Statement by members of civil society in response to the Ministry of Home Affairs’ statement on 13 September 2013.

MHA_statement
Ministry of Home Affairs’ statement on 13 September 2013

 

Government Statement on Dinesh Raman Reprehensible

We deplore the statement issued by the Ministry of Home Affairs in respect of the late Mr Dinesh Raman s/o Chinniah, entitled Statement regarding the case of Dinesh Raman s/o Chinniah, published on the ministry’s website on 13 September 2013.

There is a claim before the courts. The family desires to learn the facts of their son and brother’s death while in the custody of the Singapore Prison Service. The details of the MHA press release pertaining to Mr Dinesh’s past, ostensibly in order to determine the quantum of compensation, have instead rehearsed his past misdeeds in order to conduct a character assassination ahead of the court hearing. It is designed to swing public opinion from sympathy for the family. Moreover, these matters are irrelevant to the case before the court.

They were then repeated in the mainstream media without regard for the sensibilities of the family or basic norms of courtesy. We urge the media to show more sensitivity to the family’s situation.

The action of the ministry in publishing its press release is deeply wrong. It has done so in a way that is clearly intended to destroy Mr Dinesh’s posthumous reputation. We have no doubt that by doing so it has added to the deep grief of the family, already suffering the profound pain of their only son’s loss. It is entirely unseemly for the Ministry of Home Affairs to have done so.

As fellow citizens, we demand that the Minister for Home Affairs apologise to the family.

This statement is signed by the following individuals (in no particular order)

Leslie Chew Priscilla Chia Joshua Chiang
Stephanie Chok Damien Chng Jean Chong
Chong Kaixiong Neth Chong Choo Zhengxi
Fadli Bin Fawzi Han Huihui Gilbert Goh
Ho Choon Hiong Kirsten Han Russell Heng
Adrian Heok Vanessa Ho Dan Koh
Dana Lam Vincent Law Basil Lee
Lynn Lee Corinna Lim Lim Jialiang
Andrew Loh Braema Mathi Ng Yi-Sheng
Roy Ngerng Pak Geok Choo Vivian Pan
Alfian Sa’at Martyn See Siew Kum Hong
Miak Siew Isrizal Mohamed Isa Shafiie Syhami
Constance Singam Kenneth Tan Roy Tan
Shawn Tan  Shelley Thio  Melissa Tsang
Vidula Verma  Jolovan Wham  Vincent Wijeysingha
Wong U-Wen  Terry Xu  Yap Ching Wi
Rachel Zeng
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