Ladies and Gentlemen,
I have known Venogopal Ragavan, a Singapore lawyer who is now in
his 60s, while I was practicing law in Singapore. What he told me a
few days ago on the phone did not come as a surprise; it was
another of this government's series of stupid policies that
inconvenience Singapore lawyers unnecessarily. Now, it appears every lawyer
has to deposit with the Government Medisave Program 7% to 8% of
their annual income as security for their medical expenses! And
listen to this; if they did not, they cannot practice law in
Singapore!
This requirement is not only stupid, it is completely unwarranted.
What, may I ask, has contributing to medisave got anything to do
with practicing law! And if Singapore requires lawyers, as well as
cooks, hairdressers and lion tamers to contribute to Medisave, then
they should have rules to require this.
But prohibiting a lawyer from practicing his profession is a
punishment totally unrelated to medisave. Does it also mean, an
air-conditioning technician or a Cantonese noodle cook should also
stop work if there is no money in medisave? And does it not occur
to these million dollar ministers that if they do not work, you
would be in fact be making sure they don't have any money to eat,
let alone depositing money in this government account.
According to Mr. V Ragavan this sum to be deposited can amount to
as much as $30,000 to $40,000 and for some even more. And together
with the already existing money they have to pay to get their
yearly law practicing certificates which amount to $6,000 a year,
the total amount is simply beyond the means of many lawyers,
especially those who do not have the Lee Kuan Yew/ PAP connections
like Mr. V Ragavan.
I tell you, I do not know anywhere else in the world where it costs
so much to practice law, when the legal work available is almost
non existent for the ordinary lawyer. As you know, with the bulk of
the legal work being Lee Kuan Yew's government contracts, it all
goes to people who are sycophants like Davinder Singh and Hri Kumar
of Drew and Napier. Essentially bootlickers who make a living that
way.
And if you are foolish enough, or brave enough, depending on which
way you look at life, you have nothing to look for in Singapore's
legal market. As it is, the courts charge an arm and a leg merely
to file a law suit in the courts, thousands in the High Court and
hundreds of dollars in the Subordinate Court. And if you were an
ordinary regular bloke with no connections, you are probably going
to lose your case anyway, so why bother. As for criminal cases, no
need to hire a lawyer since whatever the prosecutor says goes
unless you are the newspaper editor of a Singapore Chinese daily
who got away after killing a pillion motorcycle rider, while on a
cell phone! You can read about this abuse of the law in my blog
about this woman Chinese editor who got away.
All in all, Singaporeans have come to know there is no need to
squander hard earned money in law cases in Singapore, because you
simply cannot win in Lee's courts. Best to simply eat humble pie
and take what comes.
According to Mr. Ragavan, many lawyers especially senior ones who
are not making any money, when they should be, except for Lee Kuan
Yew's selected few, are simply calling it a day. As many as 300 to
a 1,000 lawyers have left or will leave by the end of this year
when the payment has to be made. Tell me, with an already world
record for insufficient lawyers, 3,000 in a country of 5 million,
with the drain of this impending number, how many lawyers will
actually be left in that island? An island which according to the
recently appointed Lee Kuan Yew's Minister for Law Mr. K Shanmugam,
is a London of the East!
Mr. Ragavan is Venogopal Ragavan of the firm RS Balan in Chin Swee
Road, a cheap office premises next to Lee Kuan Yew's Subordinate
Courts. His phone number is 67344207. I have not got his permission
to mention him, but being a lawyer, I expect him to stand up
against any reprisals from Lee Kuan Yew. He tells me that he too is
contemplating giving it up. And looking at the bleak situation as
it is, I tend to agree.
He says, if you were a bachelor like him, and you don't use up the
money and die, it will revert to Lee Kuan Yew and his government.
Surely that alone should be a reason to refuse to pay and give up
practice altogether.
After my writing this, I don't expect my old friend to speak to me
anymore. This can be expected after all, in Lee Kuan Yew's fear
ridden Singapore.
And by the way, I guess you noted the absence of any report of this
in the state controlled newspapers. After all it is not very good
news, is it?
Gopalan Nair
39737 Paseo Padre Parkway, Suite A1
Fremont, CA 94538, USA
Tel: 510 657 6107
Fax: 510 657 6914
Email: [email protected]
Blog: http://singaporedissident.blogspot.com/
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http://singaporedissident.blogspot.com/2009/11/singapore-even-further-resignations.html