White Horse: Twisting in the wind

Or is Karl Liew being hung out to dry? LOL.

Karl Liew, facing charges for lying in Parti Liyani’s case, to undergo neuropsychological assessments

https://www.channelnewsasia.com/singapore/karl-liew-kai-lung-parti-liyani-former-maid-neuropsychological-assessments-hospital-court-2999306?

This headline reminds me of a conversation I had with a retired State Court judge about this case earlier this year.

He said in his time as a DPP (He was a very senior DPP before he became a judge), the DPP conducting the case would select a few of the charges that he or she could easily prove beyond a reasonable doubt and proceed with those. The DPP would have asked permission to stand down the other charges.

The DPP certainly wouldn’t have tried to prove so many charges as those DPPs did.

He agreed with the supervising judge’s decision to acquit the lady. With so many charges, the judge at first instance lost the plot.

Coming back to Karl, the White Horse must really be desperate to resort to the possibility of being a fruitcake to avoid jail. I’m sure he’ll rely on the fact that he was a cross-dresser. Remember his claim of owning and using gal’s clothes?

Seriously, White Horses like him give the S’porean elites a bad name. The elites don’t need enemies with children like him.

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Black humour: Wankers fix dissident

The Workers’ Party leadership has convened a disciplinary committee to look into my Facebook posts on their handling of the Raeesah Khan matter in Parliament. The committee has called me up for an interview:

“to hear the reasons and rationale behind the above public statements made by you as: 1) Your posts had revealed the inner workings of the Parliamentary caucus of the WP Members of Parliament, and allowed our political opponents to have an inside understanding of how the WP operates; 2) Your posts had cast a cloud over the character of the leadership of the WP.”

Daniel PS Goh on FB

Can’t stop laughing at this

“Your posts had cast a cloud over the character of the leadership of the WP.”

Who made fools of themselves and the WP? And who are being investigated? Certainly not Daniel.

Many moons ago, I posted

Excuse me, Mr Singh, you Wankers have something more important to do.

The WP needs to regain public credibility that it lost when you admitted that you, Auntie and Feisal had kept quiet for three months after you and the other two knew that she lied. The three of you have to explain to the WP and public why the three of you were so stupid. I mean all of you are graduates, and you and Auntie have legal qualifications. Where were your legal brains? In your asses?

Pritam beyond his level of competency

Since then, the Committee of Privileges (Cop) recommended that Singh be referred to the Public Prosecutor “for his conduct before the Committee” because further investigations are needed to decide if criminal proceedings ought to be instituted. Faisal was also referred to the Public Prosecutor for further investigations into his refusal to answer relevant questions by the COP. Auntie got away because she ratted on the other two though WP doesn’t think she ratted on them.

And the Public Prosecutor referred the cases against Pritam Singh and Faisal Manap to the really cops for investigation.

We are awaiting to see whether they’ll be charged. I’ll be posting soon a post on what a retired senior DPP thinks about the cases. He’s no PAP man.

Btw, is the PAP trying to “save” Pritam by raising the fine threshold for MP disqualification from $2,000 to $10,000? And if so. WHY?

All in all, its my opinion that the actions of the three stooges in the RK saga are prejudicial to the public and WP’s interests. Yet the Wankers are going after a cadre who publicly asked the Wankers for public accountability. Public accountability (co-driver) is the reason why many S’poreans vote for the WP.

Maybe the Wankers led by the three stooges really don’t wish S’pore well. They really are like Kirsten Han and friends: Kirsten Han trying to defecate herself and PJ out of self-made crater and Kirsten Han and friends are White Lefts.

Maybe I should be crying? And not laughing.

Storm in tea cup show why we can’t be another Silicon Valley

I don’t like the public spectacle of putting Jo Schooling and Amanda Lim to shame while purporting to show that despite them confessing to breaking the law, we are a forgiving sort of place. So forgiving that we metaphorically whip them in public.

In Silicon Valley, smoking cannabis is par for the course. It’s residents are already experimenting with edgier stuff.

In today’s FT:

Cannabis has been legal for recreational use in California since 2016. There are dispensaries all over San Francisco — some sleek and shiny, others with a more hippy aesthetic. Will psilocybin mushrooms and LSD be next? Start-ups are focusing on healthcare, using psychedelics to address anxiety and depression. The Multidisciplinary Association for Psychedelic Studies has been running studies for years and found success treating PTSD. Just as cannabis was initially available for medical purposes, psychedelic therapy could open the door to changes in drug legislation.

Newsletter from Lex.

Is it right to continue criminalising the smoking of cannabis (especially in private)? After all, the PAP govt by repealing s377A of the Penal Code is going to allow male gays to bugger one another in private. So what’s wrong with smoking ganja in private?

We are no Silicon Valley or even a global city but a kampung.

“The Law is an ass” argues TRE veteran

TRE’s last standing musketeer from the glory days (2011 — 2015) is based in China and is known as “techie Andrew”.

Recently, cyberspace was flooded with comments about the following case

Man jailed for cheating loan shark who hired him to harass debtors

Read more at https://www.todayonline.com/singapore/man-jailed-cheating-loan-shark-who-hired-him-harass-debtors

Most of the comments were garbage. But what to expect from anti-PAP cybernuts?

But techie Andrew posted a very interesting take:

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Man convicted of cheating because he has taken payment but refused to commit a crime?.

This is indeed a very interesting case worth wasting time to discuss and study.

What the unlicensed moneylender wanted the accused to do was clearly illegal, promising to pay him after he has committed the illegal act.

The accused wants no part of it and did not carry out the clearly illegal locking of doors and harassment as instructed by the unlicensed moneylender. So he staged it for the unlicensed moneylender to think that he has done it and collected payment.

Point to note:

1. Had the accused carried out the locking as instructed by the unlicensed moneylender, he would have committed an offence and the unlicensed moneylender would be guilty of abetting, if the house owner makes a police report.

2. What the unlicensed moneylender instructed the accused to do was clearly an illegal act, which is against the law. Technically it was a verbal contract, BUT since what the accused was asked to do was illegal, how then can the contract even be binding and valid and how could the accused have been charged for cheating (because he refused to commit an illegal act), even if the accused has received payment, be it before or after the event?

By extention, the accused had to commit one crime or another, be charged for the locking of doors or cheating?

Picture this:

I was asked by Andy to murder someone and was paid upfront for the assignment. Since it was an illegal act, I staged the death of the person I was supposed to murder and told Andy that he was dead.

So according to the police’s logic, I had cheated Andy since I took the money and did not murder that someone?

Meanwhile, nothing happens to Andy, who had paid me to murder someone?

Walan eh, whoever the IO and DPP in this case sibei tokong man, salute ar!

Had this happen in China, Andy would have been arrested by teh police and I would get a pat on the back for not committing the muder liao lor. Its called “中止犯罪”, a provision under their law for the police to not take any further action against an accused.

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OK, OK, he never said the “The Law is an ass”. It’s my interpretation of the points he made.

What do you think of his argument?

PAP needs this law in S’pore

When I read that Zhang Zhan, a Chinese Kay Poh Queen (OK, OK a citizen journalist who covered Wuhan’s coronavirus outbreak: she’d never get a job with our constructive, nation-building ST etc), had been jailed for four years for “picking quarrels and provoking trouble”, I couldn’t help but think that this was the law the PM needs, but doesn’t have.

Best for Shan to bring in this law of “picking quarrels and provoking trouble” so that PM doesn’t need to sue for defamation people like Terry Xu, Uncle Leong, and Roy Ngerng. Whenever PM rightly sues for defamation to clear his name, S’poreans someone get reminded that his siblings can make defamatory remarks about him, but not get sued. He just stands up and makes a parliamentary statement in response to their remarks.

Cue, anti-PAP paper warriors shout “white horses” and “All animals are equal but some are more equal than others”.

And I dream of “white horses” shouting “All animals are equal but some are more equal than others”.

Seriously, there’s a real advantage to the PAP govt of having this law against “picking quarrels and provoking trouble” which, btw, is a frequent charge used against activists in China. No need to charge people for one-person illegal assemblies, which does sound like something from Alice-in-Wonderland or from Kafka: absurd and surreal.

Singapore: Jolovan Wham charged for holding up a smiley face sign

https://www.bbc.com/news/world-asia-55068007

There is no need for more magic realism from the PAP govt, especially as writers, anti-PAP or just those who oppose the PAP, talented or mediocre, love to write in the genre: example

A man learns that all the animals at the Zoo are robots. A secret terminal in Changi Airport caters to the gods. A prince falls in love with a crocodile. A concubine is lost in time. The island of Singapore disappears.

 These are the exquisitely strange tales of Lion City, the first collection of short fiction by award-winning poet and playwright Ng Yi-Sheng. Infused with myth, magical realism and contemporary sci-fi, each of these tales invites the reader to see this city-state in a new and darkly fabulous light.

https://epigrambookshop.sg/products/lion-city

(Btw, the above collection of short stories is good fun, read it.)

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My reflections on one-person illegal assembly posts

PAP govt one up up on repressive central Asian republic?

Seelan Palay: Sylvia Lim was right

Jolovan’s latest problem shows Sylvia Lim’s and my prescience

Jogging alone can be illegal?

PAP uses Lawfare against its opponents?

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Coming back to Minister Shan, here’s a post by a anti-PAP, but usually clear-headed writer https://sudhirtv.com/2020/12/28/singapores-leadership-crisis-shan-the-phenom/. Worth a read.

Good ripostes to Minister Shan

Christmas in the West is not only about food and alcohol. It’s also time to light a cigar or in these more PC days, a reefer.

This reminded me that the decision by the United Nations’ drug agency to reclassify cannabis is one driven by money and profits rather than science and rationality, said Law and Home Affairs Minister K. Shanmugam: more at https://www.straitstimes.com/singapore/un-decision-on-cannabis-legalisation-down-to-power-of-money-not-rationality-and-science

–

And as though alcohol and tobacco don’t have $ behind them.

Btw, the science behind cannabis, alcohol, tobacco and other drugs: PAP really makes case for banning tobacco and alcohol. Seriously, I’m sure the absence of a ban in S’pore on alcohol and tobacco have nothing to do with money and profits, its driven by science and rationality.

What do you think?

Btw, I belive in Santa Claus and the tooth fairy and the 9th Immortal.

“Police have a right to kill you”

Who said this?

No not this guy, Zheng Yanxiong: Hong Kong’s security chief appointed by China in July

(The above paragraph and pix added on 25 November at 10.52am)

Nor you are wrong if you, like our ang moh tua kees, think it must be our very own

It’s Uganda’s Security Minister Elly Tumwine who said this after 37 people were killed on Wednesday and Thursday last week following clashes with supporters of opposition presidential candidate Bobi Wine.

In a media briefing, the BBC reported Mr Tumwine as saying:

Quote Message: Police have a right to shoot you and kill you if you reach a certain level of violence. Can I repeat? Police have a right to shoot you and you die for nothing.”
Police have a right to shoot you and kill you if you reach a certain level of violence. Can I repeat? Police have a right to shoot you and you die for nothing.”

SAD.

Liewgate: TRE writer makes constructive suggestions on improving the administration of justice

But first what the CJ said about prosecutors being “ministers of justice” is nothing new. Many yrs ago, the head of Crime in the AGC said the same thing to me in describing his role. It’s based on an English legal tradition

Prosecutors are more than advocates and solicitors. They are “ministers
of justice” assisting in the administration of justice (see R v Banks [1916] 2 KB621 at 623). As a “minister of justice”, the duty of the prosecutor is to assist the court to arrive at the correct decision. It is neither the prosecutor’s duty to secure a conviction at all costs nor to “timorously discontinue proceedings the instant
some weakness is found in their case” (see Kadar at [109]).

137 A prosecutor must always act in the public interest and it is generally
unnecessary for the Prosecution to adopt a strictly adversarial position
criminal proceedings (see Nabill v PP at [37]). Steven Chong JA speaking extrajudicially to Legal Service Officers and Assistant Public Prosecutors on 10 November 2011 put it in these terms:
The accused, the Court and the community are entitled to
expect that in performing his function in presenting the case
against an accused person, the Prosecutor will act with fairness
and detachment with the sole and unadulterated objective
to establish the whole truth in accordance with the law.
… The role of the Prosecutor therefore excludes any notion of
winning or losing a case. … His role is to seek and achieve
justice, and not merely to convict. The role is to be
discharged with an ingrained sense of dignity and integrity.

CJ menon in Public Prosecutor v Wee Teong Boo and other appeal and another matter [Emphasis added in bold italics]

Well a long standing tradition can always be improved given the allegation that the prosecutors in Liewgate misled the judge that a dvd player was functional when it was note (Note that one of the prosecutors’ is the daughter of a retired senior civil servant who was rebuked by Teo Chee Hean, then DPM and civil service minister yrs ago, for flaunting his wealth publicly amidst a recession).

So the suggestions made by a TRE writer are worth considering.

Justice And Prosecutorial Misconduct

Our legislators at all levels of government as well as the administrators of a plethora of governmental agencies have created an oppressive blanket of laws, rules and regulations designed to forcibly control the behavior of its citizens. But it takes a non-citizen to file an originating summons under Section 82A of the Legal Profession Act, which governs disciplinary proceedings against the legal service officers or non-practising solicitors.

I always thought that the Prosecutor’s main job was to gather and weigh all the evidence (both the damning and the exculpatory) before deciding whether or not to press charges. Prosecutors should be required to sign a statement that all exculpatory evidence had been provided to the defendant’s advisors. A false statement should have the same consequences as perjury.

In cases of prosecutorial and judicial misconduct in which evidence is omitted, manufactured, or misrepresented, the prosecutors and judges should face a trial of the facts and, if convicted, in addition to disbarment, serve individual mandatory sentence for perjury–period. No escape from justice–you know, the in-house exemptions and protections among the legal professionals–for the betrayers of justice.

Next step would be to extend the same requirement to investigating police. Failure to provide possible exculpatory info to the prosecutors would be malfeasance and a firing offense.

So is it hopeless? Well, if our politicians had the intelligence and honesty to recognize and take the action which undoubtedly would reign in official cover-ups, lies and brutality — i.e., a zero-tolerance policy. In other words, those who do not hold justice and decency (towards EVERYONE) above “winning,” would be gone. Faith in the system is the bedrock. Without it, our system is drained of its inviolable authority.

SojoüRner

Liewgate: TRE, junk can be stolen

I think the u/m Why would anybody want to steal junk? by TRE’s Augustine Low needs a serious correction.

Even if the stuff taken is junk, the maid cannot suka suka take it: taking it can still amount to theft.

Consent must still be sought. Such consent can be implied if the owner throws the stuff into the bin or tells the maid to throw it away. I’ve a spoiled printer and a laptop: junk. I’ve yet to dispose of them because I want to dispose of them responsibly. But if the maid takes them without asking my permission, it’s still technically theft.

Btw, I’ve also got a few watches that could be considered junk. One’s a IWC perpetual watch that needs to be repaired, another a Seiko watch that has it plastic face cover damaged , a Cartier Santos and Rolex that have faulty clasps. If the helper takes them …

Finally, an observation about the High Court judge’s decision. The High Court judge could have acquitted her on the basis of the police’s failure to secure the evidence. And left it at that. That he went further to make comments about Karl etc seems to show his unhappiness over the decision to prosecute. that he had serious concerns about what actually happened. (Note this change was made on 16 September 2020 at 11.30 am.)

The one question that could have saved Parti Liyani much earlier: Why would anybody want to steal junk?

It was a basic question that took four years to be asked.

Had it been asked earlier, it could have saved Parti Liyani from all her troubles and trauma, from languishing in a shelter for four years while awaiting the conclusion of her case of stealing from the home of Liew Mun Leong.

Defence lawyer Anil Balchandani who acted pro-bono for Parti and successfully secured her acquittal, appears in a video put up by HOME (Humanitarian Organisation for Migration Economics), the non-governmental organisation which provided shelter, food and financial assistance to Parti for four years. The video was shot a week before the High Court ruling on 4 September.

Balchandani spoke of the breakthrough: “I think the maybe memorable or most lucky point that we had was we asked the (high) court to have all the items presented before it . . . . and the court agreed. And that allowed us to present to the court what you can’t see in pictures.”

Once the “stolen” items were presented in court, the effect was telling, said Balchandani: “So the condition of the items, the clothes, the rags, the very old DVD players, the earrings, the jewellery that was outdated – you could see it in a photograph but you will not appreciate it until you see it. And slowly we were, you know, we were able to inch forward. And we have to basically convince the judge, why would someone steal junk?”

Indeed, why would anyone go through the trouble of stealing things which even the rag-and-bone man might reject?

And why wasn’t it a question the police, prosecution and district judge all thought of asking?

Only at the High Court was this question finally addressed. In his lengthy 100-page judgement, Justice Chan Seng Onn pointed to some aspects of this, including the case of a Pioneer DVD player which was allegedly stolen by Parti. She denied the theft, saying it was disposed of by the Liew family because it was “spoilt” and she kept it to bring home to Indonesia for repair.

Justice Chan believed Parti: “As its name suggests, a DVD player’s main function is to play a DVD . . . a DVD player that is unable to play DVD can reasonably be described as ‘spoilt.’”

The judge applied common sense. As was the case when Parti was accused of stealing clothes belonging to Karl Liew, the son of Liew Mun Leong. This strangely included women’s clothing apparel. When asked at the trial if he “had a habit of wearing women’s clothes” Karl actually said that he sometimes wore women’s T-shirts. Justice Chan found this assertion to be “unbelievable”.

So the Parti Liyani case is now to be reviewed by multiple parties because something has “gone wrong in the chain of events”, according to Law Minister K Shanmugam.

They could start by reviewing why nobody thought of asking the most basic questions – such as why would anybody want to steal junk, and how could a man have clothes “stolen” from him that included women’s apparel.

Liewgate: Was Liew Mun Leong that untouchable?

Below is another well written piece by TRE’s Augustine Low: if one is an anti-establishment (especially anti-PAP) pleb.

However, the piece misses a very important point. If Liew was that untouchable (“too big to challenge, too big to be disproved and too big to do any wrong”) why wasn’t his wife and son protected for illegally deploying the wife’s maid, and why was (as alleged) his family afraid of not being able to employ another maid.

Let me explain.

If Liew was that untouchable (“too big to challenge, too big to be disproved and too big to do any wrong”), how come MoM gave his wife a warning and his son an advisory for illegally deploying the maid?. Secret Squirrel tells me that plebs who illegally deploy their helpers also get warnings and advisories for the first offence.

The online narrative is that the family was afraid of being unable to hire a maid (by way of a MoM ban on employing a maid) to clean their two bungalows: something a second complaint would surely bring, they say. Hence the alleged “false” police report to fix the maid.

If Liew was that untouchable (“too big to challenge, too big to be disproved and too big to do any wrong”), he could have easily called up the MoM minister and tell the minister that his family needed a maid, so could the minister help him by not charging his tai tai for the second offence?

For the record, like the mob, I too think that the Liews, father and son, should be crucified. I also believe that Mrs Liew should be made to clean the two bungalows herself, then crucified.

Their offence? Bringing the establishment into disrepute.

Whatever, here’s what Augustine Low wrote.

The system that brought success to Liew Mun Leong also brought him down – does the PAP have the will to fix the system?

The spectacular downfall of Liew Mun Leong is a shock to the system – the People’s Action Party system.

It was the PAP system which set up Liew for stardom – he became an upstanding member of society and a darling of the establishment. As elite and entitled as they come in this country.

Liew’s every word and action became the gold standard. His Chancery Lane address alone bestowed him prestige and respectability.

As an entrenched member of the establishment, Liew became too big to challenge, too big to be disproved and too big to do any wrong. There are many like him. This is the hallmark of the PAP system.

The High Court judgement lays bare the stunning details. Had investigators and prosecutors done a thorough, professional job, had they not given Liew the benefit of the doubt every step of the way, things would have turned out differently.

The case might not even have gone to trial. Liew and his family would then have been spared the eventual outcome – the bombshell High Court findings, too damning to sweep under the rug.

Instead of reining in the excesses, Liew was treated with kid gloves and given a free pass.

A runaway train, when not reined in, will self-destruct or cause twisted wreckage. Ironically, the system that Liew profited from ended up causing his downfall because it was not robust enough to keep him in check.

Home Affairs and Law Minister K Shanmugam said something has “gone wrong in the chain of events.” More important than that, how did the system crack in such breathtaking fashion? What happened to the checks and balances?

The downfall of Liew ought to prompt the PAP government to do soul searching. Unless the PAP has the will and wherewithal to fix the system, trust and confidence in the system will not be restored.

Augustine Low

Time to investigate Catholic Church here?

If the WSJ is correct, the Catholic Church has misled Catholics round the world, and misused donated monies. Worse than Kong Hee and pals. And they went to jail.

There’s something known as Peter’s Pence:

At present, this collection is taken each year on the Sunday closest to 29 June, the Solemnity of the Feast of Saints Peter and Paul in the liturgical calendar. As of 2012, the United States has donated the largest amounts, giving some 28% of the total, followed by Italy, Germany, Spain, France, Ireland, Brazil and South Korea. US donations totaled $75.8 million in 2008, $82,529,417 in 2009, $67,704,416.41 in 2010 and $69,711,722.76 in 2011.

Wikipedia

This means the faithful donate millions of dollars to the Vatican. But only about 10% goes to charity according to  the Wall Street Journal. The rest is used to finance the Vatican’s budget deficit.

Time to get the police to raid the offices of the Catholic Archbishop of S.pore? Not only does he tolerate Marxists in his office, he helps cheat the faithful: Archie goofed? Saboed? Tea cup storm ensues with credit to no one

Related post: Harry, 2 popes, Spectrum and Amos

Indonesian riots prove minister’s point on zero tolerance of racist remarks?

If a racist rap video was allowed to remain online, it could normalise offensive speech and such attacks against other races could become mainstream, said Law and Home Affairs Minister K Shanmugam.

Speaking at the CNM Leaders Summit organised by the National University of Singapore’s Department of Communications and New Media on Thursday (Aug 22), Mr Shanmugam expanded on why the Government acted to remove the rap video by YouTuber Preetipls and her brother Subhas Nair, which came in response to a controversial “brownface” advertisement.

Read more at https://www.channelnewsasia.com/news/singapore/preetipls-subhas-nair-rap-video-normalised-offensive-speech-11834928

Constructive, nation-building CNA

Well the following article from the BBC about violent protests in West Papua province is evidence that he isn’t talking cock about the probability of violence when there’s official tolerance of racist language. Racist taunts aimed at a group of students from West Papua in Java have sparked violent protests in Indonesia’s West Papua.

What happened in Java last weekend

The groundswell of anger that has fuelled the latest demonstrators was sparked by an incident in the Javanese city of Surabaya at the weekend.

After accusing Papuan university students of damaging an Indonesian flag during Independence Day celebrations, nationalist groups surrounded their boarding house and goaded them with racist taunts, calling them “monkeys”, “pigs” and “dogs”.

Police in riot gear then stormed the dormitory to force the students out. Authorities said the students were briefly questioned before being set free.

This resulted in violent protests in West Papua

The area’s largest protests in years saw numerous buildings torched – including a jail and a market – and resulted in the Indonesian government deploying thousands of additional security officers to an area which is already the country’s most heavily militarised.

The internet has also been shut down to “restore security”, according to the Indonesian government.

https://www.bbc.com/news/world-asia-49434277

But it’s more than racist taunts. Papuan students in Java, told BBC Indonesian they are often made to feel like second-class citizens.

“I have been turned away from student boarding houses and told that they will not receive boarders who are Papuan students,” said Benfa, a Papua student in Yogyakarta.

“We face discrimination and racism daily,” Aris Yeimo, from the Papuan student union, added.

Coming back to the spark that started the riots (the racial taunts),  a few Indonesian politicians are showing some sensitivity. The governor of East Java province apologised for the racism in Surabaya, and President Joko Widodo announced plans to visit Papua. But better not to have allowed the taunts in the first place?

Related post:

Brownfacegate: Did you know Shanmugam also said this?

Typical Chinese reaction to “brownface” ad/ Cina also can get upset

Brownfacegate: The inside story?

PAP really makes case for banning tobacco and alcohol

Our Pet Minister* (The PAP sees voters who own pets as an important constituency*) likes to draw attention to the scientific literature that show that cannabis and other drugs are harmful, as the reason not to decriminalise them.

Well there is plenty of evidence that alcohol and tobacco are more harmful.

So why PAP no ban them?

Ang moh tua kee at work (West’s ‘human rights superiority complex’)? Our colonial masters didn’t ban alcohol and tobacco but banned these drugs, so their PAP running dogs followed blindly isit?

Fyi

[A] report published today by the Global Commission on Drug Policy, an independent group of 26 former presidents and other bigwigs. They conclude that, as far as the scientific evidence is concerned, current drug laws have no rhyme or reason to them. The commission blames the UN’s drug classification system, which sorts some 300 psychoactive substances into “schedules” according to their harms and benefits. Some, such as morphine, have medical uses. Others, such as psilocybin (the active ingredient in magic mushrooms), are used mostly recreationally. Drugs without any apparent medical utility are automatically placed in the most dangerous category—and subjected to the strictest criminal penalties—regardless of the risk they pose.

https://www.economist.com/graphic-detail/2019/06/25/what-is-the-most-dangerous-drug

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*He and his side kick Louis Ng (PAP MP still sore at childhood failure?) got more power then the ministers responsible for Malays, Indians and Eurasians combined. Says something about the power and influence that pets who really own their so-called masters have in S’pore. Minorities can only envy these dogs and cats.

PAP govt one up up on repressive central Asian republic?

In S’pore, a few years ago, a person was arrested for holding a mirror. So did someone from Kazakhstan study our laws and decide to imitate us?

The Kazakh police took a young activist into custody after he decided to test whether he could get away with standing in the street holding a placard with no writing on it.

Aslan Sagutdinov took the placard to the central Abay Square of his native city of Oral in the west of the country, and held it up opposite the central council offices.

The video blogger took the precaution of having a colleague capture the whole thing on film, which the local Uralskaya Nedelya news site embedded in its report.

“I’m not taking part in a protest, and I want to show that they’ll still take me down the police station, even though there’s nothing written on my placard and I’m not shouting any slogans,” the 24-year-old told reporters who’d turned up to see what happened.

https://www.bbc.com/news/blogs-news-from-elsewhere-48187353

Here is what I wrote in 2017 about the guy carrying a mirror who was arrested.

Seelan Palay: Sylvia Lim was right

Here I made fun of Seelan Palay’s latest attempt to test the OB markers: he crossed a red line after the police tried very hard not to arrest him, but he persisted, “After several failed attempts by the Police to persuade Seelan to leave the area, he was arrested by the Police at 3.20pm.” (TOC report)

Two years ago I wrote about how one person can be arrested for an illegal assembly

Jogging alone can be illegal?

If wearing the wrong tee-shirt or singlet?

Try walkng or jogging alone* wearing a “Free our CPF” singlet: remember that any public assembly of more than one person** needs police permission.

And jogging in a group of two or more”Free our CPF” singlets will be like jogging in groups in Burundi: illegal.

Running is a national pastime in Burundi, with hundreds of people out jogging on weekend mornings. But in March [2014] the authorities banned jogging in groups – unless permission was sought from the authorities. It affects all group sports in the capital, which can now only be played in designated areas.

The restrictions followed the arrest of some opposition members who were out jogging and chanting political slangs. Police officers tried to stop what they regarded as an illegal march and the situation deteriorated into clashes. More than 40 Movement for Solidarity and Democracy (MSD) party members received sentences ranging from five years to life.

Burundi: Where jogging is a crime

Wonder what about wearing a tee shirt with a Oppo party logo, drinking teh tarik as social media celebrities Ravi and Jeannette Chong used to do when they were NSP tua kees.

And what about the crowds assembling to pay their respects to LKY? What about the crowds at the National Museum LKY exhibition?

Seems anything the PAP administration or the SPF doesn’t like can be an illegal assembly.

Related post: PAP uses Lawfare against its opponents?

———‘

*Auntie Sylvia was absolutely right in 2007 and 2009 when she spoke out publicly:

“The change in definition of “assembly” and “procession” is more disturbing. As the Explanatory Statement to the Bill says, these words are no longer restricted to gatherings of 5 persons or more. This means even ONE person alone can constitute illegal assembly, thus giving the State complete control over an individual citizen’s freedoms.

‘First, to say that 1 person constitutes an assembly is certainly an abuse of the word. Secondly, is the government making the change because there had been incidents involving less than 5 persons which had disrupted public life? Unless there is compelling evidence to prove to us that expanding the definition of assembly and procession is needed, this expansion does not deserve our support,”  Sylvia Lim in parly in 2009.

Earlier, in 2007, she had said:

“This refers to clauses 29 and 30 of the Bill. By clause 29 of the Bill, we are removing the heading “Offences Against Public Tranquility” and replacing it with “Offences relating to Unlawful Assembly”. By Clause 30, we will be deleting “mischief or trespass or other offence” and replacing it with “to commit any offence”.

S 141 has been amended to bring it in line with a recent Court of Appeal case: PP v Tan Meng Khin [1995] 2 SLR 505. Now, an assembly will be unlawful if people intend to commit an offence punishable with imprisonment of 6 mths or more, even if it is peaceful and does not disturb public tranquillity. Under our law, a person who organizes a procession or assembly after the police rejection of a permit can be punished with max 6 months jail under the Miscellaneous Offences Act. Hence 5 or more people who gather to do so will become members of an unlawful assembly.

As our society continues to evolve, the time is surely ripe for us to allow peaceful outdoor protests as a form of expression. By all means, we can have rules about how, where and when such processions may be held, but wider law reform is needed. S 141 should be restricted to offences which threaten the public peace, and other laws such as the Miscellaneous Offences Act which require permits for peaceful assemblies should be modified.”

**Two men between the ages of 24 and 25 were arrested by police outside the Istana on Saturday afternoon (Apr 4).

Police said the duo had turned up in front of the Istana with placards at about 4pm. Channel NewsAsia understands that the men were holding signs that read “You can’t silence the people” and “Injustice” for about half an hour. They were clad in identical red hoodies and dark blue jeans.

Police also said both of them had refused to stop the activity despite requests from officers. As such, they were arrested for organising a public assembly without a permit, under Section 16(1)(a) of the Public Order Act, Chapter 257A.

Seelan Palay: Sylvia Lim was right

And there’s this more recent event: Jolovan’s latest problem shows Sylvia Lim’s and my prescience

“There is freedom of speech, but I cannot guarantee freedom after speech”

Did Minister Shan say this?

No. But he could have and still may soon. Or some other minister may say it, if Shan is taking a break, because this is the philosophy behind the new law. Ministers can publish corrections alongside claims about public institutions that it deems false. Those who publish false statements with “malicious intent” face criminal sanctions, including fines of up to S$1m and jail sentences of up to 10 years.

Don’t believe me? The law differs from laws against the spread of misinformation in other jurisdictions, which typically focus on taking down problematic content from online platforms.

Still don’t believe me? Read The one-party state and fake news where I quoted from Fake news law: Ownself judge ownself

The problem about lies or “fake news” is who gets to decide what is or is not a lie or “fake news”.

In liberal democracies, even the president of the US cannot get his view of what is or is not a lie or “fake news” accepted by even a majority of the voters. There’s some sort of consensus (“conventional wisdom”) driven (manipulated?) by the elites and media about what is or is not a lie or “fake news” in which facts often play an important part.

In a one-party state (de facto or de jure) the ruling party decides what is or is not a lie or “fake news”

— Keeping power in a one-party state

— Would this happen in a one-party state?

— Coldstore: Why Harry’s narrative or the highway

The planned tackling of “fake news” is a smokescreen for muzzling further netizens, not juz cybernuts. The internet and social media has made it a lot easier for S’poreans to share facts, ideas, and criticisms of the way we are governed by the PAP.

— Minister wants his cake and eat it/ PAP doesn’t get the Internet

— Ingratitude, uniquely S’porean? Blame the internet? Not really

— Us Netizens: Comancherios of the Internet?

This freedom (relative) to share facts, ideas, and criticisms of the way we are governed by the PAP worries the PAP (juz like the CCP worries about the internet and social media in China), hence the plan to further muzzle the internet and social media.

And then read

Why the PAP is really afraid of Facebook?:

The PAP is trying to intimidate Facebook not really because of fake news but because Facebook can be used to turn sheep into wolves.

Other relevant posts

Silencing fake news and inconvenient voices: two sides of the same coin

Fighting fake news while raising revenue

What is “news”?/ “Fake news” is not “fake” says Harvard expert

Btw,

There is freedom of speech, but I cannot guarantee freedom after speech.

was said by Idi Amin

a Ugandan president best known for his brutal regime and crimes against humanity while in power from 1971-1979.

Idi Amin – Facts, Life & Uganda – Biography – Famous Biographies

https://www.biography.com/people/idi-amin-9183487

Crazy Rich Asian in wrong country, should migrate

Metro family scion Ong Jenn, who is in jail for attempted drug possession, had an additional sentence of two years and two months meted out to him on Thursday (Apr 25).

The 43-year-old received the extra jail time for one charge of consuming cannabis and two counts of possessing the drug

Read more at https://www.channelnewsasia.com/news/singapore/metro-founder-grandson-ong-jenn-cannabis-more-jail-time-11478888

When he finally gets released, time to emigrate to Canada or California where he can smoke cannabis to his heart’s content. But will he be allowed in given his criminal record? He can argue that he’s a fighter against repression, like Amos (Remember him?). Will Maruah support him? Human rights kay pohs don’t do “fixers” and “jihadists”, but they might do rich druggies.

Related posts:

Yet another Crazy Rich Asian druggie has gd lawyer

Crazy Rich Asians not falling for Ang Moh BS

Cheer, not jeer, “Crazy Rich Asians”

Crazy Rich Asians: Money talks, BS walks

2 must reads: NUS voyeurism balls-up

Or is it cock-up?

Sorry. Can’t help the flippancy. What happened is really black comedy at it’s blackest. After the police, AGC and NUS washed their hands (OK sort of) over a voyeur (Maybe taking the attitude “From poor family; must pang chance.”?), the unhappy victim got the voyeur crucified on the day the Christ was crucified or thereabouts.

If the system fails her, she cannot be expected to behave like a meek and mild lamb, can she? Power to her for having the balls to demand publicly that she gets her retribution. Note I said “retribution”, not “justice”.

Here’s a link to a very good commentary on the perspective that the police, AGC and NUS missed: a damning indictment of their failure to understand how gals feel.

Commentary: Here’s what zero tolerance towards sexual misconduct looks like

The NUS voyeurism incident offers lessons for all education institutions, says AWARE Executive Director Corinna Lim.

Read more at https://www.channelnewsasia.com/news/commentary/nus-sexual-misconduct-zero-tolerance-toilet-filming-monica-baey-11472002

Even better is this comment from someone who seems to know how prosecutorial discretion works in practice. What he says bring back memories of the days when the then head of Crime section in the AGC and I chatted about the role of his team. Where he is wrong, is the person making the decision is supervised and the head of the crime division has to sign-off.

Heng Choy Yuen

I agree with the contents of your article. But the OVER-dependence on protocols and routine thinking may become too dogmatic. Here’s why I say so …. the RESULT of any interview by counsellors, investigations led by the SPF depends on whose desk the case file lands inside the AGC. He/she at AGC is the one who decides whether the legal process stops at his/her desk or be sent for arraignment. Due to the peculiar nature of sex-related and sexual crimes (stealing underwear, peeping tom, filming videos, physical outrgae of modesty, rape), sometimes a less-experienced AGC legal officer may make an error of judgement, not due to lack of factual evidence but simply because the analysis of cases involving sexual crimes require a deeper and thorough understanding beyond what is written in the Penal Code and statutes. Yes, there are more than sufficient precedents to guide towards a judgement (from 2015-2018 there were reportedly 20 cases of sexual misconduct handled by NUS alone) but I think in MIss Baey’s case, the person at AGC charged with deciding the punishment of MIss Baey’s offender perhaps made an error of judgement – by showing leniency (protecting the offender’s future) by itself is not ‘wrong’ when weighed against the evidence and facts gathered – but the ‘high probability of being remorseful” is an ASSESSMENT, not a fact. THe AGC officer in this case should have also considered a more potent FACT backed up by global research on the mental health of sex crimes victims – the FACT that Miss Baey, along with countless victims of similar sex crimes, will live with her mental trauma, fears and anguish. In all probability for the rest of her life. No amount of remorse, a single letter of apology can erase the mental scarring that has already occurred. Therefore while it is commendable to show leniency for ‘remorseful first-time offenders’, the LIFE-LONG irreversible mental damage on the victims of sexual misconduct MUST be prioritised – the victim had no say but … the perpetrator (unless mentally ill) made a wilful, perhaps even premeditated, decision. He was also reportedly under the influence of alcohol but how drunk he was we do not know …. so how does a drunk man summon enough soberness to go from cubicle to cubicle (captured on CCTV) ostensibly to film a naked woman bathing? Obviously his vision was not impaired by alcohol in making his directorial debut …. Isn’t it ironical that the efforts by the law enforcement authorities and NUS to show leniency just so the offender’s future is not destroyed, is producing the very opposite aftermath? Did they anticipate that their ‘merciful’ punishments would generate such public uproar and media attention? A few days ago, Great Eastern put the perp (who was working there) on suspension, but he chose to resign. But while he may recover some semblance of normalcy say after 4-5 years, the mental trauma he caused to MIss Baey is etched in her memory perhaps forever. THAT is a LESSON no victim would ever want.

(Emphasis mine)

Silencing fake news: even SPH has concerns

Further to Silencing fake news and inconvenient voices: two sides of the same coin, when even the constructive, nation-building SPH is concerned

In a submission to Parliament, Singapore Press Holdings, the country’s largest media organization, warned that a broad interpretation of “fake news” could could lead to “fears among citizens about freely expressing their opinions or engaging in robust and constructive debates, or even to self-censorship by news outlets wary of falling foul of the law.”

https://edition.cnn.com/2019/04/02/asia/singapore-fake-news-intl/index.html?fbclid=IwAR22aU_0W-3Io4sCj03lopodZMWnS_95xaYgRcknGGIJkgdMI2KPlw4PQAg

, PAP voters who voted for Tan Cheng Bock as president should be concerned about the coming law’s powers to ministers: Fake news law: Ownself judge ownself.

Here’s something I came across sometime back, but can’t remember where:

Removing content is not the only way to shape our minds; the most powerful censorship tactics are those we never see – for good and ill.

The coming laws on fake news is nothing more than an attempt to ensure self censorship, something S’poreans are very good at, even Goh Meng Seng, for all his fake news skills:

— Meng Seng: fake news propogator

— What Meng Seng and TOC don’t tell us about dispute with Tun

— “Licking the ass of the enemy of my enemy”

Fake news law: Ownself judge ownself

Or in posh English, not Singlish, “In the proposed fake news law, ministers are judge and jury.”

This is a seriously good reason to be concerned about the proposed bill introduced on Monday, which gives the government very sweeping powers in the name of regulating fake news propogators like Goh Meng Seng and TOC’s Danisha Hakeem.

My main concern is that it makes ministers the initial (and in most cases the final and only) arbiters of truth about claims regarding the PAP government’s performance: “Ownself judge ownself”.

That is most unfair and unnatural because it makes a minister the judge and the jury in his own cause. Worse although there is some sort of a right of appeal, the burden of establishing the truth lies on the appellant, not the minister. I do not think a minister should have the power to regulate comments made about them or their department in the same way as the government having the power to regulate hate speech or even seriously offensive speech against race or religion.

There is an obvious potential for serious conflicts of interest here, like “Ownself check ownself”.

Related post: Fake news laws give SPH biz advantage

 

 

In trouble: Must be Bill Ng’s footie club again LOL

Hougang United Football Club, one of nine clubs in the professional football league, has filed a police report against an employee after losing S$278,200 from its coffers.

A female administrative staff member, Tean Tai Tee, allegedly misappropriated the sales revenue from the clubhouse between Nov 29 and Dec 11 last year. Tean, 25, was subsequently arrested by the police and charged in court on Dec 16 with criminal breach of trust.

MSM late last week

Chairman of the club is one Bill Ng. Who he? The wannabe saviour of S’pore footie (Bill’s Game Changers trying to avoid 41 – 3 thrashing) who was arrested and is out on bail.

Sport Singapore filing a police report against National Football League side TBFC for suspected misuse of club funds and a purported attempt by a senior club official to obstruct the completing of audits of the league’s sit-out clubs.

TBFC and Hougang chairman Bill Ng and his wife Bonnie Wong, former FAS general secretary Winston Lee and former FAS president Zainudin Nordin were subsequently arrested.

Details that emerged from the case also shocked members of the fraternity, as TBFC was found to have earned S$37 million from its clubhouse operations while spending just S$169,000 on its football team.

https://www.todayonline.com/singapore/s250000-missing-hougang-united-football-club-staff-arrested#cxrecs_s

————————————————————–

Bill Ng: S’pore footie’s ang pow king

Bill the “donation” king/ A friend in need is not a friend indeed?

—————————————————————

As he, his wife, ex-FAS senior official and ex-MP have yet to be charged, or the cases dropped by the police, maybe it’s time for human rights activists to KPKB about persecution etc? They were arrested and released on bail almost a yr ago: Bill Ng, wife, ex-FAS president and FAS gen sec arrested.

That’s a long time ago. In the normal course of events, they should be charged or cleared.

Fat chance of ang moh tua kees KPKBing on their behalf. Human rights activists (think Maruah) don’t do rich people or alleged terrorists, only drug traffickers (or alleged ones), middle class ang moh tua kees like themselves, or FTs: Human rights kay pohs don’t do “fixers” and “jihadists”.

———————————————–

Amos’s lament about ang moh tua kees who “Talk the cock but don’t walk the cock”: Amos: Only mum is still a fan.

—————————————————————-

I’ll end by asking for some help. Could someone who has access to ST’s premium service, copy and past the u/m article in the comments section to this article (Scan article also can do). Need to confirm what I think the article said. There’s another Bill Ng story in the writing, if I get access to the article.

Football: Albirex Niigata go down to Chinatown People’s Park, Football News & Top Stories – The Straits Times The controversial clubhouse at the centre of last year’s Football Association of Singapore (FAS) election donation saga will reopen today under the new ownership of Singapore Premier League (SPL … www.straitstimes.com

https://www.straitstimes.com/sport/football/albirex-go-down-to-peoples-park

Jolovan’s latest problem shows Sylvia Lim’s and my prescience

 

And that Terry Xu has a good point on the police and constructive, nation-building media.”

Many moons ago, I asked:

“Jogging alone can be illegal?

‘If wearing the wrong tee-shirt or singlet?”

Well something like it has happened here.

Social worker and activist Jolovan Wham is being investigated for protesting outside State Courts without a valid permit, police said on Saturday (Mar 2)*.

Seriously, Auntie Sylvia was absolutely right in 2007 and 2009 when she spoke out publicly:

“The change in definition of “assembly” and “procession” is more disturbing. As the Explanatory Statement to the Bill says, these words are no longer restricted to gatherings of 5 persons or more. This means even ONE person alone can constitute illegal assembly, thus giving the State complete control over an individual citizen’s freedoms.

‘First, to say that 1 person constitutes an assembly is certainly an abuse of the word. Secondly, is the government making the change because there had been incidents involving less than 5 persons which had disrupted public life? Unless there is compelling evidence to prove to us that expanding the definition of assembly and procession is needed, this expansion does not deserve our support,”  Sylvia Lim in parly in 2009.

Earlier, in 2007, she had said:

“This refers to clauses 29 and 30 of the Bill. By clause 29 of the Bill, we are removing the heading “Offences Against Public Tranquility” and replacing it with “Offences relating to Unlawful Assembly”. By Clause 30, we will be deleting “mischief or trespass or other offence” and replacing it with “to commit any offence”.

S 141 has been amended to bring it in line with a recent Court of Appeal case: PP v Tan Meng Khin [1995] 2 SLR 505. Now, an assembly will be unlawful if people intend to commit an offence punishable with imprisonment of 6 mths or more, even if it is peaceful and does not disturb public tranquillity. Under our law, a person who organizes a procession or assembly after the police rejection of a permit can be punished with max 6 months jail under the Miscellaneous Offences Act. Hence 5 or more people who gather to do so will become members of an unlawful assembly.

As our society continues to evolve, the time is surely ripe for us to allow peaceful outdoor protests as a form of expression. By all means, we can have rules about how, where and when such processions may be held, but wider law reform is needed. S 141 should be restricted to offences which threaten the public peace, and other laws such as the Miscellaneous Offences Act which require permits for peaceful assemblies should be modified.”

Jogging alone can be illegal?

Terry Xu wrote on FB yesterday

[T]he shocking part for me, is that the Police had provided information to the media to create an impression that Wham willfully committed an offence on 13 Dec despite being warned.

This is even before any charge is being made against Wham and established that a protest was being held in front of the state court. What is factually established is Wham took a photo in front of the state court with a piece of paper that had some wordings. He was not being approached by any officers nor arrested for his act, which would imply it was either too insignificant or too short of a time period to be noticed by the guards.

Also, the act of taking a photo should not be considered an offence as photographers from the media take photos of suspects on a regular basis. Unless there is a blatant double standard by the Police.

Yet the Police and the media frame it up as an act which justifies the investigation launched upon Wham.

It’s not shocking to me, or I’m sure, Auntie.

As I wrote many moons ago, try walking or jogging alone wearing a “Free our CPF” singlet: remember that any public assembly of more than one person needs police permission.

But what about wearing a tee shirt with a Oppo party logo, drinking teh tarik as social media celebrities Ravi and Jeannette Chong used to do when they were NSP tua kees? Nothing happened to them.

Seems anything the PAP administration or the SPF doesn’t like can be an illegal assembly.

Sad. Because discretionary, or vaguely worded powers can one day be turned against you, the upright, civic, PAP-voting S’porean; not juz against the usual suspects like Jolovan Wham.

Vote wisely.

Related posts:

PAP uses Lawfare against its opponents?

Seelan Palay: Sylvia Lim was right

Jolovan Wham: Nothing wrong in asking Tun M to intervene in S’porean affairs

Why Jolovan Wham’s vigil singled out?

---

*CNA report goes on

Wham had posted a photo on Dec 13 on social media channels, which showed him standing outside the court complex while holding up a piece of paper that read: “Drop the charges against Terry Xu and Daniel De Costa.”

The protest happened the same day Terry Xu, the editor of socio-political website The Online Citizen, and Daniel De Costa were charged for publishing an article that alleged corruption among the Singapore Government’s highest officers.

In response to Channel NewsAsia’s queries, police said that Wham had written to the police earlier in November to apply for a permit to stage a protest outside the State Courts. His application was not approved.

“The State Courts is gazetted as a Prohibited Area under the Public Order Act, with stricter security protocols,” police said.

“He was well aware that a police permit was required for such an event. Still, he went ahead to protest outside the State Courts on Dec 13, 2018.”

Read more at https://www.channelnewsasia.com/news/singapore/police-investigating-activist-jolovan-wham-protest-state-courts-11305502

 

 

 

Gods punishing Potong Pasir residents for voting PAP?

In the space of the last few days, the constructive, nation-building media reported without comment (Imagine if these bad things had happened in Aljunied or Hougang?):

Giant trap to control Javan Myna population trialed in Potong Pasir

Read more at https://www.channelnewsasia.com/news/singapore/javan-myna-birds-potong-pasir-giant-trap-trial-ava-11069350

and

Burst pipe in Potong Pasir leaves homes without water for several hours

Read more at https://www.channelnewsasia.com/news/singapore/burst-pipe-potong-pasir-leaves-homes-without-water-hours-11064146

It could be that the Gods are punishing the residents of Potong Pasir for preferring material benefits that the PAP offers in return for deserting the Chiams.

Will the residents repent abandoning the Chiams in 2011 and not turning back to them in 2015? Will they vote for Mrs Chiam in next GE?

Seriously, I’m shocked that anti-PAP publications like TOC, TRE and The Idiots, and the cybernuts on social media are not using the incidents to show that the PAP govt is incompetent: it can’t even look after areas that support the PAP.

Maybe, these people are on luxury holidays overseas and so missed the news.

But most probably, the cybernuts (not enough money to even donate peanuts to keep alive TOC and TRE let alone go on luxury hols) are distracted by what they consider as the persecutions of Uncle Leong, Terry and Daniel Augustin De Costa aka Willy Sum: PAP & strategic distraction

Or even more likely, the PAP has succeeded in frightening the chickens and sheep by suing a few monkeys.

What do you think?

Prosperous 2019. Vote wisely but not for the three stooges: Mad Dog, Lim Tean, Meng Seng where are yr durians?. And make a distinction between Dr Chee and the SDP.

Willy Sum: cybernuts’ new hero

Since born-loser Roy Ngerng buggered off to Taiwan to find love, our cybernuts have been looking desperately for a new hero to egg on and cheer on.

---

Why Roy Ngerng is a born-loser

Taiwanese voters … approved three initiatives to curb gay rights. Taiwan’s constitutional court has ruled that the government must allow some form of gay marriage. The referendum result complicates the government’s undertaking to enforce that ruling.

Economist

Roy is still in an illicit affair.

—————————————-

Cybernuts now have Willy Sum who allegedly alleged high level govt corruption (but hasn’t yet produced the evidence). For his pains, he had his home ransacked and electronic equipment seized by the police for a possible offence of “criminal defamation” after IMDA lodged a police report. It’s widely believed that this is the first time, a govt agency or department has lodged a report for “criminal defamation”.

But Willy’s he’s cybernut nor is he juz a talk cock, sing song paper warrior. He’s a social activist (like Terry of Terry’s Online Channel) who uses words in place of stones to try to get justice for the helpless.

In Is Singapore a police state?, Teo Soh Lung, another activist, tells us about his work

Willy is a good listener. He spends hours listening to people pouring out their troubles. He writes about their hardship and problems. He highlights the problems they face, occasionally using online platforms like TOC and Transitioning.org. He writes about their inability to cope with the high cost of living, their joblessness and occasionally their brush with the law. He helps them to communicate with relevant ministries and is simply elated when his letters receive the necessary attention and the status of his “clients” is improved. His “clients” are grateful to him and he is happy. He is a sort of the olden days “petition writers” except that he does that all for free.

Recently, he helped Siti, a mother of three with this article published in Transitioning.org: ”Kids taken away from custody of parents by MSF even after negative drug test“.

Siti’s children were removed from her custody by the very ministry that was supposed to help her hold her family together. When everything failed and she was pushed to the wall, Willy came to her rescue. Shortly after the publication of Siti’s letter in Transitioning.org, her three children were reunited with her. Thanks to Transitioning.org and Willy.

Morocco Mole tells me that his cousins in Home Team say Willy should only get a warning not to repeat his allegation about corruption in high places if he repents. Let’s hope this happens and that Willy learns his lesson.

He was doing valuable work helping the helpless and I hope he can return to his valuable, useful work. He should not listen to the cybernut mob cheering, and egging him on: though based on his open letter below, I think he’s going down the path Roy Ngerng took.

This is Willy’s open letter to S’poreans.

Dear Fellow Singaporeans,

It has been a tulmetenous period for both TOC’s Mr Terry Xu and myself, since our undue “arrests” a fortnight ago.

We have been rounded up by top CID officers, possibly under directions from the Commissioner himself! We had our IT equipment seized, the items that have very much been the tools of our fight against modern day oppression and one that brought to light countless discrepancies for public attention and discourse. Otherwise, these contentious issues would go unchallenged and not have brought improvements to the lives of our people.

I was served with a SPF letter dated the day itself, with constant threats of Warrants of Arrest from the Magistrate should I not turn up for questioning on their stipulated day and time. Even the worst suspects have between 2 to 3 weeks to show up for questioning! My personal emails and messages to irrelevant parties like Mr Pritam Singh were also accessed during the “criminal defamation” probe. I feel violated, totally devoid of human dignity and handled like an enemy of the State, akin to the time when Hitler rounded up the Jews for extermination!

What still motivates me to write on social justice issues is the undeniable fact that many pressing matters can be traced to our oligarchy system of governance, which provides little to no checks of an absolute power and State Institutions/Functions have been reduced to a sham! Statements by the establishment to voice out on occurrences we deem suspicious, have been met with threats or the brute force of government agencies.

I am not undermining confidence in the government but that trust has already been eroded since the amendment to the Constitution for a Reserved Presidency, non-committal of the GST hike despite assurances there will not be one until 2025, plummeting housing prices with no solution at sight and not forgetting, the 38 Oxley Rd saga with its many deafening allegations.

Are these the values upon which our Founding Fathers built this Nation? If not, then what happened to them, especially so soon after the demise of Mr LKY? Even as the dust has not yet settled on our case, I urge you to take time to ponder on what kind of society you want for yourselves and if the present system is tenable for your dreams and ideals?

We, the bloggers and civil activists have done all we can in good conscience and often at our own expense and safety, to make heard your voices and fight for what you deserve! We have now been bogged down with lawsuits and criminal charges one after another by the State.

We hope you will continue this strive for a better society and appoint from among yourselves, courageous people to do so as we may not be able to hold on much longer as we wish we could.

#In Good Conscience

Willy Sum

P/S: Willy Sum is a pen name and not representative of anyone.

His mum, Judy Wan emailed TRE as follows

The authorities are alleging that my son and Mr Xu are conspirators to publish the article in question and we having been in constant contact with Mr Xu is simply ridiculous. We do not possess his cell phone number!

If I am not wrong, this is one of the rare time in Singapore’s history that Criminal Defamation had been invoked to deal with two civilians. They were not used previously on The Late Hon. J B Jeyaratnam and Dr Chee Soon Juan.

My son and I were surrounded by police around 2.30pm yesterday at the void deck, which caused a mini commotion among our neighbours sitting below and attracted curious onlookers. We were told to cancel our Grab booking and disallowed to go anywhere.

We were then escorted up by the officers who conveyed to us their intention of seizing our electronics regardless of ownership of the items, armed with court warrants.

In the flat, my son was being queried extensively on his association with a childhood friend, his activist activities and a confirmation of what police had gathered about my son from relatives and friends. My younger siblings contacts and addresses were also taken to facilitate further investigations. I remain disturbed at such excessive surveillance on two very ordinary civilians while criminal investigations on the abandoned “Masarati” case at Senette Estate, cheating by IOC and Cuffz holdings amongst other pressing cases remains inconclusive.

We were treated as though we are big time criminals with absolutely no rights! I wonder why it is legal for the authorities to keep tabs on us while illegal for us to do the same to them?

The IO then brought my son to the staircase landing where they had a “private conversation” and I can second guess where that was leading to. After 2 hours, police proceeded to impound the items and informed us of “consequences” should they uncover anything incriminating from the devices. My son asked for assurances that passwords or other personal info not be divulged to other parties but police were unable to provide the confirmation.

State-approved media later spun the story out of context in the evening, implying that people can lose faith in the PAP following this publication when no one has even step forward to claim so! The only barometer to gauge this will be conclusion of the next General Elections.

I vividly recalled Ms Sylvia Lim’s speeches on the 38 Oxley Rd saga and the amendment to the Presidential Election, to halt “tampering” with the Constitution and “safeguard” the Public Institutions before it is too late! Is that considered defamatory as well?

I am only a low wage admin worker drawing a meagre salary and took 11 months to painstakingly save up $680 to plan a small scale celebration for my birthday next Friday. This has presently been destroyed yesterday once police disallowed us to leave the Country and UOB refusing to refund the money paid.

I understand State strategy to be draining the financial resources of litigants until they are crushed into pleading guilty!

My son has since taken ill from this undue episode with gastronomic condition and massive migraine! He will be requesting a later date for statement taking as he is not in the right frame to do a recording at the moment.

I feel very distressed and vulnerable going through this alone as my religious community is based overseas and have no one to turn to after my husband died 7 years back. Does not help with no safeguards in the law to guarantee my son and I will not be arrested when we step out of the house for breakfast tomorrow morning?

Crazy Rich Ganga User jailed for another yr

In Yet another Crazy Rich Asian druggie has gd lawyer, I blogged about how Metro scion Ong Jenn had a good lawyer that got him off on a lesser charge than what the prosecution wanted.

The prosecution appealed saying he should be convicted of abetting to traffic drug. But a High  Court judge dismissed the appeal against the conviction and against Ong’s reduced charges, to rule that he should not be convicted of abetting to traffic drugs.

But as for the prosecution’s appeal against the sentence, the judge agreed that the should jail term extended by a year to three years.

Even in S’pore where “Money talks, BS walks”, money can’t get a person everything.

Why S377A is a gate worth storming, or defending/ Legal basis of repeal

Hawkergate* (thankfully because the focus has shifted to a bread-and-kaya issue not air fairy human rights) has made anti-PAP S’poreans especially the cybernuts forget about the attempt to repeal 377A. So let’s spend a few minutes (only a few) to reflect on why the zealots on both sides of the Pink line think the row is very impt. And why most of us are boh chap the issue, unlike on Hawkergate.

The attempt to repeal section 377A in the Penal Code is the mother of all battles for the Talinanites of both sides because a victory for the repealers will open the mountain pass, or the gate of the fortress or Great Wall to the “barbarians” as the other side sees them. Of course, the stormers say history is on their side and objectively they are right.

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Other Gay Suff

Male gays here: On “permanent” parole

Gays versus Taliban Christians etc

Oppressed to Oppressor: Pastor Khong describes Christianity’s evolution, not the gays’ agenda

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For those who fight for the retention of S377A, they know (rightly) that the “barbarians” (or “progressives”) will then fight for legal same-sex marriage. This will then lead to same-sex married couples becoming eligible to buy HDB flats and govt grants. It’s all about money, ain’t it?

….Then it will lead to toilet issues like man cross-dresses to woman’s attire entering women’s toilet, education system and curriculum, neighbours, etc and will lead to many other issues. Hence, it is better to keep 377A status quo. What they do privately in their bedrooms is their business.

FB post

So the fight to retain 377A is to head off the legalisation of gay marriages in the future. S377A has to be repealed first. If it’s repealed tomorrow, one less barrier or hurdle to overcome.

Onto the legal basis of the challenge

The lawyers of Johnson Ong who is taking legal action to repeal the law which criminalises sex between two men,  Mr Eugene Thuraisingam and Mr Suang Wijaya

will highlight the concept of human dignity, which was not argued in a previous challenge filed four years ago.

They will argue that Section 377A “violates human dignity”, and that sexual orientation “is unchangeable or suppressible at unacceptable personal cost”.

They will adduce expert evidence, which was also not led in the 2014 case that was struck down. They include proof that same-gender sexual orientation (including identity, behaviour, and attraction), and variations in gender identity and gender expression are “a part of the normal spectrum of human diversity and do not constitute a mental disorder”.

If established that sexual orientation is unchangeable or suppressible, they will argue that the criminalising of consensual sex is a violation of human dignity and breaches Article 9(1) of the Constitution, which states “no one shall be deprived of life and personal liberty save in accordance with law”.

The lawyers will also argue that there have been many changes and legal developments around the world since the October 2014 challenge was struck down.

https://www.todayonline.com/singapore/dj-has-file-his-evidence-challenging-section-377a-nov-20

I wish them well but point out that the predecessor of s377A was the law of the land long before the Con was enacted. The Indian case is not binding on our courts, as the lawyers know. Besides it’s an Indian, not an ang moh ruling: even for our ethnic Indian judges.

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*The Hard Truth about hawker food: Link edited at 7.30am after first publication

Yet another Crazy Rich Asian druggie has gd lawyer

Looks like Crazy Rich Asians want to flaunt their drug taking habits and their ability to get the best lawyers to get them out of trouble.

Last week we had this: Crazy Rich Asian’s excuse for taking drugs. Her lawyer argued unsuccessfully that her kid’s and her parents divorce made her into an acid head. She’s appealing the sentence.

Yesterday we learnt that another Crazy Rich Asian consumed about 350g of illegal drugs a month (Morocco Mole tells me that that’s a lot) with a High Court judge pointing out that the supply he had and planned to get would have lasted him more than two months based on this consumption.

More from our constructive, nation-building media

A High Court judge on Monday (Oct 15) dismissed the prosecution’s appeal against Metro family scion Ong Jenn, agreeing with a District Court ruling that he should not be convicted of abetting to traffic in drugs.

Ong, a business development manager with Metro Holdings, is serving a two-year jail sentence after pleading guilty to two counts of attempted possession of controlled drugs.

Arguing that the 43-year-old should be convicted of the original charges of abetting to traffic controlled drugs, the prosecution appealed against his reduced charges as well as the sentence imposed on those reduced charges.

On May 12 last year, Ong admitted to the attempted possession of controlled drugs charges after a six-day trial. Back then, District Judge Jasvender Kaur agreed with Ong’s argument that the drugs — 92.68g of cannabis and 385.1g of cannabis mixture — were solely for his own consumption.

https://www.todayonline.com/singapore/appeal-against-metro-scion-ong-jenns-acquittal-drug-trafficking-abetment-charges-dismissed

Crazy Rich Asian’s excuse for taking drugs

But first, she could have killed or injured people by

driving her car — a Toyota Vellfire — onto a kerb along Newton Road. It collided into a central divider and hit a traffic light.

She caused the lamp post near the traffic light to fall, blocking the opposite side of the road.

https://www.todayonline.com/singapore/socialite-daughter-hour-glass-founders-gets-jail-fine-drug-consumption-traffic-offences?fbclid=IwAR3xWiXsP2PQ9zAndVRC6UZTVkic0FznHC_5RxRmsMWc8ae3oMivn5d5Gow

Who she?

The socialite daughter of the founders of luxury watch retailer The Hour Glass was sentenced to 22 months’ jail and a S$1,000 fine by the District Court on Thursday (Oct 11) for drug consumption and driving without due care.

Audrey Tay has also been disqualified from driving for 18 months. She is fined in default of a one-week imprisonment for the traffic offence.

In August, the 45-year-old pleaded guilty to four counts of consuming and possessing ketamine as well as for driving without due care.

Five other charges, which include consumption and possession of drugs such as methamphetamine and ketamine, were taken into consideration for sentencing.

As she has money

She is appealing against the sentence and has been granted bail. Her bail Pleading for leniency on Thursday, defence lawyer Eugene Thuraisingam said that pyschiatric reports showed that Tay was suffering from depression due to her “oldest daughter’s rejection” of her.

The ST report of the same speech said that he said she was badly affected by her parents’ divorce in 2010.

Related post:A Really Crazy Rich Asian

 

A Really Crazy Rich Asian

Who juz happens to be low-class, violent and arrogant, most unlike Eleanor Young, even if they are of the same age cohort.

A 73-year-old woman, Shi Ka Yee, will be jailed for four weeks’ and disqualified from driving for six months for punching a motorist who had refused to make way for her red Ferrari. She lost her appeal against the original sentence.

Taz not all

A 73-year-old Ferrari driver who has repeatedly landed in legal trouble over road rage incidents was back in court on Tuesday (14 August).

Shi Ka Yee had been upset over her neighbour having hired workers to trim the branches of a rain tree growing on her Astrid Hill property and removed the key from the crane the workers were using, leaving one of them trapped in its basket. In a separate incident, she attempted to flee from the police in her car after having consumed alcohol while at the Grand Hyatt hotel.

At the State Courts, Shi pleaded guilty to one count of wrongful confinement, one count of committing a rash act to endanger the personal safety of others and one count of drink driving. She agreed to have three similar counts taken into consideration for her sentencing – the date for which has not been set.

https://sg.news.yahoo.com/ferrari-driver-admits-trapping-worker-crane-rash-act-drink-driving-072203533.html

Time for her to be confined in our very own Arkham?

[W]hat Woodbridge is to S’pore, Arkham is to Gotham City. For those who are wondering, the Elizabeth Arkham Asylum for the Criminally Insane, called Arkham Asylum or juz Arkham is where many of Batman’s opponents are locked up for treatment.

M Ravi apologises for assaults after pleading guilty

Rape trial reminds me of Hawaii Five-0 episode

Taking the stand for the first time at her husband’s rape trial on Wednesday (July 11), the wife of general practitioner Wee Teong Boo said he could not have raped his patient as he was unable to achieve and sustain an erection.

Today

This reminded me of an episode in the original 1960s and 70s series. A decorated marine was accused of rape and murder, which he denied. The case seemed an open and shut case because all the circomstantial evidence pointed to him. But in the final scene, Steve McGarrett told the suspect that the police had medical evidence that he was unable to achieve and sustain an erection, and so he could not have committed the crime.

Steve McGarrett asked him why didn’t he tell them of his medical condition because it was only through luck that the police found the evidence that cleared him. Didn’t he realise that he could be executed if found guilty?

He remained silent (I think) but the anguish and shame showed on his face.

Fake news law: Malays not stupid

The Malays ruling M’sia show that authorities in SE Asia (S’pore included) got a point on need of a “fake news” law.

M’sia’s first use of its newly passed “fake news” law will have ang moh tua kees here wondering what hit them. They’ll have to admit that the actions of one Sulaiman (who pleaded guilty) shows the need for such a law even if it limits freedom of expression:

A Malaysian court has convicted a Danish citizen over inaccurate criticism of police on social media, the first person to be prosecuted under a new law against fake news.

Salah Salem Saleh Sulaiman, 46, was charged with spreading false news after he posted a video on YouTube accusing police of taking 50 minutes to respond to distress calls after the shooting of a Palestinian lecturer on 21 April.

Police said they took eight minutes to respond to the shooting in the capital, Kuala Lumpur. The charge against Sulaiman said he had “with ill intent, published fake news through a video on YouTube”.

Sulaiman, who was not represented at the court hearing, pleaded guilty, but said the video was posted in a “moment of anger” and he did not mean any harm. “I agreed I made a mistake … I seriously apologise to everybody inMalaysia, not just in the Malaysian police,” said Sulaiman, a Danish citizen of Yemeni descent.

From ang moh tua kees favourite newspaper https://www.theguardian.com/world/2018/apr/30/first-person-convicted-under-malaysias-fake-news-law

It’s a sad day for the ang moh tua kees here and the rest of SE Asia because

Governments elsewhere in south-east Asia, including Singapore and the Philippines, have also proposed laws aimed at clamping down on the spread of fake news, to the dismay of media rights advocates.

What “fake” news will be allowed

Adding to my tots in Fake news traffickers will be hanged

there was this

“Any information related to 1Malaysia Development Bhd (1MDB) that has not been verified by the Government is considered fake news.

Datuk Jailani Johari (pic), the Deputy Communications and Multimedia Minister, explained that fake news is information that is confirmed to be untrue, especially by the authorities or parties related to the news.”*

Read more at https://www.thestar.com.my/news/nation/2018/03/21/unverfied-info-on-1mdb/#QKmu29kU273TUQuU.99

M’sia is introducing legislation that would result in people found guilty of publishing “fake news” being jailed for up to 10 years or face fines of up to M$500,000: http://www.bbc.com/news/world-asia-43538109

This reminded me of

 

 

The Straits Times (ST) splashed on the front page today (16 Mar) the headline, “Fewer foreigners, more locals in workforce last year“.

It reported that the number of foreigners working in Singapore fell by 32,000 last year – the biggest in 15 years, ST said.

However buried within the artcle ST did report that the decline was mostly due to fewer work permit holders due to weakness in the construction and marine industries. For more read https://www.theonlinecitizen.com/2018/03/16/net-increase-in-foreign-pmets-last-year/

I think ST’s headline is more than misleading or misrepresenting the truth: it’s “fake” news analysis. Inconvenient facts are “hidden” from view.

Sadly this is the kind of “fake” news that will be allowed. Why? Because ST and other constructive, nation-building publications and channels practice it as part of nation-building.

In times of universal deceit, telling the truth is a revolutionary act

George Orwell

Sadly in S’pore our anti-PAP cybernuts do not believe in doing revoluntary acts. They’d rather tell lies too: think Phillip Ang.

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*But then

Communications and Multimedia Minister Salleh Said Keruak (above) today assured that the US Department of Justice (DOJ) filings on 1MDB won’t be considered fake news.

He said this during a meeting with foreign correspondents today which also saw the government tabling its the Anti-Fake News Bill in Parliament.

“You can quote them, what did they say, based on the filings. It is not considered fake news.

“It’s their views. Like DOJ, you quote them, what they said,” he said.

 

Fake news traffickers will be hanged

That was my tot when I read on FB

Singapore may fight fake news in the same way as drugs: Puthucheary

(Constructive, nation-building headline last week)

My FB avater commented: Hang convicted people isit? Terry Xu u have been warned.

TX: I am always prepared to die for what I am doing. So not much of a threat.

My avater: Respect.

Seriously, other than hanging convicted traffickers of “fake news”, there’s another probability about what the FT (He sneered at those who did NS) jnr minister wants: there’ll be no presumption of innoncence for those accused of trafficking in fake news. They got to prove their innocence.

If a suspect is caught with a prescribed amount of an illegal drug, it is deemed to be a trafficker and liable to be hung. It’s up to the suspect to prove that it isn’t a trafficker.

So maybe a suspect traffickier of ‘fake” news has to prove his innocence?  Stuff from certain sites like “The Indian Idiots — S’pore” are presumed to be “fake” unless proven otherwise by the suspect? Maybe anything that Dr Chee says will be deemed to ne “fake” news, until proven otherwise?

And maybe the presumption of guilt can be overturned by showing that the “fake” item was from a report that orginated from the constructive, nation-building local media like Mothership or ST? Or that a govt agency said it?

And maybe there’ll be a law that says that whatever a minister or govt agency says is the truth: those who allege otherwise will be deemed to be traffickers of fake news who will have to prove their innocence like drug “traffickers”.

The mind boggles.

Freedom to be offensive: West following PAP’s lead?

Talking about Western liberal democracies, the Economist wrote sometime back

it is worth remembering that in the distant and not-so-distant past, the authorities took it as read that certain ways of thinking and speaking were so manifestly dangerous and disruptive to society that they should be prevented in every possible way. The “freedom to be wrong” is a new and precarious concept, and there is no guarantee that it will survive.

In our time, there are plenty of ideas that are viewed in the liberal Western world as not merely wrong but obnoxious and outside the limits of decent discourse: holocaust denial and openly racist or sexist ideas would be high on most people’s lists.

https://www.economist.com/blogs/erasmus/2017/08/inquisitors-internet

So the PAP’s views that race matters, or cannot be offensive or obnoxious (all of which incidentally originally came from the British colonial administration*: Even PAP govt thinks ang moh tua kee) is being copied by the ang mohs?

After all a very recent European Court of Human Rights (the ECHR is an organisation of the 47-nation Council of Europe) ruling accepted that liberty of expression carried certain responsibilities, including a duty not to be “gratuitously offensive or profane”: https://www.economist.com/blogs/erasmus/2018/02/advertising-and-faith

Not really because as Cherian George last week (before the  ECHR ruling was made public) in response to this question

Q: Can you comment on the differences between Singapore’s laws on hate speech and those of Western Europe? I ask this question because the defenders of Singapore’s restrictions on freedom of speech almost always bring up Germany’s laws on holocaust denial and other restrictions on speech.

said

Even Germany, which treats hate speech very seriously, only prohibits speech that carries a real risk of actual harm, like promoting discrimination against minorities or causing them to live in fear (and of course inciting violence and genocide, which even the Americans are willing to regulate). But in Singapore, the government also prohibits speech that offends people’s feelings, even if there’s no objective harm that would arise from it. That’s the difference. When you legislate against insult or wounded feelings, the way Singapore does, you are allowing the law to be used as a weapon to silence speech that may be quite necessary.

https://www.facebook.com/notes/cherian-george/on-media-politics-and-stranger-things/10154934466551612/

But given his views on the PAP, he would say that, wouldn’t he?

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*One law in the UK for the British establishment (the plebs didn’t matter in Victorian and Edwardian times), but another law for “lesser breeds” that needed to be kept in check, lest they overthrew the natural order of things. Remember that like S’pore today, the British empire was multilingual, multiracial, multireligious and multicultural, and there wasn’t any aspiration to be

one united people,

regardless of race, language or religion,

D-Day for M Ravi

Update at 2.00pm: Ravi was sentenced to an 18-month mandatory treatment order on Friday (Jan 5) for causing hurt to two lawyers, and breaking into an office.

Ravi has to comply with five conditions under the mandatory treatment order. He has to undertake blood tests as and when required to determine that he has taken his medication and will need to undergo psychological sessions at the Institute of Mental Health.

Ravi will also have to agree to have his private psychiatrist, Mr Munidasa Winslow, share information with the IMH team.

Read more at https://www.channelnewsasia.com/news/singapore/m-ravi-given-18-month-mandatory-treatment-order-after-assaulting-9835020

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Doom Day for Ravi. Later today, He’ll appear in court to find out if he’ll get a MTO order or go to prison. The former is the more likely outcome. It’ll not be a good day for Ravi, whatever happens. In a way, MTO is worse than going to prison because he’s an icon of local and foreign human right activists, and other anti-PAP types.

The court ordered last year that Ravi (after he pleaded guilty to a string of serious offences) be assessed by an Institute of Mental Health (IMH) psychiatrist as to his suitability for a Mandatory Treatment Order (MTO)

A MTO is “a community-based sentencing option where offenders undergo mental health treatment in lieu of jail”.

M Ravi apologises for assaults after pleading guilty

Given the severity of the charges he pleaded guilty to (2 assaults and breaking into an office and “Four other charges, including two counts of public nuisance at the Sri Mariamman Temple on Jul 31 and Aug 11 this year, will be taken into consideration during sentencing.”), one would have tot a MTO is better than going to prison.

But as a TRE reader put it

nathan:

November 28, 2017 at 4:19 am  (Quote)

If the Mandatory Treatment Order comes to pass then Ravi can be detained in the IMH indefinetly at the mercy of psychiatry review after psychiatry reviews stretching for years until the panel of IMH doctors all agrees that Ravi is ready for release for outpatient treatment. I am sure Ravi is aware of the implication and will resist it best as he can in Court. The MOT is more feared than a normal jail sentence for those familiar with our criminal justice system.

Has Ravi apologised for abusing and hurting a grieving mum?

He’s right. Local and foreign human right activists, and other anti-PAP types are worried that, through a MTO, Ravi will be locked away forever and a day.

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Light reading for the weekend: M Ravi’s grandfather’s parliament, is it?

_______________________________________________________

But for those of us who wish him well, a MTO is the only way he’ll be treated properly. This assesment is based on what has happened to him when he was allowed to take his medicine voluntarily. In 2006 – 2007, before he became an icon for the local and foreign human rights activists, he had to serve out a MTO: he had pleaded guilty to causing a public disturbance outside a mosque. Incidentally, this was the first time his bi-polar condition became public knowledge.

The treatment worked and Ravi was soon released. He was thought suitable for the usual treatment for bi-polar sufferers.

Since then his regular manic episodes and his repeated boasts of refusing to take his medicine are on public record. As are his claims, whenever he got into trouble, that he was sorry for his misbehaviour and that he was now taking his medicine.

 

 

Facebook see govt no ak is it?

The details of 263 Facebook users were requested by the Singapore Government between January and June this year, the social media company revealed in a report released on Monday (Dec 18).

The Government made a total of 204 requests for such information, according to the Facebook Transparency Report. Facebook complied with 59 per cent of the requests.

Read more at https://www.channelnewsasia.com/news/singapore/263-facebook-user-details-requested-by-singapore-government-9513160

The BBC reports

Figures provided by Facebook suggest it handed over data in 85% of requests from US law enforcement and 90% in the UK.

So the S’pore authorities requests were rejected a lot more than requests by the Brits and Americans.

“Why liddat?”, we should be asking. Ang moh tua kee isit? China is sure to take note as Zuckerberg is trying to get the Chinese to allow FB in. I doubt if Chinais impressed that FB rejects so many of our govt’s requests since we and China are one-party states. Related posts Keeping power in a one-party state

But to be fair to the PAPpies, S’pore’s reject rate is the same as that of Germany.

Btw, three cheers for ST for reporting the UK and US numbers alonside that of S’pore’s. I’m sure someone sure kanna call up to lim kopi.

Why Jolovan Wham’s vigil singled out?

I understand quiet vigils outside Changi Prison have been “allowed” for a long time. So the police intervention to disrupt* part of the vigil for Prabagaran was surprising; as was the investigation of the vigil, the charge against Jolovan Wham and warning letters issued to the usual suspects present at the vigil: the usual trouble makers like Kirsten Han.

When TRE used Why Jolovan Wham kanna whack? there was a response from a TRE reader that may shed some light on why the police did what they did.

nathan:

December 2, 2017 at 4:07 pm  (Quote)

The G was feeling the heat and getting nervous with the execution of Singaporean drug trafficker Muhammad Ridzuan Md Ali, 31 who, was executed on Friday (May 19) at Changi Prison. His accomplice was spare the noose while Ridzuan refused to rat on others involved to the CNB. So one get a second chance to live while the other got to die for the same capital offence.

For once, there was an outpouring of collect grief by the Malay community. It was an unprecedented sympathetic huge gathering at Ridzuan funeral as he was buried and lay to rest at the Muslim cemetery captured for all to see beamed live via videos in the Internet that must taken the Government aback.

Not long after this execution it was the turn of a Malaysian drug trafficker Prabagaran to be hanged. Jolovan Wham held an vigil for him. Unfortunately for JW, the G was not in the mood for any activists to play up any unwanted publicity for Prabagaran after what the G had seen of the aftermath of executed Ridzuan.

…

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*Kirsten Han’s FB post

About 15 people, including Prabagaran’s family, are gathered outside Changi Prison for a vigil for Prabagaran, who is scheduled to be hanged at 6am.

We put up photos of Praba and lit tea lights for him at about 11:15pm. At about 11:30pm the police came to tell us that we can’t set up the candles and photos. They asked that we put out the candles and said they had to seize everything according to their police procedure. They filmed and photographed everything – including the people who were present – and took away the candles and photos.

It seems like we’re able to stay.

[UPDATE at 6:40am] People dispersed around 1:15am to get showers/rest/food. We met up again at about 5am. Praba’s family were able to stand by the fence and pray. Thank you to all those who attended the vigil or sent your thoughts and wishes to the family.

 

Jolovan Wham: Money talks, BS Walks do-gooders

My FB avater is kinda tired of getting messages from do-gooders to sign a petition to get the authorities to drop the charges against Jolovan Wham. It’s as futile an exercise as Inderjit Singh banging his turban against a wall asking for help for SMEs. It’s a waste of time.

When TRE used Why Jolovan Wham kanna whack? a TRE reader made a suggestion that these do-gooders would be wise to follow: help raise money “for him to fight the case”.

ftvhunik:

December 2, 2017 at 6:34 pm  (Quote)

If can, someone just do crowdfunding for him to fight the case. Tbh, if one want to make a different for sg, either change from within, study well and join the opposition, be an activist but knowing the law well or simply escape this country for good. You will never get a good ending when you against the gov.

Singaporeans are not worth for all these sacrifices that you have done for them, they will u turn taking advantage of you and ungrateful to you by calling you dumb instead. Just let them screw and suffer from the shitty policies, one day they will wake up themselves and understand things.

Kee Chui those willing to donate?

Why Jolovan Wham kanna whack?

Wham was charged with seven charges by the Attorney-General’s Chambers which include three counts of organizing a public assembly without a police permit and one count of vandalism for sticking two A-4 paper on a MRT train. Details: https://www.theonlinecitizen.com/2017/11/28/activist-to-be-charged-by-police-for-various-offences-in-court/

“Wham is recalcitrant and has repeatedly shown blatant disregard for the law, especially with regard to organizing or participating in illegal public assemblies,” the police said in a written statement.

But is lawfare and rule by law being used against him? PAP uses Lawfare against its opponents? 

Yesterday, in What do social activists like Jolovan Wham etc want? I drew attention to a FB post that mocked social activists

So, what do some civil society activists want? As far as one can determine, they want “restorative justice” for ex-ISA detainees; they want S377a to be repealed; they want both capital and corporal punishment to be abolished; they want freedom of assembly anywhere in public; they want freedom of speech and oppose politicians initiating actions for defamation.

The above list (by no means exhaustive) are some of the issues close to the hearts of civil society activists and liberals. Packaged that way, what percentage of the electorate would support those issues? Certainly not the close to 30% that did not vote PAP at GE2015. If one was to hazard a guess, it would be maybe 15% and, it would not come as a surprise, if it was actually under 10%.

I posted it because I agreed with its sentiment that most S’poreans (cybernuts included) do not support the views of these social activities. Which then begs the question, “Why is the PAP govt whacking Jolovan Wham?”

Later in the day, came across a quote from anthropologist Margaret Mead which could explain why the PAP administration charges him with seven offences.

“Never doubt that a small group of thoughtful, committed citizens can change the world; indeed, it’s the only thing that ever has.”

Jolovan Wham is no talk cock, sing song cybernut from TRELand. Or an ang moh tua kee. Or even a cyber-warrior.

He’s a warrior: https://www.nytimes.com/2017/11/29/world/asia/singapore-arrest-protests-gatherings.html?_r=0 .

If he’s found guilty and jailed, this should frighten the other non-warrior social activists, cyber warriors, cybernuts, sheep and chickens.

Which is why this is a lot of BS

One Singapore-based observer said the “seemingly disproportionate” legal response to Wham’s actions brought under scrutiny issues such as executive restraint and proportionality in the Lion City.

http://www.scmp.com/week-asia/politics/article/2122153/new-chee-soon-juan-singapore-activist-jolovan-wham-defiant-after

The actions are not disproponiate.

When the ISA gets used again, like in 1987, against middle-class people, it’ll really show the leopard hasn’t changed its spots and that the light shining from Tharman’s ass is the oncoming light from the PAP juggernaut.

 

M Ravi apologises for assaults after pleading guilty

What was Ravi thinking when he went on a one-man crime wave earlier this year? That he was a super villain like the Joker?

The offences he pleaded guilty to on Monday are serious.

M Ravi, pleaded guilty in court on Nov 27 to assaulting lawyer Jeanette Chong-Aruldoss in August. He also admitted to causing hurt to lawyer Nakoorsha Bin Abdul Kadir on the same day by throwing a handbag at him.

He later made a public apology to both of them. This will disprove the TRE cybernuts who claimed that the lady fixed him by pretending to having been pushed by him.

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As a result of the incident, Mrs Chong-Aruldoss suffered pain on her right shoulder, right hip and right buttock, as well as a bruise on her hip, according to court documents.

CNA

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At the time, Ravi claimed she had pushed him and he pushed back in retaliation.

Ravi also pleaded guilty to breaking into the office of Eugene Thuraisingam at People’s Park Centre in June, when he used a screwdriver to open the metal shutter door of the office.

There’s more

Four other charges, including two counts of public nuisance at the Sri Mariamman Temple on Jul 31 and Aug 11 this year, will be taken into consideration during sentencing.

Read more at http://www.channelnewsasia.com/news/singapore/m-ravi-pleads-guilty-to-assaulting-lawyer-jeanette-chong-9444166

Actually there’s even more. I know of at least one other lawyer that was persuaded by friends of M Ravi not to file a police report. M Ravi punched him.

The good news for those wishing him well (and even those who want crime-free streets here, not the mayhem common in Gotham) is that Ravi will be assessed by an Institute of Mental Health (IMH) psychiatrist as to his suitability for a Mandatory Treatment Order (MTO) and will be back in court on 5 January for sentencing. A MTO is “a community-based sentencing option where offenders undergo mental health treatment in lieu of jail”.

If he is given a MTO, in lieu of jail, he’ll be made to take his medicine whether he likes it or not. When he was going round like a comic book super villain (crossing dressing, assaulting people etc), he readily admitted (on now taken-down videos) that he was not taking his medicine. He said the pills made him sick. Here’s why the pills made him sick: M Ravi out on bail, resting.

Btw, what Woodbridge is to S’pore, Arkham is to Gotham City. For those who are wondering, the Elizabeth Arkham Asylum for the Criminally Insane, called Arkham Asylum or juz Arkham is where many of Batman’s opponents are locked up for treatment.

Seelan Palay: Sylvia Lim was right

Here I made fun of Seelan Palay’s latest attempt to test the OB markers: he crossed a red line after the police tried very hard not to arrest him, but he persisted, “After several failed attempts by the Police to persuade Seelan to leave the area, he was arrested by the Police at 3.20pm.” (TOC report)

Two years ago I wrote about how one person can be arrested for an illegal assembly

Jogging alone can be illegal?

If wearing the wrong tee-shirt or singlet?

Try walkng or jogging alone* wearing a “Free our CPF” singlet: remember that any public assembly of more than one person** needs police permission.

And jogging in a group of two or more”Free our CPF” singlets will be like jogging in groups in Burundi: illegal.

Running is a national pastime in Burundi, with hundreds of people out jogging on weekend mornings. But in March [2014] the authorities banned jogging in groups – unless permission was sought from the authorities. It affects all group sports in the capital, which can now only be played in designated areas.

The restrictions followed the arrest of some opposition members who were out jogging and chanting political slangs. Police officers tried to stop what they regarded as an illegal march and the situation deteriorated into clashes. More than 40 Movement for Solidarity and Democracy (MSD) party members received sentences ranging from five years to life.

Burundi: Where jogging is a crime

Wonder what about wearing a tee shirt with a Oppo party logo, drinking teh tarik as social media celebrities Ravi and Jeannette Chong used to do when they were NSP tua kees.

And what about the crowds assembling to pay their respects to LKY? What about the crowds at the National Museum LKY exhibition?

Seems anything the PAP administration or the SPF doesn’t like can be an illegal assembly.

Related post: PAP uses Lawfare against its opponents?

———‘

*Auntie Sylvia was absolutely right in 2007 and 2009 when she spoke out publicly:

“The change in definition of “assembly” and “procession” is more disturbing. As the Explanatory Statement to the Bill says, these words are no longer restricted to gatherings of 5 persons or more. This means even ONE person alone can constitute illegal assembly, thus giving the State complete control over an individual citizen’s freedoms.

‘First, to say that 1 person constitutes an assembly is certainly an abuse of the word. Secondly, is the government making the change because there had been incidents involving less than 5 persons which had disrupted public life? Unless there is compelling evidence to prove to us that expanding the definition of assembly and procession is needed, this expansion does not deserve our support,”  Sylvia Lim in parly in 2009.

Earlier, in 2007, she had said:

“This refers to clauses 29 and 30 of the Bill. By clause 29 of the Bill, we are removing the heading “Offences Against Public Tranquility” and replacing it with “Offences relating to Unlawful Assembly”. By Clause 30, we will be deleting “mischief or trespass or other offence” and replacing it with “to commit any offence”.

S 141 has been amended to bring it in line with a recent Court of Appeal case: PP v Tan Meng Khin [1995] 2 SLR 505. Now, an assembly will be unlawful if people intend to commit an offence punishable with imprisonment of 6 mths or more, even if it is peaceful and does not disturb public tranquillity. Under our law, a person who organizes a procession or assembly after the police rejection of a permit can be punished with max 6 months jail under the Miscellaneous Offences Act. Hence 5 or more people who gather to do so will become members of an unlawful assembly.

As our society continues to evolve, the time is surely ripe for us to allow peaceful outdoor protests as a form of expression. By all means, we can have rules about how, where and when such processions may be held, but wider law reform is needed. S 141 should be restricted to offences which threaten the public peace, and other laws such as the Miscellaneous Offences Act which require permits for peaceful assemblies should be modified.”

**Two men between the ages of 24 and 25 were arrested by police outside the Istana on Saturday afternoon (Apr 4).

Police said the duo had turned up in front of the Istana with placards at about 4pm. Channel NewsAsia understands that the men were holding signs that read “You can’t silence the people” and “Injustice” for about half an hour. They were clad in identical red hoodies and dark blue jeans.

Police also said both of them had refused to stop the activity despite requests from officers. As such, they were arrested for organising a public assembly without a permit, under Section 16(1)(a) of the Public Order Act, Chapter 257A.

 

 

Seelan Palay is really very happy

Don’t buy the BS that he’s been persecuted for protesting.

Don’t believe me isit? Then read the u/m by Martyn See (another anti-PAP activist).

When I read it, I realised how hard Seelan Palay was trying to getting himself arrested for a second time since his first arrest in 2006. It took him 11 years of provoking the authorities before the police arrested him again recently.

And even then, the police arrested him after really, really trying hard not to arrest him. TOC (no friend of the authorities especially the police) reported, “After several failed attempts by the Police to persuade Seelan to leave the area, he was arrested by the Police at 3.20pm.”

So let’s be happy that he was successful in getting himself arrested again after 11 years.

Martyn See’s post

Sept 2006 (IMF-World Bank Meetings): 21-year-old artist Seelan Palay is arrested by police over a plan to distribute flyers ahead of the IMF-World Bank meetings. Palay had earlier initiated an online campaign to capture photos of “400 Frowns” in protest against government policies.

Jan 2008: Artist Seelan Palay completes a solo five-day hunger strike outside the Malaysian High Commission in protest against the Malaysian Government’s detention of five leaders of ethnic Indian group Hindraf. Wearing a placard around his neck that said, “Give them fair trial,” Palay was briefly warned by police that he would be flouting the law. No arrest or charges are filed.

May 2008: Five Singaporeans, holding aloft a series of banners with messages such as “Censored News Is No News” and “Newspapers and Printing Presses Act = Repression”, stand outside the Singapore Press Holdings building to mark World Press Freedom Day. There are no reported arrests.

May 2008: Officers from the Board of Film Censors, assisted by the police, enter the Peninsula-Excelsior Hotel to seize a film which was undergoing its private premiere. Witnessed by about a hundred guests including foreign diplomats, organisers hand the DVD copy of the film to officials. Entitled “One Nation Under Lee”, the documentary was made by artist Seelan Palay and its premiere hosted by the SDP. Palay is currently under investigation for exhibition of a film without licence.

Jan 2009: Wearing red t-shirts and holding a banner that read ‘Stop ill-treatment of Burmese activists’, two protesters stood for an hour outside the Ministry of Manpower before being handcuffed and escorted into police vehicles. The two were protesting against the non-renewal of visas to some Myanmar expatriates, whom the Government says are “not welcomed in Singapore”. The two Singaporeans, Seelan Palay and Chong Kai Xiong, are being investigated for the offence of criminal trespass.

Oct 2017 : Artist and activist Seelan Palay marks his 32 years of age by holding a mirror in front of Parliament House to highlight the long-term detention of Dr Chia Thye Poh from 1966 to 1998. He is arrested and released 24 hours later.

http://singaporerebel.blogspot.sg/…/1994-2011-chronology-of…

Video:

“We are still colonised in Singapore, previously by white man, and now by men in white.”

https://m.facebook.com/story.php…

Tharman talking cock? Or cracking a joke?

[R]ecently, a DPM said we are now more tolerant than in the 70s and 80s. I remember participating in a couple of demonstrations in the 70s organised by the student union without asking for permission – how do you square all this?

Tan Tee Seng, Operation Spectrum detainee, on FB

The preceding bit reads

From my perspective, the case is simple – an artist used a performance art to draw attention to a shameful chapter in our historical past, much like a one-man flash mob performance. There were 3 scenes – the first at Hong Lim Park was attended by about 30 – 40 people. Part 2 was in front of the National Gallery and Part 3 was outside the Parliament House (both are public spaces). About 15 odd people saw the performance with a few passers by. After the performance, the artist was arrested – handcuffed and bundled into a police car, some of the audience were told they were “witnesses” to a commission of an offence which the police could not ascertain. Artist was kept 24 hours for his part and may be charged. The “witnesses” may be rounded up later to assist in the “investigation” – all because there was no permission given and yet our constitutional rights provide us the freedom of expression, assembly and speech.

The whole post

 

Related post: Tharman the wannabe comedian

Finally, M Ravi in Woodbridge

M Ravi was remanded at the Institute of Mental Health (IMH) for two weeks on Saturday (Aug 12), after being charged over three incidents.

Ravi, 48, was charged on Saturday with two counts of causing public nuisance at Sri Mariamman Temple on Jul 31 and Aug 11 this year, one count of voluntarily causing hurt to lawyer Jeannette Chong-Aruldoss on Aug 8 and one count of causing hurt with a rash act to lawyer Nakoorsha Abdul Kadir on the same day.

Read more at http://www.channelnewsasia.com/news/singapore/m-ravi-charged-with-voluntarily-causing-hurt-causing-public-9117538

When I wrote this about the ang moh tua kees’ mocking S’pore on our National Day for being a safe place, I had tot of citing the example of M Ravi’s one man-crime wave to point out that dissing our authourities on their lenient attitude towards Ravi was a better way of dissing S’pore. And then pointing out that the Guardian can’t because of it biases against the PAP. Sad. Sad.

Whatever, Gotham S’pore is safe. Our very own superhero gone rogue is in our very own Arkham. For those who are wondering, the Elizabeth Arkham Asylum for the Criminally Insane,called Arkham Asylum or juz Arkham is where many of Batman’s opponents are locked up for treatment.

Anti-PAP Amazon fights alongside White Mare

AG’s plans to whack Li Shengwu

for comments he made suggesting the city-state’s courts were not independent, said on Saturday (Aug 5) he would not be returning to Singapore.

The office of Singapore’s attorney-general said on Friday it had filed an application to start contempt of court proceedings against Li, a US-based academic, over a Facebook post he made on Jul 15.

http://www.channelnewsasia.com/news/singapore/li-shengwu-says-will-not-return-home-to-face-charges-9095394

reminded me of a really unholy alliance.

One of the usual suspects, a S’porean version Xena, the warrior princess, recently wrote

I am sad for Singapore and Singaporeans. A single word about the judiciary in a private facebook entry which drew just 20 likes has attracted the attention of the Attorney-General’s Chamber.

How did my country descend to this depth?

Given that she’s always so unhappy about the S’porean way of life, what else could make Teo Soh Lung unhappy?

Li Shengwu, grandson of Lee Kuan Yew has now attracted the attention of the attorney general’s chambers. I believe the chamber was already watching him when he took side with his father, Lee Hsien Yang over his and his aunt’s dispute with the prime minister.

The attorney general will tell the world that there is no conflict of interest when his chamber decides to look into the private facebook entries of Li Shengwu, but I will not believe that. What business has he to look into a person’s private facebook? Isn’t there more important work than to spy on personal facebooks?”

Am I being overly cynical in thinking that if the AGC did not say the AGC was investigating this White Horse (progency of the First Familee), she’d be KPKBing, “Why no investigate? White Horse isit?”

As it is now, she’s on the same side as über White Mare Lee Wei Ling with her whine

I am surprised that AGC takes such negative reaction to a private post. Is there a government servant whose duty is to follow the Facebook activity of all people related to Hsien Yang and I, including our private musings. Also, what Shengwu posted is a common topic amongst Singaporeans who are well informed. Is this not an example of ” big Brother government”. Perhaps it is a case of “if the hat fits, take it.”

Churchill said a fanatic is “one who can’t change his mind and won’t change the subject”. Fits Ms Teo: life is always seen in the lens of resentment against the PAP administration. An administration that has the support of 60- 70% of voters. True it locked her up without trial but that was a long time ago. Time to move on?

I mean being on the same side as Lee Wei Ling is so, so pathetic. And so is the cause. I mean White Horses (especially über ones) should be held accoutable for their actions, juz like nobodies like Roy or Amos.

I’m glad that the AGC is upholding the laws that Harry made illleral and in sending the message that über White Horses from the line of Lee not exempted.

M Ravi’s right to be upset with AGC

Even though he’s a really sick superhero and needs medical treatment, he’s right to get agitated and angry with AGC. AGC looks like it’s gunning for him i.e. out to make sure he goes to jail, and then throw the key away.

He posted on FB on at 3.00am on Saturday, after a meeting with the AGC on Friday:

At first they preferred 3 charges of criminal trespass on us. Then they dropped 2 charges. Today at the PTC they withdrew the remaining criminal trespass charge and guess what? They proceeded to serve 3 charges of HOUSEBREAKING!!!

Can you see the persecution? If convicted i would face mandatory jail which can extend to 2 years per charge. Mandatory means there’s no option for a fine. They want to jail me!

I need your support and help. Can you continue to donate for my legal fees and especially George’s?

Details are:

Posb savings 188-6776-22

All contributions no matter big or small is welcome. This is now very serious and I will need to spend for lot of resources to basically trying to get into my own office! They even tried to apply to remand me in IMH so they could prevent me from using Facebook, that was their argument. They are trying to silence me.

So please contribute as we need to prepare properly, make applications and pay for experts if necessary. It’s no longer a small simple case.

Wonder if the person who lodged the police report that led to the present charges, reputed to be a really good friend who had helped him but who Ravi then whose hand Ravi bit, is repenting his action? As are those who encouraged him to lodge report? They have good motives, I understand. They wanted (and still want) him to get mandatory medical treatment. He refuses to take his pills making his mental condition extremely unstable.

So maybe serious jail time for Ravi is the only way he can get the treatment he desperately needs.

It’s a dilemma worthy of a graphic novel.

Does he need to go to jail to regain his superpowers? Or are the cybernuts applauding his FB videos and verbal farts right that in his present state of mind (Conventional wisdom, as opposed to cybernut stupidity, believes M Ravi is in the manic extreme of bi-polarism*), he has even greater superpowers?

What do u think?

---

*The manic phase is characterised by:

• Delusions (false beliefs) or hallucinations (false perceptions)
• Hyperactivity
• Irritable mood
• Decreased need for sleep
• Exaggerated, puffed-up self esteem
• Rapid or “pressured” speech
• Rapid thoughts
• Poor attention span
• Recklessness

https://www.healthhub.sg/a-z/diseases-and-conditions/49/topics_bipolar_disorder?gclid=EAIaIQobChMInJuhzfSx1QIVxgQqCh3atwV0EAAYASAAEgLC_PD_BwE

Shameful silence as M Ravi’s cows come home

Non-practising lawyer M Ravi was charged on Friday (Jun 30) with one count of criminal trespass “with intent to annoy”, for allegedly trespassing into the offices of law firm Eugene Thuraisingam LLP at People’s Park Complex.
Read more at http://www.channelnewsasia.com/news/singapore/lawyer-m-ravi-charged-with-criminal-trespass-8990976

And this isn’t all. A lawyer reported on FB that the police are investigating his complaint that M Ravi beat him up badly. (Finally, someone stood up to complain that he was beaten up by M Ravi. Over the yrs, there’ve been allegations of such beatings, followed up by allegations of his “friends” settling matters so that Ravi’s public image is not hurt.)

He’s in for a rough time.

Whatever, his FB videos and comments seem at the very least to indicate that there should be a medical examination to determine if he’s ill again.

There seems to be a conspiracy of silence or denial by a group of anti-PAP activists (They are really, really very quiet) that usually cheer his every move, egging him on. Maybe they don’t want to him to get compulsorily* treated because of the stigma of him, an icon of the anti-PAP activists, going into Woodbridge.

I mean I never lived down voting for an ex-Woodbridge patient who was bi-polar too. The PAP dubbed him “mad” and “looney”, but I gritted my teeth and voted for him, a WP candidate,because of the “big picture”: the need for an Oppo. Not that it made a difference when the WP finally won a GRC: their MPs juz sat down, looked at their bank statements, grinned and kept quiet most of the time.

But as M Ravi has been charged with a criminal offence, there’s always the Mandatory Treatment Order that the court in its discretion can order. As in his autobiography written in 2014 or 2015, he said he didn’t take his prescribed medicine, he meditated instead, the court could, among other things, order that he be subjected to forced medication.

But if the court orders treatment of any sort, I’m sure these anti-PAP “friends” will scream that the state is abusing its power and that there’s nothing wrong with him.

Can the PAP voters that voted for Dr Tan Cheng Bock (25- 30% of the voters) ever support the causes that such people espouse? I doubt it.

—————————-

*I was wrong here to think his friends could apply for a  Mandatory Treatment Order. It’s only available in criminal cases. But there’s a separate civil procedure for compulsory treatment.

Worse in M’sia

But S’pore gets really bad publicity because we cane ang mohs.

Caning

is relatively widespread: in Singapore 2,203 people were caned in 2012, including 1,070 foreigners, the US State Department said.

Since 2010, at least three Europeans have been sentenced to be caned for vandalism, including Swiss software consultant Oliver Fricker, who spray-painted graffiti on a train.

But the numbers pale in comparison to Malaysia.

In 2010, Amnesty International released a report saying some 10,000 prisoners and 6,000 refugees were being caned each year, punishment for more than 60 crimes – including drug-related and sexual offences, as well as migration violations.

Extract from BBC Report

PAP govt speaking? No ler North Korean minister

“We do not tolerate any others criticising our style of socialism and we believe in the choice we have made,” Mr Han replies.Vice-Foreign Minister Han Song-ryo.

“The masses are the centre of our state and their security and human rights are guaranteed.”

(BBC report earlier this year)

Err don’t the u/m from PAP administration on Amos the Fantastic really show that the views of the PAP administration and that of the N Korean administration are as teeth are to lips?

Seriously they show that often Silence is Golden and that it’as better to sit down and shut-up than appear to be like a product of Kim Jong Un.

Letter to the Economist

The law in Singapore

You imply that Amos Yee was prosecuted in Singapore for political dissent, and not for making vicious statements about Christians and Muslims (“No place for the crass”, April 1st). That is not true. In 2015 Mr Yee insulted Christians, saying Jesus Christ was “power hungry and malicious” and “full of bull”. In 2016 he said: “The Islamics seem to have lots of sand in their vaginas…But don’t mind them, they do after all follow a sky wizard and a paedophile prophet. What in the world is a ‘moderate Muslim’? A fucking hypocrite, that’s what!”

The Economist may agree with the American judge that such bigotry is free speech. But Singapore does not countenance hate speech, because we have learnt from bitter experience how fragile our racial and religious harmony is. Several people have been prosecuted for engaging in such hate speech.

Contrary to the suggestion in your article, Singapore’s laws on contempt do not prevent fair criticisms of court judgments, as the article itself demonstrates. Singapore’s court judgments, including on Mr Yee’s case, are reasoned and published, and can stand scrutiny by anyone, including The Economist.

FOO CHI HSIA
High Commissioner for Singapore
London

(Her 2015 letter)

And

MHA’s Comments on Amos Yee’s US Asylum Application

 1.     In 2015, Amos Yee was charged for engaging in hate speech against Christians.

 2.     He had said “Christians … are … power hungry and malicious but deceive others into thinking that they are compassionate and kind. Their impact and legacy will ultimately not last as more and more people find out that they are full of bull….. Similar to the Christian knowledge of the bible, and the work of a multitude of a priests.”

 3.     He was convicted on the charge. He was also convicted on another charge for publishing an obscene image. He was sentenced to a total of four weeks imprisonment for these charges.

 4.     In 2016, Yee was charged again for hate speech, this time against Muslims and Christians.

 5.     He had said “the Islamics seem to have lots of sand in their vaginas too…. But don’t mind them, they do after all follow a sky wizard and a pedophile prophet. What in the world is a ‘moderate muslim’? A f*****g hypocrite that’s what!……. With all due respect, Christians, you can shove that faith up your ass. Faith! Faith! I’d be damned at this retardation of humanity. F**k you, Christian shits”

 6.     He pleaded guilty to the charges, and was sentenced to six weeks imprisonment and a fine of $2000.

 7.     He was represented by counsel in both the 2015 and 2016 proceedings.

 8.     Yee had engaged in hate speech against Christians and Muslims.

 9.     The US adopts a different standard, and allows some such hate speech under the rubric of freedom of speech.

 10.    The US for example, in the name of freedom of speech, allows the burning of the Quran .

 11.    Singapore takes a very different approach. Anyone who engages in hate speech or attempts to burn the Quran, Bible, or any religious text in Singapore, will be arrested and charged.

 12.    The US Department of Homeland Security had opposed Yee’s asylum application, on the basis that Yee had been legitimately prosecuted.

 13.    It is the prerogative of the US to take in such people who engage in hate speech. There are many more such people, around the world, who deliberately engage in hate speech, and who may be prosecuted. Some of them, will no doubt take note of the US approach, and consider applying for asylum in the US.

 

Bill Ng, wife, ex-FAS president and FAS gen sec arrested

And then granted police bail.

ST just reported:

The four individuals connected to the Commercial Affairs Department (CAD) investigation into Singapore football are out on police bail. Bill Ng, his wife Bonnie Wong, Zainudin Nordin and Winston Lee are assisting the police in their probe into the suspected misuse of club funds at Tiong Bahru Football Club and an attempt to obstruct audits into clubs.

http://www.straitstimes.com/sport/football/ng-wife-zainudin-and-lee-all-out-on-police-bail

What this means is that all four were arrested and then granted bail by the police.

An accused may be offered police bail after his arrest and before he is charged in Court. Once the accused is formally charged in Court and until the case is concluded, the police bail granted may be extended or fresh bail may be offered at the first mention by the Court.

https://www.statecourts.gov.sg/CriminalCase/Pages/Bail-matters.aspx

CHC: The Other Side of the Hill

In analysing or making judjments, it’s good to see the perspective of those going against the flow of conventional wisdom..

Below is a purported piece from a member of the CHC conregation. Do read it.

I agree that “Only the CHC family is hurt in the CHC Saga”. Going by the comments on social media and the internet, the so-called hurt many S’poreans feel is nothing more than envy that Sun Ho got others to fund her Holywood lifestyle, and envy that her bubbie is a good entrepreneur with a business model that is hard to replicate.

Yes there is reason to be concerned ( I hope to explore it soon) but most of the comments don’t reflect this concern.

I agree with the following except I would exclude Sun Ho’s husband

If anyone has suffered loss, it would be the 6 of them who have suffered financially, in their reputation, in their careers and even up to this point, when their families are dealing the pain of separation in 2 weeks’ time, fellow Singaporeans are hoping to prolong this pain of separation.

Kong Hee benefited because he didn’t have to fund Sun Ho’s Hollywood dreams and ambitions and lifestyle.

I dispute “this whole project was internally agreed upon and funds was internally and voluntarily raised.”

This assrtion is very misleading. There was no full and proper dislosure of what was happening for a long time. Matters were hidden from the auditors and church members. It was the failure to disclose what was happening was the reason why why the six were found guilty of CBT.

If they had disclosed what they were up to, there would have been no CBT. But the leaders didn’t trust their church members. They should have with hindsight. God’s a prankster like Loki?

Finally, if you want to know wht I come down so hard on tthe anti-PAP cybernuts go to http://www.tremeritus.com/2017/04/12/only-the-chc-family-is-hurt-in-the-chc-saga/  and read the reaction from the cybernuts to Pauline Kong’s letter.

With people like them, the majority of swing voters will always prefer the PAP.

The piece

Only the CHC family is hurt in the CHC Saga

Since there were so many ones who could not understand how the case was concluded and sentence was reduced, could we ask the High Courts to engage the public and make the findings clearer in layman terms to us?

I am a member of CHC since 2002 and though we are not perfect, we aim to be a church that blesses and give. Our community service arm gives to the less privileged regardless of race and religion. All our works are a reflection of the positive values in our leaders. Quite contrary to most charitable organizations, church funds are raised internally and voluntarily. The givers have a clear idea what they are giving to and the leaders are accountable to the givers.

I am afraid the public has been misled by the media to think that our leaders have perhaps taken money from the public to spend on their personal lives. If that is truly the case, I am sure our honorable legal system would have already captured that. But coming from someone who followed the case from the first trial to the last, I have not heard of any such findings.

I am saddened that because of all the demeaning images and words on the media, Singaporeans have been so misled to the point that they don’t think they can even trust the judicial system anymore. Perhaps the way to clear the air is to present the facts and erase all the misleading information that has nothing to do with the case. Once again, this whole project was internally agreed upon and funds was internally and voluntarily raised. If anyone has suffered loss, it would be the 6 of them who have suffered financially, in their reputation, in their careers and even up to this point, when their families are dealing the pain of separation in 2 weeks’ time, fellow Singaporeans are hoping to prolong this pain of separation. If anyone is a parent like me, the thought of leaving your children or family behind for weeks or months is already so unbearable, these people have to leave their families for years…

So, please consider the fact that they really didn’t hurt anyone. If there is anyone they can hurt, it would be the church because they are responsible to the church, but the church is NOT hurt, we love them. Did they hurt the public in any way? With all honesty, none as well. There was no public soliciting of funds. Perhaps charity and church needs to be separately governed so that the public does not feel so threatened by the outcome of the case, thinking it will affect governance towards other Charitable organizations that gets public donations?

Lastly, I believe we all can play a part to build a society that is honorable towards our national leaders, empathetic towards fellowmen and united as one people.

Pauline Kong

 

Jerusalem circa 30 AD, S’pore today

One thing never changes: the mob will always be with us.

More than 2000 years ago, in Jerusalem, according to the four gospels, the nuts among the citizens of the city shouted “Crucify Jesus”after only praising him the week before.

The High Court’s reduction of the the sentences of all six former City Harvest Church (CHC) leaders, got the cybernuts shouting “Crucify the Judges and the PAP”.

————————-

The Great S’pore Sale came early this yr for some people

The 3-judge panel changed the sentences

1. Kong Hee: From 8 years to 3 years and 6 months.
2. Tan Ye Peng: From 5½ years’ to 3 years and 2 months.
3. Chew Eng Han: From 6 years to 3 years and 4 months.
4. Serina Wee Gek Yin : From 5 years to 2½ years.
5. John Lam Leng Hung: From 3 years to 1½ years.
6. Sharon Tan Shao Yuen: From 21 months to 7 months

——————————————–

According to the nuts in TreLand Kong Hee’s lawyer Edwin Tong (a PAP member and MP) had real clout to influence the judges; or that the judges were paid off with Kong Hee’s millions. Whatever, the PAP was to blame, somehow.

TOC (to its discredit) did a round-up of netizens’ views that were only slighly less anti-PAP and anti the judiciary

Even constructive, nation-building ST allowed ST readers to join in the fun:

(Martyn See’s FB image of ST FB’s postings by readers)

Even Jack Sim (aka the Toilet Man: a really decent, hair-minded guy) made remarks on Facebook that can fall within the contempt of court rules that parly recently approved (no I’m not going to quote him but in spirit they are close to the ST comments).

Incidentally the minister for pets and the police should be KPKBing at the so-called, constructive nation-building ST for publishing the comments. He’s got to be fair: after all he has aiming his Colt Magnum and Alsatians at Terry’s Online Channel for pointing out bad policing decisions.

Now there are good reasons to be concerned with the High Court decision that overturned a precedent that stood for 40 years. I go into that in a seperate post

But by making personal attacks on them and the PAP MP lawyer representing Kong, and the PAP and the judiciary generally the cybernuts are behaving like the Jews who wanted to crucify Jesus.

But I doubt the cybernuts would have the balls to say,

His blood be on us, and on our children.

They too are sheep, a term they use to describe the 70%ers.

 

 

 

CHC: CBT is a very technical offence

The High Court’s reduction of the sentences of all six former City Harvest Church (CHC) leaders has upset a lot of people especially the anti-PAP cybernuts. (I’ll talk about their antics in a separate post).

Here I want to explain why two High Court judges decided the way they did. (The decision was a split one: 2 to 1.

Criminal breach of trust (CBT) is a very technical crime and the judgment was a very technical one.

I know one head of crime section in the AGC who became a district judge, and as a district judge had his verdict on a CBT case overturned on appeal. He had acquitted someone accused of CBT only for the guy to be found guilty on appeal by the AGC. Incidentally his career in the legal service was not affected.

Now to the judgement.

Justice Chao said in his oral judgement on Friday that a majority decision was made to reduce the respective CBT charges against the six, from an “aggravated” form of CBT – which they were initially convicted of – to a “simple” form of CBT because the law states that a person convicted of an aggravated form charge. must be” a public servant, banker, merchant, factor, broker, attorney or an agent when committing the crime”.

Justice Chao said he and Justice Woo agreed

with the Prosecution that directors, who occupy positions of great power, trust and responsibility, are more culpable than employees when they commit CBT offences against their companies or organisations. To that extent, we agree that it is intuitively unsatisfactory that a director would only be liable for CBT simpliciter under s 406 of the Penal Code while a clerk, servant, carrier or warehouse keeper would be liable for an aggravated offence under either ss 407 or 408 of the Penal Code. This does not, however, mean that we can ignore the wording of the section. Like the Malaysian Court of Appeal in Periasamy, we are of the view that adopting the interpretation put forward by the Prosecution may be “tantamount to rewriting the section by means of an unauthori[s]ed legislative act” (at 575A). Such a task should be more properly left to Parliament. For instance, we note that the relevant expression of the equivalent provision in the Malaysian Penal Code was amended in 1993 to read “in his capacity of a public servant or an agent” …”

Because the “simple” form carried a lesser sentence, the sentences were reduced.

So why did the AGC think that what the six did was “aggravated CBT” and not “simple CBT”.

The answer according to a lawyer is that  the Court in this case did not follow the earlier High Court decision in Tay Choo Wah, which had been applied for some 40 years in Singapore and which held that Penal Code Section 409 applied to directors.

The Court could do this but the judge in the lower court was bound by the decision in Tay Choo Wah.

Will the AGC seek to persuade the Court in a future case that the Court in this case got the interpretation of Section 409 wrong, or pursue a criminal reference under Section 397 of the Criminal Procedure Code?

Or will the law be amended?

I suspect the latter. Because if there’s an appeal under s397 and AGC wins, there’ll be another cyberstorm, The convicted will not have their sentences reinstated*.

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*I stand corrected. The CA can reinstate the sentences but is not forced to. The sentences cannot be increased. My mistake. 10 April

Mental illness is no excuse for dangerous driving

Taz what I tot when I read in today’s ST

A man was charged in court on Thursday (Jan 12) with driving a car in a dangerous manner along the Ayer Rajah Expressway (AYE) at about 1.40am on Jan 5.

Brandon Ng Hai Chong, 30, allegedly drove against the flow of traffic.

His lawyer, Mr Luke Lee, told District Judge Carol Ling that his client has a medical condition and has been diagnosed with Asperger Syndrome.

He said Ng had also been diagnosed with depression and is regularly seeing a psychiatrist.

…

The lawyer added that prior to this current case, his client had been sent to jail and had also been put on probation.

However, he did not mention the nature of Ng’s earlier convictions.

And guy still allowed to drive? He could be another Lim Chai Heng?

It was not an excuse to drive a Mercedes Benz against the flow of traffic, killing and injuring others in “lesser”* cars. Someone by the name of Adrian Tan said on Facebook that using a Mercedes in this way was like firing an assault rifle into a crowded room.

The son of Lim Chai Heng said his father was depressed, and apologised.

Let’s recap the facts.

A 53-year-old businessman, Lim Chai Heng was initially charged by the police on Dec 20 for an offence of Rash Act Causing Death (The charge was a holding charge so that he could be detained while the police decided whether to charge him with a more serious offence, say murder). He drove a Mercededs Benz against the flow of traffic.

On Jan 3 the charge was amended. He is now accused of committing culpable homicide when he drove his Mercedes Benz against the flow of traffic along AYE and hit Mr Liong Kuo Hua’s car at 8.02am on Dec 19, 2016. The maximum penalty for culpable homicide is 10 years’ jail and a fine.

He is remanded for psychiatric evaluation at Complex Medical Centre in Changi Prison until Jan 24.

As his son was sitting beside him , I hope the police investigate the son in an ice-cold interrogation room: why he allow his dad to do what he did? Want to win “Most filial son” award isit?

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What the Mercedes Benz driver did:

Lim, who was driving a silver Mercedes car at high speed against traffic flow during morning rush hour, had crashed into several other vehicles, killing media personality Liong Kuo Hwa, 37, and leaving three others – excluding Lim himself – seriously injured.

The trail of destruction saw four cars, one motorcycle and one private bus wrecked, and the wall of the expressway before the Tuas West Road exit severely damaged.

Today

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No defence for physical abuse

Well the son should by now realise that in another case,

Despite the accused’s claims that her obsessive-compulsive disorder (OCD) led her to starve her Filipino maid, a judge on Thursday (Dec 22) ruled that Chong Sui Foon’s preoccupation with cleanliness would not have led her to restrict the quantity of food given to the victim.

District Judge Low Wee Ping was delivering his findings on whether Chong’s mental condition was linked to her committing the offence, and which would have a bearing on her sentencing to be meted out in February.

ST

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ST also reported

In March, Chong and her husband, Lim Choon Hong, both 48, were found guilty of starving Ms Thelma Oyasan Gawidan, causing her weight to drop from 49kg to 29kg within 15 months.

Lim, a freelance trader, faces one charge under the Employment of Foreign Manpower Act, which requires employers to be responsible for the maintenance of their foreign employees, including providing them with adequate food. Chong faces one count of abetting her husband in committing the offence.

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Glancing at ST reports of court cases, one gets the impression that a specialist can be conjured up to come up with some sort of mental illness for any person on trial. The exception was Amos Yee but then he didn’t have the money for a lawyer didn’t he? The lawyers representing him were doing pro bono work. So he couldn’t afford to pay for a mental health specialist to say that he had a mental illness.

Or maybe Amos is a cheap-skate. He claimed to have made millions from his videos.

————————————–

*One Ivan Gan posted: “I think Mercedes is safer. At least kill other driver, I am safe inside. Good killing machine. Just pay few K fine and free again.”

“We Mercedes driver has right to drive in any direction we prefer. Other driver must give way to us Merc driver. “Other driver just go back suck thumb inside your piece of junk. Haha.”

After he got whacked on Facebook, he too used the depression excuse

Ivan Goh should join Lim in Woodbridge.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

S’poreans should learn this trick from the Americans

Wonder if former BSI banker Yeo Jiawei had sought lawyers advice over his actions?

In response to DPP Tan’s suggestion that Yeo met both men because he knew the CAD was investigating him for illicit transactions, Yeo said he disagreed.

“None of my transactions are illicit,”

(Part of former BSI banker Yeo Jiawei cross-examination byDeputy Public Prosecutor Tan Kiat Pheng, as reported by BT.)

Somehow I doubt it as if he he would have raised  the “advice of counsel” defense and that he was acting in good faith because his lawyer had cleared his actions.

In the infamous case involving Sun Ho, her hubbie Kong Hee and his church team never got legal advive on the legality of the transactions to fund Sun Ho’s Hollywood lifestyle. They relied on an “Uncle” who was the church’s auditor. He like the German sergeant in Hogan’s Heroes saidv”I know nothing. Nothing.”

In the US, where no-one does anything without getting the advice of counsel according to the NYT Dealbook:

The “advice of counsel” defense is raised with increased regularity in white-collar crime cases, often coupled with its close cousin – acting in good faith.

WHITE COLLAR WATCH

Martin Shkreli May Point the Finger at His Lawyers

By PETER J. HENNING

 

 

What every S’porean should read, not juz anti-PAP “subversives”

Ms Teo Soh Lung has republished on FB her piece on what to do if the police come calling to ask you to attend an interview. Piece is below.

While most who get called up for interview will not suffer what she and other “subversives” allege, it’s a useful guide to the procedure to expect at police interviews, and to your rights.

She has one good practical suggestions if one unlike me is KS

Never attend an interview alone. Always bring a friend or two. Your friend cannot be in the interview room but he can wait at the reception. If this is not possible, inform reliable friends to keep track of your attendance at the police station. Give them the particulars of police station and telephone number. If possible, the name of the officer in charge. Your friends should call the police station or officer regularly for updates.

And always do these

Wear comfortable warm clothings and shoes … You can request the officer to turn up the air-conditioner if you cannot bear the cold.

You are entitled to request for hot drinks and snacks if you are hungry. If your interview takes hours, you are also entitled to request for lunch and dinner.

Take toilet breaks.

Bring paper and pen to record the questions and answers.

[I got offered paper and pen by the police.]

Request for a copy of your signed statement if you sign any statement.

[And if the police refuse],

you can refuse to sign the statement. There is no rule to say that statements given to the police must be signed.

I can speak from personal experience. I was investigated by the CAD in the pre- internet era (circa 1995) and I didn’t receive a midnight knock, wasn’t put into ice cold rooms and interviews didn’t go on for hours.

The CAD were trying to establish if there was evidence that I had commited a crime, any crime. Fair enough as there was a third party complaint by SGX, Though, today where everything is virtual, I’d be really annoyed that my PC will be seized as a matter of routine. I use a dumphone and my laptop and “pad” are idle so that’s OK by me.

For the record, the CAD officially dropped the investigation. Ftr also, I told them what I was  alleged to have done was not illegal.

Ms Teo’s piece:

Just in case more people are being hauled up to the police station, here are some quick points to note. Seasoned activists, please feel free to comment!
Every activist is prone to being summoned to the police station, usually to answer questions relating to the commission of an alleged offence. It is pretty routine and there is nothing to fear. Sometimes the police goes on a fishing trip hoping to catch someone through the statements collected from various people. Sometimes it is pure harassment.
An activist must be prepared for interviews at police stations. These are not to be taken lightly. There are a few basic things that he/she has to remember when summoned to answer about the commission of an alleged offence.
Letters to attend at police station
Letters from the police to attend an interview need not be physically delivered. They can be posted through ordinary snail mail. But often, the police have a lot of time in their hands and they may take a drive to your house. But this must never be midnight or early hours of the morning. If they do that, it is harassment and an abuse of police power.
Never open doors at midnight. Call the police and your friends. If they continue to bang loudly, telephone your friends for help. They should video the police outside your door. Have a Apps group so that one message goes out to the entire group.
It is possible to request for interviews to be conducted at a police station in your neighbourhood or near your home. If the appointment is not suitable, you can request for a change.
Interviews
Never attend an interview alone. Always bring a friend or two. Your friend cannot be in the interview room but he can wait at the reception. If this is not possible, inform reliable friends to keep track of your attendance at the police station. Give them the particulars of police station and telephone number. If possible, the name of the officer in charge. Your friends should call the police station or officer regularly for updates.
1. Keep your friends informed of developments, whether through telephone calls, facebook or messages.
2. Wear comfortable warm clothings and shoes. If your interview is at the Cantonment Police HQ, it is very cold. You can request the officer to turn up the air-conditioner if you cannot bear the cold.
3. You are entitled to request for hot drinks and snacks if you are hungry. If your interview takes hours, you are also entitled to request for lunch and dinner.
4. Take toilet breaks.
5. Bring paper and pen to record the questions and answers. As most of you know, Han Hui Hui had her notebook (the paper notebook not the computer) taken away after the interview. The police has no power to retain your properties as you have not committed any offence.
6. Request for a copy of your signed statement if you sign any statement. Often, the police will refuse to give this to you. In that case, you can refuse to sign the statement. There is no rule to say that statements given to the police must be signed.
7. Han Hui Hui was questioned from 2 to 10 pm. Eight hours is a long time and a bad reflection of the standard of our police force. I suspect that there was no pressure from outside to compel the police to finish their work earlier. If friends and family members telephone the police or attend at the police station earlier, this long interview may have been avoided.
8. Keep your answers short and never volunteer statements. If you have no knowledge, say so.
This is just a brief note.

Amos and Chippy: The Empire strikes back

Amos and Chippy are soulmates. Both are in trouble with the law what with Amos

pleading guilty to five charges and facing jail. Chippy us not allowed to emigrate but was sent for rehabilitation at a RTO, a fate Amos avoided, just

Prison awaits Amos

A day after he reversed a decision to stand trial and pleaded guilty to two charges of failing to show up at a police station, teen blogger Amos Yee again threw in the towel and admitted to three counts of wounding religious feelings. ST

This leaves him fighting three charges. He is alleged to have posted one photo and two videos online, between April and May, with the intention of wounding the feelings of Muslims.

Bet you he will plead guilty.

Hopefully jail will cure his Narcissistic Personality Disorder

————————————

Open the “Diagnostic and Statistical Manual of Mental Disorders”, a widely used handbook in the US and elssewhere, and the checklist for Narcissistic Personality Disorder could be notes for a profile on Amos. Symptoms include abnormal attention-seeking, self-centredness, a sense of entitlement, exaggerated self-appraisal (ie, fibbing about achievements) and warped relations with others. The outside world is mostly of interest as a mirror, reflecting back on the narcissistic self.

---

Seriously,  he’s got a genuine, rare talent that he can exploit for fame and $. More soon.

RTO for Chippy

Details of whar happened to Chippy are below. Really sad tale.

Why can’t the authouriies juz let him emigrate at no cost to us tax-payers. Instead we kanna fund his “rehabilitation” at an ACRES RTO. Why liddat PAP administration?

The irony of it all

Amos left the country but returned voluntarily, Chippy cannot leave but is further confined.

It seems Amos fled to Oz, planning to seek asylum. It a;so seems, he was advised that with  socially conservative politicians ascendant in Australia, it was unlikely that he would get asylum via ministerial discretion. This meant that he would have to go through a long legal process to get asylum.

And as he didn’t have the money and Mother Mary looking after him, he decided to come back.

Seems some well-off members of Caring Action Network, helped fund his holiday but wouldn’t fund any legal case.

———————

The sad tale of Chippy

The long-tailed macaque, which was befriended at the start of this year by Normanton Park resident Madam Prema, is now with wildlife rescue organisation Animal Concerns Research and Education Society (ACRES) for “rehabilitation”. This is so that Chippy can “hopefully be wild and free again rather than be held captive,” said ACRES’ Executive Director Louis Ng. [No point asking yout PAP MP to help, as Louis is one of the MIW]

In a joint statement, NParks, AVA and ACRES said they were working together to rehabilitate the monkey. “The main objective is to wean the monkey off human food, so as to reverse the monkey’s dependence on humans caused by the feeding and interaction with the monkey by members of the public.”

(CNA Aug 17)

“Had we known Chippy was going to ACRES, we would not have helped catch him.”

The report continues

But even now that Chippy is out of the wild, Mdm Prema and her family are now concerned about his well-being at ACRES.

“He’s got no chance with them…I’ve seen the way they handle him…I don’t trust them,” she said, citing the behaviour of an ACRES staff member towards Chippy earlier this year. In video footage captured by Mdm Prema’s daughter, an ACRES staff member can be seen waving and banging a long stick on the ground in front of Chippy in order to keep the monkey out of the Normanton Park condominium compound.

(Video: Courtesy of Mdm Prema)

She claimed that her family’s calls and queries to ACRES have gone unanswered, and she has no idea how Chippy is doing. This has, she said, caused her some distress and sleepless nights, particularly because she said she was asked by the authorities to help catch Chippy.  

“Chippy was running away and would not come down from the tree. We were told that he was going to the AVA, and they promised me he would not be culled. There was no talk about ACRES, no talk about rehabilitation, nothing.”

“So I used his favourite toy to coax him down, and we captured him in 45 minutes.”

“It was only the day after when we called NParks that we found out he was at ACRES. That made me feel like I wanted to die,” she said.

“Had we known Chippy was going to ACRES, we would not have helped catch him.”

 

 

“Warriors”, not “Wankers” / Worthless, Wayanging, Wanking NMPs

JBJ would have been proud of the WP MPs on Monday.

Three cheers for the WP. They are finally doing in this Parly what they failed to do in the last Parly, and in the process disappointing many of those who voted for them (self included).

They stood up and spoke out on a really bad piece of legislation. Low’s and Auntie’s speeches and the questions asked by the MPs made clear the BS about the changes to the laws on contempt of court that the PAP administration wanted.  The real issue was about controlling the flow of information in a defacto one-party state in the age of social and new media. This is something that even the CCP is grappling with in a de jure one-party state.

This was so unlike the Wankers’ Party of old who repeated avoided scoring open goals eg avoiding calling for the nationalisation of public tpt despite it being in the 2011 manifesto when the PAP administration was fighting three fires: trying to fix a broken public tpt system, while denying anything was wrong, and while spending public money to help the listed public tpt operators maintain profits.

Lots of open goals were avoided. No attempts on goal were even made. And it was a PAP MP that suggested nationalisation.

Looks like the WP has done some soul-searching and their elected MPs have moved on from being worthless, wayanging, wanking wannabe social workers, only interested in looking at their monthly bank statements, to become warriors. Let’s hope they keep this up, speaking out loud and clear when the PAP administration is doing wrong or trying to throw smoke.

Seems the results of GE 2015 and the challenge to Low in the WP’s internal elections have resulted in the WP “waking up its ideas”. More than one Lion Man now going by Monday’s debate.

The worthless, wayanging wankers in Parly are now the three NMPs who proposed changes to the bill (one of whom organised a petition and delivered it) and spoke out against the bill and then voted for the bill. This guy (quoted by TRE) got it right:

So much for signing a bloody petition. In the end, who were the 9 who opposed? Singapore, if you think you can count on NMPs to speak for you, see for yourself what happened today.

They will bring your petition to the House, withdraw it, and then vote in favour for the very Bill they were petitioning against, without any amendments to it whatsoever.

Very reliable folks indeed. Spineless. Pretentious. And so much less.

(From TRE)

Terry of TOC (The Online Citizen not Terry’s Online Channel) explained on FB the damage the three worthless, wayanging wankers caused by their two-faced actions:

The problem I see with such voting by the NMPS is that ppl in the general public will see that their well thought arguements have been answered by the law minister, which is why they would have voted yes to the bill without amendements. 

For the record, I’ve seen only one of the NMPs come out with a defence of why she voted for the bill. It’s a load of gibberish. She should have just sat down and shut up like the other two, And wait, like them, for her thirty pieces of silver.

Amos and the the art of protest/ Why Ali was “the greatest”

So Amos was back in the news. I’m sure he came back because he missed Mother Mary’s pampering to his every whim, and the publicity. But he must be disappointed that he’s history even though he was charged in court and assaulted in public. The ang moh tua kees have got their knickers wet over the Roy and Teo show, not Amos. Interestingly, they don’t give two hoots about the Indian TISG, even though P Ravi is now running the show.

Seriously, coming back to Boy Fantastic, I suspect he’s really a stupid, dumb kid (What to expect of boy who didn’t go to RI.? (OK, OK, I admit that  GCT,Kee Chui, Tan Jee Say and Tan Kin Lian are also RI boys) unable express (let alone understand) himself. I think he really wants to be a protest artist like Petr Pavlensky, Ai Weiwei, Theaster Gates and Beyonce, but can’t express or understand this honourable calling. Instead, he positions himself as mummy’s boy gone wrong.

I’m sure you’ve heard of Ai Weiwei and Beyonce, but not the other two.  Below is something on Petr Pavlensky and Theaster Gates http://www.bbc.com/news/entertainment-arts-36163543 aboit.

Doesn’t Petr Pavlensky’s antics  make one think of Amos’ antics? The sewing of his mouth and the nailing for his scrotum reminds me of Amos’ self-inflicted stint at our very own Arkham. Both actions were avoidable but done to shock and sensationalise with the aim of making themselves celebrities: celebrities with a cause.

Petr Pavlensky is a Russian artist at the radical, Dadaist, end of the spectrum. His reference points include Guy Debord’s Situationist International movement, the Sex Pistols and Kazimir Malevich – and less obviously, Lucien Freud and Caravaggio.

He, like Beyonce, thinks there’s room for improvement in the way in which his country is run.

He too thinks there is oppression, police brutality, and corporate/state corruption. But he doesn’t have access to the sort of levers available to the US singer, and even if he did, I doubt he’d pull them in quite the same way.

Briefly. He started out at art school, but found the teaching dogmatic and dull.

He left and found his artistic voice by sowing his mouth shut in response to the incarceration of members of Pussy Riot following the performance of their Punk Prayer in the Cathedral of Christ the Saviour in Moscow.

It made for a strikingly nasty image. An image, that had it been made by a non-artist, would have received little attention, but by pulling the one lever had got – art – his work received international attention.

He followed that up with a piece called Fixation (2013). That’s the one where his genitals come in to play.

After weeks of preparation and planning, he went to Red Square, stripped naked, and nailed his scrotum to the paving stones. Extreme? Yes, very. But maybe extreme situations call for extreme actions? …

Ai Weiwei uses the notion of art in a similar way. He too turns himself into a one-man picket to bring attention to what he perceives as the shortcomings of the authorities in his native country, China.

He has also been incarcerated, although for far less obvious reasons.

The American Theaster Gates is another artist who “leverages” the status of art in society to turn the detritus he finds in the dilapidated buildings he buys on the Southside of Chicago into sculptures worth hundreds of thousands of dollars.

He then uses the money to help regenerate the area, which has been called the murder capital of America. …

He is furious. Ai Weiwei is furious. Theaster Gates is furious. Beyonce is furious.

They are all using art to protest, and to some effect – but admittedly with different immediate outcomes.

Well one thing is certain, Amos is furious, and like Ai Wei and Petr Pavlensky, has been incarcerated. But will he ever be famous? (Being a celebrity in S’pore doesn’t count.)

Btw, even his cybernut fans in TRELand are turning against him, or at least keeping quiet, like the ang moh tua kee paper warriors and activists that were championing him.

Amos’ boasting, his cockiness, his stoicism are all part of a plan to defy society. Ali shows such a plan can work. Ali who the Economist said did not know his place. His boasting, his cockiness, his stoicism—all were part of a plan to defy the established order.

But unlike Amos, Ali’s provocation was all the more complete because his bragging was so often backed by success.

Amos’ bragging remains all talk, no action.

Thinking about it, Ali was a protest artist. My favourite Ali quote: A man who views the world the same at 50 as he did at 20 has wasted 30 years of his life.”

Wah Piow’s other option to clear his name

If AG refuses to review the case with a view of asking the courts to set it aside, Tan Wah Piow has an alternative. He can engage a good lawyer (Peter Low, who happens to be a former DPP. would be a good choice. He also happens to be respected by the judiciary and AGC. He’s no talk cock, sing song lawyer like Ravi, but a lawyer’s lawyer.) to petition the courts to set the verdict aside.

I know someone who pleaded guilty to a highly technical charge, only to find that his fellow co-defendants were found not guilty (Albeit they had to spend really serious money along the way. One spent, it seems over $1m). He asked the AG to ask the court to set aside his conviction. AG refused and so he engaged lawyers. He won.

So Tan has an alternative way to proceed. And if he has no money, he can try  crowdsourcing.. Dr Chee, Roy raised money this way. It’ll force the ant-PAP folks to put their money where there mouth is. Though, he shouldn’t expect much from the born-loser vermin of TRELand. They only know how to Talk the Talk, not Walk the Talk. The site needs $, but they are sitting on their hands. Right Oxygen, Dosh and BK? The leaders of that rat pack are related to Jason Chua of FATPAP.

More evidence that Tan Wah Piow was fixed? Further to this where I told a story not reported by ST on the way the glass splinters fell in the case, a regular reader who is knowledgable about the period commented on the “lock” that made the SG look like a cock.

The ST reporter who covered the case was the late Ben Davidson. He did an outstanding job giving great details. One glaring piece of evidence clearly in the defendants’ favour was ignored by the judge. The Solicitor-General (later High Court judge) Wahab Ghows produced the lock of the room in question as evidence to show that it would only lock from the inside. When the judge ordered it be demonstrated, the reverse was true, much to the consternation of the audience and the Court. If this is not sufficient evidence of the veracity of the defence case, I do not know what will be.

 

 

1970s soap resumes

Did ex NTUC sec-gen, PAP MP fabricate evidence, perverting the course of justice?

So Tan Wah Piow is trying his luck, and rightly so. Judge Jennifer Marie’s remarks on Phey Yew Kok, former NTUC secretary-general and a PAP MP, during his sentencing:

“The facts reveal that Phey, like a serial criminal, systematically and with deliberation over a period of six years, perpetrated these offences. He had no qualms in trying to evade detection and had the temerity to instigate his staff to fabricate false evidence.” (Emphasis mine)

chimes reasonably with what Tan claimed many yrs ago when he was on trial.

During the trial of Tan and two others, the state led evidence of how the three accused, together with five others trespassed the office of Singapore Pioneer Industries Employees’ Union (PIEU) and rioted and damaged union property. The defence argued that the riot was a “fix” by Phey, the then General Secretary of PIEU. He had political motives for the frame-up, the defence alleged.

Following Phey’s recent sentencing to 60 months in jail, Tan has sent a letter to the Attorney-General Chambers asking for the convictions in 1975 against him and another two individuals to be quashed in view of the conviction against former NTUC secretary-general and People’s Action Party Member of Parliament, Phey Yew Kok on 22 January. http://www.theonlinecitizen.com/2016/01/singapore-exile-tan-wah-piow-writes-to-agc-asking-for-convictions-in-1975-quashed/

Tan’s defence reported by ST then can be found here https://www.facebook.com/notes/kojak-bt/phey-yew-kok-has-the-temerity-to-instigate-his-staff-to-fabricate-false-evidence/10154657118259762

But ST never reported which way the glass splinters fell.

A few yrs after the trial, I met an ex-reporter. He either covered the story or nad followed it closely: I can’t remember which.

He told me the defence led evidence (which was not challenged by the prosecution, he told me) that glass splinters from the windows shattered outwards not inwards as one would expect if force was applied from the outside. (Tan was outside everyone agreed.). The defence used this to claim that someone inside the office smashed the windows, then put the blame on Tan and gang. Btw, A few yrs after I was told this story, the teller  joined the civil service admin service, serving with distinction, before moving on to the private sector.

For the record, the presiding judge TS Sinnathuray died a few days before the sentencing of Phey. He was retired but had been a High Court judge, something Tan predicted after he was found guilty. But to be fair, it’s the usual practice for the most senior judge of the lower courts to become a High Court judge. An exception was JBJ. He was offered the post of High Court registrar. He resigned from the legal service.

Coming back to Tan’s claim, already the PAPpy vermin are rubbishing him* while the cybernuts and TOC are cheering him on.

—-

*When my FB avatar posted the link giving the background info, the report was rubbished. He never got a response when he asked if the rubbisher if he tot ST was not telling the truth.

Hard truth about the FT “terrorists”/ Indi overtaking TRE?

But first, let’s remember that the authorities tell us that they were not planning attacks, bombings here but back home. This means they were here to earn a living, not plant bombs etc. Really good guest workers, not like some PRC rats who came here to strike or chear S’poreans  or the Indian rat who took citizenship  but with the inyent of making sure his son avoids NS while working here.

Even more to the point, the ISA (detention without trial) was used, not the criminal law statutes.

But to be fair to the authorities, “they could have easily changed their minds and attacked Singapore”, Home Affairs Minister K. Shanmugam (aka the Minister for pets) said in a Facebook post.

But do the Bangladeshi authorities regard them as dangerous?

Bangladesh authorities say 14 of its nationals deported from Singapore are being held over links to a group blamed for attacking secular writers.

The men were part of a larger group of 26 construction workers who were expelled from Singapore last year for supporting armed jihadist ideology.

http://www.bbc.com/news/world-asia-35379056

So the others deported (12 out of the 26) were released? Yes.

The other 12 men, who returned on different dates, have been allowed to go back to their families as detectives “did not find their links with militancy in primary investigation”, Mashrukure Rahman, deputy commissioner (South Division) of Detective Branch at Dhaka Metropolitan Police, told The Daily Star on Wednesday (Jan 20).

Nonetheless, they are still “under close observation”, he added in the report.

Whatever, it’s clear that the Bangladeshi authorities don’t agree with S’pore’s perception that these 12 guys are very dangerous.

But then it’s hard to disagree with the administration and 70% of the voters that “Better safe than sorry”. Of course the anti-PAP cybernuts of TRELand (a tiny minority* among the 30%ers would disagree cheering on this view:  http://www.theonlinecitizen.com/2016/01/were-the-27-arrested-bangladeshis-terrorists/

——————–

*And getting smaller if the Indian’s Independent’s claims are to be believed: the Indian Indi claims it gets more views than TRE. Sounds like Indian PM talking his usual cock. 

 

 

 

 

PRC’s detention without trial versus ours

A reader of this asks chua chin leng (aka redbean) cheers for prc (china) and goh meng seng cheers for hk (sar). why don’t these two blokes change their citizenships instead ?

Because, this doesn’t happen in S’pore, to critics of the PAP administration, even “Marxist conspirators”, alleged Jihadists, bookies and drug lords?

Another associate of a Hong Kong bookshop specialising in titles critical of the Chinese government appears to have disappeared. [HK media later reported later said he called his wife from a mainland-registered phone number , saying he was“assisting in an investigation” ]

Last month four other employees of the same bookshop and publishing house, including its owner, went missing.

Their colleagues believe they have been detained because of their work.

Freedom of the press is guaranteed in Hong Kong, but many in the publishing industry say they are beginning to feel pressure from mainland China.

The latest associate to be reported missing is the man who raised the alarm when his colleagues disappeared in October.

http://www.bbc.com/news/world-35208879

Despite the lies that Tan Wah Piow, sex pervert Comrade Bala, Dosh, Oxygen, Meng Seng etc tell about S’porean justice, in S’pore detention-without-trial arrests are never so secretive and out of the public eye.

And even an alleged cat killer gets a lawyer pro bono, juz like LKY-hater Amos Yee. .

And would Uncle Redbean or Meng Seng dare criticise China the way they criticise the PAP administration? I doubt it.

By not moving on from S’pore citizenship, we know that they don’t walk the talk, juz talk the talk.

 

Why Amos is so happy

But first, trumpets pls for me. Going by Amos’ latest outbreak of verbal diarrhoea and vomit*, he’s still in S’pore (He’s mocking the SPF for not being able to catch him): something I said when the conventional wisdom said he was overseas. FYI, it was Home Team sources that told me he had not gone overseas.

Now as to why he is happy to the point of orgasm: he has juz had a great Christmas present. Google, hegemon of search engines, released its annual lists of the most-searched terms on a country-by country basis recently.

SINGAPORE

1. PSI Singapore – air quality following haze
2. Lee Kuan Yew – death of Singapore’s first prime minister
3. SEA Games – Singapore hosted this regional athletics event
4. WhatsApp Web
5. iPhone 6s
6. Amos Yee – prosecuted blogger
7. MERS – the spread of Middle East Respiratory Syndrome
8. QZ8501 – crashed AirAsia flight
9. Lee Wei Ling – Lee Kuan Yew’s daughter
10. Lee Hsien Loong – Lee Kuan Yew’s son and Prime Minister of Singapore

Amos is way ahead of two members of S’pore’s most prominent family.

Let him have his moment in the sun. He’ll soon be in a RTC, a place worse than detention barracks.  The police know where he is, my sources tell me. They juz want to make him suffer a little. He may be free but Mother Mary’s not there to wash his backside every time he has an attack of  diarrhoea. Nor cook or clean for him.

Seriously, contrast this list with those of our neighbours and HK or Taiwan (below), and you’ll see that we don’t know how to relax by watching entertaining shows. Bit maybe  following Amos and grumbling about the haze and watching or reading about LKY’s departure is our idea of entertainment?

HONG KONG

1. iPhone 6s
2. How-Old.net – a Microsoft tool to guess your age from a photo
3. Helen To Yu-ung – a travel writer and TV host being criticised for being too materialistic
4. Wu Zetian – star of Chinese TV drama The Empress of China
5. Our Times – a Taiwanese movie
6. HKTV – television network run by Ricky Wong Wai-Kay, whose application for a free-to-air license was rejected
7. The Greed of Man – Popular drama series from 1992, re-aired this year
8. Captain of Destiny – sci-fi TV drama criticized for poor special effects
9. Rashomon – Cantopop by Hong Kong singers Kay Tse and Juno Mak
10. Minions – the movie

INDONESIA

1. Batu Akik – the rising price of semi-precious gemstones which has sparked a modern-day goldrush
2. GO-JEK – new startup that provides on-demand scooters
3. Kue Cubit – a fashionable cake
4. Angeline – missing child who was found murdered
5. Olga Syahputra – cross-dressing TV comedian
6. Dubsmash – an app to create selfie videos with sounds overdubbed
7. Fast Furious 7 – the movie
8. Tragedi Mina – fatal stampede during the Hajj
9. Goyang Dumang – a dance by singer Cita Citata
10. Piala Presiden – the President’s Cup soccer tournament

MALAYSIA

1. HRMIS 2 – version two of Malaysia’s Human Resource Management Information System
2. BR1M 2015 – cash handout from the government for those in need
3. How-Old.net
4. Maharaja Lawak Mega – a contest between comedians
5. Fast Furious 7
6. Hati Perempuan – TV drama
7. 1 USD to MYR – following the slide of the ringgit
8. Whatsapp Web – the chat app on a desktop
9. GST – Malaysia introduced a sales and service tax
10. Bersih 4.0 – protest movement

VIETNAM

1. Vợ Người Ta – a song about a young man crying over his ex-girlfriend’s wedding
2. Âm Thầm Bên Em – a love song about a gangster who tries to change his ways to regain the love of his girlfriend
3. Không Phải Dạng Vừa Đâu – a song by popular singer Son Tung MTP about expressing his feelings
4. How-Old.net
5. Fast Furious 7
6. Khuôn Mặt Đáng Thương – a song about a young man expressing sorrow over his ex-girlfriend’s love life
7. Em Của Quá Khứ – ballad about a man waiting for the return of his high school sweetheart
8. Cười Xuyên Việt – television show searching for new comedians
9. Cô Dâu 8 Tuổi – an Indian TV series about a girl forced to get married at the age of eight
10. Chàng Trai Năm Ấy – a romantic comedy based on the autobiography of late singer Wanbi Tuan Anh

PHILIPPINES

1. AIDub – nickname for massively successful skit on afternoon television about lovers who have not met
2. Pope Francis
3. Maine Mendoza – female star of Eat Bulaga! TV show
4. FIBA Asia 2015
5. Dubsmash – lip-syncing app
6. Alden Richards – male star of Eat Bulaga!
7. Fifty Shades of Grey
8. APEC Summit
9. Paris attacks
10. COMELEC – electoral committee of the Philippines

THAILAND

1. เชือกวิเศษ – Magic Rope, a music video by Labanoon
2. รักนะเป็ดโง่ – Ugly Duckling, a popular TV series
3. เพื่อนเฮี้ยนโรงเรียนหลอน – Thirteen Terrors, drama about the adventures of high school students
4. ทิ้งไว้กลางทาง – Leave Me Along The Way, a music video by Potato
5. สุดแค้นแสนรัก – Extreme Love, a soap opera
6. สงครามนางงาม – Beauty Queens’ War, reality TV show
7. เพลงขัดใจ – Offend, a music video from COLOURPiTCH
8. ข้าบดินทร์ – Kha Badin – prime time soap opera
9. แอบรักออนไลน์ – Secret Love Online – TV soap
10. ตัดพ้อ – Complain, music video

TAIWAN

1. 颱風 – typhoon
2. 我的少女時代 – movie from China
3. 威力彩 – lottery
4. 世界12強棒球錦標賽 – World Baseball Championship
5. 寬宏售票 – a ticketing platform
6. 武媚娘傳奇 – movie telling the tale of a classic Chinese legend
7. How-Old.net
8. 玩命關頭7 – Fast and Furious 7
9. 江蕙 – Jody Chiang, Taiwanese pop singer, who announced her retirement this year
10. iPhone 6s

——————————————–

*Uncensored text

Do not believe what the mainstream media is portraying.

The truth is that the police have been scouring singapore and trying to look for me all this time, (my family members have messaged me and said that the police has contacted them trying to capture me), but aren’t able to (due to living in places without cctvs, disguises, vpns, putting my handphones in refrigerators, you know all those good evading stuff), and they’ve used the mainstream media to spread rumors that I’m overseas, and claim that they’ve postponed the investigation to 22nd December, just so they can buy more time to try to do so.

And of course the reason why they haven’t issued a warrant of arrest and gotten the media to announce it, is because they genuinely do not want singaporeans to know that a 17-year-old boy has outsmarted and evaded them for this long, because once again, it looks really fucking embarrassing for the police.

But really, escaping the singapore police, believe me is really fucking easy. Unlike what the government and the mainstream media tries to portray by wildly boasting about the few robberies they actually managed to contain with news articles, big medals and trophies that cover police stations, the singaporean policemen are genuinely incompetent and really fucking suck.

From what I learnt in my time in prison, most of my prison mates have either taken or sold drugs (for a pretty large profit of $600/day I heard) but have never been caught for it, and apparently there’s a huge underground drug industry in singapore where coke and amphetamine are hidden in tic-tac cases and traded in places like jurong east, orchard and the burger king in ang mo kio; many people have committed awol (escaping national service) by using the ID of their siblings who have already finished national service, and theft is very easy to commit in singapore (there are many cases when the act is even caught on CCTVs inside the MRT Station, yet the police still aren’t able to find the thief; I should know, it happened to me and my LG phone).

So yeah, after about 5 days staying in the exact same place, I’m pretty much certain the police can’t find me, and I’m able to continue my work. More blog posts and videos to come; many of them will probably contain hate speech and be considered a crime, but really it doesn’t matter, the police can’t be find me anyways, so I’ll murder and rape as much as I want (I won’t actually do those 2 things, wounding religious feelings though, that’s cool).

And no even though I signed up, I will not, and never intended (even way before uploading the lee kuan yew video) to go to national service; you gotta be fucking retarded to think I’m willing to waste those 2 years of my life.

Well munchkins, the dance continues, a shame that one of the greatest geniuses born in singapore is deemed a criminal by the government, just like socrates, but really, that shouldn’t be surprising now shouldn’t it? Either way, your munchkin leader is here to stay, and I will see you guys very soon. Fuck the police, fuck religion, fuck pap, and welcome Amos Fucking Yee; have fun, MOTHERF**KERS!!

Source: Amos Yee’s Facebook

Meng Seng plays with fire; links FTs to SGH tragedy

People in glass houses shouldn’t throw stones. Yesterday I read that  Goh Meng Seng’s People’s Power Party filed a report against Calvin Cheng.

I couldn’t help laughing because Goh Meng Seng and his People’s Power Party could be guilty of a “seditious tendency” under section 3(1)(e) of the Sedition Act because of a comment they made against FTs saying that they were responsible for the deaths in SGH.

———————————————————————–

3.— (1) A seditious tendency is a tendency —

(a) to bring into hatred or contempt or to excite disaffection against the Government;

(b) to excite the citizens of Singapore or the residents in Singapore to attempt to procure in Singapore, the alteration, otherwise than by lawful means, of any matter as by law established;

(c) to bring into hatred or contempt or to excite disaffection against the administration of justice in Singapore;

(d) to raise discontent or disaffection amongst the citizens of Singapore or the residents in Singapore;

(e) to promote feelings of ill-will and hostility between different races or classes of the population of Singapore.

————————————————————————–

Does Goh Meng Seng and his People’s Power Party have any evidence for this very serious and probably seditious comment linking FTs to the SGH tragedy. In a statement* he issued as Sec-Gen of PPP, after quoting from the Internal Review Report that there were serious lapses in the hospital’s staff whereby they have not adhered to established protocols as basic as hand hygiene which subsequently caused contamination to other medical equipment., went on

— Our hospitals have employed a substantial number of foreign healthcare providers over the decade.

—  It is apparent that MOH has allowed hospitals to employ cheap foreign substitutes from Third World countries instead of making the effort to look into the shortage of Singapore nurses seriously. Training and certification of nursing in these foreign countries may fall short of our expectations and this might have compromised the safety and standards of our healthcare system. This may well be the reason why SGH nurses have breached even the most basic requirement of hand hygiene.

(Emphasis mine)

Remember Ello Ello’s jailing for sedition?

The Sedition Act was used to bring a criminal charge against him, to the surprise of some, including self. In previous cases involving this law, it was about offending members of other races or religions. It was a point the defence made in arguing for a lower sentence, that his remarks did not exacerbate racial or religious tensions.

The judge said in response, “The local-foreigner divide has remained a challenging fault line in our society in recent times. Unlike the limited effect and reach of distinct racial or religious issues, this divide affects all and sundry, and cannot be regarded as any less delicate or sensitive in the current context,”.

So the Sedition Act can cover remarks that also pit “classes” – that is foreigner versus locals – against each other, and which had a potential for the eruption of violence.

The Act is not just about race and religion, but also about locals versus FTs is something that Goh Meng Seng, Gilbert Goh and their cybernut followers should think about before they start their mindless rants.

They could be targets of sedition charges when they rant and rave about FTs. But I’m sure Ravi (if he ever gets back his licence to talk cock, sing song in court) will argue that  Goh Meng Seng, Gilbert Goh and the cybernuts have the constitutional right to threaten FTs, instead of relying on the defences according by s3(2):

Notwithstanding subsection (1), any act, speech, words, publication or other thing shall not be deemed to be seditious by reason only that it has a tendency —

(a) to show that the Government has been misled or mistaken in any of its measures;

(b) to point out errors or defects in the Government or the Constitution as by law established or in legislation or in the administration of justice with a view to the remedying of such errors or defects;

(c) to persuade the citizens of Singapore or the residents in Singapore to attempt to procure by lawful means the alteration of any matter in Singapore; or

(d) to point out, with a view to their removal, any matters producing or having a tendency to produce feelings of ill-will and enmity between different races or classes of the population of Singapore,

if such act, speech, words, publication or other thing has not otherwise in fact a seditious tendency.

But Meng Seng couldn’t care less about going to prison. He has seen the publicity that Roy, New Citizen Hui Hui and the other hooligans, and Amos Yee can generate by breaking the law.

Ipdate on 21 Dec at 11.5am)And guess what? Amos calls Goh Meng Seng and gang “retards” for being in favour of the law that got Amos into trouble.

————————————

*Text of part of rant: The Internal Review Committe has stated that there were serious lapses in the hospital’s staff whereby they have not adhered to established protocols as basic as hand hygiene which subsequently caused contamination to other medical equipment. We suspect that this is a symptom of a bigger fundamental problem of MOH’s Human Resource policy.

Our hospitals have employed a substantial number of foreign healthcare providers over the decade. This is due to various reasons which include increasing demand of hospital care due to explosive population growth in the past decade. We also learn that many locally trained nurses have left the industry due to unfavorable shift work schedule.

Nursing is a professional job but apparently the salary scale for nurses in Singapore is only half of the salary scale paid by Hong Kong hospitals. It is apparent that MOH has allowed hospitals to employ cheap foreign substitutes from Third World countries instead of making the effort to look into the shortage of Singapore nurses seriously. Training and certification of nursing in these foreign countries may fall short of our expectations and this might have compromised the safety and standards of our healthcare system. This may well be the reason why SGH nurses have breached even the most basic requirement of hand hygiene.

 

China’s newest, most exclusive club

Being called by the police to assist investigations:

NYR Dealbook

CHAIRMAN OF FOSUN GROUP SAID TO BE MISSING The billionaire chairman at one of China’s biggest private conglomerates is reportedly missing as the authorities are intensifying their scrutiny of the finance sector, Michael Forsythe reports in DealBook.

The group’s listed arm, Fosun International, trades in Hong Kong and itsshares were suspended on Friday with no explanation or announcements from the company.

The billionaire, Guo Guangchang, often described as “China’s Warren Buffett,” may have been taken away by police, either under arrest or in custody for questioning, the financial magazine Caixin reported, citing people familiar with the matter.

Mr. Guo was allowed to make phone calls, but his personal freedom was restricted, The South China Morning Post reports, citing people familiar with the matter who also said the company was expected to make a statement after 6 a.m. Eastern time.

Fosun has been on a spending spree in the finance and insurance sectors in recent years and in September raised $1.5 billion to finance further acquisitions. It also owns the Club Med chain of resorts and a stake in Cirque du Soleil and bought Chase Manhattan Plaza in New York.

Mr. Guo’s disappearance is the latest in a series of mysterious episodes surrounding an anticorruption investigation into the financial industry, which came after a summer of volatility in Chinese markets.

A reporter confessed on national television to spreading rumors in an article about the stock market. Top executives at brokerage firms and several officials at the China’s securities regulator have been detained.

Last month, Yim Fung, the chairman of Guotai Junan International, the Hong Kong unit of one of China’s biggest brokerage firms, disappeared. On Sunday, Citic Securities, the biggest brokerage firm in China, said it was unable to get in touch with two top executives overseeing investment banking, Chen Jun and Yan Jianlin.

Several top executives at Citic Securities have been detained since August. The authorities are investigating company officers, including the president Cheng Boming, on suspicion of insider trading.

Li Yifei, the China chairwoman for the Man Group, one of the world’s biggest hedge funds, returned to work after meeting with the authorities. Xu Xiang, a hedge fund manager, was apprehended by the police after a car chase. The government said he was suspected of insider trading.

We jail relatively more people than China

“Hate speech”: MLC chair ignores judge’s comments

(Ot “Provocation” is not freedom of speech”)

I was very disgusted by Dr Tan’s defence of Calvin Cheng a member of the Media Literacy Council of which Dr Tan chairs. His mealy-mouthy defence is here.  Calvin Cheng is white horse isit?

Here’s something my Facebook avatar  posted on Siow Kum Hong’s wall when Siow took the high moral ground that CC should not be given the AY treatment and which happens to explain my difference of opinion with prof Tan: If it waz gd enough for Mummy’s Boy Fantastic, it’s gd enough for Calvin Cheng. No double standards pls. Justice S’pore style must be done. Here’s what the high court judge said in Amos Yee’s case that applies to “Kill IS babies” MLC member Calvin Cheng: Justice Tay said: “This is not freedom of speech, this is a licence to hate, to humiliate others and to totally disregard their feelings or beliefs by using words to inflict unseen wounds”. It seems like … throwing stones at his neighbour’s flat to force the neighbour to notice him, (and) come out to quarrel.”

There’s another relevant bit even if “Kill IS babies” Cheng doesn’t use vulgar words: “Yee used coarse, hard-hitting words to arouse emotions … vulgar insults to deliberately provoke readers and draw them out,” he said, adding that the 16-year-old should “wean himself off his preference for crude, rude language (and engage in) real debate”, which can “flourish in an environment of goodwill, reasoning and civil language”.

And I’ll add to the above this for Professor Tan’s further education even if he’s a legal academic:

The fact that it was Yee’s “dominant intention” to critique Mr Lee is irrelevant, said the prosecution, led by Second Solicitor-General Kwek Mean Luck. As long as Yee had a “deliberate intention”, it is enough to prove the charge, Mr Kwek said.

Prof Tan pls note. Whatever Calvin’s intention, they are irrelevant.

Yee’s “deliberate intention” was evident, said the prosecution, as Yee himself had admitted that he was “fully aware that his remarks were bound to promote ill-will amongst the Christian population”, said Mr Kwek.

Prof Tan pls note. “Killer” Cheng has made it clear that he wants to provoke controversy i.e. trouble and ill-will.

Justice Tay noted that Yee had an “unhappy experience” in the Catholic Church. In one of his police statements, Yee said that he was “kicked out of the altar boys” for uttering a profanity at an altar boys meeting. There was therefore a background when he made the offending comments. “They were not innocent words uttered without real thought”, Justice Tay said.

Well, based on his track record of comments, it can be reasonably argued that Calvin Cheng really wants to kill babies of ISIS fighters if he is given the opportunity.

Background

Amos (Mummyy’s Boy Fantastic) had an appeal against his conviction and jail sentence dismissed by the High Court on Oct 8. was found guilty of two charges in May, after a two-day trial. He was convicted of one count of making offensive or wounding remarks against Christianity and one count of circulating obscene imagery.

Other interesting snippets_ from CNA about the appeal hearing:

— The defence argued that Yee was exercising his constitutional right to freedom of speech and provoke “critical discussion”. Said Mr Dodwell: “Yes, Amos has been rude but were his actions a crime?”

— Justice Tay Yong Kwang said: “Yee used offending words against the central figure of the Christian religion.”

“Yee’s attitude of complete disregard for others … is not commonly seen. He did not respect anyone.” He had “openly defied” court orders and made sure his “bravado” was made known. Judge got this about right.

— Another of Yee’s lawyers, Mr Chong Jiahao, said that it “cannot be proven as fact” that Yee intended the comments to wound the religious feelings of Christians. “His purpose was to talk about the late Mr Lee Kuan Yew”, Mr Chong said, adding that there was no “cogent evidence” otherwise produced in court.

— On the obscene imagery charge, Justice Tay said that the image Yee circulated “must be obscene by the standards of any right-thinking society”.

Yee’s third lawyer, Mr Ervin Tan argued that the image “does not depict any genitalia” and that the district judge had used the “wrong vantage point” in determining the image to be able to deprave and corrupt young minds.

The District Judge had put herself “in the shoes of right-thinking parents and teachers of our community” and concluded that they would not approve of their children or students viewing the image, said Mr Tan, adding his view that this test is wrong and has “no foundation in law”.

“A picture does not become obscene only when genitalia is explicitly shown”, Justice Tay said. “Depravity and corruption relate essentially to the mind”, said Justice Tay.

He then challenged Mr Tan: “Would a young man bring this picture to show to his girlfriend’s family and say ‘hey, look that this funny picture’? No. Why would he not do it? Something in you says, it’s not right.”

Human rights kay pohs don’t do “fixers” and “jihadists”

The Court of Appeal ordered the release of alleged match-fixer Dan Tan release from detention on Nov 25. (Bit strange as he should have released on Oct 15)

The Court of Appeal ordered Tan’s release and called his detention without trial “unlawful”. The court not only gave the reasons for their decision but also also addressed the scope of the Home Affairs Minister’s powers in such cases.

————————————————————

Background 

He has been detained without trial since October 2013, under the Criminal Law (Temporary Provisions) Act. The Act gives the Home Affairs Minister power to detain without trial “a person who has been associated with activities of a criminal nature … if the Minister deems it necessary in the interests of public safety, peace and good order”.

He was arrested in September 2013 for allegedly being the “leader and financer of a global football match-fixing syndicate operating from Singapore”. Between 2009 and 2013, Tan had been linked to match-fixing activities in Egypt, South Africa, Nigeria, Turkey and Trinidad and Tobago. Tan also allegedly recruited runners and agents in Singapore to help in these illegal activities.

Originally detained for one year, Tan’s detention was extended for another year, until October 2015. Tan’s first appeal to review his detention was dismissed by the High Court in September 2014. The Court of Appeal heard Tan’s application against this dismissal.

——————————————————————————————

Below is something I wrote in Jan 2014 about the case and what it showed abiut the human rights kay pohs, Below it is an excerpt from CNA on judges’ reasoning.

(Btw, since the Paris murders, HomeTeam has renewed the detention of several alleged jihadists. Maruah and the rest of the kay pohs are silent but had earlier this yr rushed to the defence of Amos Yee, Mummy’s Boy Fantastic. They scared of being killed by jihadists?)

Govt detains without trial S’poreans: No outrage meh activists?

It might be the season to be jolly and of peace and goodwill, what with the Christmas and NY hols gone and the CNY hols coming, but the human rights activists have really got my goat.

The contrast between their vocal support for FT deportess, and their seeming indifference to S’poreans detained without trial make me sick.

Last Friday, it was reported by CNA that, “MHA has placed the son of Singapore Jemaah Islamiyah leader Mas Selamat Kastari under a two-year detention. Masyhadi Mas Selamat, 25, was detained on 21 November 2013 on an Order of Detention under the ISA.”

The silence on his detention from the usual human rights kay pohs is deafening.

TOC, Maruah, Vincent Wijeysingha, Rachel Zeng, Kirsten Han etc etc were all up in arms demanding justice for the manual migrant workers detained by the police after the riot. They were upset many of those detsined were then given air-tickets to move on out of S’pore, rather than sent for trial. Some had the charges  withdrawn and the court granted them discharges amounting to acquittals and then were deported, while many were never charged, just deported. They demanded “due process” for these FTs, even though as someone posted on Facebook, ” Rightly or wrongly, deportation is more lenient than jail and caning.” A lot more, so is it fair to insist as the kay pohs do that the courts must be involved in “due process”? One could even argue that the govt is being easy on “alleged” rioters.

The deportation law is draconian but there are more draconian laws that true blue S’poreans are subject to: the Internal Security Act and the Criminal Law Temporary Provision Act.

They allow the govt to detain almost indefinitely people who never had the benefit of a trial. The former is nowadays used to detain alleged “Islamic” terrorists,  while the latter is used to detain Dan Tan (the guy alleged to have fixed footie matches) and alleged drug dealers (mules get murdered, judicially, after due process if they don’t have useful evidence).

Yes, yes, I know that TOC and Maruah have spoken out against these laws (albeit once upon a time) and have called for their abolition (again once upon a time), and I’m sure Vincent, Kirsten, Rachel etc etc, if asked, will say they oppose these laws and want them abolished.

Still, their silence*, or indifference(?) whenever the govt and mainstream media report these detentions (and they do) when contrasted with the chorus of disapproval and outrage over what is happening to the alleged rioters, and deportees is disturbing at the very least. Double standards?

I have never heard any activist say about Dan Tan, Masyhadi or any other alleged Islamic terrorist, or drug dealer, “Activists, while often faced with heart-wrenching stories, are not just bleeding hearts. Behind the criticism lies a much bigger issue: that of access to justice and due process … But we are obliged to ensure that they have access to justice.” (Kirsten Han in http://sg.news.yahoo.com/blogs/singaporescene/did-deported-workers-deserve-time-court-015254163.html)

As I wrote last year: The coming deafening silence [referring to Dan Tan’s case] of the usual human rights kay pohs will tell us a lot of their prejudices: they are supportive of FT drug mules, and middle class anti-PAP activists. But not working class criminal suspects (no-one is complaining that Vui Kong’s alleged drug lord is held under ISA CLTPA) or those whom the govt alleges are Islamic radicals. Touch a FT or a middle class anti-PAP activist, and the screams will be deafening, even if it’s juz a policeman paying a home visit.

Are S’poreans too not worthy of “justice and due process”, Ms Han? They too like FTs are human

                                                                                               Hath
 59   not a Jew eyes? hath not a Jew hands, organs,
 60   dimensions, senses, affections, passions? fed with
 61   the same food, hurt with the same weapons, subject
 62   to the same diseases, healed by the same means,
 63   warmed and cooled by the same winter and summer, as
 64   a Christian is? If you prick us, do we not bleed?
 65   if you tickle us, do we not laugh? if you poison
 66   us, do we not die?

(Shylock in The Merchant of Venice)

A wicked, cynical, unworthy and doubtless mistaken tot. Could it because our kay pohs know that ang mohs are not too fussed when alleged drug dealers, footie fixers and Islamic terrorists are detained? Only when migrant workers are? http://www.radioaustralia.net.au/international/2013-12-18/human-rights-activists-accuse-singapore-of-failing-to-recognise-the-rights-of-rioters/1236768

Since the CIA and MI6 are pretty relaxed about working with countries that do not give alleged Islamic terrorists “access to justice and due process”, one can legitimately (if unreasonably) ask if these agencies have managed to influence our kay pohs.

Let me be clear, the kay pohs like Ms Han etc have every right to champion and fight any cause they like: if they want justice for FTs, taz their right. They also have the right not to want justice for S’poreans. They are free to do what they want to do. But I, and other S’poreans, are entitled to make judgements based on their actions, silence and inaction.

My judgement is that “FTs tua kee” attitude is not confined only to the govt: our kay pohs too take pride in it too. Why like that meh? Hath
 59   not a S’porean eyes? hath not a S’porean hands, organs,
 60   dimensions, senses, affections, passions? fed with
 61   the same food, hurt with the same weapons, subject
 62   to the same diseases, healed by the same means,
 63   warmed and cooled by the same winter and summer, as
 64   a FT is? If you prick us, do we not bleed?
 65   if you tickle us, do we not laugh? if you poison
 66   us, do we not die?

Related post: Kirsten Han wants S’poreans to have a dialogue with the govt on FTs, despite fact that as a HR activist she should know that the govt doesn’t do dialogue .

—

*WP asked about Dan Tan in parly getting the standard non-answer. BTW, surprised that DPM Teo didn’t ask Auntie, “Bookie ask WP to ask question meh?”. But then, DPM Teo’s late father was a gentleman and must have brought up DPM Teo the “right” way. BTW2, I understand that Maruah had planned to denounce Dan Tan’s detention, but that the media release got lost. An honest mistake, I assume? Like holding a seminar in Little India on “struggle for workers’ rights” weeks after a riot there, albeit on a day unlikely to have many workers in the area?

From CNA on the Dan Tan judgement

ACT SHOULD NOT HAVE A “LOOSE OR OPEN-ENDED REMIT”: CHIEF JUSTICE

In coming to their decision to free Tan, the Chief Justice and Judges of Appeal Chao Hick Tin and Andrew Phang Boon Leong examined in detail the proper scope of the Act. “At its inception, the Act was intended to deal with real and physical threats of harm within Singapore,” the judges noted, citing times when Singapore had been terrorised by “gangsters, secret society members, and drug traffickers with underworld and international syndicate connections”.

The criminal activities must be of a “sufficiently serious nature” to come under the ambit of the Act. While the “precise range of activities caught by the Act had broadened over time, their core characteristics have not”, the CJ pointed out, saying that the act should not have a “loose or open-ended remit”.

DETAINING TAN WITHOUT TRIAL BEYOND MINISTER’S POWER: CHIEF JUSTICE

The apex court also came to a landmark judgement regarding the scope of the power vested in the minister, and ruled that in Tan’s case, the minister’s action “fell outside the limits of his power”.

The Act provides for detention without trial if the criminal activities have a “prejudicial effect” on the public safety, peace and good order of Singapore. This is the “entire reason” for the Act, CJ Menon wrote, emphasising that the activities need not have occurred here, but that they must threaten our public safety, peace and order.

However, there is “nothing to indicate that (Tan) did engage in any activities of so serious a nature” as to warrant detention without trial under the Act, CJ Menon wrote. Furthermore, Tan’s criminal acts had ceased almost two and a half years before he was served with a detention order, he noted.

Though Tan has been linked to syndicated international match-fixing activities, his actions at best “amount to a slew of corrupt practices”, CJ Menon said. “As reprehensible as they undoubtedly are, (they) cannot be said to rise to the level of gravity that they would have to in order to come within the scope of the Minister’s power to act.”

Would this be an offence here?

If say Amos Yee had painted the names “Lee Kuan Yew” and “Jesus Christ” on two pigs and intended to release them in Hong Lim Green?

Let me explain. There is a graffiti artist called Danilo Maldonado, commonly known as “El Sexto”, whose work is unrelentingly critical of the Cuban government.

On this occasion, the authorities decided he had gone too far: he had mocked the leaders of the revolution.

On 25 December 2014, he painted the names Fidel and Raul on two pigs and intended to release them in a plaza in Havana.

His idea was that people would try to catch the pigs and the winner could keep them.

Whether you see it as a cheap publicity stunt or a valid artistic expression, the event was never likely to be allowed to happen in Cuba.

Maldonado was stopped by state security officers before he got to the square and was put in jail, reportedly without trial.

The government say “El Sexto” is a mercenary in the pay of anti-Castro groups in Washington and Miami.

But Amnesty International recently deemed him a prisoner of conscience.

“To jail an artist for painting a name on a pig is ludicrous,” said Carolina Jimenez, the organisation’s Americas Deputy Director for research.

(BBC Online)

(For the record Amnesty Int’l wrote about Amos as follows:

“Amos Yee is not a criminal. He should never have been charged, let alone convicted. He has been punished solely for exercising his right to freedom of expression,” said Rupert Abbott, South East Asia and Pacific Research Director at Amnesty International.

“If there is any justice Amos Yee would be walking free from court without a conviction against his name. The Singapore authorities must respect the right to freedom of expression.”

For the record, I say, “Ang moh, don’t talk cock.” I think this judge got it right about Mummy’s Boy Fantastic.)

Sorry for the digression, back to Amos and the naming of the pogs. Well going by the offences Amos was found guilty of earlier this yr, Amos could be guilty of

— “intention of wounding the religious feelings of Christians” if he painted ‘Jesus Christ” on a pig; and

— “threatening, abusive or insulting communication” which is anan offence under under the Protection from Harassment Act for painting “LKY” on the other pig,

with the intention of releasing the pigs on Hong Lim Green so that Han Hui Hui, Roy, Goh Meng Seng, s/o JBJ, M Ravi, Gilbert Goh, Dr Chee and their like could try to catch the pigs.

Brown-noser and PAP member Lionel De Sousa (“Hang 100 innocent people lest one guilty person gets away” seems to be the motto of this self-styled super robo cop who never got confirmed as an inspector, retiring as a sergeant in the SPF.) is sure to lodge a police report, something he did in the case of Amos Yee. .

Reminder of what Amos did for those with short memories. In late March 2015, shortly after the death of one LKY, Amos uploaded a video on YouTube criticising LKY. In the video  he compared Lee to Jesus, and said nassty things about both of them. Yee also uploaded to his blog an image depicting Lee and Margaret Thatcher engaged in anal sex. Yee was arrested and charged with “intention of wounding the religious feelings of Christians”, obscenity, and “threatening, abusive or insulting communication.” The first two charges were for offences the Penal Code. The third charge, later stood down, was under the Protection from Harassment Act.

Amos Yee: The anti-PAP caravan moves on

Double confirm, Amos is history, a celebrity no more. The anti-PAP paper (or cyber) warriors and activists ignored the end of the saga (or is it farce?) “Amos the Freedom Fighter: S’pore’s Nelson Mandela”. There was hardly a word on new media about the dismissal of his appeal.

Amos (Mummy’s Boy Fantastic) had an appeal against his conviction and jail sentence dismissed by the High Court on Oct 8. was found guilty of two charges in May, after a two-day trial. He was convicted of one count of making offensive or wounding remarks against Christianity and one count of circulating obscene imagery.

Justice Tay Yong Kwang said: “Yee used offending words against the central figure of the Christian religion.”

“Yee’s attitude of complete disregard for others … is not commonly seen. He did not respect anyone.” He had “openly defied” court orders and made sure his “bravado” was made known. Judge got this about right.

The defence argued that Yee was exercising his constitutional right to freedom of speech and provoke “critical discussion”. Said Mr Dodwell: “Yes, Amos has been rude but were his actions a crime?”

Justice Tay said (rightly in my view): “This is not freedom of speech, this is a licence to hate, to humiliate others and to totally disregard their feelings or beliefs by using words to inflict unseen wounds”. It seems like Yee is throwing stones at his neighbour’s flat to force the neighbour to notice him, (and) come out to quarrel.”

“Yee used coarse, hard-hitting words to arouse emotions … vulgar insults to deliberately provoke readers and draw them out,” he said, adding that the 16-year-old should “wean himself off his preference for crude, rude language (and engage in) real debate”, which can “flourish in an environment of goodwill, reasoning and civil language”. Hear, hear.

The activists (paper and real) that were egging him on are silent e.g. the members of Community Action Network (CAN: Shelley Thio, Lynn Lee, Joshua Chiang, Jolovan Wham, Jennifer Teo, Woon Tien Wei, Rachel Zeng, Roy Ngerng and Martyn See.), Maruah, Aware, and Dr Chee.

(Related post: https://atans1.wordpress.com/2015/06/15/fool-them-once-shame-on-amos-fool-them-twice-shame-on-them/)

He has served his purpose as an instrument to attack the administration of justice here. Their caravan has moved on, in search of the next instrument to attack the PAP administration, the administration of justice etc.

But to be fair, I’m sure these anti-PAP activists will say they don’t want to go to jail for criticising the judge’s reasoning.

But no need to feel sorry for Amos. He didn’t bother to turn up for the hearing despite asking his lawyers to appeal, and despite them working for free.

Mother Mary sure knows how to bring up a kid.

 

Roy: Cannot be relied on

Roy Ngerng pleaded guilty to charges of public nuisance and organising a demonstration without approval, on Oct 7. He was fined $1,900.

Both offences were committed at Hong Lim Park on Sep 27, 2014, where the YMCA was holding a charity carnival, YMCA Proms @ The Park 2014*.

By pleading guilty Roy has “fixed” New Citizen Han Hui Hui (hear they no longer on talking terms and Roy crosses his heart whenever her name is mentioned) and the other young hooligans who want to stand trial.

By pleading guilty, he’s making it more difficult for the others to defend themselves given that the leader has said he is guilty as charged. District Judge Liew Thaim Leng said Roy was the “leader of the group”.

His co-accused are expected to go on trial on Oct 12. H3 is facing charges of public nuisance and organising a demonstration without approval, while   Low Wai Choo (Goh Meng Seng’s choice of fellow S’porean to stand with him at Choa Chu Kang GRC in last GE: what does Meng Seng have against autistic children?), Goh Aik Huat, and Koh Yew Beng each face a charge of public nuisance.Another co-accused, Chua Siew Leng, had pleaded guilty in March this year. She was fined $300 for causing a public nuisance.

Roy the drama queen is now a sabo king (queen?). But he has form. He tot of standing bail for Amos Yee, mummy’s pet and boy fantastic, but didn’t. Result: Amos got locked up over a week-end. And he didn’t stand by H3 when s/o JBJ didn’t want her as a RP candidate for Ang Moh Kio. She is really angry with him for not standing by her: after all she did for him.

Roy according to his lawyer “is “deeply remorseful” at jeering at autistic kids**. Why he always like this? He was sorry he defamed PM And then went to defame PM a few more times. Will he ? “He will not reoffend”, Mr Thuraisingam added, in seeking a fine.

Let’s wait and see.

Will he break the law again?

Whatever it is, the voters in AMK have showed him and the cybernuts that they are not impressed by his antics done in the name of S’poreans. Time for him to sit down and shut up.

———————————————

*Ngerng, together with fellow blogger Han Hui Hui, 24, and four others, held their #ReturnOurCPF protest rally at the same time and place as the YMCA event.

When then-Minister of State for Trade and Industry Teo Ser Luck – the guest-of-honour for the YMCA event – arrived at the Park, the attendees of Ngerg’s protest became “more emotive”.

The group demonstrated by shouting loudly, chanting slogans, waving flags, holding placards, blowing whistles loudly and beating drums, the court heard.

(CNA)

**Ngerng’s lawyer Eugene Thuraisingam said his client had contributed to society by volunteering his time to teach special needs and autistic children***. He is also a “well-known advocate for matters of public interest”, Mr Thuraisingam said.

“His offence is ignorance”, said the lawyer, as Ngerng did not know that separate approval was required for a demonstration, after he had already obtained approval to hold an event at the Park.

Ngerng holds a “genuine belief” that he was speaking on matters of public interest, and is “deeply remorseful he did not do this in accordance with the law”, the lawyer said.

“He will not reoffend”, Mr Thuraisingam added, in seeking a fine.

***Pls leh, the parents rightly refused to let him anywhere near the kids. So how can his volunteering be contributing to society?

 

 

 

 

 

Amos: When Nemesis met Hubris/ Why PAP PR bad

The following passage from a BBC report applies to the PAP administration not just the Chinese one:

The Chinese government, like all governments, worries that public outrage at the scale of the disaster might become directed at the state.

But instead of using normal public relations it uses public information control.

The problem for the PAP is that the public information control has never applied outside S’pore, and there is now cyberspace aka new medis https://atans1.wordpress.com/2015/07/05/pm-esm-on-new-media/.

Last Sunday, I posted the PAP administration’s response to an Economist piece on Amos and other freedom of expression issues in S’pore.

Here’s what the High Commissioner in London was made to say about Amos’s case:

Your piece “Zip it” (June 24th) is unbalanced. It champions unfettered freedom of speech without providing the context of cases mentioned. Amos Yee was convicted for insulting the faith of Christians. In a small, highly diverse society like Singapore we guard our social peace jealously and make no apologies for it. We cannot allow people to denigrate or offend the religious beliefs of others: the result is anger and violence, as we have seen elsewhere. Protection from hate speech is also a basic human right.

https://atans1.wordpress.com/2015/07/04/economist-piece-on-amos-etc-dark-side-cousin-responds/

Put it this way, I should be out rooting for Amos. But I didn’t because of the way Amos and mother Mary treated a good Samaritan.

Funnily the PAP administration had a more convincing explanation for the 55 days (as of the day of release): It could and should have said

Here’s a breakdown of the time he spent in captivity and the reasons thereof

— Two days when police investigated his case.

— He was in remand for 18 days because his parents and fans didn’t want to bail him; then when he was bailed by a stranger he broke bail, and then after trial when he was being assessed for probation he broke bail conditions yet again. Even the Joker, Penguin or Lex Luthor are less criminal than Amos.

— Then 21 days remand because he had to be assessed whether he was suitable for reform training given that he refused probation.

— Then 14 days because judge wanted to find out whether he could be given a mandatory treatment order if he was autistic.

If he had accepted probation, he would be home where mother Mary could cater to his every whim and fancy. And if his parents or fans had offered bail, and if he’d not broken bail conditions, he needn’t have spent 18 days in remand.

Hubris met Nemesis and Nemesis won.

(My Facebook avatar posted a variant of this on Facebook, in response to TOC’s and Function 8’s support of Amos the Fantastic. Got quite a few “Likes” and no rebuttal from TOC or F8.)

Seriously here’s the discredible bit about the detention.

He spent two days (police interrogation) away from mummy’s care. Actually, these two days were very unreasonable given the nature of the offences under investigation.

But I suspect, the police wanted to give him a scare, in the expectation, that he’d apologise, repent and the case could be closed with a warning. They didn’t know Amos, his mum and the anti-PAP human-rights activists (aka the ang-moh tua-kees) pulling the strings of Amos and mum, cheered on by the cybernuts.

As to his treatment during the last 35 days, he was treated no better or worse than any convicted offender undergoing examination for a RTO ot MTO.  He wasn’t persecuted.

He spent 53 days in captivity because he was quai lan: he tot he was entitled to do what he liked and not suffer the consequences. The IMH report to the court said Amos is misguided in not appreciating that ‘freedom of expression is not freedom from consequence’https://atans1.wordpress.com/2015/07/07/amo-what-imh-recommended/.

The system is telling him he is juz another criminal.

In one of John Wayne’s Westerns, he said “Life is tough but tougher if you are stupid”. Amos and Mother Mary should ponder these words of wisdom.

They should also ponder that Hubris always loses to Nemesis. The gods play with loaded dice.

What Amos said in his police statement

Amos the “fantastic” who was sentenced to four weeks’ jail on Monday, almost immediately instructed his lawyers to file an appeal. “Amos, duly advised by his lawyers, is of the view that the conviction is wrong in law and sentence levied against him is manifestly excessive,” said a statement from his lawyers from Dodwell & Co on Monday.

I do hope that the lawyers and Amos remember what was reported at the time of the trial.

Deputy publi prosecutor Hay Hung Chun said Yee’s defense contradicted a statement he had given police on the night he was arrested in which he said he knew his video was “bound to promote ill-will” among Christians. https://sg.news.yahoo.com/defense-singapore-teenager-didnt-intend-offend-video-142023078.html

He was responding to Lawyers for an outspoken Singaporean teenager charged with offending religious feelings in an online video that criticized the city-state’s founding father said that he did not intend to hurt Christians.

(Emphasis mine)

And I’ve not read any report nor heard from anyone who attended the trial that the defence challenged the DPP’s comments. So I have to assume that the DPP was right about what Amos said in the police statement.

All in all this appeal could be an example of what the IMH doctor says about Amos being misguided in not appreciating that ‘freedom of expression is not freedom from consequence’: or to put it another way, “Can suka suka do what he likes and not kanna takan.

More on what the doc “ordered”: https://atans1.wordpress.com/2015/07/07/amo-what-imh-recommended/

The situation comedy, “The antics of Boy Fantastic and his Mother Marry” is still running.

Amo: What IMH recommended

The psychiatrist who conducted the court-ordered evaluation of the youth at the Institute of Mental Health, Dr Cai Yimin, is also Emeritus Consultant, Department of Child and Adolescent Psychiatry, Institute of Mental Health.

He recommended in his report to the court that

— Amos Yee would benefit from having a counsellor or mentor to guide him in the “responsible use of the Internet”*,

—  he should continue with formal education where he would have opportunities to socialise with his peers, and

— family counselling should take place to improve the interaction and relationship among all members of the teenager’s family.

He said Amos is misguided in not appreciating that ‘freedom of expression is not freedom from consequence’.*

http://www.theonlinecitizen.com/2015/07/conviction-wrong-sentence-manifestly-excessive-amos-yee/

—

*Remember his grandma blamed his addiction to the internet for his problems. Cybernuts and HR activists mocked her.

**Blame mother Mary is at fault for this sense of entitlement?

Amos: Yaya papaya no more/ Mandatory treatment order given

The Prosecution had decided not to press for reformative training, which will see Yee instituted for at least 18 months, and go for a jail term because of what was described as a “seismic shift” in attitude on Yee’s part.

It was noted that Yee has voluntarily removed the material and signed an undertaking to not post on sensitive issues anymore. “Amos has admitted to his guilt and promised not to re-offend”, said the Prosecution, because he understands issues of law and racial harmony.

http://www.theonlinecitizen.com/2015/07/4-weeks-jail-for-amos-yee/

Yee also has to go for mandatory counselling, which the teenager has agreed to.

Yee’s medical report said that he does not suffer from any mental disorders, but instead needs mentoring. Amos has agreed to counselling and mentoring from a doctor at Raffles Hospital.

All in all sentence passed is fair and reasonable

[S]entenced to four weeks imprisonment, for charges relating to creating a video criticizing Lee Kuan Yew.

He will serve one week for posting obscene materials and three weeks for wounding the religious feelings of Christians in his video and the sentenced is to be served consecutively.

The sentence has also been backdated from 2 June.

He wants to appeal against conviction and sentence as is his right.

Mother Mary: Why “fantastic” is in Block 7

A regular commenter responded to Mary’s Toh self-centred, victimhood lament (analysed here) on waz happening to her “fantastic” boy wonder (Emphasis mine. Btw, this guy knows his way round the healthcare system here and he hates the PAP. But he’s no frus cybernut like Ng Kok Lim).

He’s in block 7 because … Those who are arrested and remanded by judges for psychiatric review are all done at IMH block 7. This block is the only psychiatric block purposely built for prison-like control, with secured doors & checkpoints / guardposts at all levels & at the entrance manned by cisco personnel / prisons officers.

Btw, all other blocks also contain “truly mentally ill” patients. There are also plenty of patients with violent symptoms in these other blocks.

Becoz he has been found guilty & under remand, he no longer has civilian privileges. No going to KK Hospital as outpatient in posh air-con office to be assessed by their specialist. Now anything to do with brain, go to prison block at IMH for assessment.

Even if authorities allow Amos to be assessed as outpatient at IMH i.e. everyday bring him to IMH block 7, Amos will still be incarcerated at Changi prison. It’s not like he can go home and take his own sweet time to report to IMH, if ever.

Btw, commenting on the rants against the warding of Amos in Woodbrudge for two weeks: Cybernut Investor pointed out that his fellow cybernuts cybernuts missed an impt IMH connection:

@Ng COCK Lim* and other fellow cybernuts, why no balls meh.

The logical and reasonable conclusion of Cock Lim’s cooments is that the head of Woodbridge is responsible for everything. Esp as she is daughter of person who Amos insulted? Or Cock Lim and you all that STUPID?

———

*Cock Lim, cybernut in resident in TRE’s rat nest who describes himself thus Ng Kok Lim is a regular TRE contributor who specialises in rebuttal. Err more like lying.

He accused me of lying about my prediction that Amos would be sent to Woodbridge citing that TRE reported it befire my piece appeared in TRE.

I posted this on TRE and got no response from him:

Ng Kok Lim, You are either very stupid or a bigger liar than Roy or Amos or Amos’s mum.

My prediction piece preceded TRE’s piece (It came out on my blog on Tuesday morning before the sun rose)  I can’t help it if TRE republished my piece a few days later.

TRE trying to fix me idit?

Whatever it is, it shows the quality of yr research: more Roy Ngerng and Balding than Chris K. ))))

 

Laments of Amos’s mum & why she should get real

TOC published a moving lament by Mary Toh on her feelings (“It has been a very exhausting journey these last few months for everyone in the family …” and I wish he could be home with me so I can care for him”) on her son’s plight.

She has right on her side when she asks

I understand that block 7 is where they also keep the truly mentally ill patients, and those who have committed crimes or offences and who are also mentally unsound.

It is also where my son is being held.

…

I wondered why my son, who is here to be assessed if he has autism, is kept here in the same block as those who are mentally ill.

The authorities should explain to her and the public why  if he has autism, is kept here in the same block as those who are mentally ill.

But methinks she refuses to see Amos and herself as anything more than victims when they are actually major players, their decisions impacting on what is happening to them.

“Amos made a video and ended up in a mental institute.”: What a misrepresentation of the facts.

She left out the following: Amos,had spat on the offer of probation that the state had preferred and which his lawyer and his mother had advised him to accept. He has reposted the offending material, and posted nasty comments about the judge. And he had earlier broken his bail conditions. All these and the false allegation that his bailor had molested him and his flip floppng on an apology to the bailor make him a victim of a vengeful state? Come on.

In a peaceful place like S’pore, this is tantamount to the Joker’s or Penguin’s misdeeds in Gotham City.

And

He wishes that he could sleep at home and go for daily assessment, but that is not what the court ordered.

Given his track record can he be trusted to go for the daily assessments? Remember he refused to meet his probation officer and was bitching about having to go to the police station and 9.00am because he wanted to sleep when he was on bail awaiting trial?

He juz wants the world to revolve round his wishes. And who is largely responsible for this sense of entitlement? Who calls him “fantasttic” and laughs off his bad behaviour? Not his dad, it’s mummy.

Given that

Amos is now exhausted, and yes, frightened. And I can understand why.

He has been remanded in prison for so long* (40 days now) – even before he is sentenced – that he probably feels things no longer make sense.,

why not advise him to

— say sorry to Vincent Law (his bailor) and the judge (remember he abused her), and

— give the passwords to his lawyer to privatise all his posts and not repost the offending posts. According to his lawyer Alfred Dodwell he had agreed to privatisingthe posts  and removing the offending posts.

These actions will show that he’s willing to play ball.

Finally, someone should lend her a video of “One flew over a cuckoo’s nest” so that she can see that rebelling can have awful consequences for the rebel https://atans1.wordpress.com/2015/06/02/amos-flew-over-the-cuckoos-nest/.

Hopefully she can pass the message on to Amos.

Oh and btw, the original offences are no longer relevant. Amos and his mum have put in motion a juggernaut, nothing can stop it now. The judge, if Amos cooperates, can mitigate the consequences, but it takes two hands to clap.

——-

*Hello, why didn’t she offer bail pending trial? She wanted other people’s money for that.

 

 

 

 

 

 

Amos: Judge going the extra mile

Almost no credit is given in cyberspace that the judge iseems to be trying her best to uphold the law while looking after the long term welfare of Amos.

Below are two posts from Facebook that explain what the judge seems to be doing.

But let’s be very clear:  the reformative training suitability report says that he is physically and mentally suitable for reformative training, even if he is autistic. Juz being autistic doesn’t give anyone the right to break the law and evade responsibility.

Actually I see a judge desperately trying not to give Amos a record. When he flaunted bail conditions he tied her hands. She’s in a really difficult place. To let him go free is setting a precedence for others to disregard rules as well. That’s why I wished ay could have just taken a step back lose the battle for now and wait it out. Then again he’s a recalcitrant teenager! Not sure whether he may also have some psychological issues. A good test is not harmful especially if it can save him some unnecessary trauma. The first step of charging him was wrong. It just spiralled downwards and AY certainly did not help himself. A real tragedy!

And here’s what someone who I personally know and who works with autistic kids says in the same thread. In addition to talking about the judge, he also gives an explanation of the mandatory treatment order (MTO) that the judge is exploring.

The MTO is a relatively new sentencing option iwhich requires an offender suffering from psychiatric conditions to undergo treatment in lieu of imprisonment.

If offender completes treatment successfully, he/she will be cleared of conviction.

Prior to this sentencing option being made available to judges, people with mental disorders were imprisoned. We can just do a google search for people with very low IQ who were sentenced to time in prison for offences such as outrage of modesty before this sentencing option was made available. Some people with mental conditions like intellectual disability, may not understand what offence they may have caused.

In that sense, I appreciate the new sentencing option.

[Err let’s give the Pet minister who also happens to be the law minister credit for this. And the PAP administration too.]

Just like intellectual disability, ASD is also on the Diagnostic & Statistical Manual IV.

Only a qualified person can diagnose where in the Spectrum a person diagnosed with ASD is (Asperger’s or whatever). I am not qualified, so I will not speculate.

IMO, the judge may be bending over backwards not to leave him with a criminal record – which is good as Amos is only a young boy.

I am not sure if MTO mandates institutional care once the diagnosis has been made, or if the ‘offender’ can commit to a term of outpatient care.

I personally feel that Amos should not be institutionalised.

On the last sentence, it takes two to tango and two hands to clap.

The “yaya papapaya”, that is Amos, had spat on the offer of probation that the state had preferred and which his lawyer and his doting mother Mary advised him to accept. And he has reposted the offending material, and posted nasty comments about the judge. And he had earlier broken his bail conditions. All these and the false allegation that his bailor had molested him and his flip floppng on an apology to the bailor make him a one-boy clear and present danger  to other S’poreans, who is unlikely to be prepared to undergo outpatient treatment.

Best if he’s locked up until he responds to treatment if he can be treated.

If not bring on the Reformative Training Centre, a heavily structured programme for young offenders involving military-style training as well as counselling, which can last up to 30 months. 

http://www.economist.com/news/asia/21655044-feisty-bloggers-face-trouble-zip-it

And do remember, the reformative training suitability report says that he is physically and mentally suitable for reformative training, even if he is autistic. Juz being autistic doesn’t give anyone the right to break the law and evade responsibility.

 

Psychiatrist behind Amos report/ Waz ASD?

Before the State Courts on Tuesday (Jun 23), District Judge Jasvender Kaur said that a report by Dr Munidasa Winslow said that Yee may suffer from autism-spectrum disorder. This emerged from the reformative training suitability report, which found the accused physically and mentally suitable for reformative training. (CNA)

He’ll be sent to Woodbridge for two weeks’ of observation and may then undergo mandatory treatment. (Trumpets pls, I predicted this early yesterday morning before the sun rose https://atans1.wordpress.com/2015/06/23/arkham-awaits-amos-autism-isnt-mental-illness-but/) While the UK’s Nation Health Service website says says that “autism is not a learning disability or a mental health problem”, it goes on to say that “some people with autism have an accompanying learning disability, learning difficulty or mental health problem”. http://www.nhs.uk/Livewell/Autis

Already the cybernuts are saying that Amos is being “fixed”. As does his mother, Mary: “They always want to paint him as mentally unsound,” she commented with a frown. (TOC report)

The problem with this view is that M Ravi (Remember him? The kickass, take-no-prisoners constitutional lawyer who is the hero of the cybernut mob and the ang moh tua kees) personally chose to consult Dr Munidasa Winslow, after Ravi fell out with his previous psychiatrist in 2012 .  M Ravi has also not disowned Dr Winslow’s diagnosis in February 2015 that he was in a “hypomaniac” phase of his bipolar disorder (A mental illness causing elevated moods and periods of depression that he was diagnosed with in 2006.)

Furthermore M Ravi has not challenged his suspension from practicising law. He is resting.

So if M Ravi is being treated by Dr Munidasa Winslow, how can one reasonably argue that Amos Yee is being fixed? The doctor trusted by M Ravi is the one saying Amos may be autistic. Unless of course, one asserts that M Ravi has been conned into consulting Dr Winslow?

Finally, here’s what the Novena Medical Centre website says about the good doctor

A/Prof. Muni Winslow MBBS, M.Med.(Psych), CMAC, CCS, FAMS

Munidasa Winslow has worked in general psychiatry and addiction medicine at the Institute of Mental Health since 1988. He was one of the pioneers responsible for the setting up and development of addiction services both in the hospital and in the community. His last appointment was as chief of the Addiction Medicine Department, IMH. He is recognised as an expert in addiction and impulse control disorders (alcohol, substance dependence, gambling, gaming, sexual compulsivity etc) in the Asia-Pacific region frequently speaking at conferences around the region. Despite being a fully qualified psychiatrist, he has taken the time and effort to maintain and develop his therapy/counselling skills as seen by his being accredited as a certified master addiction counsellor and a certified clinical supervisor. He has published and presented widely on both general psychological and addiction issues. He continues his academic and research interests through his academic appointments with Duke GMS and NUS and teaching in many medical and counselling courses. His passion is to help therapists develop and hone their skills to effect real change in those they seek to help.

http://www.novenamedicalcenter.com/our-doctors/dr-winslow-rasaiah-munidasa/

Update at 5.00am: Waz ASD?

Autism spectrum disorder (ASD) is characterized by:

• Persistent deficits in social communication and social interaction across multiple contexts;
• Restricted, repetitive patterns of behavior, interests, or activities;
• Symptoms must be present in the early developmental period (typically recognized in the first two years of life); and,
• Symptoms cause clinically significant impairment in social, occupational, or other important areas of current functioning.

Even children with ASD who have relatively good language skills often have difficulties with the back and forth of conversations. For example, because they find it difficult to understand and react to social cues, some highly verbal children with ASD often talk at length about a favorite subject, but they won’t allow anyone else a chance to respond or notice when others react indifferently.

Children with ASD who have not yet developed meaningful gestures or language may simply scream or grab or otherwise act out until they are taught better ways to express their needs. As these children grow up, they can become aware of their difficulty in understanding others and in being understood. This awareness may cause them to become anxious or depressed.

More at http://www.nimh.nih.gov/health/topics/autism-spectrum-disorders-asd/index.shtml?utm_source=rss_readersutm_medium=rssutm_campaign=rss_full

Arkham awaits Amos?/ Autism isn’t mental illness BUT …

(Update at 1.30pm:

Amos has been remanded at the Institute of Mental Health (IMH) for two weeks pending a psychiatric report.

Before the State Courts on Tuesday (Jun 23), District Judge Jasvender Kaur said that a report by Dr Munidasa Winslow said that Yee may suffer from autism-spectrum disorder. This emerged from the reformative training suitability report, which found the accused physically and mentally suitable for reformative training.

CNA)

Later today, Amos may find out whether he’ll go to  to a Reformative Training Centre (RTC) for 18 months. In my NS days, former inmates of RTC had no fear of being sent to detention barracks: they had seen worse.

So RTC does seem rough for juz sliming Harry and Jesus?

But pls remember before sympathising with the “yaya papapaya” that is Amos, he had spat on the offer of probation that the state had preferred and which his lawyer and his doting mother Mary advised him to accept. And he has reposted the offending material, and posted nasty comments about the judge. And had earlier broken his bail conditions. He’s a one-man crime wave.

All these and the false allegation that his bailor had molested him and his flip floppng on an apology to the bailor, does make a tough sentence appropriate. He has sown the wind, and he shall reap the whirlwind.

Given that he has spent it seems 39 days in remand, only a long prison sentence will mean that he goes in and stays in for a while.

All in all 18 months in a RTC seems about right: keeps him out of mischief.

But people with political, anti-PAP agendas are refusing to see this and getting noisy, saying that he should not suffer the consequences of his misdeeds:

— s/o JBJ is KPKBing about Amo being a young political prisoner*.

— And the ang moh tua kees who poured out their anguish publicly but didn’t offer to stand bail are wailing in public again** despite Amos telling them what he tot of them forsaking him. He tot they were “horrible” (my word not his).

He is a special one because he slimed the Ninth Immottal and the 501dt Arhat?

But don’t be too surprised if he gets sent to the Institute of Mental Health (our very own Arkham***) for observation and possible treatment.

Remember that mother Mary says he has Asperger, a form of autism****, and SDP member and former ISD detainee Teo Soh Lung has said she has heard from Amos’s sympathisers that he is autistic.

While the UK’s Nation Health Service website says says that “autism is not a learning disability or a mental health problem”, it goes on to say that “some people with autism have an accompanying learning disability, learning difficulty or mental health problem”. http://www.nhs.uk/Livewell/Autism/Pages/Autismoverview.aspx

So if he gets sent to Woodbridge, remember you heard it here first.

———

*Wonder if there’ll be faeces on s/o JBJ’s face again? A few yrs ago when M Ravi was “maniac” and the Law Society was trying to get him to get treated, s/0 JBJ came out with a piece comparing M Ravi to Soviet dissidents who were classified by the state as “nuts”. When it turned out that M Ravi was really as sick as a parrot, s’o JBJ had to sit down and shut up.

**We note with alarm, a letter from Amos Yee’s lawyer stating that his client was recently placed on suicide watch while in remand. According to the letter, Amos was strapped down for one-and-a-half days, and kept in a room along with two other persons of unsound mind. He was also denied access to toilet facilities and had to relieve himself in a bottle next to his bed. It is unclear if Amos was given any counseling for harbouring suicidal thoughts.

CAN: Shelley Thio, Lynn Lee, Joshua Chiang, Jolovan Wham, Jennifer Teo, Woon Tien Wei, Rachel Zeng, Roy Ngerng and Martyn See.

Btw, they seem to think being in remand should be like in a Club Med holiday facility. He’s in prison, and is being treated like other inmates. Why should mother Mary’s child be treated better than other inmates? Because he slimed Harry?

https://atans1.wordpress.com/2015/06/15/fool-them-once-shame-on-amos-fool-them-twice-shame-on-them/

***For those who are wondering, the Elizabeth Arkham Asylum for the Criminally Insane, called Arkham Asylum or juz Arkham is where many of Batman’s opponents are locked up for treatment.

When he is released, wil he come out changed like McMurphy in “One flew over a cuckoo’s best”? https://atans1.wordpress.com/2015/06/02/amos-flew-over-the-cuckoos-nest/

****But then she says a lot of things: he’s ” fantastic”, “a liar” that always “tells the truth”. Maybe she too needs a visit to Arkham?

Fool them once, shame on Amos; fool them twice, shame on them

On Saturday TOC reported that his lawyer had written to the judge hearing his case saying that Amos claimed

the treatment that Yee was subject to that left him in “a state of depression and having severe suicidal thoughts” which was aggravated by his time spent in remand. He then told the prison officer that he was feeling suicidal.

“Regrettably, as a result of what Amos shared, Amos was taken to the prison medical facility and strapped to a bed in a medical facility for approximately one and a half days. This episode aggravated Amos’s suicidal thoughts. He was restrained with one of his hands and one of his legs strapped to the bed. Amos informed us that he could only sit up or lie down. He found it extremely difficult to urinate and defecate. He was expected to urinate into a jar at the side of the bed, which would be left there after he does so notwithstanding the pungent odors which would emanate. He had to bend down painfully against his straps in order to do so. In the said medical ward, Amos was surrounded by patients who were mentally unsound. One patient was constantly jerking against his chains and another one would talk to himself and be unresponsive to other people. Furthermore, the lights were never switched off throughout the day and was glaring into our client’s eyes such that he could hardly have any restful sleep.”*

http://www.theonlinecitizen.com/2015/06/inappropriate-to-even-consider-rtc-for-amos-yee-teens-lawyer/

Almost immediately a group of the people who whined about his earlier treatment (but as Amos pointed did bugger all to help him) came out with

We note with alarm, a letter from Amos Yee’s lawyer stating that his client was recently placed on suicide watch while in remand. According to the letter, Amos was strapped down for one-and-a-half days, and kept in a room along with two other persons of unsound mind. He was also denied access to toilet facilities and had to relieve himself in a bottle next to his bed. It is unclear if Amos was given any counseling for harbouring suicidal thoughts.

CAN: Shelley Thio, Lynn Lee, Joshua Chiang, Jolovan Wham, Jennifer Teo, Woon Tien Wei, Rachel Zeng, Roy Ngerng and Martyn See. (Note that TOC’s Andrew Loh and Terry Xu, And Vincent Law didn’t sign this time round. Amos slimed TOC.)

http://www.theonlinecitizen.com/2015/06/can-excessive-to-send-amos-to-a-reformative-training-centre/

And this on Facebook from one Nicole Ling

Some weeks ago, I told myself I’d refrain from making political posts and comments and I think I had pretty much adhered to that self-made agreement…well….until I received news about Amos Yee’s torture in prison. If the state wanna jail him, jail him. Be a man and accord a prisoner his own rights. If a prisoner reports he is unwell, feels depressed or suicidal, it is the prison’s responsibility and duty to provide the prisoner psychological support and counselling. You do not use brute force and physical torture on a someone without explanation. How does strapping Amos down, shining bright lights into his eyes all day, preventing him from movement, urination and defecation and humiliating him in every possible way remain helpful in rehabilitating a 16-year old boy?

You wanna charge the boy, go ahead but treat the prisoner fairly. Debate with him with logic and analysis. Challenge him intellectually with wit and reasons, but what you don’t do is resorting to physical torture because only cowards and bullies do that. So what’s all these torture and humiliation? What is the purpose of the torture? To break him down? To tear his spirits? To drive him to deeper suicidal thoughts? What do they really want? If a parent did the same thing to a child like what the prison did to Amos, would the parent be excused for merely “rehabilitating” the kid?

Err what if what he allges are still more lies?

Given that he lied about the allegation that his bailor, Vincent Law,molested him and flip floped on an apology to Vincent Law, I’m surprised that these good hearted, ang mog tua kee kay pohs dare trust him to tell the truth? Feeling guilty they talked cock, sing song while refusing to bail him. leaving him to rot in remand?

I mean even his doting mum says he’s a liar.

They had independent confirmation that he was “tortued”? I doubt it.

They’ll all look like a bigger bunch of fools than they already are if it turns out the allegations are untrue. Actually, no-one outside the remand system will know the truth. But given his track record of lying, the burden of proof is on him, not the system. All the authorities need to do is to deny the allegations and the majority of S’poreans will believe that he’s lying.

But their agenda, like that of the cybernuts who infest TRE, is to always slime the PAP in the hope that some mud will stick. They know, unlike the cybernuts, that 60-70% of S’poreans think they are irresponsible nuts.

Note that his lawyer did the right thing by his client and the legal profession in reporting Amos’s allegations to the judge. And I’m sure he didn’t leak the letter to TOC. Was it Mummy? She is so dotingly dumb that she can say her son a liar while in the next sentence says he tells the truth. I kid you not. She told that to Terry Xu. He posted the text conversation on his Facebook wall.

——-

*Mummy and Amos thinking that remand should be a restful place? Hey it’s Harry’s Law that rules, not Mary Toh’s indulgences.

Amos “flew over the cuckoo’s nest”

(Update at 11.45 am:  Amos Yee Pang was remanded for three weeks as a report is made to assess whether he is suitable to serve reformative training. He rejected the option of probation and a term in the Reformative Training Centre (RTC) as a sentence, sticking to his original plea for a jail term. Yaya papaya: Think law is Mummy’s law. It’s Harry’s Law. Hehehe

Defence lawyer Alfred Dodwell cautioned against the RTC sentencing, noting that it was out of proportion to the offence Yee is charged for. The DPP said the Amos’s actions in re-uploading an image and video, and the various postings he made on his Facebook page after he was found guilty of his charges, should be taken in consideration as an indication of his conduct and character. Yup couldn’t agree more.)

If the judge makes a decision to send him to a Reformatory Training Centre (as demanded by the persecutors prosecution) later today, Amos Yee will be remanded for up to four weeks for a report to be conducted on his suitability for an RTC sentence. The irony is that “One flew over the Cuckoo’s Nest”  did not feature in a recent blog post of his on the various films he liked. Hi should have given his situation. If he has not seen it, too bad for him as it is very relevant*. Maybe if he had seen it, he’d realise what he’s up against though I suspect he’d still have done what he did. But he’d have done so knowing what will happen to him. In the film an ex-army nurse Rached dominates a group of patients in a mental health institute. When new arrival McMurphy (played by Jack Nicholson in an Oscar winning performance) arrives he takes on Rached in a battle of wills and leads a rebellion of the inmates. Btw, he wasn’t nuts, he pretended to be nuts to escape going to prison. In the end, he is made into an imbecile by having part of his brain removed. Today drugs can control a person’s peronality: no need for surgery.

https://answers.yahoo.com/question/index?qid=20090421181641AAcVWNo

But then the tot crossed my mind that maybe Amos (if he saw the film) sees himself as McMurphy instigating a rebellion in the reform centre when he gets in, thinking that mummy wouldn’t let what happened to McMurphy happen to him.

Seriously, the state is demanding that Yee be send to a Reformatory Training Centre: “Reformative Training Centre is not jail,” the AGC insisted, saying that young offenders sentenced to such a programme have no contact with adult prison inmates. They may not have contact with adult prisioners, but I’ve heard that ex-RTC inmates are not afraid of being put into detention barracks when they do NS: they’ve experienced worse.

Yet another irony is that those sentenced to undergo the programme are detained for a minimum 18 months. The guy that slapped Amos should be out soon, if he’s not already out.

A further irony is that the four week detention for a report to be conducted on his suitability for an RTC sentence, if the judge makes a decision in favour of RTC, does not count against the 18 months. Mummy’s “fantastic” darling really stitched himself real good. Well he did compare himself to Nelson Mandela https://atans1.wordpress.com/2015/05/15/amos-intelligence-is-an-over-rated-trait-2/. Btw, Mandela was no mummy’s darling.

————————

 *Maybe Shelly Thio should share it with him. According to Roy, she gave him books to read when he was about to go into remand. Didn’t offer bail though. A friend in need is a friend in deed. She’s real a good hearted kay poh that believes ang mohs are tua kees.

We need protection from the Harassment Protection Act?

I don’t know what were the PAP administration’s intentions when it passed the Protection From Harassment Act. But based on the reports of the constructive, nation-building media of the comments made by comments and commentaries by Judases journalists , I got the impression that the Act was meant to protect the ordinary S’porean who could not afford to sue for defamation. It was an “affordable” remedy for us mere mortals. not multi-millionaire ministers or govt agencies etc.

It was a shield.

The PAP administration’s public statements certainly did not suggest that it was meant to be added to the tool-kit of sledge hammers and power drills that the state, rich people and others could use to “suppress” criticism; something the usual human rights kay pohs said it would be used for.

Well the ang moh tua kee kays have been proven right. It is a sword, not a shield.

Mindef successfully applies under Protection From Harassment Act against Dr Ting, TOC

That it happened to TOC, the promoter and champion of irresponsible, bullying hooligans like Roy Ngerng, his side-kick New Citizen Han Hui Hui, and Amos Yee, Mummy’s Pet, is no consolation; though it might seem poetic justice of sorts.

And it could have been worse. A charge for making comments about the late Harry Lee that were likely to cause distress to people who saw the comments was dropped by the prosecution in Amos Yee’s case. The charge was earlier stood down. The charge was based on the above act. If anyone can defend himself, it’s certainly Harry.

Amos lacked this?/ Hope judge, activists do this

(Update at 6.00pm Amos Yee has been granted bail pending a suitability for probation report in 4 weeks. Bail is at $10,000 – TOC)

(Update at 4.30pm: Amos found guilty, wants to go to jail. The prosecution said the main sentencing consideration should be for rehabilitation and called for counselling and appropriate probation. Details at end of article.)

Today, the judge will deliver her verdict on Amos’s case.

If the judge finds him guilty, accepting the AGC’s arguments, I hope she will ask for a psychiatrist’s report before deciding on a suitable sentence*.

It’s usual to get the National Mental Institute to provide such a report. But maybe real civil society activists, people like P Ravi**, Lynn Lee, Richard Wan, and Terry Xu (Btw, Roy Ngerng, Andrew Loh and Teo Soh Lung, a SDP member, were attending the trial), will arrange funding for him to also see a private psychiatrist to assure themselves, and anti-PAP activists and their cybernut fellow travellers that Amos is not being “fixed” (or “fixed” if the diagnosis differs from the National Mental Institute) on medical grounds.

M Ravi’s psychiatrist would be a good choice because since he’s M Ravi’s personally chosen psychiatrist, even cybernuts accept that M Ravi has a mental health problem, and that the Law Society’s latest actions against M Ravi is not a “fix”. M Ravi had really gone “bananas”: he never did try to go to court to challenge the Law Soc’s suspension. The good news is that he’s recovering. I think he attended the real May Day at Hong Lim.

If he is autistic, this should come as no surprise not only to mainstream media readers but also to readers of Teo Soh Lung’s Facebook page. While the constructive, nation-building media speculated on his possible autism, Ms Teo wrote on her Facebook page that she was told he was autistic.

Let’s be serious, maybe the real root of Amos’s problem is that Amos never had a dog to pet or a rabbit to  cuddle? [T]he research shows that children facing emotional difficulties, such as “bereavement, divorce, instability and illness” place a particular importance on their pets.

http://www.bbc.com/news/education-32608771

Maybe the Pet minister can arrange for him to have a suitable pet dog? Err tunour has it that a certain FT MP’s “Blackie” is not happy. Maybe Amos would give it the TLC that this FT MP is allegedly not giving the dog, who ran way a few years ago when the FT MP adopted him.

Wants to be a martyr

Amos Yee Pang was found guilty and convicted of two charges for making offensive or wounding remarks against Christianity and another for circulating obscene imagery.

CNA reports

He had pleaded not guilty to both charges on May 7. No witness took the stand during the trial. Defence lawyer Alfred Dodwell said that Yee’s police statement is sufficient in explaining Yee’s stance. A third charge, for the 16-year-old’s statements on the late Mr Lee Kuan Yew in a YouTube video, was withdrawn.

In the plea for sentencing Yee’s lawyer Alfred Dodwell said the teen does not want to be considered for probation and wanted to be sentenced according to a jail term. The prosecution said the main sentencing consideration should be for rehabilitation and called for counselling and appropriate probation. 

The defence called for a fine or two weeks’ jail with the jail term taking into consideration the time that Yee had already spent in remand. Mr Dodwell said Yee has spent close to 18 days in remand.

—

*Whether a person is or is not guilty is for the courts and what the punishment should be, is also for the courts. But we have amended the law quite substantially to allow the courts a range of options in these matters,” Mr Shanmugam, the Pet minister, said.

**Yes, yes, I know he is a member of the Chiams’ party, but he’s a fair-minded guy even after he was named in parly by Yaacob for spreading a rumour.

Why stone throwers shouldn’t live in glass houses

(Or “Therefore all things whatsoever ye would that men should do to you, do ye even so to them: for this is the law and the prophets.”)

Given that the LGBT militants have called for the community and fellow travellers to boycott IKEA, and Pink Dot, has in Orwellian double-talk voiced its support of such a boycott, surely pastor Khong, the polo-playing magician, can call for like-minded-Christians, and Muslims to boycott BP patrol stations and Cathay cinemas?

Ufse Bing, not Google? Use Reuters, not Bloomberg? Throw away Twitter.

And for rich Christians and Muslims and influential Christians and Muslims to ensure that no business they control or influence is done with BP, Barclays, JP Morgan, Goldman The Gunnery (a media production business).

Doubtless if this happens, the LGBT community with be screaming “discrimination”, “bullying” and “intimidation”?

They don’t agree that what is sauce for the goose, is sauce for the gander meh?

Two can play the boycott game.

Here’s something constructive for the LGBTs to think about in promoting acceptance of their way of life here: money talks. The serious money, S’poreans can make if 377A is aboloished and gay civil marriages allowed.

In Australia, at least 18,000 same-sex couples are waiting for the law to change to allow them to get married, according to the University of Queensland.

If, and when, their big day comes, it could be an expensive business covering the cost of hotels, caterers, photographers and florists, not to mention clothes, rings and a honeymoon.

Campaigners estimate that the average Australian wedding has a price tag of around 35,000 Australian dollars ($27,000; £18,000).

“The world’s expert body on the economic impact of marriage equality, the Williams Institute at UCLA, says the most conservative estimate for the [potential] wedding spend of Australian same-sex couples is A$161m,” says Rodney Croome, the national director of Australian Marriage Equality.

“It could be as high as A$600m.

“On top of this, Australia’s failure to achieve marriage equality is a competitive disadvantage when it comes to attracting those skilled migrants and investors for whom non-discriminatory laws are important.”

…

Two years ago, New Zealand became the first country in the Asia-Pacific region to legalise same-sex marriages, and the architects of change believe it has had a transformative effect.

…

“I know that popular wedding destinations like Queenstown and Rotorua have had a real boom time with same-sex couples from Australia coming over the get married here.”

http://www.bbc.com/news/business-32655943

Rather than raping S’poreans to accept their way of life, how about seducing S’poreans thru’ their wallets and purses?

Amos: Misled or misunderstood the law?

Today, Amos will stand trial and if he’s going to base his defence on his “right” of free speech, he should think again given that yesterday, a high court judge dismissed his application that the bail conditions, which forbid him from uploading or distributing any content online until his case has concluded, amounted to a gag order*.

It seems he believes in a constitutional right to suka suka say what he likes: Yee was remanded after the pre-trial conference, as he refused to set his blog posts to private. He had earlier flouted bail conditions by publishing two posts on his blog. His lawyer Alfred Dodwell said the teen feels very strongly that he has not done anything wrong with his posts.

“The Constitution does provide for a person to have the freedom of speech and expression, hence he feels very strongly that he is just doing that,” said Mr Dodwell**. (CNA last Friday).

Well M Ravi, Maruah and all the other ang moh tua kee kay pohs will be cheering Amos on (There’s a soccer match going on, the poor boy [Amos] is the ball, and the crowd watches in morbid fascination as the own-goals pile up on both sides. The new normal way to win, wrote a perceptive reader of this article https://atans1.wordpress.com/2015/04/21/amos-parents-finally-got-it-walk-the-talk-amoss-groupies/#comments).

Sadly for Amos, the constitution is pretty clear on the limits on free speech here.

(2)  Parliament may by law impose —

(a)

on the rights conferred by clause (1)(a), such restrictions as it considers necessary or expedient in the interest of the security of Singapore or any part thereof, friendly relations with other countries, public order or morality and restrictions designed to protect the privileges of Parliament or to provide against contempt of court, defamation or incitement to any offence;***

Pretty clear ain’t it. There are a lot of exceptions to freedom of speech here. The bolded words mean, and the courts have said so too, that it’s very easy to limit free speech here: just pass a law thru parly.

So where did this boy get the idea that in S’pore we have the kind of freedom of speech that people in the US and PinoyLand have? We don’t. There is the right of free speech but only in very limited circumstances. And S’poreans seem happy with the situation. Since the 1960s, S’pore has been a de-facto one-party state: the PAP wins general elections with majorities of over 60%, often a lot more.

Here’s something that Amos should read https://atans1.wordpress.com/2015/01/19/will-m-ravis-barrage-of-constitutional-challenges-change-anything/

(Related post: https://atans1.wordpress.com/2014/11/03/m-ravis-grandfathers-parliament-is-it/)

So where did this boy get the idea that in S’pore we have the kind of freedom of speech that people in the US and PinoyLand have? Whether he was misled on or misunderstood the law on freedom of speech here, Amos’s failure to understand the law relating to free speech here shows the power of cyberspace: he like many young people is a cybernaut.

Mr Cheong Yip Seng (LKY’s favourite newsman, ex-ST chief editor) told us of an incident which showed that LKY was aware of the impact of new media. One November evening in 1999, Mr Lee telephoned Mr Cheong. He was troubled by a new information phenomenon, which was threatening to overwhelm the traditional media industry: eyeballs were migrating from print newspapers to cyberspace. Mr Cheong said that LKY was anxious about how the information revolution would impact the Singapore traditional media.

“He was anxious to find a response that would enable the mainstream media to keep its eyeballs. He wanted us at Singapore Press Holdings to think about the way forward.”

Well SPH, and the rest of constructive, nation-building media didn’t do what they were ordered to, did they? That despite throwing serious money and other resources at the problem.

Cybernauts. do not think the “right” tots.

For society the problem is that in cyberspace, anything goes. There is plenty of misleading information and lies out there from the likes of Roy Ngerng and Ng Kok Lim. And there is the bigotry of lazy abstraction, when commenting: “PAP always wrong”. (Mind you this does balance the “PAP is always right” of the SPH and MediaCorp publications, channels and stations.)

Then there is the issue of only listening to others who share one’s views and values, rather than being exposed to different views. Again the SPH and MediaCorp publications, channels and stations do the same, to be fair to cyberspace.

————————————-

*“We have informed the court from the outset that the bail conditions are too wide and in violation of his constitutional rights to freedom of speech and expression,” Mr Alfred Dodwell, Amos Yee’s lawyer, said.“How can one place a gag order when he has not even been found guilty? So we had to challenge it.”(TOC)

ST reported: Mr Dodwell said that being on social media was “the equivalent of him drinking water” and the conditions were “taking away a lot from him.”

During the hearing, Justice Tay Yong Kwang asked Mr Dodwell what was so difficult about complying with these social media conditions. “They just have to learn to curb themselves,” he said.

– See more at: http://www.straitstimes.com/news/singapore/courts-crime/story/amos-yees-mother-took-his-son-see-psychiatrist-he-stopped-after-tw#sthash.kAzMyQfJ.dpuf

**“We always advise our clients to comply with all conditions, until otherwise revoked,” he continued. “But if a client chooses not to comply, we don’t father the client, we just tell the client what to do, and if the client refuses to do so, we do ask why but we don’t probe further than that. They face the consequences of that action.”

***Freedom of speech, assembly and association

14.

—(1)  Subject to clauses (2) and (3) —

(a)

every citizen of Singapore has the right to freedom of speech and expression;

(b)

all citizens of Singapore have the right to assemble peaceably and without arms; and

(c)

all citizens of Singapore have the right to form associations.

(2)  Parliament may by law impose —

(a)

on the rights conferred by clause (1)(a), such restrictions as it considers necessary or expedient in the interest of the security of Singapore or any part thereof, friendly relations with other countries, public order or morality and restrictions designed to protect the privileges of Parliament or to provide against contempt of court, defamation or incitement to any offence;

(b)

on the right conferred by clause (1)(b), such restrictions as it considers necessary or expedient in the interest of the security of Singapore or any part thereof or public order; and

(c)

on the right conferred by clause (1)(c), such restrictions as it considers necessary or expedient in the interest of the security of Singapore or any part thereof, public order or morality.

(3)  Restrictions on the right to form associations conferred by clause (1) (c) may also be imposed by any law relating to labour or education.

Pink Dot, LGBT militants score own goal

(There’s a soccer match going on, the poor boy [Amos] is the ball, and the crowd watches in morbid fascination as the own-goals pile up on both sides. The new normal way to win, wrote a perceptive reader of this article https://atans1.wordpress.com/2015/04/21/amos-parents-finally-got-it-walk-the-talk-amoss-groupies/#comments)

If it’s one thing I admired about the Pink Dot movement, it is its successful attempt to show that S’poreans that LGBTs (esp gays) are just ordinary S’poreans: their sexual tastes are juz different loh.

Well I think the Taliban Christians (like the polo playing pastor Khong who had a daughter who had a child out of wedlock) will rejoice because Pink Dot has shown that it has a darker, sinister side when it came out swinging against IKEA while pretending it was doing no such thing. (At the end of this piece is what it said on the Khong, IKEA issue*.)

It came out in support of more militant LBGTs who are upset with IKEA. Worse it does so in Orwellian double talk. While saying it respects diversity of opinion, it says that IKEA should not have hire the pastor for a magic show (the militants are demanding that he no longer be hired, and are threatening IKEA with a boycott if it doesn’t repent) and goes on to imply that the LGBTs have a major problem with IKEA because of this difference of opinion.

I’ll quote what someone in a Facebook group I belong to wrote because he sums up what I feel:

 Very weird. If pink dot respects diversity of opinion, then why does it still think that ikea should not hire the pastor for a magic show?

I think that some people can’t get it in their head that ikea is only buying a magic show and that the seller’s religious, political and sexual views do not enter into the equation at all.

Just because I buy palm oil products does not mean I agree with companies burning forests in Indonesia to clear land. Nor am I obliged to stop purchase because you don’t like it.

And

Also note that ikea is Not sponsoring anything. I don’t sponsor Toyota when I buy a car from them. It’s purely a commercial transaction. I do not associate myself with Toyota’s beliefs, philosophies or principles just because I happen to buy a car from them.

Same for ikea and the pastor. Same for Muslim food. Just because I eat at a Muslim stall does not mean I agree with the religion. All it means is I think the food is good.

Gays will do well to remember this, especially if they want to sample Muslim food, because islam’s stand on homosexuality is quite clear.

Pink dot should remember that one not read too much into everything. It is not like what George Bush said– that you are either with us or you are against us– when he addressed the world after Sep 11. Just because your straight friends go to a magic show by the pastor does not mean they have turned against you.

I’d add three tots to the above: 377A is still the law of the land, yet Pink Dot and the LGBT community already think that they can dictate to us what we can think and do: they think they like PAP administration isit?

Imagine if 377A is abolished, would the gays then demand this:  legal action against a Christian-run bakery firm over its refusal to bake a cake with a pro-gay marriage slogan. Sounds far fetched? Well wanting IKEA to drop a magic show because the performer has some really rabid, nasty views about gays, I think reasonable people can assume that this too will come here.

(Actually, I was sympathetic to the abolition of 377A   https://atans1.wordpress.com/2014/11/03/male-gays-here-on-permanent-parole/ but I’m beginning to have my doubts, seeing the way the LGBT community is behaving.)

Whatever it is, those ang moh tua kees in the LGBT movement here that are demanding a special position for the gays have to realise that there are 12-15% of S’poreans whose religion says homosexuality is morally wrong. (Dozens of countries call themselves Islamic and derive their laws, in whole or part, from Islamic religious law, ban homosexuality.)

So abolish Islam isit here?

Like it or not, S’pore is not like the West, where its two major religions, Christianity and secularism, have made their peace with LGBT rights, and where the next fight is human rights for chimps.

Thirdly, Pink Dot has some regular corporate sponsors. Taliban Christians with serious money can decide not to use JP Morgan following the logic and thnking of Pink Dot and the militants.

I’ll end with a lawyer’s tots on Facebook that chime with my views too.

The campaign against Ikea’s support for Lawrence Khong’s magic show is problematic on a few levels, at least as I see it.

The protesters have asked IKEA to withdraw its support for the magic show so as to to maintain its secularity in choosing whom they should support in order to be sensitive to the LGBT communities, and the other Ikea patrons.

Going by this logic, the minorities for example, can ask there to be no Getai performances during the 7th month just because it could be insensitive to them.

I am not sure if the Pastor’s main source of income is from the magic shows, if so, is the protest aimed at adversely affecting his livelihood, just because he does not believe in diversity? [My comment: Nope magic shows are his hobby]

More importantly, where does this end? For example, will the protesters picket his favourite restaurant, asking it not to serve him just because he patronises it often? 

When the other side starts boycotting LGBTs and their allies, LGBT community and friends don’t Cry Mother Cry Father. You want to boycott, other side can too.

I think IKEA came to the correct and principled conclusion.

The point ,,, is that the magic show offered good entertainment AND had nothing to do with the promoting an anti-gay issue at all.

I don’t share LK’s views on sexuality, e.g. I don’t support Section 377A but nor do I agree with the calls by the LGBT lobby to recognize gay marriage or to have IKEA Singapore withdraw the discount offered for LK’s show.

In the end, IKEA Singapore chose to respect the diversity of views of people in Singapore – and I support this approach …

—————————-

*Important to respect variety in viewpoints and perceptions

PAERIN CHOA, SPOKESPERSON, PINK DOT SG

PUBLISHED: 4:17 AM, APRIL 28, 2015

IKEA’s ongoing support of controversial religious figure Lawrence Khong’s magic show has stirred deep-seated emotions among Singaporeans, in particular among the LGBT (lesbian, gay, bisexual and transgender) community.

On the surface, this is understandable. Mr Khong is well known for his vehemently anti-LGBT stance; any organisation choosing to partner him, therefore, gets associated with this anti-LGBT viewpoint.

This is at odds with the fact that IKEA is well known worldwide for championing cultural diversity.

The brand enjoys strong support from LGBT communities the world over, so its decision to continue promoting the show is seen as a form of betrayal.

Drill deeper and the situation becomes significantly more complicated. Leading academics, commentators and activists — and not a small number of lay people — have weighed in with their own opinions.

Some called IKEA hypocritical, others laud the company for sticking to its guns.

Some call this issue an infringement of its diversity policies, others say the exact opposite.

Who is right?

As a movement that supports the freedom to love, regardless of race, language, religion, sexual orientation or gender identity, Pink Dot is disappointed at IKEA’s decision to continue promoting Mr Khong’s show.

Mr Khong’s denunciations of same-sex relationships and LGBT people in general are well documented and not worth repeating. As customers — some very loyal ones at that — the displeasure is perhaps justified.

However, as a movement that also advocates inclusivity and celebrates diversity, Pink Dot also recognises the importance of respecting variety in viewpoints and perceptions, even those that run counter to our own.

It has never been in Pink Dot’s DNA to respond in tit-for-tat fashion because we recognise that a diversity of opinions is part and parcel of a truly pluralistic society.

Dr William Wan from the Singapore Kindness Movement raised an important point recently: “When emotions get the better of us, we lose the sensibility to know where to draw the line.”

It is all right to be angry. But let us channel our energies instead to better engage companies such as IKEA, instead of turning away from them. It is important to keep the conversation and dialogue going.

As customers, we have every right to voice our displeasure — respectfully — but let us not cut off the relationship altogether or risk becoming the mirror image of the very people denouncing other LGBT-affirmative firms with their brand of intolerance.

IKEA had made a business decision and, for better or worse, they will have to live with it, and justify it to its stakeholders.

Will that negate all the goodwill it has painstakingly built with the LGBT community? Only time will tell.

At the end of the day, what are we truly fighting for?

We do not think it is a Singapore in which every difference of opinion is met with heavy-handed belligerence and raised pitchforks.

Rather, we see it as one in which we face our challenges with stoic dignity and measured actions, always with an eye on the bigger picture — to build a Singapore that is emotionally strong, gracious, kind and loving.

 

 

Amos: Even dumber comments / Parental Responsibility

Tomorrow, Monday, Amos will again appear in court.

Here I said that Amos had changed for the better before his last court appearance. Well I looked like a real cock when he ended up in remand again. At least he was decently dressed and wasn’t eating a banana when he entered court. But while not playing up to the gallery, he was quietly stubborn, hence the remand. He refused to set his blog posts to private. He had earlier broken bail conditions by publishing two posts on his blog.

So I’m glad to report that there are even dumber comments than mine, coming from the usual heroes of the anti-PAP cybernuts:

KJ TeamRP

This is disgraceful. This is nothing less than state-sponsored violence against a child for saying considerably less than Lee Kuan Yew got away with. Edit:I say this is state-sponsored because the media is Government-owned and controlled and the Government and its leaders have failed to take steps to protect Amos Yee. By their silence they have encouraged their supporters to take the law into their own hands. If anything happens to Amos, his blood is on Lee Hsien Loong’s hands.

Can he provide evidence that the state “sponsored” the one tight slap? But then this is the guy who when M Ravi went “bananas” a few yrs back, drew parallels with the Soviet Union’s labeling of dissidents as “insane”. Sorry can’t find the link to that great own goal by s/o JBJ.

From a Do-Gooder who doean’t want drug mules hanged

I’ve always felt that Amos Yee is unsafe in Singapore. Cyber terrorism against this boy has escalated to physical street violence. Truly, I’m beginning to worry about his safety and wouldn’t be surprised if this boy dies from an assault one day. For his own safety, Amos should obtain a scholarship from a university in the U.S. and live there as an American citizen. He would flourish in a western country who celebrates and welcomes his intelligence, uniqueness and individuality.

If he goes West, he might get killed by someone who takes exception to his antics. And gd US unis don’t suka suka give scholarships to kids who misbahave. Dime a dozen in the ghettos. Real stupid ang moh tua kee this lady.

Shelley Thio, Rachel Zeng, Jennifer Teo, Woon Tien Wei, Terry Xu, Roy Ngerng, Martyn See, Jolovan Wham, Lynn Lee, Kirsten Han, Vincent Law

“Given the rhetoric against Yee, and the numerous threats to his safety, he should have been “committed to a place of safety or a place of temporary care and protection” under the Children and Young Persons Act. Instead, he is now back in remand, over his failure to abide by his bail conditions.

CAN believes that the conditions imposed on Yee are unnecessarily onerous. Apart from having to report to his Investigating Officer every day, he is also barred from posting anything online. This curtailment of Yee’s right to express himself doesn’t just infringe on his constitutional rights as a citizen, it is also disproportionate to the charges he is currently facing.”

The Community Action Network’s statement on Amos Yee’s charges and the assault on Amos Yee outside of state court On Thursday. None of whom bothered to stand bail on Friday. At least two of them were in court.

Scared to lose their money? Mr Law (the previous bailor) may forfeit S$20,000. This will depend on the outcome of a separate hearing.

Andrew Loh

Now, has anyone asked if Amos Yee has received medical attention for his injuries? 

Going by photo he placed in article asking the above: Injuries? What injuries? As a former prop who played for school and SAF, I’ve come out of rugger matches looking a lot worse than this.

MARUAH

MARUAH strongly condemns this act of violence and intimidation. This is not the way a mature and civilised society deals with opinions and opinion-makers.

One guy slaps this boy and whole S’pore society gets blamed? WTF?

A very sensible retort to the above BS:  especially the last three

does he deserve to be beaten in public? no. does he deserve to be given one tight slap? yes.

(Facebook)

I’ll be serious. Bertha Henson (aka retired Imperial Stormtroop general, paper division, and wannabe Seth Lord) got a lot of unfair flack because of the” vicarious pleasure” she got in seeing Amos getting slapped.

She could and should have explained it better; what having been a senior spin doctor for Harry and the PAP.

Self and many others were appalled that the parents didn’t slap or cane him for his boorish behaviour. Seeing him getting slapped, albeit in breach of the law, made us feel that moral justice was done. I think Ms Henson felt the same.

Finally, I emailed the following to someone above in CAN who I respect because he believes in fighting injustice, and tries to do something, not juz talk about it. Never got a reply.

If you guys were not so anti-PAP administration, you should be asking why parents don’t ask for him to be examined by Mental Health Institute. I suspect they scared if he found to have mental health problem.

 

At his age the law assumes that parents have the primary responsibility and it defers to them. Doubtless this doesn’t suit the agenda of some people. LOL.

 

Roy was there on Friday, why no offer bail. Talk is cheap, very cheap.  

Amos: A changed boy/ Why M Ravi went “bananas”/ Misreped again and again

Update at 5.30 am 1 May: Not bailed: in remand until Monday https://atans1.wordpress.com/2015/04/30/amos-in-remand-again/

(Update at 2.40pm: What can I say? I forgot to check his Facebook page, website before I posted LOL this morning. Let’s hope he doesn’t go to court earting a banana. I’d be a right Charlie ((((((.)

(Update at 4.55pm: Phew he wasn’t eating a banana and was dressed in smart casual. 

And no, I’m not the guy in red who slapped him. Bet you the ang moh tua kees and their cybernut allies will be screaming that he should have had police protection. And that it was all a plot to intimidate him.)

(Update at 5.20pm: Yup, political figures are suggesting that it’s a disgrace it happened outside court. Thinking about it, maybe he needs to be in remand until his trial because his life is in danger?)

Amos Yee will appear in court today for a pre-trial conference.

I’ve been told, he’ll no longer be a ya ya papaya eating a banana to show that he doesn’t give a hoot about the law. And no, my source is not my Morocco Mole who once told me that WP would support the PAP’s immigration white paper. https://atans1.wordpress.com/2013/02/04/wp-will-vote-for-the-white-paper-moley/ 

Seems his parents gamble in refusing to bail him paid-off. His spell in remand has sobered him up considerably.

I also understand that his lawyers will be asking for a postponement of the trial because they want to make representations to the AGC along the lines that he has repented (an apology is being drafted) and that the time spent in remand (four nights and three days) is more than sufficient punishment as a consequence.

Hopefully a fair and reasonable deal can be struck so that the only fruscos will be those ang moh tua kees and their anti-PAP cybernut allies who want him to be martyred for the anti-PAP cause; and those who want him hanged or caned for insulting Harry. All three groups are equally deserving of the scorn of reasonable people.

Though given his past behaviour (before remand to be fair), he could prove today that I’m talking cock about a changed boy. He may decide to revert to a ya ya papaya to secure the approval of the mob, and stick a finger into his parents’, bailor’s and lawyers’ eyes.

But if he remains quai chye, those who saw him as a human rights poster boy because he insulted the memory of one Harry Lee will spin a different tale.

Humans right activist, ISD detainee and 2011 SDP MP candidate wrote on her FB on 23 April : And at the pre trial conference last Friday, he was also handcuffed and led out of Court No. 17 into the holding area for alleged adult offenders. I am told he looked terrified.

…

So poor Amos spent several days among alleged adult offenders. I am told he is banging the wall and going crazy. He is apparently autistic.

Well going by the way he behaved when he was finally bailed last Tueday, by a Christian, not by a human rights wimp activist or an anti-PAP activist, it doesn’t look as though he was “nuts”or terrified. Here’s him waving.

Btw, it seems one Ng Kok Lim cannot help but misrepresent me. In his second latest BS* on TRE he claimed I sympathised with Amos Yee, quoting me out of context, and saying I too didn’t help Amos. He conveniently left out the link I put in the article he selective choses quotes from: that he should be caned. Err that sympathy? But then that point disturbs the narrative of the misrepresentation,

—

*In his latest piece, he shows that he read a lot of my pieces, yet quotes and misrepresents me, Chin Peng and the Plen extensively. (He makes Roy look like a paragon of truth on CPF when it’s a fact that Roy admitted that he lied about PM stealing our CPF**. M Ravi had a problem explaining to the court hearing the case why this admission shouldn’t be taken into account by the judge.)

Yet Ng cannot point to anything I wrote  over the years that called certain leftists “communists” as he alleged when he screamed: CI is making the same unqualified smearing of the Lefitsts by the PAP by labeling them as communists like those in Cuba and so on. Where is CI’s proof that the leftists were actually communists? https://atans1.wordpress.com/2015/04/02/seek-truth-from-facts-tre-commentators-dont-misrepresent-me/

I ask him again: Where did I ever call the Coldstore detainees “communists”?

Ng may have wished I called some leftists “communists”, but where’s the proof?

**https://atans1.wordpress.com/2014/08/06/roys-defence-has-me-confused/ Since then I’ve been told that one of the reasons why M Ravi went “bananas” and had to stop practising law, was Roy’s refusal to listen to his advice.

Amos: Talk is cheap, very cheap/ Harry really needs no monument

Over the weekend, a Facebook post* bemoaning the charges against Amos Yee and his remand had many “Likes”, sympathetic comments,  and a few shares. It ended:  And the rest of us? The rest of us should play happily and gratefully in the corner we’ve so conscientiously painted ourselves into. The rest of must remember never to participate in the dangerous act of boundary-crossing. A 16-year-old did, and he is now being treated like a criminal – because jailing a child makes Singapore a much better place.

Looks like the writer and those who shared her sentiments really decided to  play happily and gratefully in the corner we’ve so conscientiously painted ourselves into. The rest of must remember never to participate in the dangerous act of boundary-crossing.

No-one came forward to post bail on Monday and it was only on late Tuesday (at 6.00 pm) that  family counsellor Vincent Law posted bail for him. 

Mr Law said that he came forward to post the S$20,000 bail as he is a Christian, and wanted to show he was not offended by Yee’s posts. “It seems the charges say he made disparaging remarks about Christianity. I’m a Christian and I’m stepping up to say I’m not offended,” he said, adding that he, too, is a parent.

The 51-year-old, who is not related to the Yee family, hopes that Yee will also be willing to be counselled by him, and that he may respond better to a third party. (CNA)

Three cheers for him, even though Amos Yee’s parents would it seems have preferred to have kept him in remand by refusing to bail him.

Three cheers too for Alfred Dodwell, Chong Jia Hao from Dodwell & Co LLC, and Ervin Tan from Michael Hwang Chambers LLC told the court they would be acting for Yee pro bono.(CNA)

They too cared.

And jeers and sneers for those who claim to support, sympathise Amos Yee but who stood aside. The absence of the anti-PAP cybernuts who pollute the comments section of TRE is not surprising. They after all are unwilling to fund TRE.

But where were the ang moh tua kee human rights activists like Kirsten Han (she wrote an eloquent, sympathetic piece on him in Yahoo) and the lady who so eloquently blogged on Amos? They left him to rot in jail, while they eloquently proclaimed his right (duty?) to slime one Harry Lee Kuan Yew, and hurt the feelings of 20-odd S’poreans? Seems, he’s a flag or mascot, not a human being to these ang moh tua kees.

My serious point is that these ang moh tua kee “activists” cannot be taken seriously. They are notprepared to walk the walk, just talk the walk.

LKY needs no monument. So long as these people are around, Harry will be remembered. He had contempt for them, and rightly so.

I hope Amos Yee will reflect on the kind of supporters he has. With friends like cybernuts and ang moh tua kee “activists”, he doesn’t need enemies.

I hope he apologises for his actions and agrees to be counselled. And I hope the AGC drops the charges in return. Let’s remember, he has spent four nights in jail.

Related post: https://atans1.wordpress.com/2015/04/21/amos-parents-finally-got-it-walk-the-talk-amoss-groupies/

————————

*A 16-year-old is spending the weekend in prison because of a YouTube video. His parents have decided not to post bail. It’s likely they’re holding back for fear the boy might breach some very onerous conditions imposed by the court. I imagine it must be stressful to have a child who insists on pushing boundaries – pushing hard despite knowing full well that doing so might mean serious trouble. The boy’s parents must be under immense pressure***.

But what boundaries did this kid breach? He insulted a dead politician. He made fun of a religious figure. He was rude. He was arrogant. He was “dumb” not to back down. And when authorities hauled him off to court, he smiled and ate a banana. How dare he? This boy, this attention-seeking child who won’t play by the rules we’ve all been conditioned to follow.

Twenty-one people thought it was their duty as upstanding citizens to report the boy for his behavior. The fabric of our society is apparently so fragile, so poorly woven together, one YouTube video is all it takes to tear us apart.

No one seems to be asking why we think so little of this fabric. Why are we not made of stronger stuff?

Even before the boy was arrested, one man openly fantasized about castrating the child and stuffing his private parts into his mouth. Online, other people said he should be put in prison, whipped, whacked, exiled. When the police came for him, a collective squeal of glee erupted across the Internet. Adults celebrated. They knew this would happen. It served him right. The kid, apparently, had it coming. He was fully aware that he’d crossed some invisible line, but he was not repentant. Even worse, he appeared to relish the limelight.

But was the line was in the right place, or even necessary to begin with?

And now, the boy is spending the weekend in prison. Police handcuffed him when they led him out of court. He is to be tried as an adult.

Twenty-one Singaporeans can congratulate themselves for defending the nation against a 16-year-old. For safeguarding the boundaries. For being offended enough, concerned enough, patriotic enough to set the police on a child.

And the rest of us? The rest of us should play happily and gratefully in the corner we’ve so conscientiously painted ourselves into. The rest of must remember never to participate in the dangerous act of boundary-crossing. A 16-year-old did, and he is now being treated like a criminal – because jailing a child makes Singapore a much better place.

Remember the person behind this angst is a groupie of convicted drug mule groupies, loving them to distraction. And despite her angst and those of her Facebook friends over Amos’s plight, why didn’t they post bail? Talk is cheap, walk the talk. But then money talks, BS walks.

Amos: Parents finally got it?/ Walk the talk, Amos’s groupies

A lot has been BSed about Amos Yee (Below* is something I came across on Facebook by someone who believes that convicted drug mules should not only not be hanged, and not caned, but be put up in five-star hotel suites and given food from Tung Loke daily.).

Me? I think it’s wrong that he is charged under the Protection from Harassment Act. He should not be charged under any law for his bad, loitish but non-violent behaviour. But sadly in today’s environment, using the law is the only way society can show its outrage at breaches of accepted norms of behaviour.

In the bad old days when Harry’s Law was the law, Amos’s dad would cane him six times and then say, “I’ve punished my son for his bad behaviour. Sorry leh for offence caused.”

We’d all move on. Boy got what he deserved, no damage done to his long term prospects.

Today Maruah, AWARE, Mad Dog Chee, Cherian George**  and all the other good-heatred but misguided ang moh tua kee kay pohs  would be yelling for the father to be jailed.

And if he didn’t cane his son, the police would pay him a visit and suggest that he did so. If he demurred, they’d offer to do it for him. If he further demurred, they’d take father and son in for questioning. If a spell in custody, didn’t soften up dad’s reluctance to allow his son to be caned, then there would be an accident involving the boy.

He’d get a black eye or two or a broken arm: accident leh, slipped on a bar of soap.

There would be be nods and winks, and we’d move on.

Well it seems that Amos Yee’s parents have hit on a variation of caning Amos or allowing him to be caned: they refused to cough up bail, allowing him to remain behind bars over the weekend and on Monday. No one has yet come forward to bail him out.

A bail review will be held later today at 4 pm while the next pre-trial conference has been scheduled for 13th May at 4 pm.

Err where are his friends like Roy, TOC? Not posting bail for him? Talk is cheap. Walk the talk, post bail. AGC was so kind as to ask the court to allow anyone to post bail for Amos, not just his parents. Yet no-one has yet come forward to bail him out. Certainly not the ang moh tua kee human rights activists like Kirsten Han (wrote a piece on him in Yahoo). They leaving him to rot in jail, while they proclaim his right (duty?) to slime one Harry Lee Kuan Yew, and hurt the feelings of 20-odd S’poreans? Seems, he’s a flag, not a human being to these ang moh tua kees.

I hope that if he comes out of remand, a more sober person, apologises for his behaviour and promises to behave himself in future, the authorities should drop the charges.

My serious point, is that society has to come up with modern variants of parents using or authorising corporal punishment. Using the majesty of the law for bad, loutish but non-violent behaviour by minors, demeans the law. But excusing Amos Yee’s behaviour as merely “boundary-crossing” (see below*) is equally unacceptable. But then what would expect of a drug mule groupie who thinks that convicted drug mules deserve the good life: air-cobn cells, no caning, Crystal Jade food.

Society’s anger at its rules being broken should be allowed to manifest itself without affecting the boy’s future too much. The issue is how without invoking the law and without vigilantism.

Maybe “six of the best” administered or sanctioned by the parents should be politically correct once more? Btw, LKY was a fan of “six of the best”. A friend who had the dubious honour of sitting beside LKY at two lunches (overseas) said that at one of them LKY was talking of lining up journalists against the wall and giving them “six of the best”.

But let’s end with three cheers for the parents: they are punishing Amos Yee in the right way.

—-

*A 16-year-old is spending the weekend in prison because of a YouTube video. His parents have decided not to post bail. It’s likely they’re holding back for fear the boy might breach some very onerous conditions imposed by the court. I imagine it must be stressful to have a child who insists on pushing boundaries – pushing hard despite knowing full well that doing so might mean serious trouble. The boy’s parents must be under immense pressure***.

But what boundaries did this kid breach? He insulted a dead politician. He made fun of a religious figure. He was rude. He was arrogant. He was “dumb” not to back down. And when authorities hauled him off to court, he smiled and ate a banana. How dare he? This boy, this attention-seeking child who won’t play by the rules we’ve all been conditioned to follow.

Twenty-one people thought it was their duty as upstanding citizens to report the boy for his behavior. The fabric of our society is apparently so fragile, so poorly woven together, one YouTube video is all it takes to tear us apart.

No one seems to be asking why we think so little of this fabric. Why are we not made of stronger stuff?

Even before the boy was arrested, one man openly fantasized about castrating the child and stuffing his private parts into his mouth. Online, other people said he should be put in prison, whipped, whacked, exiled. When the police came for him, a collective squeal of glee erupted across the Internet. Adults celebrated. They knew this would happen. It served him right. The kid, apparently, had it coming. He was fully aware that he’d crossed some invisible line, but he was not repentant. Even worse, he appeared to relish the limelight.

But was the line was in the right place, or even necessary to begin with?

And now, the boy is spending the weekend in prison. Police handcuffed him when they led him out of court. He is to be tried as an adult.

Twenty-one Singaporeans can congratulate themselves for defending the nation against a 16-year-old. For safeguarding the boundaries. For being offended enough, concerned enough, patriotic enough to set the police on a child.

And the rest of us? The rest of us should play happily and gratefully in the corner we’ve so conscientiously painted ourselves into. The rest of must remember never to participate in the dangerous act of boundary-crossing. A 16-year-old did, and he is now being treated like a criminal – because jailing a child makes Singapore a much better place.

Remember the person behind this angst is a groupie of convicted drug mule groupies, loving them to distraction. And despite her angst over Amos, why didn’t she post bail? Talk is cheap, walk the talk. But then money talks, BS walks.

**Cherian George, the Director of Asia Journalism Fellowship, cautioned people against treating Amos as an adult in a widely shared Facebook post. He pointed out that under the UN Convention on the Rights of the Child, Amos is still a child, and regardless of how much he seeks publicity, he is at a stage of life where he needs to be protected—even from himself. Quoting Article 40 of the Convention, Cherian explains:

“Every child alleged as, accused of, or recognized as having infringed the penal law” must be “treated in a manner consistent with the promotion of the child’s sense of dignity and worth” – which means, among other things, that states must guarantee that the child has “his or her privacy fully respected at all stages of the proceedings”.

***Well they didn’t bring him up the right way, did they? Though by refusing to bail him, they are atoning for that oversight.

Jogging alone can be illegal?

If wearing the wrong tee-shirt or singlet?

Try walkng or jogging alone* wearing a “Free our CPF” singlet: remember that any public assembly of more than one person** needs police permission.

And jogging in a group of two or more”Free our CPF” singlets will be like jogging in groups in Burundi: illegal.

Running is a national pastime in Burundi, with hundreds of people out jogging on weekend mornings. But in March [2014] the authorities banned jogging in groups – unless permission was sought from the authorities. It affects all group sports in the capital, which can now only be played in designated areas.

The restrictions followed the arrest of some opposition members who were out jogging and chanting political slangs. Police officers tried to stop what they regarded as an illegal march and the situation deteriorated into clashes. More than 40 Movement for Solidarity and Democracy (MSD) party members received sentences ranging from five years to life.

Burundi: Where jogging is a crime

Wonder what about wearing a tee shirt with a Oppo party logo, drinking teh tarik as social media celebrities Ravi and Jeannette Chong used to do when they were NSP tua kees.

And what about the crowds assembling to pay their respects to LKY? What about the crowds at the National Museum LKY exhibition?

Seems anything the PAP administration or the SPF doesn’t like can be an illegal assembly.

———‘

*Auntie Sylvia was absolutely right in 2007 and 2009 when she spoke out publicly:

“The change in definition of “assembly” and “procession” is more disturbing. As the Explanatory Statement to the Bill says, these words are no longer restricted to gatherings of 5 persons or more. This means even ONE person alone can constitute illegal assembly, thus giving the State complete control over an individual citizen’s freedoms.

‘First, to say that 1 person constitutes an assembly is certainly an abuse of the word. Secondly, is the government making the change because there had been incidents involving less than 5 persons which had disrupted public life? Unless there is compelling evidence to prove to us that expanding the definition of assembly and procession is needed, this expansion does not deserve our support,”  Sylvia Lim in parly in 2009.

Earlier, in 2007, she had said:

“This refers to clauses 29 and 30 of the Bill. By clause 29 of the Bill, we are removing the heading “Offences Against Public Tranquility” and replacing it with “Offences relating to Unlawful Assembly”. By Clause 30, we will be deleting “mischief or trespass or other offence” and replacing it with “to commit any offence”.

S 141 has been amended to bring it in line with a recent Court of Appeal case: PP v Tan Meng Khin [1995] 2 SLR 505. Now, an assembly will be unlawful if people intend to commit an offence punishable with imprisonment of 6 mths or more, even if it is peaceful and does not disturb public tranquillity. Under our law, a person who organizes a procession or assembly after the police rejection of a permit can be punished with max 6 months jail under the Miscellaneous Offences Act. Hence 5 or more people who gather to do so will become members of an unlawful assembly.

As our society continues to evolve, the time is surely ripe for us to allow peaceful outdoor protests as a form of expression. By all means, we can have rules about how, where and when such processions may be held, but wider law reform is needed. S 141 should be restricted to offences which threaten the public peace, and other laws such as the Miscellaneous Offences Act which require permits for peaceful assemblies should be modified.”

**Two men between the ages of 24 and 25 were arrested by police outside the Istana on Saturday afternoon (Apr 4).

Police said the duo had turned up in front of the Istana with placards at about 4pm. Channel NewsAsia understands that the men were holding signs that read “You can’t silence the people” and “Injustice” for about half an hour. They were clad in identical red hoodies and dark blue jeans.

Police also said both of them had refused to stop the activity despite requests from officers. As such, they were arrested for organising a public assembly without a permit, under Section 16(1)(a) of the Public Order Act, Chapter 257A.

 

Ello, Ello! FTs bully, beat S’poreans with impunity?

(Updated on 7 April 17.00 to reflect that SPF has finally charged Ello Ello^. Hopefully the Pinoys, especially the ambassador, will know their place here.)

Last Wed, the local media reported that Australian and Singapore permanent resident, Aaron Peter Jeremicjczyk, has been fined $3,000 for assaulting jazz singer Dawn Ho last year in Sentosa.

My first tot was, “Now more ang moh men will beat up local gals: only $3,000 fine for doing so: juz claim provocation”. I hope the prosecution appeals against the sentence: verbal abuse should not ever mitigate an offence where physical violence resulting in injuries. Btw, this FT was a marketing executive: we no got this skill here meh?

This reminded that in early January, Pinoy Ello made offensive anti-Singaporean comments on Facebook: remarks that went viral. He filed a police report claiming that his Facebook account had been hacked.

A few days later he was fired. His employer said

Our decision for dismissal is independent of the ongoing police investigation of the more recent alleged posts made in January 2015. We are still in full cooperation with the police on the alleged comments.”

He had made earlier anti-S’porean remarks and did not deny them.

Since then there has been silence from the police (Still investigating or case closed? Compare Ello’s case with how quickly Amos Yee, a S’porean boy, was arrested for among other things insulting Christianity) and the Pinoy ambassador. The latter had criticised S’poreans for anti-Pinoy remarks:

The Philippines ambassador to Singapore, Antonio A Morales … expressed concern about “the few Singaporeans” who have lashed out, and condemned the blog that suggested abusing Filipinos.

“I think it was unfair and racist and discriminatory,” he said, adding that the blogger had still not been identified.

http://www.bbc.com/news/world-asia-28953147

(My take on the interview https://atans1.wordpress.com/2015/01/01/pinoy-tua-kee-gives-the-finger-to-govt-meng-seng-2/)

But he has never criticised Ello for the comments that Ello said he made https://atans1.wordpress.com/2015/01/06/ello-ello-pinoy-ambassador-has-nothing-to-say/. Pinoys above our laws isit?

The Filipino embassy told Ello to be “extra careful with his social media usage”, days after the nurse, Edz Ello, made some insulting and threatening comments about S’porean on social media.

https://atans1.wordpress.com/2015/01/09/pinoy-and-prc-diplomatic-behaviour-contrasted/

Seems the Pinoys see S’pore and S’poreans no ak despite coming here by the container load.

I end by posting remarks made by a TRE reader

Pinoy Leader Didn’t Give Face:

March 31, 2015 at 4:34 am  (Quote)

The Philippines with 100 million population couldn’t give a damn about the tiny red dot. If its the mother Mrs Aquino in charge, she would definitely attend L*Y funeral.

All the top leaders of Asean were in Singapore [not correct but the leaders of the major countries were here except for the Philippines] except President Aquino. He cannot even spare a few hours to fly in for the funeral. What’s is more important that he has to personally attend to ? What’s the point of sending the Foreign Minister ?

This show that L*L has been played out wholesale and not given any face like the Chinese saying goes. Its time to send all these ungrateful Pinoys home.

—–

*http://www.bbc.com/news/world-asia-32115052

Reminds me of what Robert Kuok said: He wondered how to encourage that entrepreneurial spirit among Singaporeans, and would put the question to powerful businessmen he met there. South-east Asia’s richest man, Mr Robert Kuok, remembers how he responded to Mr Lee: “I told him, you have governed Singapore too strictly, you have put a straitjacket on Singapore. Now, you need to take a pair of scissors and cut it.” – See more at: http://www.straitstimes.com/news/singapore/more-singapore-stories/story/remembering-lee-kuan-yew-the-greatest-chinese-outside-ma#sthash.ix2sIx93.dpuf

Does the SPF have to throw the book at every insult to religion and LKY?

Here’s another case where SPF took their very sweet time prosecuting FTs (this time beating up S’poreans) https://atans1.wordpress.com/2012/02/13/heads-must-roll-in-the-home-team/

^CNA reports that Ello has been arrested and charged. He can go to prison for a few years

… Ello Ed Mundsel Bello was arrested and charged in Court on Tuesday (Apr 7). He faces two counts under the Sedition Act, and another three for providing false information to the police during investigation.

Police alleged that the 28-year-old had posted two comments on Facebook which had the “tendency to promote feelings of ill-will and hostility between different classes of the population of Singapore”, namely the Singaporeans and Filipinos here, the charge sheet stated. 

The first comment allegedly stated: “Now the Singaporeans are loosers in their own country, we take their jobs, their future, their women, and soon, we will evict all SG loosers out of their own country hahaha. The best part, I will be praying that disators strike Singapore and more Singaporeans will die than I will celebrate. REMEMBER PINOY BETTER AND STRONGER THAN STINKAPOREANS.”

The second comment allegedly stated: “Yes I love our people, we will kick out all the Singaporeans and SG will be the new filipino state.”

The other charges under the Penal Code were for misleading the police who were investigating the case. Ello told the police he did not post the abovementioned comments, and that his Facebook account had been accessed without authority, according to the charge sheets.

Under the Sedition Act, if Pinoy Ello is found guilty of promoting feelings of ill-will and hostility between different races or classes of S’poreans, Ello is liable, on conviction for a first offence, to a fine of up to S$5,000 or a jail term of up to three years, or both.

Under the Penal Code, giving any information which person knows to be false to a policeman is punishable with a jail term which may extend to one year, or a fine up to S$5,000, or both.

 

M Ravi’s grandfather’s parliament, is it?

Update at 4.30am on 4 November 2014: I’ve been told I’m wrong because Parly listened to Ravi. My point is that the Speaker and Minister involved know more about sub judice than M Ravi credits them for. And publicly telling the Speaker how to suck eggs, is unseemly and distasteful from someone who has admitted (see below) that his behaviour has caused problems, in another case, in the administration for justice. As I wrote below, Bit like the lunatics of Arkham Asylum trying to tell Batman how to rid Gotham City of criminals, it seems to me.

Update at 5.20 pm: Minister and Speaker behave properly, a lesson M Ravi will hopefully will follow in his practice of the law, though I doubt it very much.

In Parliament today, National Development Minister Khaw Boon Wan commented that he will not be commenting on the Hong Lim Park incident, as police investigations and legal proceedings are ongoing.

“It is not appropriate to comment on the incident or to give a view on what could or could not have prevented such an incident,” Mr Khaw said, responding to MPs Denise Phua and Zainal Sapari’s questions on the incident. NParks is a statutory board under the purview of the Ministry of National Development.

Speaker of Parliament Halimah Yacob also warned the MPs that as the case was before the courts, comments which fell foul of sub judice laws would not be allowed in the House.)

MP Zainal Sapari (Pasir Ris-Punggol GRC) and MP Denise Phua (Moulmein-Kallang GRC) will later today raise questions in Parliament about the incident at Hong Lim Park on 27 September 2014 when some of #ReturnOurCPF protestors KPKBed at a YMCA event, disrupting it.  Charges have been made against six alleged hooligans participants of the #ReturnOurCPF event. The details of the MPs questions are given at the end of this post.

In response to the move by the two PAP MPs to ask questions about the incident, M Ravi, who is representing the six persons charged, has written to the Speaker of Parliament, Halimah Yacob, to highlight his concerns about the questions and issues raised by the MPs.

In particular, Mr Ravi is concerned that since the case against his 6 clients is sub judice, any discussions by the MPs on the matter may impede or prejudice the course of justice in the relevant proceedings of the case.

Mr Ravi wrote that he has been instructed to make a constitutional challenge on the Parks and Trees Act, and a formal letter to the Minister for National Development has also expressly reserved the right to make the constitutional challenge. His grandfather wrote the constitution, with one JBJ assisting is it?

“It will no doubt be your view, very properly, that Members will not need to be reminded that they should not utter anything on the floor of the House which would affect the evaluation of the merits of proceedings which are imminent or before the courts, or influence the result of proceedings, in particular the likelihood of an acquittal,” Mr Ravi wrote to the Speaker of Parliament asking for Mdm Halimah to be discrete.

He thinks he knows better than the Speaker? His grandfather owns parly, is it? What I find extremely funny and distasteful is that here is someone who effectively pleaded guilty to a complaint by the AG in respect of his conduct in another case, trying to  tell the Speaker of her duties, when he couldn’t conduct himself properly in the other case? Bit rich ain’t it?

Bit like the lunatics of Arkham Asylum trying to tell Batman how to rid Gotham City of criminals, it seems to me. For those who don’t know Gotham City, Arkham Asylum is home to some of the criminals he brought to justice. They were found to be looney.

M Ravi goes on, “It would be a dereliction of our duty as Advocates not to do everything lawfully and appropriately to uphold the rule of law and thereby protect our clients’ legal rights  by deferentially drawing attention to details of the pending charges for your proper consideration.”

The letter has been copied to the Attorney-General’s Chambers, Minister for National Development and the Commissioner of Police: so that they too can have a laugh?

—–

MP Zainal Sapari has filed the following question for National Development Minister to answer:

To ask the Minister for National Development:

• (a) if he can give a full account of the incident that happened at Hong Lim Park on 27 September 2014;
• (b) whether there has been any non-compliance by the organisers of both events in ensuring public peace; and
• (c) whether there is any follow-up action to ensure that such incidents will not happen again.

MP Denise Phua is asking about the use of Speakers’ Corner and the Telok Ayer Hong Lim Green Community Centre:

To ask the Minister for National Development:

• (a) whether Hong Lim Park is for the sole use of Speakers’ Corner participants;
• (b) what designated spots in Hong Lim Park are meant for Speakers’ Corner activities;
• (c) what is the list of activities permitted for Hong Lim Park;
• (d) when and for what activities can the adjacent Telok Ayer Hong Lim Green Community Centre facilities such as the stage be allowed for use by Hong Lim Park users;
• (e) what standard operating procedures pertain to the use of Hong Lim Park and the adjacent Telok Ayer Hong Lim Green Community Centre’s facilities; and
• (f) how the recent incident pertaining to the use of the same ground by YMCA and advocates of the Return-My-CPF group can be avoided.

 

 

Male gays here: On “permanent” parole

Gay rights in Singapore

On permanent parole

(http://www.economist.com/blogs/banyan/2014/10/gay-rights-singapore)

The above headlines encapsulate the issue male gays face more than TOC’s and M Ravi’s pontificating, sanctimonious, self-serving anti-PAP rubbish. Their comments are more aimed at sliming the PAP govt, than advancing the cause of gay men.

I was a supporter of the govt’s studied ambiguity on the issue. And that the gay community in pressing for abolition were pushing their luck.

But the Economist’s headline made me realise the problem that male gays faced. The repeal of 377A is necessary to ensure that male gays can come out to play, hold hands or kiss publicly without the fear of the govt of the day deciding that it, after all,  wants to enforce 377A: not enforcing it was an “honest mistake”. Remember the decision not to use 377A is by way of administrative fiat. What is decided by administrative fiat one day, can be changed without warning another day without public debate.

Accepting LGBTs doesn’t harm society, could even be beneficial as LT’s Lombard points out: The coming out of Apple’s Tim Cook is a chance to remind readers of Tomkins’ Rule. This proposes a nation is civilised in proportion to its tolerance of gays, because they are distinctly different in a way that does not harm others and are always in a minority. Works for a big company too.

Btw, ever wondered like I did about why gays, lesbians, bisexuals and transsexuals are lumped together? Here’s the reason, The term LGBT, representing lesbian, gay, bisexual and transgender, has been in widespread use since the early 1990s. Recent additions – queer, “questioning” and intersex – have seen the term expand to LGBTQQI in many places. But do lesbians and gay men, let alone the others on the list, share the same issues, values and goals?

Anthony Lorenzo, a young gay journalist, says the list has become so long, “We’ve had to start using Sanskrit because we’ve run out of letters.”

Bisexuals have argued that they are disliked and mistrusted by both straight and gay people. Trans people say they should be included because they experience hatred and discrimination, and thereby are campaigning along similar lines as the gay community for equality.

But what about those who wish to add asexual to the pot? Are asexual people facing the same category of discrimination. And “polyamorous”? Would it end at LGBTQQIAP?

There is scepticism from some activists. Paul Burston, long-time gay rights campaigner, suggests that one could even take a longer formulation and add NQBHTHOWTB (Not Queer But Happy To Help Out When They’re Busy). Or it could be shortened to GLW (Gay, Lesbian or Whatever).

An event in Canada is currently advertising itself as an “annual festival of LGBTTIQQ2SA culture and human rights”, with LGBTTIQQ2SA representing “a broad array of identities such as, but not limited to, lesbian, gay, bisexual, transsexual, transgender, intersex, queer, questioning, two-spirited, and allies”. Two-spirited is a term used by Native Americans to describe more than one gender identity.

http://www.bbc.com/news/magazine-28130472

 

 

With a lawyer like this, does M Ravi need enemies?

A disciplinary tribunal recommended that human rights lawyer M Ravi be penalised for releasing court documents to the media before serving them on the Attorney-General because the release interfered with the cases.

The tribunal also recommended that Mr Ravi be fined $7,000 for the professional misconduct, in a report released on 23 Oct.

He pleaded guilty to the charges, not contesting them. Originally, when the AG complained, he came out fighting, KPKBing that he would contest the charges. But like in his defamation suit against the Law Society, and complaint against a doctor for professional misconduct, he quietly changed his mind.

His lawyer Eugene Thuraisingam urged the tribunal to consider Mr Ravi’s bipolar condition, which is now under control but which sometimes leads him to act “uncharacteristically”.

I don’t think his lawyer should have raised his bi-polar condition as a mitigating factor for his conduct because isn’t his bi-polar disorder the best excuse to disallow him from practicing law*? Practising law can be taxing mentally and emotionally, and thaz before the long hours (the main reason I moved on to financial services).

And bi-polar sufferers need a routine: any change, even going on holiday can cause problems.

Holidays are supposed to be a time for relaxation, but not for Charlotte Walker, a mother and blogger with bipolar disorder. She values the opportunity to spend time with her children, but fears that a change from her routine may mess up the mental stability she works hard to achieve.

http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/blogs-ouch-22395852

Ravi’s kick-ass, high stakes, take-no-prisoners style of litigation certainly does not help him keep regular routines.

To add insult to injury, his lawyer added that Mr Ravi is a pro bono lawyer who contributes actively to society and that the cases he deals with involve general public interest which occasionally leads to emotions running high. Doesn’t this drive home the point that his legal practices makes his disorder more likely to get out of control?

I’ll not be surprised if the great and the good start thinking of banning him from practising law on the ground that his bi-polar disorder means legal practice not the right profession for him. It makes him more prone to his disorder getting out of control .

Remember, you heard it first here.

Related post

https://atans1.wordpress.com/2013/06/02/understanding-m-ravis-bi-polar-disorder/

—

*He has to get a doctor to certify that he is taking his medicine, and that his bipolar disorder is under control.

After one s/o JBJ penned an article, several yrs back, hinting that the authorities were fixing Ravi the way the Russians fixed dissidents (by getting them certified mad), it became clear that Ravi had not been taking his medicine. This was around the time he was prancing half-naked in Hong Lim sliming WP MP lawyers, a journalist filed a police report against him alleging intimidation, TOC (a leading Ravi cheerleader) reported him as saying he had a string of int’l law offices, and the police were called to a temple where he was “worshiping” and spoke to him. His defamation suit against the Law Society, and complaint against a doctor for professional misconduct arouse out of the aforesaid events

Remember our Sticker Lady? Her English equivalent

 

When I saw the above photos (link below) I remembered this ST line from some yrs back, “Samantha Lo Xin Hui, dubbed the Sticker Lady for her graffiti at several public areas last year, was yesterday sentenced to serve 240 hours of community service.” There about the same time, a SunT article that reported that HDB residents were complaining of stickers put up by estate agents etc, and I remember “8551 3997” had been plastering “For Sale” signs in the Siglap area trying to flog $3m properties.

SunT quoted a smart ass lawyer who said these estate agents can get away with it because “Law does not deal with trivae”, so nothing would be done. But then isn’t her behaviour trivae, I tot, then and still do.

But to be fair to the SPF, the English authorities don’t like Sam’s English counterpart:

… insists that his anonymity is necessary because “councils don’t really have that kind of sense of humour” and “take life very seriously”.

“I really don’t want to stand up [and try] to explain to a po-faced and humourless court why I have done things which are essentially humorous and whimsical.

(And I, as Anglophile, tot England was tolerant of harmless eccentrics)

“It would feel too much like school where teachers are always pretending to be angry or disappointed by naughty behaviours which they in reality think are quite funny.”

He says his art is inspired by his belief that people are encouraged to take life seriously “despite the fact that it’s absurd and tragic”.

“We are encouraged to act responsibly, we are encouraged to go off to work every day to, by and large, do something pointless in order to sustain a meagre existence, so that we can go to work again, and are released from this cycle when all joy and spirit has been squeezed from us,” he says.

“We are encouraged to get to our grave safely and responsibly, and if possible with an insurance policy to help with ‘those funeral expenses’. 

“We are encouraged to buy tat we don’t want with money we don’t have.

“What I do is not that.”

http://www.bbc.com/news/uk-england-27884890

Related post: https://atans1.wordpress.com/2013/03/26/so-will-spf-prosecute-property-agents-and-money-lenders-for-mischief/

 

Govt, activists score own goals

(Or “The govt is its own worst enemy: it can’t communicate the right facts”)

Recently  I blogged on why Scrooge the Grinch government can do more, a lot more to help the manual workers who gift us S$2.5bn++ a year.

But on the use of the deportation law on alleged “rioters”; I’m on the govt’s side with one important caveat.  The cavaet is: What the hell were the police commissioner and DPM Teo talking about?

— [The Police Commissioner] explained that this group is less “culpable” than those who were charged, as the latter were “active participants” in the riot, “violent” and “had attacked uniformed personnel and vehicles, damaged property, and had incited others to do so”. So what did they actually do?

— Deputy Prime Minister and Minister for Home Affairs Teo Chee Hean noted that those who were to be repatriated had “impeded the riot control and emergency rescue operations” and that “their actions and conduct had threatened public order,  Did they or did not riot?

I looked up what the official statement and only then I understood why there were deportations, not charges for most of those detained: they were alleged rioters that the police considered should be treated more leniently (those charged can be jailed and caned if convicted).

Group Two consists of 53 persons whom Police has identified to have participated in the riot and who failed to disperse despite Police’s orders to do so. They had knowingly joined or continued to participate in the riot, after being ordered to disperse, impeding the riot control and emergency rescue operations. Their actions and conduct had threatened public order, thus making their continued presence in Singapore undesirable. They were all rounded up in a Police operation in the early hours of this morning. They will be repatriated after being issued a stern warning. They will be prohibited from returning to Singapore.

The Police Commissioner and DPM Teo, scholars both, should be ashamed of their explanations which only made it easier for the activists to attack the govt. And s/o of Devan Nair is not doing doing his job as the govt’s PR man.

Coming back to the deportees, fair enough that they are deported  without judicial “due process” as far as I’m concerned for two reasons.

Firstly, as someone posted on Facebook, ” Rightly or wrongly, deportation is more lenient than jail and caning.” A lot more, so is it fair to insist as the kay pohs do that the courts must be involved in “due process”? One could even argue that the govt is being easy on “alleged” rioters.

Next, given that he has shown himself as a most compassionate chap, I’m sure the Pet minister is ensuring that the ministerial discretion of banishing people from S’pore is fairly exercised, and with appropriate regard for non-judical due process. I’ll go on to assert that he has ensured that the police behave fairly, and with appropriate regard for due process (non-judical), when investigating the cases which result in banishment orders.

Though I must admit charging a few people, then not proceeding with the cases and then allowing them to be given “discharges not amounting to acquittals, then deporting them look slip-shod. They shouldn’t have been charged, juz deportrd. And if, as happened,  they were charged, and the police then realised that officers had made “honest mistakes”, the police should have asked for “discharges not amounting to acquittals”, and then deported them. That would have prevented the usual anti-govt activists from shouting “acquitted but still deported”. Technically, the kay pohs are right, though the govt has a point when it says the “acquittals” did not result from trials, but by the police withdrawing charges. I suspect the police tot, “Heck these guys are not coming back here, so might as well allow discharges amounting to acquittals”: little knowing that the kay pohs would seize on this technicality to agitate against the govt.

Given his track record on looking after the interests of dogs even where a possible dog killer is a FT (example), the HR kay pohs should cut him a lot of slack. Now if the minister was the ACS boy who sneered at elderly, poor S’poreans, I’d agree that the kay pohs have a point about the need of ensuring that justice is done. Hey but this is a most compassionate minister (he loves dogs and, even cats) from RI, not an ACS rich kid. What more do they want?

And there is still the possibility of judicial review, shumething that kick ass, take-no-prisoners superhero M Ravi is pursuing in  several cases. So kay pohs should sit down and shut up.

No trust police and Pet Minister is it? AG should think of suing said activists for making defamatory innuendos about the minister and the police.

By now I’m sure you know that I’m no supporter of using a bit of billions the manual workers gift us to pay for “due process” for the deportees. We have to do right by the manual workers, but there are limits, something the kay pohs seem to refuse to acknowledge. I’m sure in their heart of hearts, they want the detainees to be detained in a 5-star hotel with access to the best lawyers, all at the expense of  us tax-payers. Their ang Moh masters mentors would expect no less.

If the anti-govt kay pohs really cared about the migrant workers they should have been advocating and campaigning from yrs ago that some spare change from the S$2.4 bn++ that the govt gets from the manual workers goes to helping them: without them S’pore would have to pay more, a lot more, for labour intensive jobs. Instead, the said activists want the spare change to be used on judicial “due process”. Some thing is not right about their priorities?

As I pointed out in the earlier piece, there could be a medical insurance fund, and a general welfare fund. BTW, a SDP doctor tells me that the SDP healthcare plan (involving an insurance fund and comprehensive coverage) would cover manual FTs (all FTs in fact) too. Before GG and friends, and TRE readers get upset with the SDP, they should remember that the SDP has also called for a policy of putting locals first and tightening the use of FTs by businesses.

Let me end by returning to said kay pohs: substitute the term “activists” for “management” in the following quote from a famous American psychologist* and you will know why I’m uneasy about their motives and actions: “This is what I get  vaguely uneasy about in the reading on management, namely a certain piety, certain semireligious attitudes, an unthinking, unreasoning, a priori kind of ‘liberalism’ which frequently takes over as a determinant, thereby to some extent destroying the possibility of maintaining the sensitivity to the objective requirements of the actual, realistic situation.”

*Update at 8.43 am on # January 2014:

Think I’m unfair on the activists? Yesterday, I wrote: Here’s an interesting piece from a TRE reader on the appropriateness of the original venue of its seminar on “the struggle for workers’rights”. . I agree with the sentiments expressed within it, though to be fair to Maruah the date of said seminar was on 23 December. Somehow I don’t think that there would be many FTs in the area on a Monday. One of these days I’ll blog on why Maruah and the police deserve each other: both have lousy public communication skills, though the police’s skills iare a lot better than Yaacob’s finest, who only know how to slime.

They may be anti-govt, but we shouldn’t be on their side juz ’cause they got the balls to take on the govt publicly. Their actions and motives have to be analysed and scrutinised, juz like the govt’s, even though we should not hold them to the standards we expect of the govt. They don’t have the resources of the govt.

—

*Abraham Harold Maslow (April 1, 1908 – June 8, 1970) was an American psychologist who was best known for creating Maslow’s hierarchy of needs, a theory of psychological health predicated on fulfilling innate human needs in priority, culminating in self-actualization. Wikipedia

Where use of ISA-type law will be met by silence from the usual human rights kay pohs

Update on 22 23 October 2013: Minister explains use of Criminal Law Temporary Provision Act (http://au.sports.yahoo.com/football/news/article/-/19491410/football-match-fixing-witnesses-fear-reprisals/).

(Correction: My friends tell me that the ISA will not be used: It will be the Criminal Law Temporary Provision Act. This too allows dention without trial. Used for drug cases too. Sorry, never was gd at criminal law)

The coming deafening silence of the usual human rights kay pohs will tell us a lot of their prejudices: they are supportive of FT drug mules, and middle class anti-PAP activists. But not working class criminal suspects (no-one is complaining that Vui Kong’s alleged drug lord is held under ISA CLTPA) or those whom the govt alleges are Islamic radicals. Touch a FT or a middle class anti-PAP activist, and the screams will be deafening, even if it’s juz a policeman paying a home visit.

Dan Tan’s home, even his car (a BMW 735) were well known to the authorities, but until they had evidence that a crime had been committed on Singaporean soil the police were powerless to act.

In the wake of the Italian reports, the Singaporeans made requests to police forces in Italy, Hungary, Germany and Finland to share what evidence they had. But cross border co-operation between prosecutors proved painfully slow.

It took months and in some cases more than a year for documents to be shared while approaches to speak to key witnesses have still, in some cases, gone unanswered.

All that time Singapore’s detractors sharpened their knives. The apparent inaction was criticised, with some even suggesting a high-level conspiracy to protect the alleged master match-fixer living in their midst.

Those with knowledge of the investigation say the truth is more mundane. It has simply proved very difficult to find those brave enough to testify against Dan Tan and his powerful syndicate.

…

The defecting members of the syndicate are too scared to testify in person so the police are hoping to use draconian security laws from the 1950s to keep the suspects in custody.

In the next few weeks all the evidence that has been gathered against the syndicate will be presented behind closed doors to the Ministry of Home Affairs and then an advisory council, before a final decision is made by the president.

If all agree that the suspects should remain under “preventive detention”, then Dan Tan and his associates could be held for years without ever having the evidence tested in a court of law.

Under huge pressure to act, the Singaporeans say they’ve now “cut the head off the snake”.

http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/world-asia-24238681

Another case of ang moh tua kee. Can our Home Team be blamed when our human rights activists adopt the prejudices of their ang how mentors?

Before going to court, test sincerity of govt

”The government remains committed to explain any issues arising from this tragic incident and to do whatever it can to assist the family,”said a statement from the Ministry of Home Affairs.

Well, Dinesh’s mother should test the sincerity of the govt by asking for details (beyond what has been already provided, not much it seems) that she wants to know. If the govt fails to give her satisfaction, then she should proceed further with her application to the court for the inquiry to her son’s death to be reopened. She should “suspend” for the time being her court petition.

Recently, I blogged that his family had the right to know more, that it would be gd PR for the govt* to provide them with more details of how he died (but that I doubted it would: bad PR seems to be a Hard Truth for the govt)), and that the family should try a non-legalistic way of finding out more.

Well, since the govt has said it ” remains committed to explain any issues arising from this tragic incident and to do whatever it can to assist the family”, they should test it. If there is no satisfaction, then go the legal route with M Ravi their action man, superhero, “kick ass”, “take no prisoners” lawyer** who loves to fight cases on constitutional grounds***. He once advised TRE to fight a request to remove an allegedly defamatory article on constitutional grounds. Another lawyer helped resolved the matter to the satisfaction of everyone involved. But when it’s time to go to court, its good to have M Ravi as your lawyer. He’s a tenacious, brave terrier. If you respect or admire, especially for his pro bono work, him buy his book. It’s the least you can do.

Perhaps, the family should approach Peter Low’s law firm to supplement the efforts of M Ravi. I’ve been told that Peter Low’s firm helped resolve a cartoonist’s row with the AGC on charges of “scandalising the judiciary”. The cartoonist apologised and removed the offending articles. M Ravi was also involved in this case.

Backgrounder on Peter Low: http://www.straitstimes.com/the-big-story/case-you-missed-it/story/62-year-old-lawyer-shows-no-signs-slowing-down-20130501. I don’t usually commend ST articles, but this one doesn’t play the DRUMS, not even a riff. People whose views I respect, praise him for his effective, quiet way of getting issues involving human rights or dignity resolved fairly. No posturing or wayang from him.

Horses for courses. Or a time for everything****. Plenty of time to “whack” the govt, if the family cannot get the info it wants by simply asking. And going the legal route, isn’t exactly a sure way of getting the info they want, at least going by M Ravi’s track record in winning cases: not gd.

And if Tey, the legal academic, is to be believed, the judiciary isn’t a check on the executive  http://yawningbread.wordpress.com/2013/08/18/book-legal-consensus-by-tey-tsun-hang/. He was jailed after a court found  he had “corrupt intention and guilty knowledge” in a relationship, an offence under the Prevention of Corruption Act. He had had sex with a student. Even he admitted that this was in breach of the academic code of conduct, after initially saying he would defend his “academic integrity”, which at the time I tot would mean that he would say in court, “I didn’t have sex with her”.

—

*Giving more info would help the PM rebuild trust with the masses.

**Think I exaggerate? This is what TOC reported M Ravi as saying, “The AG’s response is shocking to the conscience in view of the demands of natural justice and the plea by the family to open the inquiry. Dinesh’s family was devastated to hear the AG’s decision.

“The Coroner is wrong in law to discontinue his inquiry as there was no finding into the circumstances of Dinesh’s death. There is no information as to how the other 7 officers were involved in Dinesh’s death. In fact, it is the AG who should be calling for a full inquiry in the public’s interest and not Dinesh’s mother having to do so.

“This is a serious human rights violation and this marks a black day for human rights in Singapore.”

This is the part of the response in parliament (much earlier) to questions on what had happened: Following the conviction of the senior prison officer on 19 July 2013, MHA has been in touch with the family of Dinesh Raman and their lawyer to discuss the family’s concerns, as well as the matter of compensation. AGC has informed the family and its lawyer in writing that the Government accepts liability and will compensate the family. As discussions are on-going, I am not able to provide details.

http://geraldgiam.sg/2013/08/death-of-inmate-in-prison/

***The funny thing is that he, like me, did our legal education in England. S’pore’s constitution was certainly not taught or analysed in any great detail there in my time, and I’m sure in his time.

****Ecclesiastes 3

To every thing there is a season,
and a time to every purpose under the heaven:
² a time to be born, and a time to die;
a time to plant, and a time to pluck up that which is planted;
³ a time to kill, and a time to heal;
a time to break down, and a time to build up;

⁵ a time to cast away stones,
and a time to gather stones together;
a time to embrace, and a time to refrain from embracing;

⁷ a time to rend, and a time to sew;
a time to keep silence, and a time to speak;
⁸ a time to love, and a time to hate;
a time of war, and a time of peace.