service to and whatever number you have referred to do all i can to cancel this service which i had never asked for. Now that i have come to the end of my patience. I hope this little bad publicity can wake up your company a bit. i don’t know what works on you if this does not. Good luck to your company If this carries on. When the contract ends. Goodbye to you. The Reflection of the Moon When i was young, i had a number of recurring dreams. Many of the dreams did not make much sense, probably a mixture of fact and fiction enmeshed together by a subconscious imagination and left to play when the psychological conditions permit. As i grew older these dreams disappeared. Probably hidden by being thrust into adulthood. Little time left to think and maybe to sleep. These dreams disappeared. These days sleep is a rare commodity. I never thought i would be reminded of one of those dreams until last night when I had a “development” of that same dream. Not so much of a sequel to the dream but to borrow a term from the creators of Star Wars - a Prequel. My recurring dream is of me being the subject of a picturesque scene - an old man on a little boat out in the middle of the lake. In the darkness of the night. There were no stars in the sky. With only a beautiful, full and round moon and its reflection on the lake. There was a stillness. As if the old man was unwilling to row his boat. Afraid to disturb the tranquility of the lake. Content just to drift. Just to be still. Just to float there. I also recall that the old man was looking at the lake intently. Admiring the beauty of the moon. I had always wondered what all that meant to me. I was always struck by that scene. I had been wondering whether or not that was a premonition of my retirement days. Of being in the wilderness with nature. Nothing to rush about for. Just content to be with nature. I came to have a different interpretation last night. After a long 34 years, i was blessed with the Prequel of that dream. I realised that i had been admiring the moon for a long time from the edge of the lake. I had my tripod. i had my telescope. Looking through the telescope, i sought the closeness with the beauty of the moon. Now the moon had by its reflection presented itself to be closer to me than the object far up in the sky. It beckoned me to approach. Not content to be admiring it through the telescope, i decided to take my chances of getting closer to the reflection by leaving the bank. I found a boat by the edge. It was a filmsy one. There was no oar. Dismantling the tripod, i left my telescope and my gear on the bank. Removing my heavy jacket and boots to lessen the weight. i stepped into the waters’ edge to push the boat forward. I used the tripod as an oar. When i reached the middle of the lake. The reflection of the moon was still there. There were however a few things that became different. Coming up close, i realised the reflection was often disturbed by the ripples of each paddle stroke. The shimmering of the surface disturbed the reflection. I then decided to stop rowing. Crouching by the edge of the boat, face close to the water just being with the moon’s reflection. This inaction in the middle of the lake was what had been recurring in my dreams from my young age. Looking at the reflection, i began to realise that things are not so much within my control. The tranquility of the lake and its surroundings could only do so far as to preserve the reflection of the moon. Despite my not rowing, my controlled breathing. my determination to remain still on the boat so as not to create any ripples, things were still not going my way. Under the surface were fishes which created ripples from their swimming. Tiny as they were, they still caused ripples. And the moon’s reflection shimmered as if with disapproval. I prayed for the fishes to go. At times they did. At times they were naughty, they did not. Then came the wind. The wind blew across the lake. The fetch they call it. The entire surface was disturbed. The entire surface shimmered with ripples and little waves. No long was it the calm and undisturbed and beautiful moon which i saw when i was on the bank. I could restrain myself from moving. I could stop rowing. I could also control my breathing. BUT there was little i could do about the wind. AND yet the moon’s reflection showed its disapproval. This went on for a prolonged period of time. It went on and on. The reflection did not seem to have the same willingness to understand. As each gust blew. The reflection was disturbed. There was nothing that i could do to prevent it. Then came a realisation. Perhaps i was wrong. The moon’s reflection wasn’t really beckoning to me. It was merely open there for all to admire. BUT NOT TO APPROACH. As the shimmering of the reflection on the fetch when the wind blew would not have been visible to a man standing on the edge, that was a meeting of each other’s expectations. I could have been safe and warm on the bank. Feet dry and with my gear with me. With all the prospect of being able to turn around and head back for home at my fancy. BUT now when the level of committment has been escalated, the distance of the gap reduced, the adulation increased, the reflection instead seems to waver. AND waver at every gust of the wind. I realised then that i was caught in the cold. In the middle of the lake. Without my jacket. Without my boots. my feet were muddied and wet. The boat was flimsy. I did not have a proper oar. And there i was all alone in the middle of the deep deep lake. Cold and handicapped. Was the moon to blame? Why did she beckon me? But the moon had always been there. It would have been free for me to admire from the distance. Take gazes at the moon from the telescope in the safety of being on the bank. It was the moon’s reflection that beckoned me. Or did i misread her? Maybe she did not want me to approach, maybe she preferred the distance to remain. But it might not have been due to her alone. There were these naughty fishes in the water. There was also this cold and horrible wind. But all these affected the reflection. And that reflection’s disturbance affected me. There was this feeling that i had been had. That it was all only a game. That one needed to be non-committed and to have a certain level of nonchalance to remain in a position of strength to stay in the game. Now i really had no one to blame except myself. i had in the naivety of the moment chosen to abandon the known for an unknown, I was the one who abandoned my gear. my telescope, my jacket and boots what kept me from the cold. And i denigrated my own tripod to that of a makeshift oar. No one else was really responsible for this plight. I looked into the darkness and realised that it would be impossible to return to the edge and to be able to find my gear in the darkness in the tall grass. The situation then opens up the prospect of the choice of sticking by the whimsical shimmering surface or leaving the dream and making a painful return back to shore, cold and wet. Till a greater clarity dawns upon myself and a revelation of sorts is achieved, there is only one way to ensure that one does not jump from the frying pan and into the fire - that is to stay on the boat and hope for moments of tranquility what i had bargained for to come more often. That is, only for as long as the boat does not start to take in water and i have not yet reached the end of my tether. In the distance, the shore beckons. Hi all! I am back! :) Juggling law, politics, activism, human rights is never easy. At least that is what i found out. I was facing from 02 June 08 onwards an almost daily appearance in Court for a number of matters involving Dr. Chee Soon Juan and Gopalan Nair. The cases had peppered my entire court schedule and ate into my free time, rest time and professional time. I was so tired out by the number of relentless court appearances - which took up an inordinately large amount of my time. On one of the weeks i was in court perpetually the entire week. Even innocuous matters took up half a morning just by their very nature. This does not take into account the time spent on discussion and preparation. Eventuallym when a family court judge got her PA to breathe down my neck for my long overdue submissions, i knew something had to go. So out went my retainer for Gopalan (for the time being). For Gopalan’s trial for disorderly behaviour, i was scheduled hearings in full days and 1/2 days imagine appearing in one court for one matter in a morning and returning to another court for a trial hearing in the afternoon. Vice versa. There was simply no let up. In fact, the District Judge who gave me the dates was most helpful, he gave me such dates as early as possible (not as comfortable as possible) so much so that i had to tell Gopalan to try to represent himself.True as an advocate as he was, Gopalan rose to the occasion and took the trials himself. I discharged myself in the process and got down to clearing my backlog. A similar thing happened for my retainer for Dr. Chee’s trial of the 3rd and 4th charges for making an address without a permit more than 2 years after they occurred. They occurred before the 2006 General Elections anyway. These were only the 3rd and 4th charges, there are at least 4 more to go. Upon settling myself down to normal paid work. I found myself a new client who instructed me on 2 appeals to go before the High Court. Having had only less than 8 days to get both Petitions of Appeal ready, I kissed my audio system and my remaining dog goodbye on 23rd July 2008 and never looked back since. Completing the two Petitions of Appeal on time was a feather in the cap. I never knew i could still worked like that. I had thought that i had grown old and that my stamina and concentration had deteriorated. Preparing for the two appeals stretched my limits. Not to mention i had another Appeal hearing before a High Court Judge in Chambers in the midst of it all. All these added together only proved one thing, that i had gotten a little soft over the past years. The appeal preparations difficult as they were, were indeed tests of my ability to sit through with discipline when i am on the point of fatigue. I did not find them easy. Accordingly, i did feel a sense of relief and accomplishment when they were submitted on time. Preparing for the hearing was also an eye opener. Imagine completing the draft of one appeal and opening the file of another to begin preparations for written submissions for the next day’s hearing of another matter. That was not easy. I remember being incoherent on the phone when a friend called me a little late the night before. Positive Exhaustion does wonders to your ability to sleep with your eyes open and holding a phone with one hand and standing up. The appeal hearing was (i felt) naughtily fixed by the registry before Justice Lai Siu Chiu. Yes the one that Gopalan Nair had criticised I had a little surprise when i saw the hearing lists in court. What a coincidence! Anyway i had a fair hearing before Justice Lai and there is nothing better than to test your ability to detach yourself from the cases that you advocate and argue. This again was a test of my professionalism. In any event, the appeals are now down for now. Till the next step that is required of me under the rules of procedure - hi all boys and girls, readers of this blog. I am back! Oh where does the time go? Does anyone know? These days, in the midst of scrambling left right centre, all over the place, a tune keeps playing in my head, Julia Fordham’s “Where does the time go? Does anyone know?” drones on and on and on. I cannot help it if that particular verse in the chorus keeps calling out to me, especially so when I have been wondering, i am busy all the time, but i cant seem to be getting peak productivity. This is even so after frivolous activities of leisure have been cut down to the bone. I sleep early at night. Wake up early in the morning to lengthen the day but somehow, it still does not make it. I try to make a rather naughty blog post and end up editing its direction a couple of times and then i realise. Its fatigue! The fatigue from running the court cases flowing from involvement with Gopalan Nair, Dr. Chee Soon Juan and other protestors are taking a toll. Especially for Gopalan’s mentions, all of which seem to involve so much time including the stand downs which makes things so much more draggy. The mention for Gopalan Nair in court 26 on Monday 14th July 2008 was an example. Prosecution appeared in Court dealing with all 4 charges. I was only instructed on 2 and i have not had time to consider whether or not to take up the other 2. I needed just a little time to speak to Nair. The Court wanted to stand the matter down by 1.5 hours to 11am. Luckily i had the mind to insist that i needed just a moment and a stand down to 11 am was not required. I spent 10 minutes with Gopalan Nair and then i was ready to address the Court. Not wanting to wait for a PTC on 24th July 2008, we ended up with another PTC on 16th July 2008. This meant that my entire week had been fixed with one court appearance for either Dr. Chee, Nair or myself every single day. So much so that it seems that i have fallen a little behind on my professional obligations. On Wednesday itself after obtaining Mr. Nair’s trial dates (24th July Full day , 28th July AM, 29th July PM, 30th July PM, 31st July Full day, 6th August Full day) which were fixed in the midst of my having to appear in other courts for other matters, I having received news that a District Judge had been chasing me for my long overdue submissions for another matter and i realised what i had to do.  I realised that i had also opted to write this blogpost because i wanted to avoid that mental grind needed to get the original post publishable. As of now, i might have spent a total of 2-3 solid weeks of running around those cases which naturally meant 2 - 3 weeks of time less from my professional obligations over the last 1.5 months. No wonder i am feeling the strain. I have been fortunate as Dr. Chee is very much willing to handle his trial in the Subordinate Courts himself. Dr. Chee’s trial was supposed to start from 14th July 2008 till 8th August 2008. And since that i have now also found out that Mr. Gopalan Nair is willing as well, I will have my little breather to find that point of balance again. I guess i should be much more effective in a couple of weeks when my professional obligations are fully discharged. This might also leave me with a little time for some music. Now where did that Julia Fordham compact disc disappear to? Letter to Law Society of Singapore The 19 Accused C/o 24 Peck Seah Street #05-09/11 Nehsons Building Singapore 079314 16th July 2008 Mr. Michael Hwang President, Law Society of Singapore Dear Sir, APPEAL FOR PRO BONO LEGAL REPRESENTATION We are the 19 Singaporeans charged for allegedly participating in an assembly and procession without permit near Parliament House on 15th March 2008. We had as citizens claimed our right to peaceful assembly and presented ourselves before Parliament House to speak out against the multitude of ill-timed price hikes initiated by the Government, which have exacerbated the inflationary situation and cost of living for Singaporeans. On 11th July 2008, we were all charged each with one count of assembly without a permit and one count of procession without a permit. In light of the price hikes further initiated from the 15th March 2008 till today, it is clear that this Government remains unwilling to take active steps to make life less unbearable for all Singaporeans. In the light of the decision to charge us for speaking up as citizens, it is clear that this Government will not hesitate to silence citizens by discouraging citizens from exercising the right to peaceful assembly and freedom of expression. Any stifling of civil and political expression by citizens is unhealthy for Singapore and it breeds contempt of the citizenry by the Executive which in turn leads to brazen disregard of citizens’ welfare in the policies practiced. A government must be subservient to the People. This government cannot act unchallenged when it tries to restrict the fundamental liberties of Singaporeans. The Laws of a country should be enacted to further the interests of the People and cannot be used to throttle civil and political expression. Citizens have rights only slaves have no rights. Singapore Citizens are entitled by citizenship to fundamental liberties guaranteed by our constitution. In view of the above, the Law Society of Singapore, being the body that represents our defenders of justice must assist citizens who are prosecuted by the State for exercising their fundamental liberties and cannot just stand idly by and be content to do nothing. We hereby urge the Law Society of Singapore to step forth to arrange for legal representation for the 19 of us. Yours faithfully Chia Ti Lik For and on behalf of the 19 Accused: Chee Soon Juan Chee Siok Chin John Tan Liang Joo Ghandhi s/o Karrupiah Ambalam Jeffery George Seelan s/o Palay Muhammad Jufri Bin Mohd Salim Lim Teck Hee Sylvester Chong Kai Xiong Surayah Binte Akbar Lang Chin Kah Carl Coca Ng E-Jay Francis Yong Chu Leong Chia Ti Lik Go Hui Leng Mohamed Jufrie Bin Mahmood Govinda Rajan s/o Surian Yap Keng Ho Muhammad Shafi’ie Syahmi Bin Sariman Press Statement from the 19 charged in Court today JOINT PRESS STATEMENT from the 19 Accused:   Chee Soon Juan                           Chee Siok Chin                   John Tan Liang Joo Ghandhi s/o Karrupiah Ambalam       Jeffery George                   Seelan s/o Palay Muhammad Jufri Bin Mohd Salim      Lim Teck Hee Sylvester       Chong Kai Xiong        Surayah Binte Akbar                     Lang Chin Kah Carl Coca      Ng E-Jay Francis Yong Chu Leong                Chia Ti Lik                         Go Hui Leng Mohamed Jufrie Bin Mahmood         Govinda Rajan s/o Surian     Yap Keng Ho Muhammad Shafi’ie Syahmi Bin Sariman                                       THE TAK BOLEH TAHAN CAMPAIGN THE PROTEST ON 15th March 2008 World Consumers’ Rights’ Day Before Parliament House Singapore   We are the 19 Singaporeans summoned to Court for allegedly participating in an assembly and procession without permit near Parliament House on 15th March 2008 – this event is also known as the Tak Boleh Tahan Protest.   The term “Tak Boleh Tahan” is colloquial Malay for “We can’t take it anymore”. The Tak Boleh Tahan Protest was meant to speak out against the multitude of ill-timed price hikes initiated by the Government, directly and indirectly in areas ranging from GST, public transport to education and healthcare, which have exacerbated the inflationary situation and made it much harder for Singaporeans to cope with the increased cost of living.   Despite rumblings from the ground, the Government had been unwilling to take real steps to reduce the cost of living for the majority of Singaporeans and the poor and lower income groups have been the hardest hit. When we presented ourselves in front of Parliament House on 15th March 2008, we did so because we felt that the protest would send a strong message on behalf of our countrymen to the Government not to make life any more difficult for Singaporeans. On 15th March 2008, 12 of us were arrested on the spot. Subsequently, another 7 were called up and questioned. By this morning, all 19 of us have been formally charged in Court 23, each with one count of assembly without a permit and one count of procession without a permit. In light of the price hikes further initiated from the 15th March 2008 till today, it is clear that the Government remains unwilling to take active steps to make life less unbearable for all Singaporeans. We are now all the more convinced that the protest was needed and justified and simply had to be done. We are further convinced that our claim as citizens to the right of assembly and freedom of expression was timely and proper. Therefore, we would wish to claim trial to the charges brought against us. I am the only lawyer in the entire group. But since I am now also a co-accused, I am unable to act as legal counsel for the group. Therefore the group at present is in need of legal representation. We make an appeal for Singaporean lawyers to come forward to represent us in these proceedings.     Chia Ti Lik The Act of Wrongful Accusation Being in the heat of the action brings up issues. The stress and pressure to keep to timelines, address questions from the people around you, the constant thinking and strategizing required of the mind, the need to measure up and perform and yet be up to date and aware of the events surrounding you throws up past issues and matters into the present day limelight. I remember someone close had once described this to me as pottery being thrown into the oven or furnace to be fired. The heat of the fire not only burns and consumes. It also changes our constitution - in this case it changes the state of our psychology and mind. I also remembered a time when i was younger but noticeably aware of what was happening around. It should be my teenager years, i was be able to tolerate anything, be it sarcasm, snide remarks, mild bullying, ostracisation etc etc. All those were unimportant in the big scheme of things. The only one sore issue that struck me was my response to an unjustified accusation. It was nothing short of extreme. As if everything in life depended on it. Tracing back the source of such an extreme reaction, I remembered an incident which left a clear mark on my memory. I remembered that it was something that happened when i was a child. And the accusation came from a loved one. And it was about something I never did or something which I never intended to do. I also remembered that it was in such circumstances that an accusation became especially hurting. I remember it occurred when i was young, barely 4 i guess. I was accused of theft. The situation as it were did not allow me to explain myself. The deed was already done. Time had passed. The money was in my pocket and had been taken out of it. It had already be spent, converted and the supposed money was now in the form of a tasty packet of rojak which which i had happily bought and brought home. I remembered being accused without being afforded a real opportunity to explain. I remember that feeling of being cornered, stripped bare and helpless, condemned. I remember the feeling of being singled out for punishment for something which i did not intentionally do. I remembered nothing was done to prevent siblings from taking my treat literally from under my nose as it was being interrogated. I remembered tearing as i realised that i could not explain myself. I was too afraid to even try to explain. Perhaps it was my lesson in life at an early age, that there were already things in life which would be as they were, unexplainable. This was a lesson delivered in hallmark fashion in a situation where time had passed and many things had occurred in that span of time, things and facts which were in the process would not come across as clear as the results / facts that were present before everyone’s eyes. The process of how it was done was not explainable or even if explained did not sound as convincing. Perhaps that was also why it is a rule of natural justice that offences needed to be dealt with as and when they occurred. In fact a rule of natural justice requires a charge to be made and prosecuted as soon as it may be feasible and not many years after the alleged offence is committed. It does not help justice or help to elicit facts of truth when a police officer watching a crime being committed chooses to do nothing. Only to turn around several days later to make an accusation that a crime has been committed. It does not help the Court or the administration of justice that if and when the Court perceives contempt of its proceedings, chooses to keep quiet, then after a day or two cite Accused persons of having been in contempt of the Court and expect the Accused to so explain. It naturally flows that it certainly does not help if someone was felt to be sending a message or doing an act, the recipient of the message feeling aggrieved chooses not to bring the matter up or bother to clarify but waits till time and event has passed before springing a surprise with the full weight of the accusation and extra interpretations made without bothering to clarify in the first place. Likewise, it does not make sense for a mother to watch a child walk towards the precipice yet to choose to keep quiet and raise cain only when the child approaches the dangerous edge or to cry and mourn when the child has met his end of the cliff. It certainly does not also follow that upon spotting an error, a person allows the errant party to continue a certain course of action, then bring up the error of the first wrong step after things have taken shape in a certain direction. The only time when such manner of keeping quiet and allowing the mistake to be continued to be made. Of watching the dangerous steps to be taken in the wrong direction while the conscious party awaits and observes happens in military operations when an enemy is knowling lured into a trap - in simple terms, in a maneuvre called an ambush. I remember that feeling of humiliation and helplessness I don’t think that in my introverted and shy stage of life that i really managed to explain myself - AND I don’t think i ever forgave my accuser of that wrong at all. It might have been that experience that made me pursue a path and end up a lawyer. Presumably to defend helpless others against false accusations. It may also be that because i deep down, i variably identified myself with people whom were accused of charges and whom were put in a situation which they could do little or nothing to defend themselves. Somehow, the presence of such an deep-seated issue clouds things. There is a positive edge to it but there is also a negative serrated side of the phenomena. There is an advantage that comes with it and yet it comes with a corresponding debilitating characteristic. That the severity of the act does not figure at all in the minds of other people. Yet it provokes a reaction deep within. Something instinctive, something within, something primal. It does little to hope that others will understand the little hiccups and quirks of life we each have. We just have to indentify the source and look beyond it. Perhaps its a sign of a life path, perhaps it is a little sticker reminder from God of the mission that i am supposed to undertake. Perhaps it is all just an issue which had taken more than its due time to be addressed. National Day Celebrations & Rehearsals - The cost & purpose of Now I don’t mean to be mean. I don’t mean to be nasty either. National Day is an event that all citizens should be proud of. They rightly should be. I just happened to be working in office clearing my work on a saturday evening only to find the peace being broken by F-16 Fighting Falcons from the Black Knights, Republic of Singapore Air Force doing their aerobatic rehearsals for national day. Now we all know that the PAP hijacks to a certain extent such National events and programmes to glorify itself. National day rally is one. National Day celebrations is another. National Day Parades always have a subtle twist to glorify by repetition ad nauseam the progress made from the past. But such acts do not detract from the fact that the National Day celebrations do provide some entertainment to the masses, some spectacle to our weary people. As our nation takes a step closer to its 49th Birthday, citizens of this nation should take a step back to take stock of what this nation has become and where this nation is heading. This is best done as you come closer to consuming what’s coming up on the platter for National Day: mass formation displays, perfected through months of rehearsals and trainings, Impressive aerial displays and flybys involving air force Apache helicopters and the Black Knights, time painstakingly through rehearsing for weeks before the actual event. Such practising to perfection is all well and fine, because a mass display and flyby of military aircraft should be conducted with precision and accuracy. Let there be no mishap. There must be no flaw. It has to go like clockwork. Faultless, flawless and blameless, just like the spotlessly white PAP uniform. But amidst all these, let us also remember that National Day exists only for that just one day in each year. And national pride should be perennially present throughout the year and not just on National Day. What do Singaporeans truly feel? Does national pride in fact exist in present day Singapore? Do Singaporeans take pride in what is this which is supposed to be their home? Do we take pride that Singapore as it is now is something which we are proud to call our country? Do we relish the thought of being able to stay here throughout our working lives and into our last days after retirement? Do we tell our children and family to put our country first before everything else and that the country is what and all that matters to us? Or do we dread, after the euphoria of the celebrations have died down, the drudgery and stress that flows from life lived in Singapore and the burden and oppression that comes with Singapore Citizenship? When the parents see their sons in the SAF contingents which are involved in the display, do they view them with pride and honour? Do our servicemen relish their units being singled out for national day duties or do they curse and swear under their breath at the task that has befallen them? As we begin to search for all these questions ourselves in our own minds and hearts, i need only bring to your attention my sharing of my understanding of what such mass displays and spectacles created in the name of celebration of our nation’s glorious path. AND my understanding is: The more communist, fascist and totalitarian regimes are, the greater the emphasis will there be on creating grand spectacles, creating grand monuments, creating grand public infrastructure and a correspondingly great diminishing of the people’s voice, the people’s wealth and the people’s ownership of things in their country. To put it simply if you want to see which other country celebrates national day similar to Singapore’s, try looking at North Korea. Therefore we should all ask ourselves: As we eagerly rush home in our cars to sit before the TV to watch the National Day Celebrations’ live telecast on this 9th August 2008. We have to ask ourselves, how much of your car do you actually own? As we park our vehicles and run towards our lift, looking at anticipation at the flat that “belongs” to you and which you call home, you have to ask yourself, how long will you take to “own” that? Do you actually “own” your flat at the end of the day? As you watch the afterburner trail out of each of the F-16s streaking skywards for their exhilarating climb, you have to ask yourselves, how much fuel is being burnt, how much does that operation and its rehearsals cost in taxpayers’ money? As you watch the floating platform which they constructed a couple of years ago into another world’s first, you have to ask yourself was the cost of creating a floating platform actually necessary? It that not taxpayers’ money as well? As you watch the millions of dollars going up as fireworks, which is funded by the money coming from people like you, you should ask yourself, what is your present state of net worth and the health of your bank account? You should also ask yourself, if you were to fall ill and be unproductive, will you have the confidence that life will carry on for your family without too much disruption and the years will pass beautifully like each National Day coming and going without fail. Will your life be just as fulfilling and fruitful? You should ask yourself to take stock of what is it that makes Singapore a country? What is that which makes us want to be citizens? Is it the planes streaking the skies? Is it that display of the national flag? Is Singapore all that great a country that the celebrations make it out to be? Or are you thinking that you might have a better life elsewhere? What is a mere show and pretence of a nation? And what is it that truly makes a nation? What is perceived? What is real? Tak Boleh Tahan’s First Casualties In any struggle for freedom and democracy, there is bound to be blood, sweat and tears. Throughout history, freedom and democracy are not won by comfortable inaction or muted negotiation. Freedom and democracy are won through sacrifice. The PAP secured its position by detaining political opponents, sueing political opponents, jailing political opponents. Detentions were in Operation Coldstore 1 and Operation Coldstore 2 in the early years. That all but wiped out the Barisan Socialis. In 1987-1988, the Marxist Conspiracy arrests were used to against 22 young professionals working closely with the Workers’ Party of Singapore. Defamation suits were used throughout the years against opposition politicians who were less than careful with their criticisms. I received my first two charges from Central Police Division for unlawful assembly and illegal procession relating to the World Consumers’ Day Protest on March 15th 2008. We were peaceful and harmless protesters but the administration is adamant on silencing Singaporeans in their own country. Check out youtube for a recording of what actually happened and ask yourself whether our administration and the Police have gotten their priorities correct in the service and protection of citizens of this nation. I would have to attend Court on 11th July 2008 for these charges. I will go to Court as an Accused person for the first time in my life. This are the casualties of the Tak Boleh Tahan campaign brought on behalf of the citizens of Singapore. It remains to be seen whether these are the only casualties that will ever be recorded in History. I have to come to terms to what i believe in and what it takes for us to make this place a nation. In view of what Singapore lacks to make this place a home, there is no reason for us to recoil from what is now perceived to be the danger that comes with challenging the regime. There will be a price to pay for things in life. And if freedom is something to be treasured. The price for freedom would undoubtedly be high. A REBUTTAL TO PAP MEDIA CRUCIFIXION OF DR CHEE SOON JUAN This article first appeared on or about Friday 13th June 2008 on the SDP website as a vantage piece. It is also my first article contribution to SDP. I forgot to post it up here after that. Therefore for the benefit of people who are not surfing SDP’s excellent website, here is the article: Overview The week before this, Dr Chee Soon Juan was involved in a trial against the two most powerful men in Singapore being the father and son team of Prime Minister and Minister Mentor. This clash had been recorded on the Court’s audio recording and available for all to hear. The much awaited clash produced collateral damage in the form of Justice Belinda Ang’s citation of Chee Soon Juan and Chee Siok Chin for contempt of Court. It inevitably resulted in jail sentences for the pair - 12 days for Dr. Chee and 10 days for Siok Chin. After sending off Dr. Chee and Siok Chin on the afternoon of 4th June 2008, I had thought that the saga had ended. However, on 7th June 2008 Saturday morning, I was met with three articles touching on Dr. Chee. These were from Chua Lee Hoong of the Straits Times and Nazry Bahrawi and Derrick A. Paulo of Today. In short, the articles were as follows: 1. Chua Lee Hoong attempts to take a swipe at Dr. Chee lamenting on his supposed squandered potential. 2. Nazry Bahrawi questions Dr. Chee’s game plan. 3. Derrick A Paulo confesses to having less than independent thought in that remarks by a colleague shapes his opinion of Dr. Chee. Interestingly, his views are not shaped by what he perceives through his senses and processed by independent sentient thought. The common thread throughout the three articles are that they sought to portray a stance of neutrality and concern but in the same breath seek to insidiously poison the readers’ minds as to who Dr. Chee is and what he stands for. I have penned down my responses to the same on the following articles. If it is any significance, it should be noted that these articles are published whilst Dr. Chee is being held in incarceration for 12 days for pursuing a certain line of cross-examination of MM and PM in Court. Derrick A Paulo’s article in Weekend Today 7-8th June 2008 It is amazing how sometimes things in Singapore play themselves out. I met Derrick A Paulo during my campaign in the last Election in GE2006. I somehow formed the opinion that Derrick was a reporter who was sympathetic to the opposition cause. My impressions of Derrick are somewhat changed by his latest article. In that article I see Derrick performing the function of a columnist. His writing was that of a commentary. He was giving his personal opinion on the subject to be discussed. Rightly so that his designation has changed to that of an Assistant Editor and not just a mere journalist or reporter I had known him to be. His current position allows him to comment on matters and he has chosen in a timely fashion to comment and give his opinion of Chee Soon Juan. Firstly, I would like to state that it is strange that Derrick is writing about how his ideas are being shaped by those around him. Naturally this topic does not stray into what was exchanged in Court between the Lees and the Chees. Interestingly though it was the persistence of the Chees in pursuing a certain line of questioning that brought them into contempt of Court. Why does the press not choose to discuss this tumultuous exchange in open Court that resulted in the jail sentences for Chee Siok Chin and Chee Soon Juan? Is it simply because the audio recording of the exchange is not freely available? Had the audio recording been made freely available, I would surmise that the focus would have been on the discourse between the Lees and Chees instead of it being glossed over and not given the due attention which it deserves. Derrick digs up the past on Chee Soon Juan’s debate with George Yeo on health care costs and subsidies. If that is supposed to be of any weight, is it not true now that Singapore’s health care costs are skyrocketing through the roof? Singaporeans have to judge which the greater sin is. A typographical error? Or the brazen collective inability of a bunch of ministers to solve a problem highlighted by a political opponent more than a decade and a half earlier? Which is a bigger sin? A few dollars in postage costs, or millions of dollars of taxpayers’ money? The oft quoted excuse that a politician is no longer relevant because of the lack of support he is obtaining at a certain time is often used by those in power in an attempt to dissuade those from following the footsteps of that politician. One need no further reminder that sham elections by Saddam Hussein and his Baath Party when he was in power had returned a vote of no less than 99% to the dictator. Derrick betrays his pro-establishment double standards mindset that foreign connections have to be abandoned in the face of a need to win local support. May I then ask why do our leaders keep on making overseas trips to meet foreign leaders especially those of dubious legitimacy and standing, ever so often? Singapore is a city state which cannot live in isolation. Singapore may be an island but no Singaporean should be an island. The government has exhorted our people over the years to work overseas and build an external economy. We were asked to position ourselves as global citizens. Our Government is a “foreigner lover” through and through in that it absorbs foreigners into civil service, welcomes foreigners into Singapore with more than open arms, and it is ever willing to cheapen the Singapore Citizenship by offering it to people whom have never made an iota of contribution to the Republic. It is strange that when the establishment attempts to take a swipe at Dr. Chee, it forgets all that it has done. Like the thief who covers his ears as he steals the bell, it does not mean that if you do not hear it (or should I say choose not to hear it), the bell did not ring. To give due credit to Derrick, I can say that Derrick has been reading on Dr. Chee’s civil disobedience principles and trying to make sense out of them and Derrick tries his best to distinguish Singapore from the countries where civil disobedience has succeeded in bringing about change. Whilst it is true that Dr Chee’s civil disobedience principles are partly influenced by Mahatma Gandhi, Martin Luther King Jr. and to a certain extent Nelson Mandela and it is also true that Singapore needs Singaporeans to change things. It is a different ball game when intelligent and educated people in a position like Derrick choose to please the establishment by discouraging an entirely peaceful but assertive manner of placing pressure on the Government and encouraging avenues where it has been proven to be ineffective in bringing about change, it is no wonder that change is itself impeded. What have Low Thia Khiang and Chiam See Tong achieved after more than 17 and 24 years respectively in parliament? A mere illusion of hope? Or a balm to soothe the wounded pride of the opposition? In the article, I further sense a tinge of concern, persuasion and almost pleading for Chee Soon Juan to abandon his current course. In as much as I try not to read too much into the workings of Derrick’s mind but judging from the looks of the article which I have dissected, it is not difficult to position where his loyalty lies and from where the plea for Chee Soon Juan to cease his campaign originated from. Chua Lee Hoong – The Squandered Potential of Chee Soon Juan: Thinking Aloud (ST 7th June 2008) Chua Lee Hoong begins her article citing the entry of Dr. Chee into politics in 1992 then goes in depth into why she thinks Chee Soon Juan has squandered his potential. Ms Chua also attempts to play psychologists in branding the subject of discussion i.e. Dr. Chee as someone with a personality disorder. She even does further into issues between God and Man and between God-fearing men. My attention is drawn to the fact that Chua Lee Hoong was invited twice to attend a forum on Press Freedom wherein she would have met Dr. Chee in person to express such views. I understand that Ms Chua has declined to attend twice citing various reasons. Ms Chua not only knows that Dr. Chee is in prison at this moment. Incidentally, it is also during this period that she chooses to think aloud on matters outside her knowledge, expertise and training. Nazry Bahrawi - What is Chee Soon Juan’s game plan? (Weekend Today 7-8th June 2008) Before his article was published, Nazry had emailed me near noon of 4th June 2008 and called me to draw my attention to the mail. Thereafter, Nazry SMSed me twice, trying to get me to answer the mail. It turned out that I had no time to address the email as I was busy with Gopalan Nair’s matter myself. I only saw the email shortly before Nazry’s article came out on 7th June 2008. From the way Nazry’s questions were phrased, it betrays that he had already formed an idea of how he wanted to pitch his article even before he had obtained his interviews. In any event, Nazry’s choice of quotes and interviews were obviously attempts to put Dr. Chee in bad light. Nazry cited the following:- 1. Non-graduate MP Charles Chong’s attempt to pay psychologist by assessing Dr. Chee as a “complex character” and referring to the below and his expression of magnanimity and largess to have compassion for those who fall short of their own dreams and appear to be challenged in more than one way. 2. During the assessment of damages hearing, Lee Kuan Yew had quoted expert opinion from his experts commenting in vacuo that Dr. Chee was a megalomaniac, as if that carried any probity according to rules of evidence. 3. Minister Mentor LKY agreeing with SPP’s Chiam See Tong on Dr. Chee Soon Juan being a megalomaniac. 4. An unnamed woman whom we do not even know actually exists using the words “backstreet brawler … doubt he is serious about being the opposition … “ 5. Sinapan Samydorai, Think Centre, Dr. Terence Chong, Institute of SEA Studies, NMP Siew Kum Hong, Assoc Prof. Eugene Tan SMU, Dr. Gillian Koh, IPS further lend their weight to the article that Dr. Chee Soon Juan would not get anywhere politically. Nazry’s article then cites the comments that the PAP would actually attempt to change tack towards Chee Soon Juan, by ignoring Dr. Chee and ceasing further defamation suits against him. This is not the first time the press paves the way for PAP policy retreats. If it is of any significance, it pays to note that such talk only emanated from the PAP camp just days after the scathing exchange between the Lees and the Chees in court. Perhaps, the first ever of such face to face engagements between the Lees and the Chees are so much more than what the PAP and its administration could bear, such that the longstanding use of lawsuits have become an unattractive option. Conclusion In short, we have a political editor trying to play psychologist, an assistant editor without an independent opinion, and a journalist who had an opinion of how the article should read even before he started his interviews. Faced with such glaring facts, it is no wonder the press in Singapore is being ranked 154th in the world. Another thing People operating under anxiety focus too much on Chee Soon Juan’s political manoeuvres, which they incidentally opine will not bear fruit, and forget that Dr. Chee is a fully qualified psychologist even by the extremely stringent standards in the United States of America. If there is anything to learn from what these characters like Lee Kuan Yew, Charles Chong, Chiam See Tong, Chua Lee Hoong attempt to play masak-masak Singapore-standard psychologist, one need only to be reminded that imitation is actually the sincerest form of flattery. Chia Ti Lik, Ex-candidate in the past GE in 2006, Assistant Editor to SG Politics website, Lawyer and civil activist, law-abiding and goody two-shoes most of the time, a rebel and revolutionary deep within, a thinker and critic at times, and recently an activist very much prone to bouts of enthusiasm for civil disobedience. Tak Boleh Tahan - I have stands so much! I can stands no more! This article was not published previously because of the fact that there might have been too much of write up over the Tak Boleh Tahan Campaign. I held back. Now that developments are underway…. here it is: These are afterthoughts flowing from an overview of the events happening over the last two months related to the Tak Boleh Tahan Campaign starting from the World Consumer Rights’ Day protest on 15th March 2008. Having learnt of the SDP’s World consumers’ Rights’ Day Protest to be conducted at Partliament House, i had chosen to take part in it. I was arrested with 11 others, the rest was history. on 15th March 2008 World Consumers’ Day protest, I remember the police were there ready and waiting for us even before we started to assemble. Up to visibly 4 pairs of officers with communications equipment were monitoring the event. This was even before they sent ASP William Goh advise us to disperse. I say 4 pairs because it seems news has it that the police had also situated police officers at certain vantage points on high ground i.e. in the surrounding buildings. If only they would go through such lengths to nab their wanted Kastari. As an activist keen on speading the message, when the Singapore Democratic Party announced their intention to carry the TBT- Campaign to Toa Payoh, i turned up to support as well. 1st May 2008 was a very hot day, we managed to set up shop beside the library. The press was already there - waiting. En route to the location, i also spotted at least two police vehicles in close proximity,  one was a traffic policeman from the mobile squad on a bike. I did not think too much of it since the Toa Payoh Library was actually opposite the Toa Payoh Police Station, i saw little reason to query why there was a certain concentration of police vehicles in the vicinity. I only found out much later that there was a convoy of police vehicles on standby in some secluded spot in Toa Payoh, i realised that they had to have some sort of operations communications and command that coould enable them to hide in one corner so that they could decide whether or not they needed to act to swoop down on us so as to bundle us into police vans as quickly as possible. At the event, we did notice a number of suspicious looking ISD policemen monitoring the event. In attempt to stay undetected, the ISD could not come too close, they had to use a few methods of urban camouflage. These included newspaper reading, eating barbaqued pork, pretending to idle and not too interested in what’s happening yet still linger pretty close to the event. I also recalled because they but of course there were other groups not related to the press who could do the job. There were a number of cameras around. I found the overreaction from the Singapore Police Force pretty amusing, indeed their behaviour resembles that of a shaky and panicky regime which did not have the courage to stand up to a Citizens’ expression of their views. All that monitoring and gathering intelligence, if properly utilised against elements which out to be monitored e.g. limping terrorists, people’s passport photos, checking validity and eligibility for a new passport, watching over accused persons in court lock up, there would really be nothing much for Wong Kan Seng to worry about. In fact, as we go along i liked the way the game was being played I also recalled that the subsequent newspaper reports cited that a town council staff had called to complain that the SDP was conducting illegal hawking at Toa Payoh Central. As i look back with hindsight, would you ever believe that the town council staff would be so bothered with and so immature as to call the police? On May 1st Tak Boleh Tahan Campaign at Toa Payoh, i recalled meeting a mother and daughter pair. Who shied away when they first saw our table and paraphernalia, SDP logos and Dr. Chee Soon Juan whom everyone thought was boorish and mad. The came back moments later and I pushed them a copy of the SDP flyer. They went off. Next they came back and bought a copy of the Power of Courage, Dr. Chee’s little black book for S$10. They then went off again. Next i then saw that they were back, they pushed to me a donation of S$50. I was touched. People were indeed beginning to realise what SDP and what Chee Soon Juan stood for. One by one, the people are being awakened. I then proceeded to chat with them. I wanted to hold them back but off the mother and daughter pair went again. Finally as the day drew closer to the evening, Dr. Chee came back from doing his rounds in Toa Payoh Central. His voice had become a little hoarse. I hoped the mother and daugther pair would reappear so that i could let Dr. Chee speak to them and let them realise the amount of distortion of truth the PAP was creating about SDP and Dr. Chee. They did come back. I introduced them to Dr. Chee and retreated from the conversation. I could see that they had moved from disapproval and disdain towards SDP to being understanding and supportive of SDP and Dr. Chee in just a matter of hours. SUCH IS THE POWER OF TRUTH. Yesterday and before, i received hints that there would be developments flowing from the Protest at parliament house on 15th March 2008. I have since decided to publish this article. This is because the truth has to be told - Let history be the judge. Tak Boleh Tahan is a local colloquial malay term which essentially means “its unbearable”. The SDP and its supporters from the citizens use this to describe PAP greed and abuse of the system and the country. The ramifications flowing from this beget the question - Why do citizen activists stand with the much demonised SDP in such a situation? Why are citizens not afraid of getting into trouble? The answer is because the SDP provides the leadership and the courage for Singaporeans to do what is right. The issues of high cost of living caused by the bloody ruling party are that which affects all Singaporeans - someone must stand up to the PAP for this rubbish that they have created. To quote Popeye, “I have stands so much, i can stands no more!”. Campaign for All Singaporean SAF, Police Force There are 2000 armed Gurkhas in Singapore and their number grows annually by 140. This is a dangerous sign. Gurkhas are not Singaporeans. They are mercenaries. AND Mercenaries work for money. In other words, Gurkhas can be bought with money. Loyalty is a tricky issue here, for their loyalty is dependent on their having to be satisfied with material reward. AND NOW this has proven to be true with their recent rioting incident in Mount Vernon Camp over pay issues which is very worrying. I do not know how the trouble makers will be taken to task in this incident and whether or not there will be a coverup because of the way in which the MHA has conducted itself with the lack of transparency in the way it fumbled over the Mas Selamat Kastari escape. The latest Gurkha rioting incident raises many questions in the minds of Singapore Citizens as to: How this mercenary unit being brought in and being armed? How is this mercenary unit empowered to act in Singapore? How is this mercenary unit subject to law and discipline and control? Will the rioters be charged and disciplined accordingly? What sort of discipline will they receive? As seen from the Mas Selamat Kastari escape, our administration will bend over backwards for these foreign mercenaries. The Gurkhas on duty ought to have been charged under the Penal Code but instead they were let off with a slap on their wrists. I believe the negligent Singaporean ISD officers received far heavier sanction compared to the negligent Gurkhas. It is amazing how much better treatment these foreigners are being treated in comparison to their Singaporean counterparts in the Police. [By the way when Singaporean boys have petty fight in groups, they are often charged with rioting and they go to jail for it, I wonder if our Singapore Police Force is held to any higher standards of conduct] We can trust that the Singapore Police Force and the Ministry of Home Affairs will do their best to cover up this incident and sweep it under the carpet. As if underneath the carpet is already not dirty enough. I would caution against condoning such coverup and I would also caution against the Singaporean public to be complacent enough to overlook the need to pressure the MHA into revealing the worms in the innards of the Gurkha Contingent. This is because it is my view that the continued presence of Gurkhas in Singapore is the greatest danger to Singapore itself. My reasons are stated below. If the PAP administration persists on being unrepentant on their mercenary ways and insist on using mercenaries for their security or should i say “the security of Singapore”, it would not be difficult to imagine the possibility of such attitudes infecting the Gurkha Contingent [which is mercenary in the first place] and resulting in the Gurkha Contingent selling out Singapore in time to come. Imagine, there are 2000 mercenaries armed and ready. Their allegiance unknown. It is easy for them to even try to eliminate the entire leadership and neutralize the other Singaporean units in the Singapore Police Force should they ever decide to do so. And it would be easy for them to do so because the PAP trusts the Gurkhas more than they trust Singaporean Police Officers, they get the Gurkhas to guard Ministers homes. Furthermore, the Gurkhas are professional soldiers and mercenaries, they are put constantly under training during their service. They upon completion of their vocational training continue to serve their careers in the position they have been trained for. Singaporean National Servicemen on the other hand are under training only whilst doing their national service and they only turn operational near to their Run-Out-Date (Operationally ready date) only to be released and returned to their civilian status. In the Singapore Armed Forces, we all know that in each SAF camp, there are roughly only 10-12 rifles in each aggregated guard detail and maybe 200-300 rounds of ammunition in each guardhouse. Other than that, all other weapons and ammunition are stored separately and drawing of arms and ammunition in times of need will take time. As of now, we know nothing of the Gurkha Contingent’s weapons drawing protocol and ammunition storage and drawing protocol but there is reason to believe that their ammunition and weapons are stored in the same camp unlike the weapons and ammunition which are stored separately in all SAF units. Therefore, it is my belief that our SAF units cannot react fast enough to be mobilized, armed and ready for action if their was a mobilization call to neutralize the Gurkha Contingent when the need arises. The red tape from the rules set by our leaders surrounding SAF weapons and ammunition drawing and the inherent fact that our Singaporean National Servicemen stay in the far flung corners of Singapore [with compliments from the Central Posting Centre in Mindef] as opposed to the Gurkhas being accommodated in their camp whilst on duty and being accommodated near their camp whilst off duty will prevent our local units  from reacting fast enough to tackle the mercenary unit should the mercenaries turn renegade. [Please recall that in this incident, the SOC reacted fast enough to deploy to Mount Vernon Camp because it was merely an incident of scuffle and rioting. This situation would be vastly different from the scenario where it is the entire Gurkha Contingent co-operating to mutiny. There would be no 999 call to the Radio Division Singapore Police Force, there would also be no advance warning call to the Special Operations Command.] The PAP had better come up with much better reasons for maintaining the need for the Gurkha Contingent. Should the Gurkha Contingent revolt for reasons unknown, the PAP’s policy of recruiting and arming foreigners heavily on its own soil may prove to be the worst ever decision the administration has made and might in actual fact lead to the downfall of Singapore. I repeat myself. Gurkhas are not Singaporeans, they are mercenaries and they intend to retire in their homeland when they finish their terms of services. Gurkhas are i believe more heavily armed, from what the photos reveal, with at least Heckler & Koch MP5 submachine guns and M-16 assault rifles as opposed to most of their Singaporean counterparts with their Smith & Wesson 0.38 revolvers. God knows whether or not they have the same heavy weapons as a SAF Infantry Battalion e.g. GPMGs. Thank God that Singapore still has its Special Operations Command, Police Task Force unit, KINS and PINS. This however does not square the equation because do we have as many as 2000 fighting men in the Special Operations Command? I believe not. The question is to MHA is this - What function does this unit perform which cannot be performed by true blue Singaporeans? I hereby declare my intention to campaign for the disarming and disbanding of the Gurkha Contingent and I hope other Singaporeans will rally with me with this call. Until the administration gets pressured enough to be accountable with how the Gurkhas’ recruitment, training, deployment and weapons access and cost of upkeep, I pray for all Singaporean police officers, especially those in the Special Operations Command, to keep a keen and watchful eye on the Gurkha Contingent for reasons which i need not say more. No one need to look too far into history to know the dangers of having a foreign armed mercenary unit in Singapore. There are 2000 Gurkhas in Singapore and 140 more annually From Reuters report just this morning reproduced in the Today paper. Looks like our Ministry of Home Affairs ought to explain why we are employing so many Gurkhas who waste our rice and end up doing nothing but let Mas Selamat Kastari escape and brawl with each other in their police special pound…. er….. compound. May i ask MHA whether those Gurkhas who are police officers who have brought the name of the Singapore Police Force into contempt and disdain and disrepute be charged accordingly for rioting within their police compound? The MHA better tread carefully on this because it does not mean that if it is a police compound of the Gurkhas that Singapore Law does not apply there. Hello Wong Kan Seng, let me hear an intelligent reply from you now, since your Godly pets have now misbehaved. We now know that our taxpayers’ money is used to feed 2000 Gurkhas and their families. No wonder we find life in Singapore tougher and tougher. It seems that the cat’s out of the bag, we have as many as 2000 Gurkhas in the Gurkha Contingent. Furthermore, this figure grows at 140 per year. I remember it was a short time ago that there were only 600 Gurkhas in Singapore. Gurkhas are being recruited at a rate of 340 per year, and 140 goes to Singapore it seems. Why such a massive buildup of foreign mercenaries in Singapore? Is the purpose of this Gurkha Contingent meant to sideline and neutralise a Singaporean SAF and Police Force in time to come? Will we hear from the Ministry of Home Affairs on this one? Or will courage of the MHA and the Gurkha Contingent be limited to the confines to their special pounds …. err sorry compounds? I don’t read / I dive Clearing a cabinet early this morning led me to chance upon a dog-eared copy of Dr. Chee’s Power of Courage. Picking it up I realised how far i have come. I also realised that i failed to read the book. I bought the book at Dr. Chee’s book launch in June 2005, shortly after i was elected into WP’s CEC. My presence was reported in the papers by reporter Aaron Low from the Straits Times. How do i remember this? Well the memories are clear because, I perceived a near censure from the WP CEC for getting too closely involved with SDP and Dr. Chee. I never understood why then. But now i do. I also realised that following therefrom, i did not touch the book. I did not try to understand deeper what Chee Soon Juan was getting at nevertheless i saw them play out their role over the past 3 years. I also realised that when i was arrested by the Police in March 2005, family members were reading from the book and quoting from it and criticising it. I never answered those criticisms with intellectual replies. I merely stood firm in the affirmation of faith that, re-assertion of a citizen’s rights was the RIGHT THING TO DO. I also realised that i never read the book despite buying it. I was then surprised by how far i have come. From PAP to Non-Partisan to WP to Non-Partisan to…. ha ha Many people wonder whether i would be in SDP in time to come. Lets not speculate too much. From what i do know is that SDP and its Civil Disobedience campaign is now rattling people and causing sleepless nights and is making sense. It makes sense with me and also it calls out to me. I also realised, i jumped into the civil activist fold and civil disobedience without doing the relevant reading up which intellectuals would expect to do. I guess i am not much of an intellectual then. I think many a time, i am a doer and i try to experience things for what they are. By doing it. After careful thought. That mindset has brought me into opposition politics, out of opposition politics, into police investigations and lockup. Is it right? Or is it wrong? I will be attending another police investigation this morning at Central Police Division - not as a lawyer but as a possible Accused in an offence - something which my mum is not very proud of and extremely flabbergasted by my nonchalance. I guess the questioning is for conducting some vigil outside Police Cantonment Complex for Gopalan Nair where and when he was remanded. Something which i realised, i don’t read much into the intellectual stuff, I dive into the thick of things. But to me, this is a mirror of life. Life does not give you time to read before you get thrust into the situation. 34.5 years ago, I did not get to read about what this world would be before my mum pushed me out of her womb. I guess none of you would have gotten any better preferential treatment. Therefore, it would be good if people can find time to read about more of the things to come. Civil Disobedience is the thing to come in this stifling and repressed Singapore. The reading is available for all who would buy the book for S$10/- a small price to pay for gaining a little knowledge. To sum it all up, it is comparatively a small price to pay in comparison with the situation life thrust us into unprepared. I don’t read much, I prefer to dive into the thick of things. And i am proud of it. Gopalan Nair’s Mention No. 4 9am Court 26 16th June 2008 was the 4th court mention for Gopalan Nair. I arrived at Court at 850am. The case was first mentioned at 920am after DPP Francis Ng confirmed with me that we were seeking for the trial to be conducted in the High Court. In such a situation, it would be apt that the trial of both charges be conducted in the High Court. It then transpired that the Prosecution was already in the process of amending the 1st charge from Section 13D (1) (a) Miscellaneous Offences (Public Order & Nuisance) Act to Section 228 of the Penal Code. The Prosecution thereafter needed to submit the amended 1st charge for renumbering. The matter was stood down for the Amended Charge to be renumbered. Thereafter when the Court re-mentioned the case, it turned out that the IO ASP Razak Jakaria had somehow misplaced the amended charge and the Prosecution was looking for it. There seemed to be some issue about renumbering the wrong charge by the Crime Registry. There was also the question raised by the Magistrate on the Public Prosecutor’s sanction required in for Section 228 charges to proceed. The matter was then stood down till 11am for the Public Prosecutor’s sanction to be obtained. When the case was re-mentioned, the Magistrate fixed the matter for PTC in the high Court. It was also stated that the matter would go through the process of preliminary inquiry. The Magistrate wanted to know the frequency of the High Court’s PTC, DPP Francis Ng was not able to give a definite answer, to be fair DPP would not know the workings of the High Court Registry to give a definite answer. The Court then fixed the matter for mention in 4 weeks time - 14th July 2008 Court 26 9am. A further request was made by the prosecution to vary the conditions of bail such that Gopalan Nair had to report to Central Police Station at 9am on a daily basis. I explained the inability of Gopalan Nair to attend as requested during the previous week was because of the short notice, tight schedule of both parties and miscommuication and that in order not to inconvenience Gopalan Nair, some restriction of his attendance at the Police Station is required, i suggested that each session be limited to 2 hours since he would be there everyday and he be given time to arrange his personal affairs. The Court ordered Gopalan Nair to attend at Central Police Station at 9am daily until his attendance at the station for investigation was not required. Subject to the restriction that I/O ASP Razak Jakaria would have to decide every morning when Gopalan attended whether or not he will be needed that day and release him accordingly if he was not needed. The ramifications flowing from the Amendment of the 1st charge - in my next post. Scaling Everest - My mind needs distractions Change seems to be the constant thing that is needed. I always thought that i thrived on stability and predictability. After settling down some accommodation, domestic and audiophilic issues recently i realised that my mind is turning to wards the audio department again. My eyes are currently set on a  behemoth of a speaker - 2.4m tall and 200kg in weight per side. I have heard the sweetness and the immediacy in the show room. I had since been wondering what sort of sounds it would produce in my room. That speaker will again throw things into a little disarray. Yes the amps would have to be changed. And yes the cables as well. AND of course my unused speakers would have to find some place to sit. Or they would have to be shipped out. I have a penchant for BIG speakers. I mean really BIG speakers. I have made breakthroughs in the past. The 70kg mark, then the 100kg mark. Noiw i am at the 150kg mark. The speakers are nice but i am in need of a change. I understand that BIG speakers are difficult to get rid of, difficult to sell. How many sane persons would have sane spouses to accommodate BIG speakers? That probably explains the difficult of marketing of BIG speakers. BUT many audiophiles miss out one thing, BIG speakers provide the soundstage, the extension and the impact that no small teeny weeny transducer boxes can. BUT then again to each his own. There are physical and financial constraints to this. I would need to sell the 150kg Genesis APM-1 and the 80kg ESS AMT-6 and until then i will not be able to find enough space or reason to accomodate my latest fling - the big and heavy lady. Floor pressure loading is one thing. 200kg on a 1/2 square meter would mean 400kg on 1square meter. That means 4000 Newton force, now i would need to check the floor loading specifications. This is something that i want. And yes, it is something which i clearly do not need. Thoughts from - Thursday 12th June 2008 - Wild Goose Chase 3 Morning 9am was the scheduled mention of Gopalan Nair’s case. The mention commenced before Magistrate Shaiffudin Saruwan at about 925am. Due to the fact that a fresh charge was to be tendered the Court had to transfer the case to Court 26 for the mention. The matter was stood down to 11am. The re-mention came at about 1130hrs, Magistrate Shaiffudin Saruwan ordered the matter to be transferred to Court 26 for the charge to be read. Gopalan was then taken back into custody and transferred to Court 26. At Court 26, the case was mentioned and Gopalan was then offered bail on the same terms. by the time Gopalan was out i surmise it was probably past noon. I then parted with Gopalan and went about running my errands. So many days of running around had led me to neglecting my errands, my credit card bills unpaid etc. I had also recently very stupidly applied for online statements. Being a half-idiot in internet banking as well as a part workaholic, this was what happened. I would never set time out for solely internet banking. I would do it in the middle of work, typing letters and answering phone calls in the midst of it. i was many a time not fast enough to key in the relevant code issued to me by sms and by the time it was done I had to restart everything all over again. Given the goose chase that i knew i was in for on Thursday, i knew i needed help. Managing to leave the car in the trusted hands of a loved one. I made my way into the bank and got into the queue. When it came to be my turn, i said to the cashier “Help me please”  i pleaded woefully. The girl smiled without recoiling from fear. I proceeded to request for a series of multiple transactions sought on the accounts. The cashier girl was most helpful and patient. And she understood my instructions! i managed to get two credit car bills paid, an internal transfer made, and account closed and finally monthly statements printed. All within less than 8 minutes! I guess this proves that humans cannot be replaced by machines and that the girls at the Citibank Branch in town are very very much irreplaceable compared to their internet banking system. Completing that came the task fo filing Siok Chin’s Notice of Appeal. I went to High Court Registry Level 2 and found that most of them were out for lunch. I managed to get an acknowledgment copy and then proceeded to go for my lunch. Lunch was not spectacular. The company however saved the day. The food tasted bland and my usual drink tasted awfully dilute. I wondered, was it me? or was it the effect of rushing around that i cannot savour what was going on and happening around me. By the time i managed to get to Gopalan’s press conference, i was a little ate. After sorting out a few last minute issues with Gopalan, we proceeded to let Gopalan have his say. During the press conference, listening to his statement i realised that though Gopalan was a little droning as he read out his statement, Gopalan was afterall a person who had harboured deep thoughts every step of the way. I also realised i was somewhat 23 - 24 years younger. And that I had seen this man in the papers when he ran as a candidate in 1988 and 1991 under the Workers’ Party. I realised that this was a man who had afterall that he has said and done which included leaving for a life in USA was very much still a Singaporean. I had the mistaken impression that Gopalan was someone whom had taken off and left for the US, I realised that his heart had been here all along despite his doing so. [I proceeded to take some time to read his blog today, i then realised that he gave up citizenship because he did not want to have his CPF monies kept away] I thought that Gopalan had conveyed his thoughts pretty well and that he put his message of his convictions and and beliefs pretty well. I was quite taken aback by the horrible photo that Today Newspaper of 13th June 2008 published of Gopalan Nair and myself - we looked like ghouls from some crypt - its quite apt though being Friday the 13th today. I had the opportunity of learning that Mr. Alex Au of Yawning Bread posted his article on the press conference as well. His photograph taken from the smallest of the cameras around were much better looking than the one which the multitude of state of the art cameras produced. I am very much convinced now of the folklore emanating in opposition circles that the mainstream press chooses the worst photographs of members of the opposition and its dissidents to convey the dread and disdain the establishment has towards us. To put it simply, we both looked like ghouls. For me i have now found the photo for me to turn away unwanted attention. For Gopalan, i will just cut out this report and laminate it and use it to remind him of how ghastly we could look under the glaring eye of press cameras. And that he should obviously and consciously smile more. Throughout the conference my phone kept ringing. i had to stop the calls as i could not be answering the phone in the midst of the camera rolling. I found out later the number turned out to be the Investigating Officer’s - he was calling me during the press conference - but i could not take his call for obvious reasons. The session ended with me answering a multitude of phone calls again. Including one from the DPP Francis Ng. Imagine how fast news flows in Singapore. DPP Francis Ng called to ask if Gopalan decided on a position and i confirmed it accordingly to him. The DPP thanked me on that note and we ended again one of our many cordial conversations. Even as i was even rushing to Queenstown Remand Prison to see Dr. Chee. The IO was asking me to get Gopalan to report to Central Police Station at 5pm. This was like less than 1.5 hours notice. And that they had parted with Gopalan in Court only less than 3.5 hours earlier. As i could not get in touch with Gopalan Nair in the midst of driving i could only promise to do my best to get in touch with him. Dr. Chee was given a very bad haircut. At least i thought so. He did not seem to be bothered by it - not in the least. I took time to explain the procedure and the form and also what had happened in his absence. I told him of the events in Gopalan’s case and also the number of articles in the press. He did not seem to be very much bothered in his usual cool and collected fashion. Perhaps having been demonised, derided and abused, sued, bankrupted, arrested,  charged and imprisoned on a frequent basis has its advantages after all. Somehow a person having experienced much begins to show the ability to take abuse and to absorb the events happening all around without having to start name calling and verbal abuse unlike some others. Dr. Chee told me that he would be released on Saturday morning at about 9am. I told him to hold out till then and i believed that there would be a welcome entourage waiting for him. My interview with Dr. Chee was for 1 hour. The prison guards were nice. They let us have 10 minutes after time for our session to end. I left Dr. Chee at 1656hrs. Before i left, Dr. Chee asked me for the time, i realised that Siok Chin had done the same thing. And i realised that prisoners did not have a sense of what time it was probably they did not have sight of sunlight and the outside world. I also noticed that they were both glad when they heard that the day was ending. Prisoners do not have an easy time in the prison. Some people go to jail for nefarious crimes. Some people get away. Some people choose to go to jail for pursuing political change. There has always been this thing about political sacrifices. How does one measure the weight of a leader? Imagine several years back i recall in or about 2004 PM Lee Hsien Loong claiming on TV that if he had to take a pay cut he would need to reconsider how much pocket money he would have to give his children. The famous Bargain Hen also claimed that Singaporeans were getting bargain in terms of the quality of ministers they were getting compared to what they were being paid. I recall that his claim was that he could work half as hard and earn five times as much. Recall Dr. Chee Soon Juan and Ms Chee Siok Chin were sued and bankrupted by PAP leaders and the State respectively. They were caught in legal entanglements flowing from their engagements with the PAP and the establishment. There are people who have so much money coming in from taxpayers’ money each month as their pay and they are unwilling to even consider a pay cut. There are also people whom can give up everything their material wealth and possessions to speak up for their fellow brethern. Now Chee Soon Juan and Chee Siok Chin have further crossed that barrier of giving up personal liberty for standing up against the PAP. If you think of whether who is the greater leader who has placed the interests of people at heart above self interest, i think the answer would be clear. If you think of whom has the moral authority to govern Singapore - the answer is also clear. Wednesday 11th June 2008 - Wild Goose Chase 2 Having come down with flu the day before, i was knocked out in bed and I never expected that I was about to go on another goose chase round the island. On Tuesday night, I learnt of a request by Siok Chin to see me. Knowing the urgency of the matter, the first thing in the next morning i made an unscheduled visit to Changi Women’s Prison to attempt to see Siok Chin. I was not aware of Siok Chin’s Inmate number and I merely requested to see her urgently as it was a request that was communicated to me. Rest assured when i mentioned Siok Chin’s name, the officer at the counter smiled in acknowledgment - everyone knew who Chee Siok Chin was. My name and NRIC was reported upwards, after a while the answer was NO. I was asked to put in a formal request an also a letter to explain the urgency. I then proceeded back home to address certain editorial issues relating to an article i was submitting to the SDP website. By the time i reached home, i was fully drenched by the falling rain. I completed my article whilst dripping wet. My clothes dried as the article was completed. After that, I made my way to the office to make the request. At my office, I put in a request to see Dr. Chee as well having guessed that he might need the similar help in relation to his impending appeal. The request to Changi Women’s Prison went out at about 1249hrs. The approval came pretty fast for a 1530 session with Siok Chin. The request to QRP went in a little later. As i could not know whether Queenstown Remand Prison would approve me in time to see Dr. Chee urgently so that there was enough time for me to travel there then back to Changi in time for the other interview i decided to make my way there first. I reached Queenstown Area and hung around there to have my lunch. I found out later that the request was too short notice to be approved. I then asked my seccie to arrange for it to be on the last slot of the next day. I proceeded to Changi Women’s Prison. I managed to get into Changi Women’s Prison. This time everything went like clockwork. Along the way i passed by several gates. I witnessed that it was true that the prison officers in Changi Women’s Prison were indeed all female. They were very polite though. I was tended to by two young but rather high ranking officers: One Ms Ong with a knob on her epaulette and another Ms Lynette Lam who had fully-decorated epaulettes. I managed to get through to the interview room where i was told to wait. Siok Chin was produced in the other cubicle about 15 minutes later. When she first saw me she was a little emotional. However strong she was she teared a little. It was never easy for a lady to be placed in such a situation however strong she was. My heart went out to her. After updating her on the events that have occurred, the press articles in their absence, the night vigils, and the conveyed messages, I got her to sign the Notice of Appeal and assured her that i would get it filed for her. I also told her of the schedule to see Dr. Chee the next day. As i left, the prison officers took a copy of the Notice of Appeal which was signed and they clarified whether or not i was addressing the civil appeal or criminal appeal for Ms Chee. I clarified that i was preparing the form for the criminal appeal. I proceeded straight home after that. I think I was drenched again in the process. My memory is now a little fuzzy - so much happening in such a short time. The removal of Estate Duty - Snippets from inside the Court In the midst of all my activism and lawyering these days, i finally attended on one file where our client had applied to the High Court for Letters of Probate. Now everyone knows that Estate Duty was hastily repealed by the PAP dominated parliament with immediate effect from 15th February 2008 or so. Upon the hasty repeal, lots of conspiracy theories arose. Arguments for and against whether members of the ruling elite would benefit greatly from such repeal formed the speculation over the motivation for the change. Being a practising lawyer and having the benefit of some deeper than layman insight into the workings of Probate and estate duty administration, i feel it is my duty to bring to Singapore’s attention of what i have come to know from today’s hearing. Now we for sure do not know the exact reasons operating in the minds of our 84 Members of Parliament when they decided to do away with the Estate Duty BUT what we do know is that the deed was done very quickly and hastily. In fact it was done so hastily and without any thought or consideration or semblence of leadership as to its ramifications on the current probate practice and administrative procedure that as of now roughly almost 4 months after the repeal there has still been set any interim rules or procedure directing applicants for probate in the manner in which the applications should proceed. In fact, the then prevailing administrative rules relating to procedure in Probate matters were thrown into somewhat a confusion because of the repeal. As i waited for my turn to see the Registrar this afternoon, I spoke with several lawyers outside the Registrar’s Chambers and none of us really knew what were the steps to be taken. If we had indeed from our discussion put together an inking of what to do, it was due to the collective experience, logic of members of the brethern building on the fact of a precedent set by some brother who had blazed the trail in one such matter with what was deemed acceptable by the Court. The Assistant Registrar Teo Guan Siew was most helpful. He gave sensible directions as well as a snippet of a text which one could use for the Schedule of Assets. Then again, it is my understanding that there has been no gazetting of any rules, forms or procedure to-date AND To-date there has been no clarification from Parliament to date as to where do we go from here. In the light of such circumstances, it seems pretty obvious that from Parliament’s extremely hasty move to remove Estate Duty by foisting 84 pairs of scissors on the Gordian Knot, they had left behind a mess of countless loose ends which after almost 4 months have yet to be tied up by a World Class Administration. Let there be no misunderstanding - the fault is not on the Court. Let there be no misunderstanding - the fault is neither on the Inland Revenue Authority of Singapore nor the Commissioner of Estate Duties. Let it be clear - the fault lay in the hasty removal of Estate Duty by the 84 members of Parliament who in so doing did not have the foresight to think / plan / discuss / debate on how to tie up the loose ends following the hasty removal. If we indeed did have a World Class Administration - Why then do such things happen? Food for thought. Gopalan Nair Released from custody This morning’s Court attendance at Court 23 before Magistrate Wong Peck yielded a mixed result. Gopalan Nair was granted bail but the expected charge of sedition did not come. I spoke to DPP Francis Ng prior to the mention. He said there were no fresh charges. DPP Ng questioned the  basis on which we were all talking about the fresh charges. I mentioned that Gopalan Nair told me that he had another Cautioned statement administered to him during his remand. DPP Ng replied that at present there was no indication that there would be fresh charges and he had no instructions. I sat down puzzled. After a few minutes passed, i was still unable to reconcile the same so i approached him again and i asked to confirm that there would be no other charges. I then received the reply that there was a Section 122(6) statement administered to him and that paved the way for the sedition charge but as it is there were no instructions to proceed as yet. When the case was mentioned, DPP Ng asked the Court for a 1 week adjournment so as to allow the prosecution to “finalise the charges”. I then formed the opinion that the sedition charge would eventually come. Gopalan was granted bail but his passport was still retained. I had upon being bail granted, made a premature application for the passport to be released and that was rejected by the Magistrate Wong Peck. Still i am grateful that the bail was offered by the prosecution and the Magistrate granted it. Gopalan being granted bail and the matter adjourned for further mention on 12th June 2008, I proceeded then to handle another matter scheduled for this morning in the family court. When i finally finished and joined Gopalan, Maurice, Jeffery and Gandhi for a drink, i could see that Gopalan was fine and well. However, it has transpired that Gopalan Nair was in fact administered the S.122(6) cautioned statement in respect of the charge of sedition and the possibility would be that….. Well lets take this one step at a time. I have an idea as to how it would proceed and until 12th June 2008 when the fresh charges are tendered, what we would be doing is just speculating. My 3-day wild goose chase ended with Gopalan Nair’s phone call Monday was a crazy day. Having spent the entire day outside office. I returned to office in the evening to find a pile of undone work. Tired as i was i had no choice but to leave for home after completing a pittance of it. Tuesday was just as mad. Having to plough through the undone work in double quick time gave me a splitting headache by the end of the day. The activists were conducting a vigil in the evening. My phone went flat. I had a dinner to attend. I managed to drop by the vigil being conducted at the pavement outside the Police Cantonment Complex. Candles were being lit. I met ST’s Kor Kian Beng and his accompanying photographer. The photographer was incensed he asked if he was breaking any law by taking photographs. I replied that there were none though there were restrictions on photography in certain security restricted areas. It transpired that the police had made their way out of the building and had warned the ST Photographer not to take photographs of the Police Cantonment Complex. Strangely enough, they had chosen to ignore the activists lighting candles outside the police complex but had chosen to home in to the poor ST Photog. For once activists were ignored! The ST Photographer related how he flashed his press card at the police but the police nevertheless proceeded to take down his particulars. I rationalised that the did so because the JI member who took the Yishun MRT video was probably more innocent-looking as compared to our ST reporters. Furthermore, it was quite clear that they feared the terrorist threat more than the normal Singaporean which was why you can see that the Police Cantonment complex was basically like most new government buildings built and guarded like a fortress. Carparks restricted to only their staff. Armed guards at the entry to the car park. Metal detectors and X-ray machines used on all persons entering the building. Driveways which people cannot use. Bollards and barricades and the sort are commonplace. Roads with double zig zag lines which meant people cannot stop their vehicles. It is clear that the Home Team took the terrorist threat very seriously. In fact so seriously that they probably did not want any terrorist anywhere near their complexes - Whitely Road Detention Centre included. I reassured the photographer that no law was being broken and that he had every right to take photographs in a public place. This must be contrasted with what that happened much later. I then proceeded to go ahead with my dinner. What was supposed to be a leisurely dinner and chit chat became somewhat a half-island goose chase. Luckily for dinner the roasted chicken was good. Tasty and Tender. There was also some oily and tasty vegetable - don’t really know what that was called but essentially it was supposedly a famed Hainanese Restaurant. The food was not too bad overall. I was lucky to be sent back to the area after the dinner. After making my way back to the vigil being conducted, i found that the numbers which attended at the vigil had grown. It also seemed that the police had finally matured and had begun to ignore us. We then took out some cards and posed for a shot before we broke for home. This was the trick. Somehow or the other the police began stirring. I noticed that there was a flurry of activity in the police station all of a  sudden. A photographer dressed in a white shirt. Middle aged man. Appeared out of nowhere and hastily took a number of photographs of us - not unobtrusively in the usual police fashion. As if the photographs were needed for some record of some event, perhaps to add to the number in their album which they have kept of activists. We broke off for home at about 11pm plus. I ended up with a shoe soaked with coffee - the details of which are a little too difficult to describe but which Shaffiee would probably know Today was a wild day as well. Some heavy reading up of the law in the morning. Off to High Court to send off Dr. Chee and Siok Chin near noon, thereafter a nice but quick lunch with two political associates and then back to office to complete the research. I managed to shoot a letter to the Central Police Division to request to see Gopalan Nair. The letter was faxed at 1439hrs. My secretary attempted to get hold of Investigating Officer ASP Razak Jakaria in vain. Seeing that i was not likely to get to see Gopalan Nair until 9th June 2008, i prepared to file the notice of appeal against the order for remand. Sometime after 640pm and near 7pm this evening, i received a call from Gopalan Nair. He had called from the police station. He called to inform me that he would be produced in Court tomorrow morning to face a fresh charge. At that point, my heart sank - another charge. And this one is for sedition. I asked if there would be further remand and the reply was there was no such indication. Upon hearing that I then stopped my work. I had finished some research and completed the Notice of Appeal when the phone call came. The preparations for the appeal against remand can be put on hold but only for the time being - at least i could take a breather until 9am tomorrow morning. The time is 2219hrs 4th June 2008. I shall now leave the office for home and prepare to appear for Gopalan Nair tomorrow morning. We hope for all the best for Gopalan Nair. Why Gopalan Nair should not be further remanded Gopalan Nair was a Singapore dissident who took up United States citizenship. Gopalan Nair was an ex-Singaporean who continued to lambast and critique the ruling party and its establishment. Gopalan Nair was a man who could not turn his back and pretend to no longer see but he returned to Singapore to offer moral support for SDP, Dr. Chee Soon Juan and Ms Chee Siok Chin in the PM & MM’s defamation suit’s assessment of damages trial against them. Gopalan Nair was personnally incensed by what he witnessed in Court. He expressed the same on his blog. Gopalan Nair was picked up by officers from the Central Police Division on the night of 31st May 2008, Saturday at about 9pm. Gopalan Nair had been held for 36 hours and questioned during that period. The Prosecution had [presumably found enough evidence] and found it it fit to prefer a charge against him of insulting a public servant under Section 13D(1)(a) of the Miscellaneous Offences (Public Order & Nuisance) Act. Gopalan Nair was prior to my appearance in the action on 2nd June 2008 allegedly reported in the press to have sent the email to the Honourable Attorney-General, the Honourable Solicitor General, and the Honourable Justice Belinda Ang Saw Ean. The Official charge sheet did not state the charge to be sending 3 emails. The charge sheet in my hands stated only an email to Justice Belinda Ang Saw Ean. The Police presumably acted because someone had complained of receiving the allegedly offending email. The Police acted swiftly against Mr. Gopalan Nair on night of 31st May 2008. They had a good 36 hours with him to find out how many emails he had sent. On 2nd June 2008, the prosecution comes to court appearing only after two stand downs to request for a further remand for 7 days ostensibly for further investigation, collection and preservation of evidence. As Defence Counsel, several questions immediately sprung to my mind:- 1. What sort of preservation and collection of evidence had to be done with Mr. Goplan Nair kept in custody? Unless of course Mr. Gopalan Nair’s liberty outside custody would [according to the prosecution] miraculously make the electronic footprint of Mr. Nair’s alleged emails to the victims disappear into thin air. Unless of course Mr. Gopalan Nair’s liberty outside custody would prevent the Singapore Police Force from running a query through the entire Government Network as to who else was allegedly insulted [sorry now according to the press its threatened] by the said Gopalan Nair. Unless of course Mr. Gopalan Nair’s liberty outside custody would prevent the relevant investigation officers from doing their work to frame fresh charges - which basically means typing out the charge sheet, administering the S.122(6) cautioned statement, taking the S.121(5) long statement. One would wonder how the Great Gopalan Nair, however great he was, would be able to do so when the police officers are safely and securely protected the the Great Police Cantonment Complex. One would wonder why is it that a single dissident can cause so much fear within a 1st world administration. 2. What else is there to investigate that required Mr. Gopalan Nair to be kept in custody? Mr. Gopalan Nair’s passport was taken by the police - without a court order. It is classic in Singapore’s instance for the police to overstep their powers to detain the passport of an accused person and thereafter upon the request of the Defence for the passport to be released, the court sanctions the detention of the passport by acceding the impounding of the passport via a request from the prosecution. Alternatively, the prosecution requests for an increase in the bail amount as a condition to releasing the passport which the Court will usually sanction. In this case, I did not ask for Mr. Gopalan Nair’s passport to be released. 3. Was there anything preventing the Court or the police from mandating his reporting attendance and cooperation at the police station for assistance in investigations? No. In view of the above, i made the following submission following half an hour in the Legal Resource Library of the Subordinate Courts. The prosecution relies on Section 198 Criminal Procedure Code to make the application to further remand the Accused. Section 198 of the Criminal Procedure Code reads as follows:- (1) if from the absence of a witness or any other reasonable cause it becomes necesary or advisable to do so the court may, by order, postpone the commencement of or adjourn any inquiry or trial on such terms as it thinks fit for such time as it considers reasonable and may, if the accused is not on bail, by a warrant remand the accused in such custody as the Court thinks fit. The Explanation provided at the end of the provision stated as follows: “If sufficient evidence has been obtained to raise a suspicion that the accused may have committed an offence and it appears likely that further evidence may be obtained my a remand this is a reasonable cause for remand.” The Section 198 is found in Chapter XXII of the Criminal Procedure Code. A chapter that was titled ”General Provisions as to inquiries and trials”. It was clear that the provisions in that Chapter pertained only to inquiries and trials. In fact, the very mention of “… from absence of witnesses and any other reasonable cause … ” supports that view. The Explanation at the end of Section 198 states “if sufficient evidence has been obtained to raise a suspicion that the accused may have committed an offence and ….. “  The explanation for reasonable cause requires evidence to be taken. The question is - when was evidence ever taken in the proceedings before the court today? There is in fact no evidence before the court and no evidence taken by the Court in respect of the proceedings today. Furthermore the question of evidence obtained cannot be referring to evidence obtained by the prosecution or the police during investigations because section 198 which the prosecution refers is not found in the Chapters that relates to police rights and and powers of investigation or even the question of commencement of proceedings in the Magistrate’s Courts which is the case here. Instead the section is found in the Chapter that relates to General Provisions relating to inquiries and trials. Proceedings in Subordinate Courts are often referred to Summary Trials. As opposed to proceedings in the High Court which would have preliminary inquiries held. The fact of absence of the preliminary inquiry (where evidence and statements are obtained) in the Subrdinate Courts proceedings is what which qualifies them as summary trials. The “inquiries and trials” stated in Section 198, the “trials” should referred to the trial proper where evidence is taken and witnesses are called both in proceedings in the High Court and the Subordinate Courts. There is no evidence taken and today is not a situation where witnesses are mandated to attend. The proceedings today are neither an inquiry or a trial. The Prosecution DPP Francis Ng referred to Section 180, Section 186 CPC to support his stand that Section 198 applied to the situation at hand. My reply was that Section 180 sets out the procedure and sequence of events to be conducted in a trial and does not at all relate to administrative hearings like the commencement of proceedings. Even though the charges are read out to the accused today, if the accused claims trial, the charges will be read out to him again and the plea taken at the trial proper. Therefore Section 180 merely sets out the sequence of things to take place in a trial. The Prosecution further submitted that the wording of Section 198 was drafted suffciently wide to allow for sufficient flexibility in interpretation. The Prosecution submitted that the police had little time to conduct investigation and they needed to further remand the Accused for the purposes of preservation and collection of evidence. It was submitted that the Investigating officer was present in court and was ready able and willing to offer formal evidence in to comply with Section 198. The Court asked whether or not the defence would want to take formal evidence and hear Investigating Officer submit on the evidence obtained and the need to remand the Accused. In reply, on the aspect of freedom and liberty of the individual and the denial thereof, it is not right to allow for flexible interpretation of the law to deny the right of freedom of an individual. The Accused should be released on bail and there is nothing stopping an order being made that the accused attend at the relevant police station for assisting in investigations even when he is released on bail. In reply, I replied that it there was neither need nor reason to hear the investigating officer as it was my position that the Court in the situation does not have the power to order the remand of the Accused under this section. The Court then proceeded to ascertain from the Prosecution that the Investigating Officer was able to testify as to the evidence obtained and the need to further remand the Accused for further investigation. The Court then proceeded to ascertain from the prosecution that further remand was needed in order to collect and preserve evidence relating to the current charge and possible new charges. The Court then proceeded to find suffcient reason to raise suspicion and grants order for remand for 1 week to conduct further investigations. The Order for remand for next seven 7 days being given. Next mention fixed for 9th June 2008 Court 23 at 9am. The Accused, Mr. Gopalan Nair, was arrested on charge of insulting a public servant. He was arrested and his passport has been retained by the police. Gopalan Nair’s 1st Court Mention I appeared in Court 23 this morning at 855am to defend Gopalan Nair. Having learnt of his plight and arrest by the Singapore Police Force on 31st May 2008 for insulting Justice Belinda Ang Saw Ean on Sunday morning 1st June 2008 , i decided to appear in Court to defend him. I went to see that justice was being done. I was given more than what i could expect, more than what could meet my eye in the usual case. More than what i wanted to see. The Court mention was fixed for 9am sharp. I saw Mr. Gopalan Nair in the dock, he waved to me. I spoke to him and he told me of how he was arrested. I reassured him that i would do my best for him. I met Ms Julie Kavanagh Counsul from the Consular Office United States Embassy. She was there to ensure that Mr. Gopalan Nair was given a fair trial. I explained in brief to her what to expect from the proceedings and Mr. Nair’s concerns which i found out moments earlier. Police Prosecutor Wee Kim Chock was tasked to handle the case. Upon obtaining a copy of the Charge from him, i found out that the case would be stood down to 1030am because the Investigating Officer  was conversing with the Attorney-General’s Chambers. My My. What a serious case this was. Section 13D(1)(a) carried a maximum punishment of S$5,000/- fine or to imprisonment for up to 1 year. Yet it was found under the Miscellaneous Offences (Public Order & Nuisance) Act. The Accused had been arrested on saturday night close to 9pm and kept in custody for the last 36 hours or so and at least one statement was taken in investigation, at least one cautioned statement was administered. At least also one charge was successfully drafted and readied for Court. Many a time, prosecutional operations ran by the book. Glitches are sometimes seen. Many a time such glitches were more of papers not being ready and that the accused and his counsel were waiting in Court but yet the papers and the charges have yet to arrive. Today however i learnt a new thing, that the prosecution needed its Investigating Officer to converse with the Attorney-General’s Chambers and seek more time for the prosecution to decide how to proceeded with the Accused. The Court mentions started roughly at 915 in Court 23. After a while the turn came to me, i mentioned Gopalan’s case. The Prosecutor requested for a stand down for the reason stated. The matter was then stood down to 1030am. I went for breakfast with Seelan, Kaixiong and JG. In the midst of breakfast we sent Kaixiong running after Dr. Chee to pass a book which i had borrowed from him back to him. At 1030am i was back in Court. The Police Investigating Officer had yet to return from his long chat at the AGC, the matter was then requested for stand down to 230pm. I acceded again. I however managed to get the prosecution to offer and the Court to agree to bail at S$5,000 in one surety. As we left the Court it was on my mind who would be willing to pledge property for the S$5,000/- bail. I made a quick dash to the High Court where Dr. Chee Soon Juan and Ms Chee Siok Chin were being cited for contempt of Justice Belinda Ang Saw Ean. There i met Mr. JB Jeyaretnam who was arguing for Dr. Chee. Mr Ng Teck Siong was there as well. As i made my way up to level 4 of the Supreme Court, i received a call from my office that Court 23 Subordinate Courts wanted to mention Gopalan’s case in 15 minutes and they had called to ask if i was able to make it there. I found that to be extremely untimely and ridiculous, having just set foot in the High Court for less than 5 minutes am i supposed to rush back to Subordinate Courts with such a short notice. I asked my secretary to inform that i could only be back at 230pm and so i went to witness the contempt proceedings against Dr. Chee Soon Juan. As expected, Dr. Chee was found guilty of contempt and sentenced to 12 days jail. Siok Chin was given 10 days. I then decided to make my way back to the Subordinate Courts. I reached the Subordinate Courts early, i went for a milo at the Bar Room and thereafter proceeded to People’s Park for some food. I found none to my liking. I had decided to turn back and make my way back to the Courts when i heard someone call out my name. I looked up. It was Uncle Yap. Uncle Yap sat through lunch with me watching me devour curry chicken with rice. Not something to die for but certainly beats the stuff in the prison for this i am sure.  I bought Uncle Yap a drink. We enjoyed the lunch together and i was sure that it was not because of the food. We then made our way back to Court. I ran into Mr Maurice Neo in Court, Maurice and Uncle Yap showed me two versions of the Today Newspaper. One carried an article of a Man insulting a public servant. One carred an article of a man threatening a judge. Talk about doublespeak and attempts to sway public opinion over here. I smiled to myself. Gopalan is making waves after all. At 230pm in Court 23, DPP Francis Ng appears and the first thing he says to me is that they were making an application for further remand of Gopalan Nair for an additional 7 days. I told him that i would object to it. When the Court sat at 230pm, the DPP made the application for a further remand for 7 days. I objected to it. The Magistrate Ms Miranda Yeo asked me to submit on the relevant Section 198 of the Criminal Procedure Code, i apologised for not being prepared to address the Court on the same at such short notice having known of the application to further remand the Accused only less than 10 minutes earlier. The Court then stood down the matter to 4pm for me to conduct some research and return to address the Court at 4pm. As i was explaining the situation to Gopalan’s supporters outside the Court, i was informed by the Police officer that Gopalan wanted to speak to me. I then went back into court. As the Court was in session, i sought permission from the Magistrate before i spoke to Gopalan. The Magistrate directed the female police prosecutor to contact the DPP to ask if there were any objections. After some time the case was rementioned and the word was that the DPP had no objections. I crouched on the side as i spoke to Gopalan. Gopalan rattled off a list of concerns. I tried to note down every single one of them, upon that being done and re-assuring him i left to Level 7 of the Subordinate Courts to do my legal research. I am back at approximately half an hour later. I found the United States Embassy Consul Ms Julie Kavanagh waiting and i explained what i was doing for Gopalan to her. In Court at 4pm, i stated my objections in law to the application by the Prosecution to further remand Gopalan Nair. My reasons were that Section 198 of the Criminal Procedure Code should not apply to this situation. The long and short of the argument was that Section 198 was found in Chapter XXII of the Criminal Procedure Code. Chapter XXII pertained to general provisions as to inquiries and trials. This was not a trial situation here and that there was no reasonable cause for an order for a further remand. The Detailed arguments will be set out in a separate post tomorrow morning. DPP Francis Ng mde some rebuttals and I made a reply. My arguments made little headway with the Magistrate. The Order for further remand was given. This was in stark contrast to the bail offered and granted in the morning only hours earlier. We ended the session probably close to 435pm. A simple 1st mention for Gopalan Nair scheduled for 9am ended at 435pm. I spent my entire day outside office. For the 1st time in more than 9 years as a lawyer, i saw a criminal case being handled in this manner. Perhaps the case concerned Mr. Gopalan Nair. Perhaps the case centred on Gopalan Nair’s support for Chee Soon Juan and Chee Siok Chin. Perhaps it was because Gopalan had the audacity to insult / threaten a High Court Judge. Perhaps it was because of Gopalan’s open challenges to the Minister Mentor in his blog. Perhaps… Perhaps….. Perhaps, it was defence counsel Chia Ti Lik appearing amidst all these. Was there more than meets the eye? You be the judge. Pedra Branca - Prostitutes Bared [Warning Explicit Content] [Please do not proceed to read further if you are less than 16 years of age - please seek parental consent] I know many people are going to hate me for writing this. But oh what the heck! Pedra Branca - Prostitutes Bared Again this morning i woke up at 5am. After completing my morning calls and a much needed bath, I opened the gate and collected the freshly delivered newspaper. I read with amusement how the local press tries to play up the PAP administration’s little pyrrhic victory over the Malaysian’s attempt to claim sovereignty over Pedra Branca and its islets, sorry rocks. In calling it a pyrrhic victory, that is not to say that i even recognise it as a victory worth mentioning or celebrating. It is at best a marginal win. Having lost two smaller rocks out the entire pile, one wonders whether the ICJ at the Hague did consciously try to reach a mutually acceptable judgment for the pathetic miniscule dispute. I even wonder whether the judges on the panel were smirking and giggling to themselves behind closed doors as to the sanity of having not just one government but two governments pursuing resolution of ownership of a pile of rocks to this level in this manner. This would of course be very much different if the benefits intended to be gleaned from the exercise are largely aimed at something very much intangible -public perception. I would not mince my words - the exercise is plainly for public perception. The PAP and the Malaysian BN both need very badly to prove to its people that they will fight to defend their countries.  [I half choked on my coffee as i typed this] Both administrations use the notion of Nation, Sovereignty  and the Defence thereof, for their own political ends through the implementation of National Service and the resulting effects of indoctrination. To further distract the people from the real issues facing a nation, a facist government will create the fear of an external enemy, the illusion of a seige, the danger of being surrounded and the need to stay alert and united in the face of the apparent challenge and threat. [However in a real siege scenario, true leaders get dirty and muddied and bruised side by side with their defenders. They eat from the same rations pot and do not Lord over the people with high handed authority and whilst enjoying the richness and high rewards more suitable to an age of prosperity for all.] To me, this is what the Pedra Branca issue is all about. It is an entire stage of play acting used as political distraction and ammunition for national political agendas to distract each country’s populace. Come on boys and girls. Do you even honestly believe that that pile of rocks is so valuable, so coveted, treasured and important that you need to go to the International Court of Justice at the Hague to sort out its ownership? In response to the above question, some people will run the line of argument that the sovereignty of a nation has to be defended and that every inch of territory guarded jealously and every national asset treated as treasure. And that to denounce the exercise as a distraction is a low blow and that in severe denial, there is no need to distract the people from anything. The Question would thus be directed at me: Now what then are both governments essentially trying to distract their peoples from? Due to the fact that I am by birth, by descent and by choice and by conviction a Singapore citizen, i will therefore limit my views and critical pen solely to the need to keep our government in check. Our Malaysian counterparts have an able PKR and its allies which have done good work and made good progress. I believe that if they so wish they will be able to make mincemeat out of the BN for this exercise. In Singapore, the PAP administration on one hand presents the picture and image of determined, legally and morally justified sovereignty defenders who had bravely pitched tent and dug in into the legal trenches, fixed bayonets onto their rifles in stoic defence of the sovereignty of several pieces of rock that forms a miniscule part of motherland Singapore - so that she would not be compromised, she would not be insulted and she would not be violated. This however contrasts starkly what the PAP has been overtly trying to do to Singapore on a large scale. The PAP has been importing thousands of foreigners into singapore and making them new citizens. Obviously, we have reasons to believe that these new citizens will naturally grateful to the PAP. For they have obviously left their country for better lives in Singapore, being given citizenship on a silver platter without having to bleed a single drop of blood, shed a single drop of tear, sweat a single drop of prespiration, waste a single day in National Service, these aliens will naturally feel that the administration which has offered such a good deal must be the correct administration to lead the country. It is no secret that a number of them are being actively inducted into the grassroots, absorbed into the civil service and the PAP itself. These steps will have their intended effect on the next polls. This, however, is only the tip of the iceberg. There are hundreds of thousands of foreign labour, foreign tale