Friday, August 31, 2012

Justice And Equality, Progress For Our Nation

There were lots of surprises when Chief Justice (CJ) Chan Sek Keong announced his retirement in November.

CJ Chan has served as Chief Justice for only 6 years, compared to his predecessor Yong Pung How's reign of 16 years. His successor Sundaresh Menon, 49, was Attorney General for only 21 months. He was appointed Judge of Appeal just one month ago. Since the mandatory of retirement for a Chief Justice is 65, Menon will be around for at least another 15 years.

Among his many accolades, Chan was lauded for being a champion of good judicial sense. In 2002, NSman Chong was charged with being in possession of a car while under the influence of alcohol. What actually happened was that he was drinking a beer in his father's car, parked near the family home, and dozed off. The engine wasn't even running. The Singapore Police Force has a perverse sense of humour. When Chong was caught for DUI in 2009, he faced jail time as it counted as a second offence. In a rare instance of the spirit of the law triumphing over the letter of the law, Chan ruled that the previous conviction was a weak antecedent to justify a jail term for the case at hand, adding that if Chong's story raised "a question of reasonable doubt, then he ought to be entitled to that doubt".

Unfortunately doubt was not the issue in 1997 when the Workers' Party complained to the police that Goh Chok Tong, Tony Tan and then Brigadier-General (NS) Lee Hsien Loong were seen inside the Cheng San GRC polling station on Polling Day. Directed by Law Minister S. Jayakumar to provide a formal opinion, Chan, as Attorney General of the day, submitted that  "while it is illegal to be within 200 metres of a polling station unless you are voting, if is not illegal if you are inside." It was one of those make-or-break career moves. If an offence was indeed committed, Goh Chok Tong et al could have been barred from contesting an election. When you're right, no one remembers. When you're wrong, no one forgets. Too bad.

A curious aside is that we now have a Chief Justice, a Law Minister and a Deputy Prime Minister cum Minister for Finance from the Indian minority. All we need now is a new Attorney General to be appointed from the same ethnic group, and Singapore will be truly ready for an Indian Prime Minister. Our multi-racial nation has progressed far indeed, although one cantankerous old coot may not be excited with the pace of development.

28 comments:

  1. No matter what Chan does, he will always be remembered in history for that one single act as AG. He would have contributed more to the rule of law in the Singapore if he had made a different submission at that time. Then again, it's something that he will have to answer for in the very end.

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  2. Hi Tattler

    The 200m ruling, which saved Chan's a**, will go down with him in history as a most ridiculous bit of twisting/turning, better than anything Shanmugam can do.

    Er...the remark on 'Indian' might get you flak. As you know, our Indian brothers are fairly argumentative. So far, when people have complained about discrimination in favour of foreigners, they will merrily say 'you have been doing it to us for ages so now you know'.

    Your statement is opposite in the sense that it announces the installation of Indians in many posts - this is bound to get criticisms from our Indian brothers too. Just saying...

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    Replies
    1. Argumentative? I don't so. Just look at Dhanabalan. He got whacked (literally, not figuratively) and he's still quiet as a church mouse. On the the hand, Chee Soon Juan is still making lots of noise on the international scene.

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    2. @Anonymous 1:11PM

      Why do you have to pick the quiet one? Tharman is quite quiet too. As in all things there are no absolutes - it is just acknowledged by all that a certain race delights more in argument.

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  3. Just curious as to how other more senior judges on the bench react to the appointment of Menon as CJ.Let's hope there is justice,fair play and no politics in the Judicial system

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    1. Can the judicial system really improve when the selection is done by MIW ?

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    2. can there be justice, fairplay and no politics when the selection is done by MIW ?

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    3. No politics?! Are you from Mars?

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    4. Venus, maybe Uranus or even Pluto if it is still a planet.

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    5. selection done by MIW can only mean another stooge. what do u think?

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  4. As an Indian brother myself I too am curious why so many Indians. Maybe it's got something to do with taming them, being such a argumentative and cantankerous lot that they are. Its just an evil scheme hatched by the scheming money minded megalomaniac ethnic Chinese politicians, a grand design to marginalize and compartmentalize them so that they don't threaten their positions. The clever ethnic Chinese politicians unlike the stupid Indians know where the money is and they get the stupid Indians to protect their lot ,. not much different from during the colonial times when the whites got the Indians and Eurasians into the army and the civil service..LOL

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    1. You...are...very...FUNNY!

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    2. We also have an indian army chief. And one of the indian FT tried to sponsor toilet seats for hg re-election.

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  5. Justice and equality in Sin?
    From where?
    From who?

    Can please tell?

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  6. CSK faced another career make-or-break moment in the loan to Indonesia case. His argument there is flawed as well but can only be spotted by those who knows the crucial characteristic of a loan and a guarantee. Just as well he retired, otherwise he would have to recuse himself from hearing the KJ's IMF loan case.

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  7. Q: What's the difference between National Conversation 2012 and Mental Masturbation 2012?
    A: A rose by any other name ....

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    1. National Conversation 2016.
      The Conversation worth waiting for.
      Even if 4 years away.

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  8. Anyone heard about the classic Snake and the Red Indian story, which one to kill first in case there is danger ? Which may explain why the snake may not be as poisonous as it looks ?

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  9. And the former Law Minister and President? Why do so many from a particular ethnic group serve them so loyally? Enuff said, we are wandering into a minefield here.

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  10. At last we are going to have a Made in Singapore CJ. All the other 3 were made elsewhere. But our question is, why him?

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    1. he was selected on merit to serve the public....most of the time and not all the time. LOL

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    2. Made in Sin or elsewhere, what's the difference? More likely casted from the same mould

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  11. I read the article with much dismay - especially the first article about Indian CJ & the possibility of an Indian PM in the future! Is this blog only meant to be read by persons of only one ethnic group? Surely there must be some Singaporeans of the majority ethnic group who will rise up & repudiate such articles? Regrettably as PM Lee also mentioned in the ND rally very few or no Singaporeans do it. This is the major difference in societal values & thinking between folks in Singapore and other societies in U.S.A. Singapore is a country of immigrants and supposed to be a multi racial country where meritocracy is recognized & rewarded unlike neighboring Malaysia or other countries in the region. So having said that what is the problem with having an Indian PM along with a Indian CJ & 3 cabinet ministers ! Such fear mongering by such old coots does irreparable damage to the Singapore society! and the difficult task that the government has in nation building !

    Kudos to the PAP leadership in trying their level best in fostering nationhood .

    If such an article was blogged by anyone locally in Canada/U.S.there would have been a fury of rebuttals&repudiation of the blogger. But I suspect nothing like that happened in singapore society by the intellectuals /learned from the majority ethnic group. (case in point - the NUS student who disparaged Malays & Indians in a recent YOU TUBE video!)

    It is quite common to bash western societal values in asian cultures & trump their own "superior?" racial identity! However, sadly, I feel that the Singapore society at large has not attained the level of social development of western civilized societies. .. ........the transformation may hopefully take place in time to come after the 'old Coot' has moved on. They say that such Old Coots are like dinosaurs......they become extinct through time (hopefully).

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    1. I have nothing against an Indian CJ, President or Army Chief or in the future an Indian PM and SAF Chief of Staff. So long they are acting with Singapore and Singaporeans' interests and racially blind in policy formulations.

      What I am tired of listening to is " We are a country of immigrants..." to justify the open door policy. We are really very tired.

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    2. IS the writer berating at the author when it's mention that we, as a nation, could very well be on the road to actually having an Indian PM? Nowhere did he/she suggest this is an unthinkable or undesirable scenario! So what's the issue here?

      I personally think this is conceivable as long as they understand the majority aspirations well. Is even possible they will do a better job than any chinese PM whose only concerns is always about money, money money. I even dare to dream that a more democratic version is possible than the one that's laced with confucian values.

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  12. Can someone enlighten us as to why CJ Chan retires so early in his career? His move or under pressure?

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  13. I don't mind anyone so long as it is not a case of "It may sound or smell like me, but it wasn't me" as what happened up north?

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  14. /// CJ Chan has served as Chief Justice for only 6 years, compared to his predecessor Yong Pung How's reign of 16 years. ///

    And compared that to Yong Pung How's predecessor. Wee Chong Jin served for more than 27 years.

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