For the historians of this forum:
http://www.jbjeya.org/JBJ_msg.html
http://www.jbjeya.org/JBJ_NgTeckSiong_Press_Statement_June_7_Wee.pdf
7 th June 2005
PRESS STATEMENT
The reports in the press mention Wee Chong Jin as the first
Asian
High Court Judge and the first Asian Chief Justice. Mr Wee was
not
the first Asian Judge.
It was TAN AH TAH , promoted from his post as District Judge
and
First Magistrate in 1954/55, who was the first Asian Judge.Tan Ah
Tah
was also the first Asian to preside as the Chief Justice. His
appointment, however, was short lived. He acted as Chief Justice
for
about three/four months before he was eplaced by Alan Rose.
The report ts speak of Wee's career on the Bench and of his
judgments. No mention, however, has been made of the one thing
by
which Wee will be chiefly remembered his removal in 1985 of
Michael
Khoo, the then Senior District Judge, from his office afte
Michael
Khoo acquitted Jeyaretnam, the Opposition MP, on three charges.
Wee
went on to over turn the acquittals leading finally to
Jeyaretnam's
removal from Parliament. The Judicial Committee of the Privy
Council,
in a judgment in 1988, described all the convictions as a
miscarriage
of justice and severely criticized Mr. Wee.
By: (Ng Teck Siong)
from the office of Mr. JB Jeyaretnam
