Singapore. More prosecutors needed.

Ladies and Gentlemen,

Singapore's state controlled newspaper the Straits Times online edition of Jan 09, 2010 has this story "More prosecutors needed". Should it be any surprise?

The island has only about 3,000 lawyers with nearly 5 million people! Perhaps the lowest lawyer to population ratio for a city state such as this. Just as a comparison, London, another city has about 20 times that number.

The Singapore legal system having been thoroughly discredited over the years by Lee Kuan Yew, the Singapore strongman repeatedly using compliant corrupt judges to destroy the opposition through stage managed criminal and defamation charges, the people have lost all respect for it entirely.

In fact you need to be a scallywag and an unscrupulous fellow to even remain in the profession, because it means showing a blind eye to the very essence of being a lawyer in not defending the people's fundamental human rights. No lawyer in Singapore today, not a single one, would be prepared to represent any political dissident fearing Lee Kuan Yew's reprisals.

The story in the state controlled newspaper narrates the pitiful state the State Prosecutor's office is in. It has only 123 prosecutors who have had to handle 4,000 criminal trials!

In any other country, one would expect many young people eagerly wanting to become lawyers. It is supposed to be an exciting and lucrative profession.

But not in Singapore. Good people shun the law because they realize how low you have to go as a lawyer, having to live in fear of Lee Kuan Yew and helpless to do your duty as a good lawyer, to serve the people.

You may have already heard that for decades now, Singapore's foremost political dissident Dr. Chee Soon Juan, who has been repeatedly charged and jailed in Singapore has not been able to find a single lawyer to represent him. This in itself speaks volumes on the state of the legal profession in Singapore.

Moreover, only last year, the International Bar Association during its annual meeting in Singapore reported in their Human Rights Report that Singapore politicians in government use the law as a tool to eliminate the opposition; there is no rule of law, and judges are not impartial in their judgements, siding with the government whenever possible. It was a damning report indeed.

Woon, Singapore's Attorney General whose principle duty appears to be charging and suing anyone who dared criticize his master, Lee Kuan Yew; confesses the inadequacy in the number of prosecutors and wants more Singaporeans to become prosecutors.

I doubt he is going to succeed as the law in Singapore has been completely discredited and it's numbers continue to decline, not increase.

Being a lawyer in Singapore is bad enough for one's reputation, being a prosecutor is the worst, because it is they who are required to do the basest of evil jobs one can think of; such as fabricating evidence and fixing innocent citizens accused of exercising their human rights, for instance, prosecuting Dr. Chee Soon Juan for merely making a public speech!

Being a prosecutor in Lee Kuan Yew's Singapore is dirty work and no self respecting Singaporean wants to do it. We might as well tell Woon that he is not going to get anymore. In fact the numbers are continuing to decrease with ever mounting resignations. Very soon he will be left with only 50, for a population of 5 million.

And one reason is because they read the Singapore Dissident.

Gopalan Nair
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Blog: http://singaporedissident.blogspot.com/

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