Ladies and Gentlemen,
The President of Singapore’s Law Society, the official body of
legal practitioners, which is controlled by Lee Kuan Yew and his
government; just as every other official organization in the island
is; has told the similarly controlled newspaper "The Straits Times"
in the article of March 18, 2008, titled "The Law
Society President says lawyers apathetic about public law" the
following.
The Law Society President says “lawyers are apathetic about public
law"and that Singapore lawyers are apathetic when it comes to human
rights.
Among other things, he says Singapore lawyers should be more aware
of international treaties such as the International Declaration on
Human Rights and how it applies to Singapore, and laments the fact
that Singapore lawyers have so far not challenged the government
when it unfairly treats them. He contrasts the Singapore situation
where no lawyer dares challenge the government to the recent Hong
Kong case, where the Equal Opportunities Commission there
successfully sued the Hong Kong government over preferential
treatment for boys over girls in high school admission.
Congratulations Mr. Hwang in finally realizing that there is a
human rights problem in Singapore and that lawyers are not doing
anything about it! But my question to Mr. Hwang is this. Where was
he the last 30 years or so?
Was he practicing law in Mars! Why has he just realized this now?
What took him so long? Is he saying that all this time, he never
knew that Lee Kuan Yew denies Singaporeans as well as him any human
rights? We should ask this President of the Law Society of
Singapore whether he feels safe in Singapore, and if so; is it
because he has human rights or is it because he has the patronage
and support of his benefactor, Mr. Lee Kuan Yew?
I will try to put it as civilly as possible. This man is not being
entirely honest in this sudden realization. He has been living and
practicing law in Singapore for over 20 or 30 years in a government
linked law firm Allen and Gledhill. Only recently has he set out on
his own.
In all these years, he stood idly by, as he managed his lucrative
business law practice; servicing his clients, the Lee Kuan Yew
establishment; making sure that he never went within a mile of any
case where Lee routinely misused the law to polish off his
opponents. The law was being broken, bent and abused to suit Lee
Kuan Yew and family and his benefactors; while Mr. Hwang, a lawyer,
stood by doing nothing.
You know Lee Kuan Yew’s victims in Lee Kuan Yew’s law courts. Is he
saying that the law was not bent, broken and abused to unjustly
punish JB Jeyaretnam, the famous opposition politician? Is he
saying that the law was properly applied in the crippling damage
awards and then to bankrupt him and remove him from office. Was
this not a human rights violation, a violation of the right to free
speech and expression? Why did he not do anything to help all those
years? At least, why did he not, at least say something?
Is he not aware that over the last 2 decades, Dr. Chee Soon Juan of
the Singapore Democratic Party has been sued bankrupted and
imprisoned for doing nothing more than exercise his rights
enshrined in the Universal Declaration of Human Rights, the very
rights which he refers to now?
Is he denying that the series of politically motivated actions by
Lee Kuan Yew and his family against JB Jeyaretanm and Dr. Chee Soon
Juan are blatant violations of human rights; the right of free
speech and expression, the right of peaceful assembly and the right
of equal protection?
Mr. Michael Hwang is making a fool of himself by publicly saying
now that Singapore lawyers should engage in issues such as human
rights and administrative justice when he clearly knows that it is
not possible for Singapore lawyers to engage in any of it; for the
simple reason that they fear Lee Kuan Yew, his son and their entire
family; just as Mr. Hwang fears them, as his actions during the
past 30 years have shown.
Let me set out the reality to Mr. Hwang. He is in blinkers and it
is about time, he took them off, and began to look about him.
There are only 3,400 lawyers practicing in Singapore. It was the
same number 10 years ago despite the fact that the population had
increased during the same time from 3 to 4.5 million, and despite
the fact that Singapore during that time had increased it's banking
and commercial sector 10 fold!
There is a chronic shortage of lawyers and it is going to drop even
further because almost half of the profession is above 50 years
old, most of whom are giving up practice for good.
Recently the government has come up with all sorts of incentives
for lawyers to stay such as more money, doing work from home, 4
days week and so on and so forth. One law firm had even gone to the
extraordinary length of chasing away lawyers who remained in their
offices after office hours. It was not because they wanted to save
electricity; but because of the hope, the lawyers would appreciate
the gesture of their employers and not resign as they had
threatened to do!
What desperation!
Look here Mr. Hwang. The legal profession in Singapore is dead.
There are no takers. And the reason for this problem is people like
you and Lee Kuan Yew. Your appointment by the government to head
the Law Society is ample evidence that Singapore law is
politicized. No rule of law. You as well as every Singapore lawyer
are aware that challenging Lee Kuan Yew on matters of human rights
is recipe for disaster and bankruptcy.
That is why you yourself have not dared to challenge Lee's routine
abuse of the law during your entire career of 30 years. You have
lived in fear and gone along with whatever human rights violations
this government has thrown at the people; idly standing by when the
people's rights have been repeatedly violated before your very
eyes. I think, you should not be talking about civil liberties and
human rights. Such things are not for you.
And although you already know this, let me tell you the stark
reality of things. The government of Singapore is illegitimate.
Every election is rigged to ensure that Lee wins each time. This
being so, the laws enacted by this illegal government are
themselves without legal foundation. So are the international
treaties and agreements signed with the international
community.
Every publication, every newspaper, every radio broadcast, every
judge, every court, every police officer, every civil servant,
every one in any position of authority is subservient to one man,
Lee Kuan Yew his son and his family. And so are you.
And no matter how much you try to pretend that you are discussing
human rights, discussing international treaties and other such high
sounding positions plans and objectives, nothing is going to
change. You, as well as the committee that you set up are no better
than page boys; running the errands of the Lee family; and wasting
everyone’s time by filling the pages of the propaganda sheets of
the Straits Times.
If Lee Kuan Yew is not prepared to let you have any human rights;
you are not going to have any. It is as simple as that. I know
this, and I think you know this too. But in your case, you are
quite prepared to live the compliant life you have lived
worshipping Lee Kuan Yew, just as a poodle lives in the comfort of
his caring master.
Mr. Hwang, you have wasted your time, making that press statement
about important issues such as human rights. Such matters are for
real lawyers; lawyers who insist on defending the rights of their
fellow citizens. We all know who you are. We also know that you are
not one of them. If you were, you will not be the President of the
Law Society of Singapore.
Gopalan Nair
http://singaporedissident.blogspot.com/2008/03/michael-hwang-president-law-society.html
