Justice for Mr. Mas Selamat Kastari

Ladies and Gentlemen,

Mr. Mas Selamat Kastari has now been caught. Singapore government has now retched up the drum beat that he had planned all manner of mischief against Singapore, such as blowing up Changi Airport among others. But are we not forgetting one thing here? Is not a man presumed innocent until proven guilty in a court of law? Is it enough for this Lee Kuan Yew dictatorship which is Singapore; to merely make all sorts of claims against a man, lock him up and throw away the key?

My question is this. If indeed Lee Kuan Yew had any evidence against him, why is it not possible to give him a fair trial? And if he is found guilty, then punish him. If not let him go.

There is no decent fair minded country in this world that does what Singapore is doing; locking people up without giving him any trial. I personally don't care what Singapore's Wong Kan Seng, Lee Kuan Yew's hand picked Minister of Law has to say about Mas Selamat. Wong Kang's Seng's allegations are not evidence and are of no value. In order to imprison a man, you need a trial and evidence that stands up to legal scrutiny.

This whole idea of imprisoning a man without trial, the Internal Security Act of Singapore which is being used to imprison Mas Selamat, is unacceptable in any civilized society.

And what is more, history has shown that Lee Kuan Yew has systematically abused this law to imprison innocent people for decades, people whom Lee Kuan yew did not like. I am of course talking of people such as Chia Tye Poh, imprisoned for 31 years because he was a political threat to Lee. Said Zahari, imprisoned for 17 years. Lee Kuan Yew's so called Marxist conspirators, decent civic minded Singaporeans who were jailed for years, merely because they dared to challenge Lee's authority. We now know that all these people were imprisoned under this law without trial and without any legal basis whatsoever, except for Lee Kuan Yew's claims plucked out of thin air. And it is this same law which stands wholly discredited and disgraced which is being used yet again to imprison Mas Selamat. Yet again a man is being thrown in jail because the Singapore state controlled newspaper, the Straits Times, claims that Wong believes Mas Selamat intends to blow up Singapore.

Anyone with a sense of decency cannot accept this. No, we are not satisfied with your accusations, Wong. Singapore's legal systems stands discredited as shown by the 72 page report of the International Bar Association. It is a country where judges decide the law not according to the rule of law but what pleases Lee Kuan Yew and his friends.

And I urge Malaysia not to hand over Mas Selamat to Singapore. Without any evidence I am not prepared to believe in any of Wong's accusations against Mas Selamat. The law requires that a man is innocent until proven guilty. As for Malaysia, so far, there has been no claim that Mas Selamat has planned anything against Malaysia. Malaysia is primarily a Muslim country and Mas Selamat is Malaly Muslim. I do not see any need for him to harm Malaysia. As for Singapore, Malaysia must know that the law is compromised. The litany of cases against opposition politicians such as JB Jeyaretnam, has left the legal system of Singapore disgraced and discredited. And history has also shown that the Internal Security Act has repeatedly been misused, the prime example of which is Chia Tye Poh, an innocent man, jailed for 31 years, even longer than Nelson Mandela. In these circumstances, without a proper legal system in Singapore, a legal system which has been thoroughly politicized, there is no guarantee that Mas Selamat will be treated fairly under law. This gives a right to Malaysia to refuse handing over Mas Selamat to Singapore. And this is the right thing Malaysia should do.

I do not know whether Mas Selamat is the monster that Singapore makes him out to be. But whether he is or he isn't, until he is given a fair trial, I am not prepared to believe anything.

I urge Malaysia, not to hand Mas Selamat over to a country such as Singapore, a country whose legal system stands disgraced in the eyes of the civilized world.

Gopalan Nair
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