Below is a letter sent by Sathiya Moorthy, a member of the public and a former commando to the Prime Minsiter’s Office (PMO) and Ministry of Home Affairs (MHA) on 24 July, following the passing of Sergeant Uvaraja S/O Gopal who alleged bullying and discrimination during his tenure as a police officer of the Singapore Police Force.
Case: Allegations of racial discrimination, workplace bullying, harassment, biased appraisal system in Singapore police Force.
On July 21, 2023, In light of the aforementioned, Minister Mr. K Shanmugam requested that the SPF investigate the matter thoroughly. To put it simply, “Ownself check Ownself” will obviously lead to a conflict of interest.
According to the Gallup 2020 Global Law and Order Report, public confidence in the Singapore Police Force was at a range of 97% prior to the unfortunate death of SGT Uvaraja.
However, with the passing of SGT Uvaraja, the public’s trust in the Singapore Police Force may have decreased to a level between 30% and 50%. This significant divergence in the margins is not good for Singapore’s reputation. Singapore’s standing will suffer on the international stage.
As a result, it is improper/wrong for SPF to carry out this investigation. I concur that every organization/business will do its own internal investigation for record-keeping, Action-After-evaluation (AAR), evaluation of its standard operating procedures (SOP), review and examination of its policy documents, and for job improvement, but not in this case owing to the loss of a soul and numerous recorded suicide cases in the SPF.
The police forces are responsible for upholding national law and order in every nation. But the Army (in times of war) steps in when the Police Department itself has shortcomings and is unable to uphold that level.
Who else, besides SPF investigators, has the authority to carry out high-level investigations, particularly when they concern prominent Police Force officers?
The Special Investigations Branch (SIB) and the Corrupt Practices Investigation Bureau (CPIB). CPIB comes under the purview of the Prime Minister’s Office (PMO) and SIB under the purview of the Defence Ministry. CPIB and SIB seem fit to conduct them in order to perform them thoroughly.
The Minister may assign the tasking to the SIB to undertake the inquiry even if their primary responsibilities may differ.
To carry out the on-site investigations, a team of investigators from the CPIB and SIB must be selected. It is necessary to establish a Commission of Inquiry (COI) (Ref:#1- INQUIRIES ACT 2007), which should be made up of a few top government civil servants from the past and present, neither of whom should be a politician.
The COI must also include a human rights representative from a reputable organization.
The Commissions of Inquiry (COI) must receive the investigative reports from the CPIB and SIB in order to conduct additional investigation, if necessary. The COI must submit their final report and recommendations before the case may be decided and/or concluded.
The scenario resulted from numerous instances of SPF malpractices that were concealed for a long time. I’ve never heard of SIB interfering with SPF investigations, but let’s look out of the box and start using this transparent, and impartial inquiry approach.
Please get concurrence from the Office of the President of the Republic of Singapore. This is the plea of Singaporeans including myself. Please revert back ASAP.
#justiceforuvaraja
I’m not a member of any political party but have volunteered myself during the election time. I care as a Patriotic Citizen because I wore the Red Beret issued by MINDEF.
The above letter was also sent to President Halimah Yacob
Dear Madam President,
Preceding email refers to the request to set up an independent investigation with regard to allegations by SPF Late Sergeant Uvaraja S/0 Gopal’s death.
We and the Citizens of Singapore request for an independent inquiry to investigate and also to set up a Commission of Inquiry to look into this case in order to uphold transparency in the findings. I’ve emailed PMO and MHA. For your kind consideration to approve the above mentioned.
Looking forward to your reply. Thanks.
As of Wednesday 8pm, Sathiya had not received a response from PMO, MHA or the President.
