Singapore lawyers are simply not interested

Ladies and Gentlemen,

Although Singapore Island has 5 million people, it has only 3000 or so lawyers!

This figure cannot be accurately be verified as any telephone call to the Singapore Law Society  is invariably answered by a demand that I should officially write a letter for this seemingly innocuous request. I can only assume that even the number of lawyers practicing in Lee's Singapore has to be kept a secret, perhaps because they are ashamed to admit to this totally inadequate number.

Upright principled young men and women shun the legal profession, as it is seen to be used for political purposes to destroy the opposition. Secondly anyone who is seen as someone refusing to show support for Lee's government will not be accepted.

And those who for one reason or another do decide to be lawyers are seen completely indifferent on how their profession is run, since I suppose they know that they can do nothing about it anyway, since it is directly controlled by Lee's government, who will do whatever they want anyway.

Recently there was a case reported in the state controlled papers of a lawyer with bipolar disorder being confronted with another lawyer sent by the Singapore Law Society in court trying to persuade the judge not to allow him to practice law because he has had a relapse in his condition. Some 50 lawyers or so took umbrage to this unwelcome intrusion into the court and had filed a Motion in the floor asking the Society to explain itself.

It is also reported that at the hearing of the Motion, no more tan 500 lawyers attended, a large number by Singapore standards since even at Annual General Meetings, a very important annual occasion, not more than 300 attend.

See http://www.straitstimes.com/breaking-news/singapore/story/law-society-egm-fails-settle-m-ravi-issue-20120925

Imagine these facts. You have a tiny island which is packed with 5 million people, yet it has only 3,000 lawyers or maybe even less; at each general meeting no more than 300 attend; in this case some 50 lawyers filed a Motion and 500 attended for the hearing of the Motion.

Pathetic I think is the word to explain these negligible numbers. But can anyone blame them for this total disinterest, since government lawyers routinely destroy opposition through judges misusing the courts and success at the Bar only comes provided you are seen as a government sympathizer.

As you can see, the administration of the law in Lee’s Singapore has been totally discredited.

Gopalan Nair
Attorney at Law
Fremont, CA USA
Tel: 510 491 4375