Ladies and Gentlemen,
A few days ago, Singapore's state controlled online edition of the newspaper Straits Times, had reported the Singapore Academy of Law showing college students around the courts and a glimpse of what being a lawyer was. It appears many young lawyers leave the profession altogether after a short time. The propose of the tour was to educate them in advance that it was not "all glamour" as some thought, a means to avoid going into the wrong profession for some.
Rather at cross purposes, I thought, was their advice on how they could aspire to be "international lawyers".
I immediately said to myself again, this story was an utter waste of newsprint.
After having told us earlier that Singapore, a city state with no less than 5 million people, with banking insurance international trade and what not, has just 3,000 miserable lawyers! This was after Lee Kuan Yew's handpicked Minister for Law had told us that it was another London of the East! I am not sure exactly how many lawyers there are in London, but I can tell you there a lot more there than 3,000!
Let me tell this Minister for Law just this. It helps to be honest for once. Singapore has this huge shortage of lawyers simply because there is no rule of law. It is as plain as daylight.
And all your persuasion and cajoling and field trips for school children to courtrooms is not going to help you one bit to solve the problem.
What you should do, if you were honest, which you are not, is this. Tell them right away the truth. Tell them, Singapore is not a democracy. Tell them that your Singapore Constitution is just a whole load of waste paper. It is not worth the paper it is written on. That Singaporeans have no rights whatsoever. And a lawyer leads a shameful existence, pretending to be a lawyer while at the same time living in mortal fear of Lee Kuan Yew.
Tell them there is no freedom of speech expression and every other freedom. They simply do not exist. Tell them it is a police state. And tell them that if that is how they want to live as a so-called lawyer, they would be fine. Otherwise they are going to be miserable.
When I passed the English Bar and returned to Singapore, I was not aware of the pretence that was there. I did not know that it was not the rule of law that existed there, but Lee Kuan Yew's law. Had I known I would never even have practiced law there.
But in the end, it turned out for the best. Living there gave me an insight into the dictatorship that it really was. And my lifetime opportunity to expose it, which I do here.
My advice to Mr. K Shanmugam is to tell young students in Singapore what the Singapore legal system actually is. That way, they will not enter it and end up wasting part of their precious lives in Lee Kuan Yew's courts. And live to regret the wasted years.
Gopalan Nair
39737 Paseo Padre Parkway, Suite A1
Fremont, CA 94538, USA
Tel: 510 657 6107
Fax: 510 657 6914
Email: nair.gopalan@yahoo.com
Blog: http://singaporedissident.blogspot.com/
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4 comments:
whoopee!! hahas i'm actually in the very same law attachment programme and frankly that was what was going on in my mind throughout all those many talks they're shoving down our throats..
Spoon bending wisdom
You need to realize that there's no rule of law in Singapore there is only rule of lee.
Renaldi
'' As expected, Lee Kuan Yew ordered his Attorney general to charge Jeyaretnam. He was duly convicted in Singapore by Lee's obedient judges. Immediately thereafter, the Law Society under Lee's instructions disbars him''
You miss out one important part .J B Jeyaretnam was not found guilty during the initial trial .In actual fact ,he was found not guilty by Senior District Judge Michael Khoo .The Chief Justice order a retrial and this time round found him guilty of all charges .
Guess what happen to that Senior District Judge Michael Khoo who dare to oppose his master by finding JBJ not guilty?(This was view by the PAP as bitting the hands that feed you)
Senior District Judge was later transfer from head to the subordinate court to the Attorney-General's chambers (A clear act of demotion ,simply because he found JBJ not guilty .)
What does this show ?This show how impartial and independent our judiciary is .Basically ,its in the control of our Government .
Dont ever think of having any human rights in singapore .Singaoprean dont even have Privacy rights .There isnt any Privacy Laws in Singaopre .
How can a country claim that its a first world and a democratic party when there isnt any respect for indvidual privacy?
''DURING the Parliament session on Monday, MP of Ang Mo Kio GRC Ms Lee Bee Wah, asked the Minister of Information, Communications and Arts, Dr Lee Boon Yang, whether a comprehensive privacy law will be introduced to protect the privacy of individuals and their personal data.
Dr Lee's reply was:
"The Government recognises the importance of data protection and the need to protect personal data. At the same time, we also appreciate the impact of data protection on businesses and the general public.
I had previously informed the House that an Inter-Ministry Committee is reviewing Singapore's data protection regime. This review is on-going. We are currently looking into developing a data protection model that can best address Singapore's privacy concerns, commercial requirements and national interest. As data protection is a complex issue with extensive impact on all stakeholders, this review will take some time."
What rubbish is that?Take some times?It had been more than 5 years and its still under review?Obviously ,we can sense that they dont have the intention of implementing privacy law in sg .They are just paying lip service .PAP always claim that they are very efficient ,so you believe after more than 5 yrs its still under review ? Thats a joke ,the truth is that they have no intention of implementing it .They are just trying to drag on ,hoping that it will be forgotten in no time .
Hoping that countries such as USA who respect human rights will have a change of Government ,and the new Party who is being elected will not be bother with the human rights ,privacy issue around the world .PAP is just stallng for time .
privacy is not being respected in sg .Personal information such as your ID number and place of residence can be pass around and view by just anyone in the working place ,without any respect for others .This informaton are private and confidental ,due to security and privacy reasons it shouldnt be pass around .(yes,to those company only the payslip n the pathetic amount of salary they give out are the only area which they consider Private n confidential)
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