Penal Code Amendments & Freedom of Speech forums

PUBLIC FORUM ON THE PENAL CODE AMENDMENTS

In Nov 2006, the government floated a draft Penal Code Amendment
Bill and called for public comment. The Penal Code reflects our
rights and responsibilities living in Singapore. Despite the
tremendous significance of the Penal Code in guiding the way
Singaporeans order their daily lives, the government has given
little explanation for the proposals so far.

In line with the Workers’ Party’s concern with justice and the rule
of law since the Party’s foundation in 1957, the Party will be
holding a public forum on the topic: “Amendments to the Penal Code –
Why We Should Be Concerned”.

Click here for more details.

FREEDOM OF SPEECH - HOW FAR CAN YOU GO?

Have u ever held back what u wanted to blog down because of the fear that u will be caught for infringement of legal boundaries? Do u wish to know more about what a politician is not supposed to say? Do you think our local press is being overly conservative? Here’s the chance to find out more!

This interactive seminar aims to increase the awareness of the legal boundaries in the expression of views in 1)the political scene, 2)the media coverage and 3)blogs & online forums.

*The forum is only open to NUS students, and invited guests. Click here for more details.

Huh, ASEAN? Does it really matter to us?

by Gerald Giam

Mention “Asean” to the man on the street, and you are likely to get a puzzled look, or a stifled yawn at best. Even for the international media, Asean — the Association of Southeast Asian Nations — evokes significantly less interest than, say, the North Korean nuclear crisis, China-Taiwan relations and perhaps even Angelina Jolie’s travels to Africa as the UN Goodwill Ambassador.

This disinterest in the workings of Asean is not entirely undeserved. Asean has frequently been criticised as a “talk shop” and a “toothless tiger”. Its annual summits and ministerial meetings are often seen as ceremonial gatherings for politicians to utter diplomatic niceties and spew grand motherhood statements, with few tangible results to show after the closing ceremony.

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Why we ought not to have a mandatory death penalty…

Excerpted from Kitana’s blog here.

My father and B are both of the opinion tt I am sometimes too emotional for my own good. I feel sadness too easily. I’d only attended one judgment for a murder trial, and during tt trial the holding had been culpable homicide not amounting to murder, which was a rather joyous occasion. And the only trial I’d attended where the defendent had pleaded guilty and been sentenced to jail; I became rather sad when I watched them slip the handcuffs onto his wrists as his wife watched attempting bravely to blink her tears back. I knew tt it was temporary and tt he would be released shortly and well, he had to do the time for the crime I suppose, but from what I’d seen of him I’d thought tt he was a good man, and I always felt sad if I saw good people go to jail.

Read the full article on Kitana’s blog.

Complicity in the senseless murder of a young boy

By Zyberzitizen

Iwuchukwu Amara Tochi.

Will we remember him – or even his name? Will it matter to us? Does it matter to us? Why should we care about a Nigerian who is convicted of trafficking drugs? Why should we care about him who is now dead – sentenced to die and hung by our esteemed courts of well-trained, experienced judges?

Indeed, why care at all when he is not the only or first person to die by the noose for drugs trafficking?

Why?

Because we are complicit in his death.

Who are ‘we’?

The government , the elected MPs, the media, the courts, the local lawyers who kept quiet, the opposition parties who kept quiet, the public who kept quiet.

The society which turned a blind eye.

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Bloggers question Tochi’s execution

This is a summary of what some bloggers are saying about the execution of nigerian Iwuchukwu Amara Tochi.

“Tochi was only 19 years old, with not much education. Was it safe to assume that he was familiar with the ways of the world, including the drug trade and the risks involved? Could he be expected to know that different countries view drugs with different degrees of severity? How many Singaporeans at 19, educated or not, would be familiar with other offences around the world, e.g. petrol smuggling, the arms trade, transporting seditious literature or pornography, and the risks involved?” - Alex Au

“I find myself overwhelmed by a sense of sadness and waste. I tell myself: he’s a stranger, and people die by the second, why should you care so much? And then the answer comes to me, again and again - I care because not enough do. We care because if we don’t, who will? Is it not a highest form of tragedy to pass unmourned, to be surrounded, in the last hours, days, weeks, months, years of your existence, by no one who cares? And then to slip away at dawn, the faintest wraith, and to have the world turn tomorrow without you.” - Gayle Goh

“I’m absolutely speechless with anger at this! I can’t even see how PAP could do this to a young man.” - Singapore Election Watch

“I have never opposed the death penalty in Singapore because I believe that it is a necessary evil at times. Unfortunately, I never imagined that it would be applied so mechanically. In fact, I think it has been so grossly abused. I have lost faith in the Singapore justice system. The taking of one’s life as punishment now appears to be nothing more than routine business.” - Aaron Ng

“I’m switching off my pc and going for a very long walk” - Pseudonymity

“When sentencing him, the Judge in charge of Tochi’s case admitted that there was not enough evidence to prove that Tochi knowingly brought the heroin into Singapore but because we have a mandatory death penalty, he had no choice but to sentence him to death. There are no words to describe how absurd and sickening such a situation is.” - For Sanity Sake

“This is such a efficient but inhumane and unforgiving way in executing the law…. Charissa is feeling very upset right now and words are unable to describe her feelings. The least we can do is to pray to God that he would rest in peace.” - Charissa

“‘Integrity’ I am going to have go and get my dictionary out and look that word up. Someone must have recently changed its meaning because I see no ‘integrity’ in hanging one man who, as the judge confirmed, had no idea what he was carrying and secretly executing another man without informing anyone.” - Singabloodypore

 

“Eventually the country may well pay for an attitude that is, to many of its immediate neighbours, cold and mercenary. Karmic consequences, after all, are an important facet of the Nigerian Iwuchukwu Tochi’s Igbo traditions. But if – or when – Singapore crumbles in the sunset of a hypothetical future it will likely be a death as swift and cold as Mr Tochi’s ever got.” - Two Steps From Twilight

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Entrepreneurship And the Future State of Affairs - Part 2

This is part 2 of the article on entrepreneurship by Leounheort. Part 1 can be accessed here.

In a conservative society, anything new is automatically treated with fear and suspicion if it contradicts current social norms. Homosexuality, for example, is still an issue the State beats about, even until today. It is still socially unacceptable to be a homosexual, just because one does not have the same sexual preferences as most other people, for some strange reason.

Conservatism is backed by one thing, and one thing only: everything that has worked in the past has worked and made things safe; there is therefore no need to change. This inductive logic works all the way until the moment it does not. It assumes a kind of permanence in the world, but in reality, the world is in a constant state of flux. The advent of globalisation has merely made this more apparent: behold the fall of once-mighty superpowers and the rise of formerly-thought hopeless cases, meaning, of course, the former USSR and Singapore post-secession from Malaysia.

The conservative mindset would, therefore, in the long run, be ineffective, for it does not allow one to adapt to changing times. Despite this, Singaporean society is still reportedly conservative, and so it shall stay until this mindset is abandoned for a more dynamic one.

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Lawmakers Plead for Convicted Nigerian in Singapore

Report from This Day

President Olusegun Obasanjo has sought the “personal intervention” of the Prime Minister of Singapore, Mr. Lee Hsien Loong, in the imminent execution of a Nigerian, Mr. Iwuchukwu Amara Tochi, in Singapore.

The House of Representatives also yesterday at plenary described the death sentence placed on the Nigerian footballer as a political matter noting that President Olusegun Obasanjo must do everything within his power to ensure the boy is not killed by Friday.
In a personal letter to Prime Minister Loong, the President said a Presidential clemency is the only option for saving the life of the 19-year old Nigerian.

He said he was making the request on the basis of the excellent relationship that has existed between both countries.

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Report on the P65 Dialogue on GST implications

Starting later than the scheduled time of 7pm, the P65 Dialogue - GST Implications took place at NTUC Centre Jan 23rd, 2007. Chaired by the post-65 PAP MPs Teo Ser Luck, Michael Palmer, and Zaqy Mohammed, the event was a rather scaled-down affair. There were no tv cameras, no media present (as far as we can tell) and none of the “glamour” which we would normally associate with a PAP event.

80 chairs were first set up for the audience - but was later cut to 60 chairs (30 on each side of the small room) as there really weren’t that many people. When the dialogue finally kicked off at about 7.30pm, Michael Palmer asked for a show of hands from YP (Young PAP) members, three-quarters of the audience put up their hands. Indeed, most of the audience were young people - including a few students from Hwa Chong, RJC and NJC. All in, about 50 people were there.

The dialogue was to address 4 issues: The reason for the GST hike, the use of the raised amount, the comparison with other countries and the implications of the rise.

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NSP Departure from SDA– Study the Press reports

Excerpted from Singapore Alternatives.

I would highly recommend a political commentary provided by Burning Republic State although I disagree with the author’s point of view that the SDA will face problems after the NSP’s (National Solidarity Party) departure. Although this blog has only a few articles, it has provided very insightful articles right from May 2006.

The NSP’s press release is well written in such that it gives the reasons why it chose to leave the SDA, clear the speculation of “unhappiness” of Mr. Chiam’s leadership and stated its commitment to grow and provide more choices for Singaporeans.

I have taken pain to post the original NSP’s press release and most of the relevant newspaper reports on this whole issue to demonstrate one simple point, views can be “engineered” by newspaper reports.

This is especially so in the ZaoBao’s report. Despite the fact that NSP has reiterated in its press release that its departure from SDA is NOT due to any unhappiness over Mr. Chiam’s leadership, the ZaoBao’s report still puts the whole issue in a very negative angle of “opposition faces disintegration” and suggests NSP left because it is unhappy with Mr. Chiam in reforming the SDA! Worst of all, it put up “undisclosed” source of information to suggest that this is the “truth”!

Read the full article in Singapore Alternatives

Singapore Swing

Excerpt from Newsweek International

By Sonia Kolesnikov-Jessop

Jan. 29, 2007 issue - Tiny Singapore, with its population of 4.3 million, is often lauded for the way it has embraced globalization to maximum advantage. In the last decade, the city-state has opened its doors wide to foreign investment and talent, slashed corporate taxes, offered incentives to nurture strategic industries (such as biotech, pharmaceuticals and financial services) and cut free-trade deals with a host of other countries. The payoff has seemed clear: over the past three years, Singapore’s economy has averaged 7.6 percent growth—a staggering pace for an industrialized state—and created new jobs at a rate any European government would envy.

There’s only one problem: average citizens have yet to reap the benefits. New statistics reveal that middle-class households have tasted none of Singapore’s spectacular growth, and that the island’s poorest 30 percent are worse off than they were five years ago. “Although we have seen very strong growth, we’re experiencing this new phenomenon of median real-wage stagnation and low-income decline,” says Yeoh Lam Keong, vice president of the Economic Society of Singapore.

Read the full article in Newsweek. 

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