PAPa Dun Kick [the Bucket] yet, I am in trouble you see…. Let us just summarise the events of the recent days. We have the following happening: 1. The shameless announcement of reduction of electricity tariffs, this has come after the previous shameless increase in electricity tariffs in the backdrop of falling oil prices, when in the first place our stations are gas fired. 2. The bringing forward of the budget. I spoke to several associates and found out that i have overlooked the recent bringing forward of the budget. This is most unusual. Some friends think that this signals the intention to bundle out the goodies to our materialistic population and then ask for mandate to face the shit that is to come in Singapore’s path. 3. Rubbish statements from Lee Hsien Loong - for example like the 2 party system can never work in Singapore. We are better off with a one dominant party. All these point to pre-election jitters from the PAP. These are signs of a cowardly ruling party leveraging again on public resources and tall tales to fool the population. Well, I don’t know how many of them will start crying on nomination day but that is not the point. Basically, Lee Hsien Loong isn’t confident of the worm ridden ship that he is now helming. He needs to drag old father off his dying bed to ask for the comfort of having him negotiate that impending shallows nearing from the distance. Though the Old Sea Dog being the experienced mariner will pull the worm ridden ship through this time round, I am sure that the wheels of motion have been set in place - The prevalence of self-centredness and lack of public service spirit that permeates through the administration will set itself for its eventual doom. The essence of calling for snap elections would be to secure power and mandate to ride through the uncertainty [for themselves] and not so much of having the mandate of the people to give out goodies. Has anybody ever wondered why they never consult us when they choose to increase the cost of living but they claim to need your vote before they can return a pittance of your money back to you? Our brothers and sisters have yet to awaken. A number of people i spoke to have yet to see the flaws created. Some persist to perpetuate them either by reason of their work or by simply by choice. If the failings of this administration is not clear enough yet, we would have to continue to persevere and wait to watch the dominoes fall. There are too many failings within this administration. It does not matter if the PAP were to hold on for one more term. It merely means that it was the Singaporeans who have not woken up set up the country for a harder fall. Everyone in the administration who helps to keep the PAP in power and perpetuate the myths of the PAP and the misgivings within its system are also responsible for pushing the nation into dangerous waters. It is with this backdrop of pessimism that i would make the prediction that in the next snap election to be called, with a heavily tweaked electoral system, the results would be the same. No new seats will be won by the opposition. This does not mean that the PAP will get more confident and better because of the win. In fact it will be worse, they can continue to fatten themselves on their huge salaries and continue their abomination of Singapore’s system. This is good. This is the natural progression of things. There is no avoiding it. For change to come, change must come from Singaporeans themselves. Singaporeans can continue to think that the PAP is the only party who can run Singapore. Singaporeans will pay dearly for their continued returning of the PAP to power. The PAP will not just run singapore, it will RUIN Singapore. The PAP will persist in its policies of being the PESTS AND PARASITES that it is so effective at sucking the blood of the Singaporean people. This will set the stage for real change to come. The bullshit will pile up. The cock ups will continue and the Singaporeans will continue to bleed either through taxes or through even more badly made investment decisions by Temasek and GIC. This will be so such that when the shit hits the fan, even the staunchest PAP supporter will have to decide that this administration has to go. This time round, the PAP will again make very grand promises to help the people. This will come in several hundred or thousands of dollars of benefits to each potential elector. Subsequent thereafter, there will be another string of price increases to bleed Singaporeans to cough out what they were given multifold. This will be a repeat of the 2001/2006 General Elections. Alot of fanfare but no real progress. Until Singaporeans [including our opposition] realise the shit dished out to us is only a FRACTION of that which has been covered up throughout all these years and that the people’s power can only come in assembling in thousands to kick the asses of the PAP, no real change will come. Mark my words.        Strong Leaders = Strong Reserves??? ha ha :) This morning i stumbled out of bed to another joke awaiting me, this time on page 2 of the main section in Straits Times. ST’s Chua Lee Hong again was up to her ball-carrying antics of trying to shore up a falling administration. Her logic is to compare Singapore with places like Burma and pat ourselves firmly on the back for having strong leaders. Her article makes the assumptions that we are in a strong position with strong reserves, and interestingly she avoids mentioning the recent investments we had made with whatever is left of the same. There is a chinese saying that “Even a gold mountain can be spent away” is so true for Singapore so long as one chooses to just look at the amount of dollars we squandered over the past few years. It is the recent trend of speech of the administration to clutch at straws to justify their continued presence in government. I.e. We need strong leaders, we need an A-team, only the best will do, need to build next generation leadership, and now strong leaders = strong reserves. As the saying goes, the truly confident will not need to beg. All such talk reek of desperation and of having to beg the electorate to give you another chance. As if there is going to be an impending big cock up soon The little movements of Chua Lee Hong will betray the deepest fears of the PAP administration. Furthermore, it does not bode well for the human spirit and psyche to beg on one hand and yet boast on  the other. This will painfully split the psyche, orientation and logic of the brain and further impede the ability to solve problems of the day. Strong leaders usually stay silent. Never boast but perform through action. Weak leaders boast. Often the breast beating kind. Especially the kind that calls on memories of past long forgotten glories. Weak and useless leaders are not capable of boasting, so they pay others to boast. If there has been breast beating boast of having strong reserves, the opposite is usually true. As we will never know the true strength of our leaders and our reserves until they are tested, let us not get too cocky. Keep on harping that your leaders and reserves are strong will prompt God will spit in your face to test them for real. P. S. I would not try to guess how much reserves we have left, I would rather let the figures spill out on their own so to facilitate the timely awakening of Singaporeans to the useless administration that has been having us on for decades.        Ti Lik’s Doomsday Predictions I, Chia Ti Lik, hereby have the following to say:- That I having engaged in acts of Civil Disobedience against the administration of Singapore, have invited upon myself the ridicule of critics (ruling party and opposition alike) and the disdain of the mainstream obedient population, plus the unenviable situation of being charged for the acts of defiance by the State and organs of the State, and to have the distasteful suspense of my mobile phone and digital camera being detained while they depreciate, it has now dawned upon me the urgency of another mission. This mission is a higher calling. One of speaking of the ills of the system openly, loudly, and urgently whilst the sword of Damocles hangs over me to cut my head off at the opportune moment. I now find myself impelled to warn all other Singaporeans of the Swords hanging over their heads. Quite a long time ago, I made a declaration that i intended to write on my doomsday predictions for Singapore. From that point until now this article has remained half written given the tight schedule that i had. I forced myself to complete it this sunday afternoon. My mum will always condemn me for wanting to be the know-it-all soothsayer, I wish to state that i wrote this for a certain audience - for those who appreciate and understand. You do not have to agree with me but let us just read this posting and sleep on it. What is wrong with Singapore? Such a question should weigh in the minds of all Singaporeans these days especially when we take note of the fact that:- A long time ago i declared that i would write on my Doomsday Predictions for Singapore. Several months back Tony Tan remarked that Singapore could be in for a prolonged recession Singapore is now in for a recession with job cuts everywhere. Singapore’s economy is deeply flawed, we have a deeply flawed government and flawed institutions of the State, we have our reserves invested in a lack of accountable manner, our people have been hopelessly materialistic and we are now caught in this financial thunderstorm. It is only a matter of time before everything starts crumbling down. Falling like a stack of cards. I would inform everyone that i have started to liquidate my assets, surrender my insurance policies to pay off debt and keep cash at hand. When the rot really strikes home, i probably would be holding my savings in gold and dealing in gold. That’s how little faith i have in our PAP administration. Before critics berate me for being pessimistic or attempting to rumour monger. Lets just get it clear that this is just my personal opinion. [Which i happen to be putting my money where my mouth is] I am only too happy to be proven wrong in time to come. Furthermore, in order to help everyone with the little bit of wisdom which i have on frugality and austerity measures, i have committed to contribute a series of articles to Singapore Democratic Party’s Website which will reach out to a far wider audience than my blog. These articles will chronicle my exploits into riding out this financial storm. Therefore, to know what i am doing with my money, keep a close watch on www.yoursdp.org in the days to come.        TBT Trial - the 7th day and then we rested :) After seven days of trial intermittently spread over 2 weeks, we finally got to the stage where we had to have the 2nd tranche of trial dates fixed. ST’s Report by Jeremy Au Yong certainly tries to portray the entire event in the worst light at every opportunity. On the two occasions that ST attended at the trial to report on it, their report acts to skew to show the accuseds in a negative light. This must be contrasted with the fact that the ST consciously tries to play up Hong Lim Park as a demonstration Corner with correspondingly good press for certain groups. ST must realise why it suffers from the need of falling readership as well as the need to raise its prices. This is because more and more people are becoming aware of the skewed reporting. This reporting harms the reported but like every equal and opposite reaction, the credibility of the paper drops further into the depths. It is quite amazing no one ever questioned why the PAP Government would relent to give Hong Lim Park as a free demonstration zone, it is simply because they cannot afford to have demonstrations all over the place. And they are hoping that the demonstrations could be pigeonholed at the insignificant spot in the city. It is also apt to note that Hong Lim Park was given as a demonstration zone after Singapore saw its biggest dissident demonstration amounting up to 30 persons or so at Parliament House on 15th March 2008, though the PAP would hate to admit it - it would be apt that this demonstration won for Singaporeans this corner at Hong Lim Park. Demonstrations count most when they strike at the seat of power - Exactly at Parliament House, the Supreme Court, The Istana, at Police Stations even This will be where true activists will descend upon when the time is right for the PAP and its cronies to be beaten back into retreat. On the subject of retreats, the TBT trial went into retreat after the 2nd day, with the amount of arguments on the type of questions to be argued recorded and the shameless persistence of the Prosecution in covering up for the failings of the Singapore Police Force, i have decided that i have no choice but to write an analytical article on the Prosecutor’s office i.e. the Attorney General’s Chambers’  relations with the Singapore Police Force as well as other organs of the State. This article is certainly going to rile some in time to come but as all things critical it only hurts because its true. Right now there is just so much to write, many ideas and articles will come soon, that’s only if i have the time The trial has been adjourned till the 26th February 2009 till 12th March 2009, as it is i am also involved in several contempt of court matters from the way it is going , there is certainly no letting up.        TBT Trial - 5th and 6th days 30th and 31st October 2008 was the 5th and 6th day of the trial. On 30th October 2008 we appeared before the Court. I was not ready to address the Court on its request for clarification on the way it phrased the constitutional issue. Interestingly, the counsel representing Suraya, Jaslyn and Francis addressed the court on the constitutional point. The essence of their submission is that they agree with the prosecution with the exception of one small point - that the questions may not reveal evidence to avail a defence but the right remains on the Defence to show mala fides or bad faith in the manner of denying the permit. Surprised as i was of the move to address the Court on the constitutionality of the statute, I had to think very quickly on what it meant. If i had adopted the position of my learned friends, i would have been conceding on the point of constitutionality of the MOA, the constitutionality of the actions of the prosecution and also the relevance of unequal treatment by the prosecution to a case and Article 12. I came to the quick conclusion that i can never concede that Article 12 was not violated and that the constitutionality of the Miscellaneous Offences Act is suspect even though i have not made my application to void the proceedings on violation of the Constitution as yet. Given the very fact that defence counsel of some of the accused supported the prosecution’s interpretation of the law on the constitutionality of the Act in question, does that leave effectively me as the only lawyer willing to challenge the prosecution on the consitutionality of its actions? It would be a sad thing for Singapore if this was true. I reiterated to the Court that i needed time to address the issues properly. The Judge did not grant any additional time. I guess this would have to be taken up accordingly in time to come. In any event, at that stage where Article 12 violation was the issue, the Judge did not frame the question to address the violation of Article 12 instead the question was framed as “in construing the constitutionality of the Act in question, whether the actions of the persons implementing the Act thereunder were relevant.” Suffice to say, the issue would have been phrased differently if i were the judge but sadly i am not. The cross-examination continued after that. At approximately 3pm after lunch on the 6th day. SDP ASG John Tan requested for additional time to address the bundles of documents served on him outside the Courthouse when we broke for lunch at 1pm. John Tan made a comment about there being no honour in an unfair fight, DPP Issac Tan then asked John if he was suggesting that the AG-C or himself was dishonourable. I butted in to object to the intimidation of John Tan. I did not mince my words. To me, the twisting of words to found deeper and more severe meanings to intimidate laypersons is unacceptable in a Court and legal system that values justice. The Judge chose to grant John and Shafi’ie the additional time, the additional time was roughly 3 additional hours because by that time, it was already past 3pm on Friday 31st October 2008.        TBT Trial 3rd & 4th day - The question of Equality - Article 12 Singapore Constitution We started with the 2nd prosecution witness, the purported licensing officer Yeo Kok Leong, OC of the Compliance Management Unit of the Central Police Division. Mr. Thirumurgan of Thiru & Co. drew first blood on the witness. The witness’s testimony in my opinion was torn to shreds. More details on this later. The other counsels had no questions for the licensing officer. However when it came to Dr. Chee questioning the witness which started at 1203hrs. It was only Dr. Chee’s 3rd question which drew the Prosecutor’s objection. DPP Issac Tan tried to explain in court today that he had not objected to Dr. Chee’s questioning, he claimed that he had only rose to ask the relevance of the questions. I rose to support the line of questioning. My reasons were: Any allegation of unfair discrimination in executive acts ought to be examined as they were relevant because such acts will reveal a violation of Article 12 of the Constitution. Only the judiciary and the Courts have the power to scrutinise and strike down any executive or legislative act that violates the Constitution.The Court is therefore has the function and duty of upholding the Constitution from violation. It being duty of the Court to ensure that there is no violation of the Constitution which includes Article 12, any allegation of breach of article 12 makes the line of questioning relevant. What happened thereafter was a series of arguments and replies and stand downs which stopped the cross-examination of the witness. The matter was stood down for lunch at approximately 1245pm. We resumed at 257pm and stood down again at 305pm. We resumed at 1652hrs and continued a series of submissions and replies all the way till 617pm. DJ Chia Wee Kiat said that he needed to consider before ruling on the submissions. On the 4th day of the trial, that is this morning, we started at 958am. The court requested the DPP to clarify one point. The DPP asked for 1/2 hour as the matter was stood down at 1010am. At 1058am the police officer told me that the Court would resume at 1130am as the DPP needed more time. The DPP turned up only at 1220pm and he produced a 3 page written submission. He expected us to be able to address it. Dr. Chee asked for time to seek lawyers advice on the same. DJ Chia Wee Kiat rejected Dr. Chee’s request and remarked that the lawyer in the group should be equipped to deal with this issue. I then rose to note that DPP had asked for 1/2 hour but ended up taking 2hrs 10 minutes. I had no choice but to ask for more time to address the point. The Court then rose for the day at approximately 1245pm. It must be noted that the 1/2 day was supposed to be for the Kangaroo trio to attend High Court hearing anyway. I would still be hard pressed for time to address this point. But that does not stop me from trying because if the 17 Accused are prevented from questioning the reasons for the licensing officer’s refusal to grant the permit, some of the accused will face prejudice in that the court would be in effect knowingly turning a blind eye to and shutting the door on allegations of unequal treatment and acts of discrimination by the police to which the accused would have no recourse at all. The Prosecution repeatedly raises the excuse that judicial review of the executive’s acts should be carried out by the High Court. The Prosecution does so knowing fully well that the time for judicial review has passed and the High Court would not review acts of the executive which have passed their date for review. I had in the closing of yesterday’s evening’s submissions that there are details in the Courtroom and in the evidence that all of us must take note. That on the crests of the collarpins of the police officers. The Letter-head of police letters adduced by the Prosecution and the Singapore State Coat of Arms sited above where the Judge sat were reflections of parts of our national flag - the crescent moon and five stars. That within our national flag, one of the stars represented equality which article 12 of our constitution was intended to protect. The question of relevance - Is the question of equality relevant? I am sure it does since it is so important that it appears on our National flag, State Coat of Arms and Police Crest and even our Pledge. As to how our Legal Eagles deem this question as irrelevant - only God knows.        Tak Boleh Tahan trial - The first 2 days The first 2 days of trial of the Tak Boleh Tahan protesters have been eventful. I was surprised in the morning of the 1st day that E-Jay had chosen to plead guilty and accept the Prosecution’s offer to take into consideration the procession charge if he pleaded guilty to the assembly charge. As a result, the hearing which had started proper at about 9am plus had to be stood down to 11am and subsequently 330pm. This was because E-Jay’s plea had to be taken before another District Judge and the prosecution had to get their Statement of Facts ready for it to be done. By the time E-Jay’s matter was finished, our matter could only proceed on at about 330pm. The reading of all the charges to the 18 accused took almost 2 hours till it was about 5pm. The prosecution applied for a joint trial of the remaining 17 protestors and Yap Keng Ho. All of the accused objected to a joinder of trial with Yap Keng Ho. The Prosecution, however, was adamant to the Court that the joinder was sought and was a must. The Court granted the application for a joint trial despite objections from all of the accused. SDP’s Assistant Treasurer Mr. Jeffery George wanted to ask for an adjournment due to his job commitments which required him to be away from Singapore to carry out his contracted tasks. And if that failed, for a disjoinder from trial with the rest of us. And if that failed, he had no way out but to plead guilty. As it turned out, there was no way out. Jeffery George had to drop out of the fight. He pleaded guilty to District Judge Liew Thiam Leng in court 2 at about 745pm. When his matter ended it was way past 8pm and by the time he was out of Court, it was close to 9pm. We went for dinner and a beer after that. Jeff was apologetic. Our 2nd lovable Jeff made sure we were all well fed. By the time i reached home, it was near midnight. i flopped onto the bed and slept. That was the last thing i knew. Jeffery George is a man of courage. It was unfortunate that he had to give up the fight. He is still nevertheless a brother to me. The 2nd day came to me in the form of a chirping bird outside my window. I looked at the clock and knew that i was late. It was 7.15am. I did manage to get to Court on time, i even managed to squeeze in a breakfast before that. To my surprise, Yap was late on the 2nd day. We did not start until it was past 10am. As Dr. Chee addressed the Court on a constitutional point, I was left feeling guilty about not having been able to contribute meaningfully to that submission as yet. There was just so many things to do. However, what was so interesting about the 2nd day was yet to come. Firstly, we finally got to see the Police video recording of the event which will be tendered against us. I had complained to District Judge Chia Wee Kiat that I had requested during the PTCs for a copy of the recording so as to obviate having the need to waste time over such videos at the actual trial. The DPP at the PTC refused to address the issue but instead asked me to write in. I did so on 8th September 2008 making a formal request for the recording. This was ignored. I received a call on the night of 20th October 2008 from the Investigating Officer Yew Ai Choo that the video was available for viewing on the next day at Police Cantonment Complex. As i was already too tied up with preparations and they were not even promising to give a copy as yet, i decided to forgo the viewing and take up the matter with the trial judge. In any event, the DPP Issac Tan finally provided the video copies as at Noon 24th October 2008. I managed to arrange a viewing on the Court equipment in the same afternoon at 200pm. The Prosecution also increased the number of their witnesses to 27. This meant a total of 27 + 18 = 45 people to be cross-examined. Each witness to be potentially cross-examined 19 times. Thereafter the trial started. The evidence of Prosecution’s witnesses started with that of SSG Nor Hida, Police Staff Sergeant and Photographer. The interesting thing about the cross-examination of SSG Nor Hida was that this police officer after 8 years and 9 months of service:- 1. was NOT SURE whether or not parliament house area where she was instructed to take photos of the scene of the offence, accompanied by the Investigating Officer, WAS GAZETTED. 2. despite being trained in photography for about 8 years, she did not know much about the camera she used. She only knew it had a zoom lens but was UNAWARE of the focal length of the lens. It was also interesting to note how some of our seemingly relevant and pertinent questions were stopped dead in their tracks (but fortunately after the above had been ferreted from the witness) by the DPP’s objections and the Judge’s concurrence BUT how much leeway was given to Yap Keng Ho in his cross-examination of the Police photographer which delves into the possiblity of whether the photographs of the scene had been doctored. Now it must be noted that the photographs taken by SSG Nor Hida at the Instruction of Inspector Yew Ai Choo WERE NOT contemporaneous photographs of the scene of the offence. The photographs were taken on 18th July 2008 i.e. 4 months after the alleged offence and 1 week after the charges were mentioned in court. Yap’s questioning, according to my understanding as stated in my earlier post of Recurring Themes, tended to go overboard with innocuous details. I had also noted in past observations where trials involved Yap and Dr. Chee was that the Prosecution and the Courts tended to be extremely tolerant of Yap’s questioning. Jufrie objected to Yap’s line of questioning. Kaixiong objected as well. John Tan went to the extent of writing a note to the DPP asking whether the DPP could object. The note never reached the intended recipient as Counsel for Jaslyn and Surayah Mr. Thirumurugan stopped the note gesturing that this cannot be done. I sat on my seat and observed for many minutes our 2 Deputy Public Prosecutors and their Assistant Public Prosecutor and obviously enjoying Yap’s enterprise in taking the witness and the Court on a round about tour of photographic texture and intricacies. Quite a circus in itself. I waited for a while further and lost my patience. I stood up and and objected to Yap’s questioning. The reporter from our Straits Times Mr. Jeremy Au Yong caught only 1/2 of my statement. It was reported that i interrupted Yap’s questioning by stating “Your Honour, i do not see the relevance of the line of questioning taken by Uncle Yap, and I am wondering why the DPP has not objected.” I also said immediately thereafter. “This is what happens when the prosecution seeks a joinder of trial of all 18 remaining accused and this is what happens when we are joined in a trial with Yap.” The DPP responded that the joinder was proper and that the questions were relevant. Whereupon the Judge also remarked that the questions put forth by Yap were relevant. I held my peace and returned to my seat. From the corner of my eye, Dr. Chee had already taken off his spectacles and was no longer following the questioning. Yap then carried on with the questioning until there was a break. To my surprise, Yap stopped the line of questioning after the break. I was told by someone thereafter that Ms CSC had fired Yap during the short interval AND Yap returned to Court and willingly abandoned that line of questioning. Much to the relief of the remaining 16 accused. The events of the day left me with some conclusions as well as some questions in mind. Though many observing the proceedings (at least one reporter did share that he felt the same way) may wonder whether the prosecution is in love with Uncle Yap’s cross-examination technique and whether Yap is also very much keen to appear before the courts and the prosecution to entertain them, BUT few people will doubt the effectiveness of the approach by Ms CSC. Ms CSC had, by firing Yap during the break, managed to break a holding pattern which has plagued criminal prosecutions involving Dr. Chee Soon Juan from the days of yore. For the first time, i heard, Yap had abandoned a line of questioning much to the relief of his co-accused. There have been many sayings about certain people, and who they listen to. In this case, it certainly seems to be true.        Recurring things / themes - Baby Mama, Cyborg She, TBT Getting back from London is the first step. After having nearly missed my flight back home because i arrived at London Heathrow late and the Sri Lankan Counter had closed, i had to literally beg for help and then make the fastest 300m dash i have ever made in my life. Stopping only at the security check to get my stuff x-rayed, shoes and belt removed and body searched, i then dashed another 150m back homeward bound. The 2nd step was to stop my racing heart from getting an attack As i settled down on the window seat saying goodbye to the noonday sun of London as well as the suburbs diminishing beneath me. i managed to finally catch the final stretch of an Indian Bollywood movie [i failed to get the name] which had this charismatic do-gooder, who had a penchant of repeatedly flipping a 1 rupee coin about and finally into his shirt pocket, which i could not complete viewing on my London Bound flight. On both occasions long haul between Colombo and London, Sri Lanka used the Airbus A340. On both occasions either my sound system on my seat did not work or the screen did not work. I had to either use the sound from the next seat or screen from the next seat. As such I failed to catch in full the movie being screened in the inflight entertainment menu. One other movie which caught my eye was called Baby Mama starring Amy Poehler and Tina Fey. I had to see it in parts a total of maybe 6 times. Tina Fey was amazingly pretty. I had thought to myself how come i have never noticed her before? And guess what. Back in Singapore, just into the week, I saw something being screened on tv sunday night again by Amy Poehler and Tina Fey [and its not Baby Mama]. I thought - maybe it was just a coincidence. Until this morning. I logged onto my wordpress blog today. And then again there was a blog post on wordpress about Amy Poehler doing a Sarah Palin rap and Tina Fey doing a Sarah Palin. I watched the clip. hmm not too bad. Either this Amy Poehler and Tina Fey pair are really the thing in vogue today or its just some uncanny recurrence in things to come. Talking about recurrence, I also caught the Japanese movie Cyborg She on my flight back from London to Colombo. Cyborg She was a sci-fi time travel story. It was touted as the female Japanese version of the Terminator. I was drawn to it cos i wanted to see some body count. I expected splattered limbs and severed heads and lots of it. I almost could picture a sweet looking japanese girl wielding a samurai sword and indiscriminately cutting every innocent passerby’s head off. I found none of that. I was sorely disappointed. At first. The story started out as a story about some guy who met a cute gal. The cute gal was crying and telling the guy not to open his eyes so that he would not see her leave. The girl then admitted that she came from the future where she then went back. The heartbroken boy was then left wondering when he would see her again. And Interestingly, a female cyborg appeared in the likeness of the girl. The cyborg claimed that she was created by the boy in the future. The boy had originally been paralysed in a terrorist shooting and was paralysed for life. He then spent his entire life creating a cyborg to travel back in time so that he could could prevent the shooting. The cyborg did manage to protect the boy and prevent the shooting. This female cyborg was so devoted to the boy and obedient to him that it became a torture. Now imagine a hot blooded man being with a female likeness of a cyborg with real flesh and the cyborg resembled someone he loved. The cyborg would do anything including risking her life for him. anything … but short of FXXXing him. Oh shit… how was he going to live like that? Of course he got angry and ordered the cyborg to leave and never see him again. So she did. What the Cyborg did was to stay in the shadows and protect him. And protect him she did again in the great Tokyo earthquake and then she left. Now what i could not understand was that, the Cyborg went back to the creator, the creator then passed away. The Cyborg was auctioned off and the buyer was a pretty girl who found it strange that an early model cyborg had been fashioned in her splitting likeness - save for the fact that the Cyborg had short hair. The Cyborg had all her feelings and experiences stored and so the girl could feel and experience the cyborg’s memories of the man who created her and his youth. And so this girl went back to look for the guy right before this guy met the Cyborg. They spent time together and got to know each other. But time came for her to leave and return back to the future. This resulted in the scene where the girl had to leave back into the future and as she had fallen for him. She was crying as she left. This then left me hanging nowhere with many questions. Then what? But is it not because of the girl whom the boy met that led to him creating a likeness of that girl? Then that would mean that the girl had travelled back in time to meet him right? But the girl would not have travelled back in time if not for the intriguing experiences of the cyborg which she was able to access right? But the cyborg would not have been created if the boy had not met the girl? right? And so? which came first? The chicken or the egg? The time travelled girl or the cyborg? And then comes an interesting revelation of mish mesh of parallel dimensions [not necessarily logical] which have to coexist in different space so as to allow such a story to even develop in one of the dimensions. We come now to what 18 protestors plus 1 citizen reporter will face in court on Thursday 23rd Oct 2008. 19 accused, 5 defence counsel, maybe 3 DPPs, 1 Judge, I don’t know how many policemen. But one thing’s for sure, a trial so big is definitely going to take a lot of time. For each witness will have to be technically cross-examined 19 times. The prosecution tendered 24 witnesses. Total number of people placed on the stand is 24 + 19 = 43. Total number of cross examinations for each witness is 19 times. Judging from the time taken for our citizen reporter Yap Keng Ho to cross examine police witnesses before DJ Thian Yee Sze. God help us. 19 x 43 tells us the number of chances of getting a repeated question. AND WORSE if the examination is not smooth. I expect my mind to be inundated with parallels of having to revisit the same scene in the past over and over again. A few seconds later. Then a few seconds before …. then later …. then before. I do hope i will be able to keep my senses and stop myself from bursting out laughing in the middle of a trial of which i am an Accused. For all these will seem very amusing to me in the light of my recent experiences with recurring things and movie marathons onboard my 4 Sri Lankan Airlines flights. I just pray that when the going gets long, my mind does not wander to the legs of Tina Fey, how to reconcile the contradictions of Cyborg She, or much worse, how i will upon the conclusion of this trial plan for more instances of this campaign called TBT.        Tribute to London - New perspectives on my last night here Without realizing it, I have come to my last night of stay in London. Old London, I would correctly say. The buildings were old. The trains were old. The train stations were old. The Queen was old. Everything was old. In fact, it made me feel old during my stay here over the last 6 days. [Now it is also clear that my favourite English product Naim is also old. The company approaches 40 years of history and bearing in mind that some of its models are basically unchanged over the last 20 to 25 years. The equipment and its models can certain suffice to be old England, though their design and philosophy would exhibit incredible foresight and clarity. Testament to well thought out and implemented ideas some 25 years back] My last day today is worth blogging about. I would of course follow up on the journal entries I made very scrappily as I made my way to London last week and turn them into a proper blog post but that will have to wait. In as much as I had gotten to a slow start, I must say that Monday and Tuesday was close to sedentary. Wednesday and Thursday were hectic and Friday which is today was somewhat nostalgic. I was so tired on Wednesday and Thursday night that I slept very early, woke up in the middle of the night and ended up watching BBC Channel 4 before lapsing back to sleep. On my 2nd last day here, I surprised myself. That is, last night and this morning and afternoon. I had initially arrived in London all alone. Without a kin or a friend beside me. Needless to say, I was scared. It was basically my first time alone out of Singapore in my entire almost 35 years. As I would have thought, I would have felt safer being alone in some wilderness even if I was lost somewhere in Singapore. My first brush with the cold night time London air came as the overground tube service opened its doors along the stations of the Jubilee Line. One thing I noticed, the place was old. A certain level of decrepitness and dilapidation. Graffiti lined certain sections of the brick walls of some parts of the tunnels in between stations. However, despite the oldness would be supplanted with the colour of posters and posters of various plays being staged in the cultural and drama centre of London as the stations drew closer to the heart of London. For those who are not familiar with London, London is in all ways a METROPOLIS. This basically means a huge huge huge humongous city. I had a shock of my life when I first saw the map of London’s underground train system. The horrendous number of stations and lines. Imagine Singapore has only 3 lines, with 2 circle lines coming up into service soon. This is a poor imitation of what London has in an underground rail system. Furthermore, this rail system is connected to its National and International rail lines at strategic tube stations. I had thought to myself “What a bloody mess of stations!” What Maurice had told me about the complex and messy rail system did not prepare me for what I saw. To give a summary, London’s tube service had as many as 12 different lines. There are also variations between within each line. Each line does not just have two ends in a straight line. Most of the lines have branches at both ends. Some have as many as 3 branches at each end. Some have branches and loops. Furthermore, some trains would terminate at some stations before their terminal station and then reverse their direction according to the tube control’s arrangement of its services. There were sometimes as many as four lines which stop at a particular platform of a station. And each station typically has from 2 to maybe 6 or more platforms. As such, being on top and aware of where you are headed and then work backwards towards which line you are supposed to be catching, 1st 2nd and 3rd and of the line you were catching, the correct direction you should be heading and where is the next station you are supposed to jump off the train. Those were my first responses in my mind upon entering a tube station which took me from London Heathrow to Paddington, just a little more then 6 full days ago last week. I have been gradually converted. This is also partly due to the fact that most of my travelling was addressed by just usage of 3 lines, namely the Yellow Circle Line [now we know where Singapore copied its MRT Stations' names from], Green District Line and Pink Hammersmith and City Line. This allowed me to relax abit whilst on the trains, be able to observe my surroundings a little more deeply. This was a system that was incredibly well modernised and adapted over time. Furthermore, there was deep and thorough thought put into how the train lines were supposed to be run, how they would be co-ordinated, how they could be made compatible. I began to realise that the trains were colour coded. Their handrails reflected the colour of their line. As such, I had begun to grow comfortable seeing the familiar yellow and green handrails. I also begun to notice the clear and distinct voice of a female announcer recorded announcements of instructions for each stop of the trains on the line. The directions given were concise clear and simple and delivered with impeccable diction. I was on the train this morning and I had jumped onto one train by recognising the colour of its hand rails. Thinking that it was a Circle Line train which would take me straight to my destination, I got myself lost in my own thoughts and reflections. The train had stopped at a station. It was designated that that station was where the train would terminate and reverse direction. I did not catch that announcement. Therefore after the train stayed at Edgeware Road Station and eventually reversed direction I let myself slip back into my thoughts. Besides the familiar voice will jolt me when my destination approached. That familiar voice did jolt me. I realised that I was on the wrong line and in the wrong direction and that the train had just left the last station where I could have changed to the correct line. For the 1st time in 6 days I had taken the tube incorrectly and was heading further and further away from my intended destination. In that situation, I however did not experience any discomfort or state of panic. For a certain level of comfort and familiarity had set in. I was still guided by the familiar voice. I knew from the announcements that I was on the wrong line and in the wrong direction, I would therefore have to first stop and take a train in the opposite direction and then change at a suitable station for the correct line. I would just have to follow the signs and her voice. I was late for 30 minutes for my first meeting eventually. I came across another situation for deeper understanding of the London Tube yesterday evening. There was a technical fault in one direction of the Circle Line. Train services in one direction had to be stopped. This led to some passengers having to take it in the remaining direction to traverse the entire length in the reverse direction to get to their destination. The result was obvious, I experienced the most crowded situation the London Tube could be in the 6 days I was here. This was where I saw what sets the London Tube’s service a cut above that from Singapore’s. The announcements came in clear and concise with instructions on how to move to another part of the station to use alternative routes should the trains be too crowded. It had to be. Given how many people it had to move. The staff were also ready with advice on the alternative routes to get to the destination of your choice i.e. jumping onto the train of another line and then jumping off to take another line which would bring you to your destination. It had to be. For such a complex system to move so many people over so many places at such efficiency and such affordable price, it is clear that the London Tube has clearly outperformed Singapore’s MRT and NEL on all counts. In arriving at this conclusion, I must admit that I did overlook the following which I have explained accordingly to be evened out by the appropriate reason. The stations are old – of course they are, this system is build decades ago or even longer and their continued use is only testament to their good planning and fiscal prudence. The trains are worn and well used – of course they are. The train services are so frequent even during peak and non-peak hours that impresses me. The tube was designed to be utilitarian and effective transport system and not a fancy one. Now some food for thought. London is a megapolis. It has 7 million people. Singapore is many times smaller than London. Yet the BLOODY PAP shamelessly packs 4.6 million of us in this city state. Throughout my stay in London I travelled on the Tube on peak and non-peak hours. Today I travelled on the tube at peak hour back to my hotel. One line was down but the corresponding response in the number of trains made available for covering the loss of one line in one direction ensured that the crush was not even as bad as that for Singapore’s MRT ON A NORMAL DAY. The highly paid executives running Singapore’s transport companies and the highly paid officers at the Land Transport Authority and ought to each cover their faces with brown paper bags and hang their heads in shame for taking high salaries yet are unable to achieve what the team at Transport for London – in particular the London Tube has achieved. Now I understand the nagging feeling I have each time I am on public transport in Singapore – I feel short changed somehow. In short, London, for its oldness and its soot and also the high prices for a Singaporean drawing Singapore salary to live in, has managed to endear itself to me through its tube. And so in my last 24 hours, I realized that I have begun to see London a lot differently from how I felt when I first set foot on it. The night before I caught the documentary on BBC Channel 4 on The Miracle of Carriage 346, stories of survival from the London Train Bombings. I heard the stories of miracle, determination and strength of the human spirit coming from the survivors. I saw that the rescue work that did take place at the Kings Cross St. Pancras and Aldgate Stations both of which are familiar to me. I saw the familiar sight of thousands of cosmopolitan people [whom I have shared the space within the London Tube] who were forced onto the streets by the disrupted services. I also saw the same trains that I had been traversing in to and fro throughout London. I saw the graphic computer representation of the position of the deadly suicide bomb blast of a train in the tunnel in a deep and remote portion of the Piccadilly Line [the Piccadilly line was below all of the other lines and that depth and seclusion made rescue difficult] [The Piccadilly Line is etched in my memory as it was the first tube line I set foot in - I had to take the Piccadilly Line (cheapest transport) from London Heathrow Airport to London Paddington station]. I am not embarrassed to say that whilst I was in alone in that dingy little hotel room watching the antiquated 14 inch TV broadcasting the story and those images, I felt two streams of tears roll non-stop down my cheeks. I realized as the week passed, the dingy little “4-star” hotel room which I retire to after each tiring day has started to endear itself to me. The sooty train stations were becoming a little quaint and cute. Sharing the peak hour rush with thousands of cosmopolitan strangers in became bearable. The initially long trek from Paddington station to my hotel more and more enjoyable. The female voice announcing boarding and alighting instructions, which comes on at each and every station of the Circle and District and Hammersmith and City Line, in clear perfect Queen’s English become increasing alluring. I will be heading towards Heathrow Airport in about 4 plus hours. This time with a little reluctance. In as much as I do miss home and the compatriots back in Singapore, this city has managed to tug at my heartstrings within a short time. London is a vibrant city. One that in the hustle and bustle of life would still manage to touch you with its spirit. I will, in a certain way, miss her.        All about London I could not get to sleep, its 3am London time, so i woke up to update my Blog. After the first 1.5 days of running around London, it is about time i paid tribute to this City. There are so many migrants here, just about anywhere i see people travelling with their luggage, Either arrivals or leaving the place for elsewhere. Even on the street i must have been quite fitting into the London scene as i had several people ask me for directions. I am proud to say that i was able to help. aving grasped a bit of how their rail system worked, I was able to help fellow travellers in need. That is how London is - truly full of colour and full of people from all over the world. Everything is in pounds. Everything looks old. Its cold here. The buildings look as if they would need a real good touching up. Yet there is a nice old quaint feel about everything. I saw a large number of luxury cars in my hotel area. With many other old cars, fancy motorbikes and old taxis plying the streets, i wondered who would spend tens of thousands of pounds to buy fancy cars? I then found out that vehicles are not that expensive in London. I finally got to see the London Bus. I found that their public buses were new. The weather is not unlike Portland, Oregon. And certainly the experiences of having been to those areas helped me in getting use to finding my way in London. I went out on a walk on my first night and found a “Raffle’s Cafe” in the area. They had GBP2.99 breakfast, eggs beans bacon sausage and toast which is served all day. I guess i will try that later in the week. The familiar burger king has some interesting names in its menu - Meat Beast Whopper Meal at GBP5.39 and +30p to go large and + 50p to go super. Double Meat Beast Whopper starts at GBP6.09 and so on. Another restaurant called the Shakers served some very unique “hot salt beef” its melts / meals go for GBP 4.20 and GBP5 respectively and their all day breakfast is available for GBP4. There is also an Aberdeen Steak house which serves meals from GBP20 onwards. One station was named Great Portland Street Station. I also found the Kings Cross Station at St. Pancras. For each and every confusing line which is being run. I have to admit that their train boarding and alighting announcements are so comprehensive and clear and well managed and recorded. I found a Portland Food and Wine shop at London Street W2 / Norfolk Square. It was there where i bought a 5L water for GBP2.49. The Pringles potato chips were at GBP1.99. I spoke to the cashier and found out that he came from Sri Lanka. Life to him is tough in London. The average migrant worker makes about GBP5.60 per hour which tranlates to roughly GBP1200 to GBP1300 per month. Internet connection is made available at Reload Internet opposite Hilton London Paddington. The rates are GBP9.99 for 7days and GBP6.99 for 5 hours. Unlike Singapore where everything is familiar. Countries overseas have a transport system that is far more complex. This might be so for London as it is an old city and everything was built up on what was existing so the conections could seem a little messy and haphazard. This was however the testament to their unwillingness to make unnecessary public expenditure. The old train stations are still in use. Save that they are now plied by new trains. They have criss-crossing district lines and a circle line - now i know where Singapore copied this Circle Line name from. these lines are then connected to the national line and International lines (which i think should be the English French Railway run underneath the channel). i also found a casino in my area, shall i go in to try my luck?        Safe and Sound - Reporting back from London The Instructions from Donald were clear and accurate. I did however had to ask for some confirmatory directions from the people in London. I am amazed at the number of Asians, Sri Lankans, Indians in London. It is truly cosmopolitan. After i think was a 25 station journey from Heathrow to Paddington Station which included changing line at one point, i managed to reach the station nearest to my hotel - Paddington Station. The hotel was a good 600m or so from the station. My luggage was a combined 30kg. Strapped on my shoulders and neck, at one stage the thought crept into my head that i will never do this again. Add to the walking from within the airport and in search of the train lines and within London’s gloriously old train stations, I believed i today exceeded 3km on foot with 30kg. Right off the plane, i was already I am beginning to feel thankful i did not manage to bring water for the journey. For the ambitious me would have attempted to bring a good amount of water to enable my shoestring stay in London to be done at record low cost. I failed to bring the 2nd piece of luggage from home as i was worried that they would not allow liquids to be brought in. I found out later that the restrictions applied only to hand luggage. At London Heathrow Airport, when I saw that 500ml mineral water was going for £1.30 in the airport, i knew i was screwed. Faith told me to keep on going. To find that hotel that is found in some corner of this gigantic city called London. The weight of 30kg really cut into my shoulders. At times when i asked for help with directions maybe the strain showed on my face. Maybe i was even slouching from the weight. The station official at described the directions to me and told me to walk all the way down the road. ‘it’s quite far’ he said. When i thanked him and moved to leave, i heard him say ‘God bless and take care of you’. I did not think much of it then but guessed i really must have looked a little pathetic. I found out the final 600m trek was not a joke. after bearing with an 18 hour flight journey on which i did not manage to sleep well, only really started dozing off at the end, having the alighting of passengers delayed due to security personnel having required to address and incident on the plane earlier. After clearing the UK Border Customs and scrambling to get the relevant directions and tickets for the train station, keeping senses alert and ready in a foreign land, the sight of Paddington station was supposed to be journey about to end. It turned out to be the toughest trek i ever had in my life. Thinking back, now comfortably seated in the hotel lobby, warmed with the internal heating and hot bath. I had just finished a 1 hour exploration of the neighbourhood at 0050 - 0150 London Time. I managed to find a convenience store and bought a 5litre humongous bottle of water for £2.49, brilliant rite? Freed from my 30kg luggage, I leisurely took this 5kg bottle back probably 700m back to the hotel. Looks like things will not be as bad as they originally seemed. The time is 0205hrs now London time. It should be 9am singapore time. I am getting a little tired. I guess i will retire to my room to figure out how to activate the local prepaid card i just bought. Starhub did not activate the roaming as instructed. sigh. Thats why i am fiddling with this local prepaid SIM card. At least, breakfast will be served soon at 7am today morning, thats less than 5 hours from now.        Tribute to Joshua Benjamin Jeyaretnam Mr. JBJ an icon in Singapore opposition politics passed away this morning. If i could, i would fly the Singapore flag at half mast for the entire week. Mr. JBJ’s contributions to Singapore will be remembered for eons to come. At least some old coot thinking that he has outlived his opponent has just received another reminder that his turn will come soon.        Revelations from Queenstown Remand Prison I braved the rain to go to Queenstown Remand Prison this morning. What i experienced on the road of the cold torrential rain and wet road surfaces did not prepare me for the warm and over-enthusiastic reception i got at Queenstown Remand Prison. I was late by an hour. Several days earlier when the prison booking was made by my secretary, a strange phenomena occurred. Officers from the prisons booking system were querying the purpose of the visit. My seccie had replied that it was to sign a notice of appeal. The query then came back as in which appeal. Now Gopalan had two sets of convictions, one for insulting public servant and for disorderly behaviour and the other for insulting Justice Belinda Ang. I was on record for the appeal against the conviction for disorderly behaviour. The Grounds of Decision from DJ James Leong were not out yet and therefore the only possibility was an interview for the purposes for an appeal against the conviction for insulting Justice Belinda Ang. As all prison bookings were done by my secretary, I directed my secretary to answer accordingly. I was already wondering to myself why should Prison Authorities be concerned as to whether or not a lawyer is visiting an inmate for purposes of which appeal. This was certainly not something within the Job scope of the Singapore Prison Service. i had a shock when i completed my visit to Gopalan Nair. The prison officer told me, as usual, that a copy of the document signed would have to be taken. I offered to give a copy there and then. I had 8 originals. I was asked to wait for another officer who would see me i the locker room. As i was walking up the stairs, I almost heard the officer asking if the appeal would be filed. I made my way back to the locker room to get my belongings and get ready to leave, the female officer that came with a record book was SGT Nicolle Lim. SGT Nicolle Lim had a book for me even to sign on it. I obliged. I gave her a copy of the signed Notice of Appeal. She then asked if the notice of appeal was for the disorderly case or for the present case. Now Gopalan was in jail for the present case convicted by Justice Kan Ting Chiu for insulting Justice Belinda Ang. I answered that it was for the present case whose sentence he was now serving. She then took issue with the fact that my seccie had told the prisons department that the visit was in regard of the disorderly case appeal. [Now was this even supposed to be a concern of the prisons department?] I told her that me secretary must have made a mistake. The notice of appeal for the other case had been filed so the notice had to be for this case. She then asked if we were going to file the appeal. I gave a non-committal answer having regard to certain concerns Gopalan made known to me in the interview room. I then asked why should the Prisons Department be getting involved in this. She said that they had to know whether we were filing it. I told her that there was no reason for them to get involved. She then gave the excuse that they needed to know just in case there was any duress or pressure exerted in the signing of the notice. [Now this was strange and certainly something which i am hearing for the first time again - How are they going to ascertain whether or not there is duress or pressure when they did not even bother to get an officer to witness the interview i had with Gopalan?] I told her that if anything there will have to be following the instructions of Gopalan Nair and on what basis is the prisons department getting itself involved in all this. Ms Nicolle Lim let slip that she had to answer to her superior. I then asked who was her superior. She refused to tell. She then backed down saying that there had been a miscommunication. I then told her that there was no reason or basis for the Prisons Department to be getting itself involved with all this and i turned to leave. On my way back there was a phone call to my mobile. When i reached office, i found out that SGT Nicolle Lim had called my office as well. I returned the call. It transpired that they were still asking if i was going to file the appeal. I gave a non-committal answer and Nicolle explained that they were concerned that the Notice of Appeal given to them was an original and not a copy and were wondering if it was the original whether it was then beholden on the prison authorities to file it. I explained once again that i prepared 8 originals. SGT Nicolle Lim then passed the call to her superior a Mr. Guoh Tjin Soon. With Mr Guoh, i got a pair of even weirder questions. 1. When will it be clear that i would file the appeal? my answer was that i would get a friend to verify with Gopalan if needed. 2. If Gopalan is dropping the appeal, how would we be doing it? my answer was, i would then do nothing - that would dispose of the appeal. I now recall, when i visited Chee Siok Chin in Changi Women’s Prison as well. The same prying questions were made. No attempt then was made to assist her to file her notice of appeal. No attempt then was also made to assist Dr. Chee to contact counsel to visit when he had repeatedly asked them for assistance to do so. This led to the late filing of the Petition of Appeal which leave of court had to be obtained. I must say i was very touched but bewildered by the change in stance reflected by the current concern of the Prisons Department as to whether or not an inmate intends to proceed with an appeal. I do hope that such concern would be accordingly extended to inmates who are imprisoned in non-political cases in time to come.        Ravi Released Finally In the midst of running back and forth from Sub court to High Court to office. I received two phone calls from Dr. Chee Soon Juan and Ms Chee Siok Chin to get myself acting for Ravi at his mention in the Subordinate Courts yesterday afternoon. I had to tear myself from the files that needed my attention to attend at Court 26. There i saw John Tan, Siok Chin, Dr. Chee, Choon Hiong, Rizal, Uncle Yap and others. Ravi was in the dock with a nice clean haircut. The matter had been stood down to 3pm from the morning mention. DPPs did not turn up by 320pm so the court stood down the matter further till 330pm. I got myself re-appointed as co-counsel at 330pm when the case was rementioned. The prosecution produced a set of written submissions. We had to seek for extra copies from the DPPs as Ravi was leading his own arguments and we were playing supporting roles and as Ravi was kept in the dock, we could not make do with just one copy. The matter was stood down again for some time to sort out the fresh submissions. Arguments were made by the DPPs Mark Tay and Lim Tse Haw, the defence replied in the following manner Ravi, Violet and myself took turns to respond. The prosecution’s reply came from DPP Mark Tay. At the end of it all, the Court ordered that Ravi be released on bail of S$10,000 and for him to return on 15th December 2008 with his private doctor’s report on his state of mind and readiness to take the plea. I scrambled out of Court 26 at the end of it all. Rushing to attend to a little hiccup at the bail centre where Ravi’s sisters were trying to bail Ravi. The matter was resolved. I bade farewell to Choon Hiong and Rizal who stayed back to receive Ravi at the front door of the Courthouse. Rushing back to office, its back to working time. Revelations from Bukit Merah West NPC The morning of 9th September 2008, i visited Bukit Merah West Neighbourhood Police Centre. I had accompanied Jaslyn to have her statement taken for investigation into having allegedly participated in an illegal assembly in Toa Payoh on national day, 9th August 2008. The police officer tasked to interview Jaslyn and take down her statement was inspector Tan Sin Choon from Tanglin Police Division. A gutsy lady, Jaslyn turned up in her Tak Boleh Tahan T-shirt. None of the police officers present who were visibly surprised by the move even raised any form of protest - pun intended. The Investigating Officer recognised me and so requested to take my statement as well. I agreed to have my statement taken after hers. incidentally they had been trying to serve on me a letter but they had not been able to do so. Always up to some mischief, Jaslyn came out of the interview amused. As she always is. When it came to be my turn, i found out from the questions posed by the IO that the Police are now conducting investigations into SDP-related activities on some rather dubious grounds. i tried to find out whether it was the AG-C or the SPF which was doing this dirty work on behalf of the ruling party but the only answer i got was that the Head of Investigation had instructed Inspector Tan to do so. Why were the grounds dubious? because towards the end of the interview i was asked a question as to whether i knew that the Miscellaneous Offences Act prohibited the participation in an assembly or procession without a permit to promote a cause or a campaign. When i heard the above, I literally protested to Inspector Tan. Short of whipping out another banner or placard to protest against the arbitrary expansion of a parliamentary statute, i did all i had with my wits in the position of a suspect in an offence being placed under police investigation in a police interview room. I answered Inspector Tan that there was nothing in the Miscellaneous Offences Act which states so. My statement did proudly record my answer as so which i later found out. When i came out of the room, i found out from Jaslyn that she was directed to some website that supposedly says that trying to promote a cause or campaign is one of the prohibited activities. I have since been trying to locate that webpage but to no avail. Now if what i heard was true, which probably is. I now know that the Parliamentary statute of the Miscellaneous Offences Act have been arbitrarily expanded by the Singapore Police Force or the AG-C. I entered law school in 1994 and graduated in 1998. I qualified as a lawyer in 1999. Now after 9 years of practice, i discovered something new and something earthshaking - its not everyday in practice that that we discover something like this. This relevation was something out of the ordinary, it was something which i had never expected. Perhaps it was correct that whilst in law school, i had never been an exceptionally bright student. Many a time legal concepts did escape me for awhile before i finally grasped them. But throughout my training, i thought i had gotten it right all along. That it was Parliament which made statute law and that no one else had the right, mandate or power to do so. This morning i was confronted with a prospect that the Singapore Police Force and Attorney-General’s Chambers had the power to expand on a parliamentary statute. There was no way the Honourable Attorney-General Walter Woon (if he actually knew what was going on and what is being done) could be wrong. For he was my lecturer when i was just a lowly student. Maybe the authorities are right. I could have missed out something despite all those years of practising law and poring over authorities in law school. I might be dumb. God help me. The Pincer Movement on Chee Siok Chin THE EFFECTIVENESS OF THE PINCER MOVEMENT EXECUTED ON CHEE SIOK CHIN A write up on the events relating to the Originating Summons (“OS”) for review of the Official Assignee’s decision to disallow Ms Chee Siok Chin (“CSC”) from leaving Singapore for Stanford University. The application was filed by CSC in person on 4th August 2008. She had requested for and obtained an urgent hearing date on 11th August 2008 for her. I was instructed argue on her behalf on an urgent basis and I appeared before the Honourable Justice Tan Lee Meng on a short notice on 11th August 2008. At that hearing, the AG-C alleged that there had been improper service of the documents on their office and they registered objection to the lack of clarity of CSC’s OS. Notwithstanding the alleged improper service, the AG-C came ready with a submission, and 4 affidavits to address the position taken by the Applicant. In the affidavits, the Attorney-General’s officers claimed as follows, namely that:-   a.                   they were improperly served. AG-C received only the 1st page of CSC’s  affidavit without any cover letter; and   b.                  The AG-C encountered difficulty of serving the said affidavits on CSC.   In the affidavits, the Official Assignee’s officers claimed as follows, namely that:-   a.                   CSC had been uncooperative towards their office in the management of her financial affairs; and   b.                  The Official Assignee’s office email delivery system had prevented them from receiving the emails.   Faced with the objections and having had sight of the 4 affidavits for the first time only at the hearing, I asked for time to rectify the OS as well as to respond to the affidavits filed by the AG-C.   The Honourable Justice Tan Lee Meng made the following directions:-   a.                   1 week to CSC to make amendments and file all necessary further documents;   b.                  1 further week for AG-C to respond; and   c.                   the hearing to take place on week thereafter on 1st September 2008. The hearing on 11th August 2008, even if heard and ruled in favour of CSC was already impossible for CSC to make it meaningfully to the fellowship of democrats at Stanford University which would have ended on 16th August 2008. CSC was supposed to have been at the fellowship on 29th July 2008 till 16th August 2008. The adjournment, however, was not the cause of a delayed review application because CSC had requested the Official Assignee for permission from to travel from as early as 28th April 2008. In addition to that, she had sent reminders sent to the Official Assignee on 3 occasions: 2nd May 2008, 8th May 2008 and 13th May 2008. To these email communications, the Official Assignee’s office claimed on affidavit that the government internet filter prevented them from receiving the emails from CSC because of the attachments she annexed to the email. Subsequent to the adjournment, I got down working with CSC on her Reply Affidavit as well as the amendments to the OS and other documents. An unsuccessful attempt was made to file the Amended OS on 18th August but the Electronic Filing system refused to accept the documents. When CSC affirmed her reply affidavit on Thursday 21st August 2008, a 2nd attempt was made to file the Amended OS and the Reply affidavit. I attempted to inform the AG-C on 21st August 2008 of the delay. The facsimile failed to transmit and was re-faxed in the morning of 22nd August 2008. On 22nd August 2008 the AG-C wrote complaining of:- Not having any specified the problems we encountered; Not having been served the amended OS and reply affidavit; Objecting to any adjournment; and Objecting to any late filing of CSC’s papers. I replied on 22nd August 2008 clarifying a number of points, namely that:- The adjournment granted on 11th August 2008 was inconsequential given the delay given by the Official Assignee’s office in replying in the first place; The problem encountered in filing the amended OS; The suggestion of adjournment was offered to avoid prejudicing any party; The late filing would never in any circumstance be allowed to prejudice the AG-C; And I effected service of the documents on the AG-C via fax without the confirmation that Supreme Court Registry has accepted the same; and Informing that by 25th August 2008 we would seek to refix the other matters in the subordinate Courts should AG-C still object to the said suggested adjournment. On 25th August 2008, the AG-C replied:- Taking issue with the fact that CSC’s reply affidavit was sworn on 21st August as opposed to be filed on 18th August 2008; Taking issue that the documents do not seem to have been accepted by the court for filing in EFS as at 1045hrs 25th August 2008; Reserving the right to make a proper response only if the documents are properly filed and served; and Objecting to any adjournment of the hearing on 1st September 2008. On 1122hrs Monday 25th August 2008, the Supreme Court Registry rejected the Amended OS and CSC’s reply affidavit for Electronic filing. The rejection was received on 1205hrs on Monday 25th August 2008. The reason for rejection given – late filing. On 28th August 2008, there as a further letter from AG-C: Reiterating previous points; Citing that as at 10am 28th August 2008, I had still not re-filed and re-served the documents nor written to explain the same; and Insisting that the only documents which CSC will rely on would only be the documents filed previously. I responded to AG-C via a letter dated 28th august 2008 Informing (incorrectly) that the documents were rejected on Friday 22nd August 2008 (when it was actually Monday 25th August 2008); Explaining no separate formal application for leave for reasons of costs and feasibility; Given the reason of rejection furnished by the Registry in the circumstances, no further attempt at filing was made; and There is no reason for AG-C to deny the Applicant any adjournment or leave to re-file and insist on CSC relying only on those documents filed previously. The AG-C’s letter dated 28th August 2008 (received on 29th August 2008):- Asserting that it was by our course of conduct that the court does not have CSC’s further documents; Reiterating that the hearing on 1st September would proceed on the basis of the documents filed in court; and Copying our letter and the current letter to the Registrar Supreme Court. I replied to the AG-C on 29th August 2008:- Objecting to the persistent assertions that it was our conduct that led to the Court not having CSC’s proposed documents to justify a stand denying her the right to place her further documents before Justice Tan Lee Meng; Citing their right to a rejoinder response in any event; The greater importance is for the issue of the actions of the Official Assignee’s office to be reviewed by the Court; AG-C has to act impartially when exercising a public function; and Requesting AG-C to place all correspondences before Registrar Supreme Court and Justice Tan. The response from AG-C via letter dated 29th August 2008:- Reiterates previous points; Explaining why chambers make no proper response as the documents have not been properly filed; Stubbornly insists on proceeding with application on 1st September 2008 on the basis of documents filed and accepted by the Court Registry; and Refusing to copy complete correspondence to the Attorney General’s office. CSC is a bankrupt and given the difficulties encountered to file the relevant papers, there was a limit to what she or her counsel could do. The rejection by the Supreme Court Registry of the documents for Electronic Filing was received only in the afternoon of 25th August 2008. By that time, it would have been too late for CSC to prepare and file a separate application for leave of court for an extension of time to file the same as such an application would in all probability yielded a hearing date before after 1st September 2008. Furthermore, there were cost considerations in terms of additional disbursements when the Applicant is clearly a bankrupt. CSC was ready and willing to proceed with the application for review but the crux of her case and the proper process requires her papers to be filed to be accepted by the Supreme Court Registry and in the circumstances, leave of the Court was required. The AG-C was aware of the difficulties encountered by CSC but was intent on keeping her at a disadvantage even though as at 22nd August 2008, the AG-C had been served with a copy each of the papers. CSC’s position is therefore known to the AG-C since that date but those positions are not open to CSC for her to canvass the same in Honourable Court so long as her affidavits was not accepted by the Supreme Court Registry. It must be noted that in any event, the Honourable Court had given AG-C leave to file and serve their rejoinder response which will allow the AG-C to have the last word on this application. The AG-C would have been in no way prejudiced by any adjournment. Notwithstanding the above, AG-C successfully objected to the CSC being given leave to file her papers and CSC had to proceed with the hearing based on what she had successfully filed in Court when what CSC had on court record was insufficient to address allegations made by the Official Assignee’s Office in their affidavits. The Court dismissed the application on the ground that there was no reason for the court to rule on a matter which has already passed in that it was no longer meaningful for the review to be made as the period of travel was over and that such a review over matters of discretion decided by the OA would not give rise to a precedent for future actions. In this process, I learnt of the whimsicality of the Official Assignee. I learnt of the tenacity of the Attorney-General’s Chambers. I experienced the illogicality of the actions of the Supreme Court Registry. I witness the opportunistic nature of government-controlled media. And I understood the effectiveness of the pincer movement executed on Chee Siok Chin.   A gentle reminder to smell the flowers It did not occur to me to touch that disc which had been sitting on my various racks for 20 years or so. The various CD racks have come and gone. AND The disc travelled with me as i moved house over the island but i have never since once opened it to truly sit down to listen to what the artiste and producer had wanted to convey. It is this present bout of gastric flu / food poisoning (till now i am not to sure what it is) brought me to this - with tons of work left undone in the office. including Gopalan Nair’s appeal requiring my attention soon. I am face to face with the system in an empty room. My favourite IMF Reference Standard Professional Monitors, my naim CD player and amplifier on a rack in between. Taking a pick at random out of a number of 600 or so sitting in the dust, I decided to give that disc, bought on an impulse due to strong recommendations in audiophile magazines,  a chance after 20 long years. Reference Recordings RR-31CD, Jim Brock’s Tropic Affair - a 1989 Reference Recordings audiophile issue was my pick. The choice did not disappoint. It is filled with a number of sonically powerful tunes. But sonically powerful tunes are not what you would be keen if you had been running to the toilet for the past 8 hours. I was in search of something soothing, something enchanting. Enchanting tunes being what i was looking for, straight out of the jewel case, track 4 “Anya” is Enchanting. So haunting, so sensual and so melancholic. It reminded me of the melancholic theme in “Bitter Moon” by Vangelis. Haunting is the word to describe it. I remember a time, after my grandmother’s death. No one wanted to really occupy the room. Then one day in the midst of some life upheaval, something prompted me to clear the room of its clutter and dust, spending an entire day scrubbing the room, i finally made it a tiny sanctuary with the relevant and necessary additions. There it was, i had a little back room all to myself, small but carpeted (now that’s important for audio). With this pair of speakers, a different set of amps, a shot glass of coffee liquor, a different companion. Tunes from this pair of speakers are nonetheless just as satisfying. Subsequently in the hustle and bustle of life following as i was then a newly qualified lawyer, the room fell into neglect, misuse and disrepair. I probably recall clearing out the speakers finally in march of 2004 - luckily the termites did not get to them. I also recall that being less than fully satisfied with the sounds it was producing, i had in the years thereafter in my long and unfruitful chase of audio perfection completely neglected the most important essence of it all - enjoying the music. Now that is not to say that the present state of the system is not what i wanted. I do want it this way and in this manner. But it is certainly not what i envisioned. When i first laid my hands won this pair of speakers in 1997, kindly sold to me by a late audiophile Uncle Yong, i have never imagined that i would be cavorting with naim amplifiers with it. Now that i have made the discovery of a lifetime. Track 4 “Anya”, i am probably going to put it on repeat until my family begs me for mercy. Like my younger borther would put it, i would really know how to spoil a song by overplaying it. Well its not everyday that you discover a gem in your belongings do you? And besides, we only live once - don’t we? Gopalan Nair’s - Disorderly behaviour - Appeal Friday evening 5th September 2008 was a disturbing evening. Why disturbing? Firstly, it was friday evening. Secondly, I had a letter to finish. Thirdly, an audiobuddy was asking me on the phone to go down to our friend’s place to sort out some deal. Fourthly, a couple of friends decided to pop by my office for a drop in chit chat and cup of tea. Fifthly, news came in that Gopalan Nair was being found guilty of disorderly behaviour and insulting policemen. Sixthly, Yap was trying to get Gopalan Nair bailed out pending his appeal, he was encountering problems with the crime registry. Gopalan got his sentence at about 4plus late afternoon and the Court granted him extended bail pending appeal. A bailor was ready at the bail centre but was told that the bail would only be processed bail when the Notice of Appeal is filed. Yap then calls me for assistance, i had no choice but to run out the Notice of Appeal while Yap makes his way down from Court to my office to collect it for Gopalan to sign and then back to Court to process the bail. So quite inevitably, Gopalan Nair is back to being represented by myself. TBT Trials - Lawyer No. 4 I wish i could have made the announcement earlier but i have been so tied up with the activism work that it is almost impossible to blog. At the rate i am going, i will be announcing old news on my blog perpetually. On 4th September 2008, we appeared before District Judge Liew Thiam Leng in Court 24, Subordinate Courts. Mr. Francis Ow from Archilex Law Corporation now appears for SDP Vice Chairman Mr. Francis Yong. Trial dates are fixed for the 18 + 1 protestors on 23rd October 2008 till 7th November 2008 at Court No. 5. Interestingly, this is the first set of trial dates for the latest protest. The trial dates for the Freedom walk in September 2007 and World Bank - IMF in September 2006 have yet to be set. Interestingly, the prosecution for the World Bank- IMF and and Freedom Walk commenced only after the administration took the decision to charge the protestors for the March 15 2008 Tak Boleh Tahan protest. It looks like the tak boleh tahan campaign really made them tak boleh tahan. Till 23rd October 2008, i would need to finalise some legal matters as well as to get the 3 more lawyers to give their confirmation soon - no prizes for guessing who would have to take time to do this. Lets hope this will be in place before i scream “tak boleh tahan!”. 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