It is not much of a
"Man" either, when you realised that your opponent
is able to threaten your political position, and you will abuse all
the powers in your possession to 'FIX' your
opponent.
Extract from: 'The Politics of Judicial Institutions in
Singapore'
The notorious case of
Public Prosecutor v Tan Wah
Piow demonstrates the parlous state of the
judiciary in Singapore. Tan -- a third-year architectural student,
and president of the University of Singapore Students Union (USSU)
-- was charged, together with two others, with rioting inside the
premises of the Pioneer Industries Employees' Union (PIEU), a
government-controlled trade union, whose general secretary was Phey
Yew Kok, a member of parliament and rising star on the PAP
firmament. Phey was also president of the National Trades Union
Congress, which has strong symbiotic ties with the PAP
government.
The trial was partisan justice at its ugliest before the ambitious
district court judge T.S. Sinnathuray, who kept Tan and his
co-accused on a choke-leash. Tan's application for an adjournment
to enable his counsel, John Platts-Mills, QC -- who had already
been specially admitted to the Singapore bar -- to travel to
Singapore for the purpose was twice denied by the trial
judge.
Vital defence witnesses were arrested on the morning of the
trial, and deported.
The defendants claimed the riot within, and damage to, the premises
had been fabricated by Phey Yew Kok, but they were not allowed to
produce evidence of it at the trial, as indeed other matters they
considered crucial to their case.
Concerned at the judge's selective recordings of the proceedings,
Tan applied for the trial to be tape-recorded, which was
denied.
The judge for his part made no bones of what the outcome of the
proceedings would be. His periodic ejaculations, "Forget about public interest!", "Forget about
justice!", and "Forget about a fair trial!" -- albeit vented
in exasperation to Tan's urgent applications or protestations to
his rulings -- punctuated the proceedings, setting a leitmotif,
which became a grim reality.
All three accused were found guilty, and convicted. Tan was
sentenced to one year's imprisonment, and his co-accused to one
month's imprisonment each.
Shortly afterwards, Sinnathuray was promoted to the high
court.
An Australian Queen's Counsel, Frank Galbally, who observed the
trial for the Australian Union of Students, said: "In Australia,
the case would be laughed out of court ... the evidence and
procedure ... would, in my opinion, have aborted any trial in
Australia ... [The three accused] did not get a fair trial. ... In
my opinion, it is just a political trial."
The experience of an English silk in a criminal trial in Singapore
provides another perspective. Alun Jones, QC, discharged himself
"for the first time in 23 years' practice," describing the judicial
proceedings as "a travesty of a trial" and a "perversion of a
judicial process." The trial judge displayed a "craven attitude"
towards the prosecution.
Immediately after serving his jail
sentence, Tan was 'called-up' for National Service, and sent to the
Artillery Unit. He probably got additional 'fixxing' attention from
the Artillery Unit, which was constantly moving the 120mm Mortars
manually on route marches.
Do we need to guess who was carrying the 120mm Motar Base Plate or
the Barrel ?
Knowing that you will be constantly humiliated and psychologically
fixed, will you not AWOL and stay away ?
During about the same period, and as a 'White Horse' - did LHL even
get to carry the bipod for 120mm motar, let alone the barrel or its
base plate ?
Tan Wah Piow was only a NUS Student Union Leader, with youthful
enthusiasm to be socially active, to help the industrial workers to
understand their Workers' Rights.
What was the crime that Tan Wah Piow committed to be fixed to such
an extent ?
Incidentally, Phey Yew Kok later absconded
from Singapore Justice after he was discovered for corruption in
the development of the Big Splash project at the East Coast
Park.
Surprisingly, this Government spent more money and time to track
and persecute Francis Seow than taking any interest in bringing
Phey Yew Kok back to Singapore for justice to be
executed.
