16 Feb 2006

Video: Tech giants' 'nauseating collaboration' in China

Congressman: Yahoo, Google, Cisco Systems, Microsoft are "agents of repression"
In a House subcommittee hearing for global human rights, Rep. Tom Lantos accuses four major U.S. technology companies of "complete compliance" with Chinese repression of civil rights and political dissent. Their actions are, he says, "a disgrace."



Watch the Video
8 minutes 8 seconds



Tech giants condemned by House subcommittee chair


Rep. Christopher Smith chairs the House of Representatives Subcommittee on Africa, Global Human Rights and International Operations. At a hearing in Washington, he reads a pointed indictment of Cisco Systems, Google, Microsoft and Yahoo. Smith says the tech companies aid repression by the Chinese government.



Watch the Video


12 minutes 12 seconds

Feb 15, 2006 9:44:00 AM

Google, Yahoo!, Microsoft under fire in Washington 10:40AM

America's technology giants have 'enthusiastically volunteered for China's censorship brigade'. The heated remarks came during a hearing of the US House of Representatives international relations sub-committee in which some of the US's biggest Internet companies came under fire over their dealings in China.
The major search engines Yahoo!, Google and MSN along with Internet hardware company Cisco have been asked by the Committee to explain their business practices in the People's Republic. The Committee fears that the companies have made the pursuit of profit and market share in the rapidly expanding Chinese market a priority over their commitment to human rights.

The most stinging remarks came from California congressman Tom Lantos who told the companies 'Your abhorrent activities in China are a disgrace. I simply do not understand how your corporate leadership sleeps at night'.

Campaigners have watched with dismay as companies have put aside their principles in order to do business with the Chinese authorities. Last month Google caused outrage when it emerged that the company would be censoring the results of its Google.cn subsidiary in order to operate within Chinese borders. Last year, the pressure group Reporters Without Borders revealed that Yahoo! had handed over the email records of a human rights campaigner to Chinese prosecutors. The man subsequently received a sentence of ten years in jail.

The companies say that if they operate in China, they have to comply with local law as they do anywhere else in the world. Michael Callahan, a Yahoo! senior vice president told the Committee, 'I don't think it would be appropriate for me to sit in my office in California and order a Chinese citizen in our Beijing operation not to follow a lawful command. We are very distressed about the consequences of complying with Chinese law'.

Under pressure Google said that it may consider pulling out of China if the country's human rights record did not improve.

Lantos, a Holocaust survivor, asked the companies whether they were 'ashamed' of their activities China and dismissed their pleas that they were following local law. 'IBM complied with legal orders when they cooperated with Nazi Germany,' he told the four. 'Those were legal orders under the Nazi German system. Do you think that IBM during that period had something to be ashamed of?'

Steve Malone

Related Content
Politicians lash out at tech firms over China
In rare briefing, China defends Internet content controls
Google fixes China search bugs
U.S. task force looks at Internet censorship in China
Yahoo grapples with online rights

15 Feb 2006

Three-to-one he dies ... or not

The Star Online > Lifefocus

Sunday February 12, 2006

Three-to-one he dies ... or not


Took Leng How

Last month, the Singapore Court of Appeal upheld the murder conviction of Malaysian Took Leng How. All that stands between him and the gallows is a president’s pardon or the hope that his father’s petition in Penang will succeed in persuading the authorities to commute the death sentence to life imprisonment. Since the Court of Appeal’s decision was not unanimous, BEN NADARAJAN examines the issues of reasonable doubt and majority decisions.

JUST when it looked like vegetable packer Took Leng How will take a straight walk to the noose, a three-judge Court of Appeal threw up a surprise.

In 30 previous appeals which Singapore’s highest court heard from 1990 till now, all the guilty verdicts passed by the trial judge were upheld, and all by unanimous decisions.

But in Took’s case, Justice Kan Ting Chiu said the prosecution had failed to prove conclusively that Took, 24, had smothered eight-year-old Huang Na to death on Oct 10, 2004.

In fact, Justice Kan, who has sat on the High Court Bench for the past 15 years, felt that the worst Took was guilty of was that of voluntarily causing hurt.

That only carries a maximum punishment of a one-year jail term and a S$1,000 (about RM2,300) fine, a far cry from the mandatory death penalty which the other two judges, Chief Justice Yong Pung How and Judge of Appeal Chao Hick Tin, thought he deserved.

Since Singapore’s judicial system works on a majority decision, Justice Kan’s views had no bearing on the eventual verdict and Took, kept his place on death row.

There is still one last recourse for Took: the President’s pardon.

His lawyer, Subhas Anandan, felt Justice Kan’s judgment will go some way in persuading the President to grant clemency, which has been given only six times since independence.

The two-to-one decision has raised questions about whether the executioner’s hand should be stayed.

Reasonable doubt

Senior Counsel K.S. Rajah certainly thinks so, arguing that even one dissenting judge is enough cause to raise a “reasonable doubt” whether the accused was really guilty.

“We’re talking about a person’s life here. Surely we should be 100% absolutely certain he was the one before we take his life,” said the former judicial commissioner.

The last time the Court of Appeal was split in a capital case was 10 years ago.

Then, a Myanmarese was acquitted by the trial judge of drug trafficking. The prosecution appealed and the Appeal Court set him free with a two-to-one majority.

Dr Myint Soe, who represented the Myanmar national then, said the issue was more clear-cut as the trial judge had already acquitted his client and two other appellate judges also reached the same verdict. “The trial judge’s verdict should hold more weight as he looks at all the facts and has a chance to judge for himself the demeanour and credibility of the witnesses.”

In criminal cases, the guilt of an accused person hinges on this simply-worded, yet extremely complex, term known as “reasonable doubt”.

It means that the State has to prove that there is no doubt that the person they charged did the deed.

The Singapore system

In a 1996 appeal case of a tutor who molested his student, CJ Yong made the point that while the prosecution had to prove its case beyond reasonable doubt, it cannot prove its case “beyond all doubts”.

Otherwise, any fanciful suggestion can be cooked up by defence lawyers to get their clients off the hook.

“In all cases, there will always remain a minutiae of doubt,” the CJ said. ‘The question in all cases is whether such doubts are real or reasonable, or whether they are merely fanciful.”

In Took’s case, Justice Kan noted that there were no marks or bruises on Huang Na’s nose, which raised doubts as to whether Took smothered her. The defence had raised the possibility that the girl had died from fits, which the prosecution was not able to counter convincingly enough for the judge.

So should his reservations be enough to save Took?

Several states in the United States which still have capital punishment require its 12-man jury to reach a unanimous verdict before an accused can be put to death. One dissenting juror would lead to a re-trial, with a new set of jurors.

Singapore did away with the jury system for capital cases in 1969, replacing them with two-judge hearings. Both judges must see eye to eye to convict someone of a capital offence, to reduce the risk of hanging the wrong guy.

It also reflects the gravity of capital cases, which carries the ultimate punishment the legal system can mete out.

But when the late CJ, Wee Chong Jin, stepped down and CJ Yong took over in 1990, the two-judge system was replaced with just one presiding trial judge.

This was to free up more judges to hear other cases, reducing the waiting time for a case to be heard by half.

The safety catch: the CJ proposed that the State provide them with two defence lawyers instead of one.

When the change to the Criminal Procedure Code was put to Parliament in 1992, Law Minister S. Jayakumar acknowledged that having two judges try a capital case was “more comforting” than just a single judge as they shared the responsibility and also combined their knowledge of the law.

But he said that CJ Yong’s suggestion was sound as there was an “ugly and unacceptable risk” that an innocent person may spend years in prison before his trial even begins as there was a serious backlog of unheard cases.

That was over a decade ago when it took four years for a trial to begin. Now, capital cases are usually ready to go within a year.

Another safety catch: Unlike those convicted of non-capital offences, a person sentenced to death has an automatic right to appeal to a higher court. He has to inform the court if he is waiving his right.

Mathematical solution

Briton John Martin, who killed a tourist and dismembered the corpse, and Adrian Lim, who murdered two children in a religious sacrifice, both chose not to appeal and were hanged. Since there was no Round Two, there is no question of their guilt.

National University of Singapore law lecturer Michael Hor offers a mathematical solution to the conundrum.

He gave this scenario: If the trial judge acquits and the Court of Appeal is split with two judges against acquittal and one for acquittal, that means that the verdict, if one goes by simple mathematics, is tied 2-2.

Assoc Prof Hor said: ‘In such a case, then the capital conviction should not stand as there are equal number of judges for and against the conviction.’

Which means really that Took should hang since the score is really three-to-one, if you include the trial judge.

Former lawyer Prem Singh, who wrote in to The Straits Times Forum page on this issue, felt that allowing a solo dissenting voice to prevail over the majority decision “makes a mockery of our majority rule”.

Prem, who was a lawyer for 12 years before retiring in 2001, said: “The majority rule is fair. The fact that there is a dissenting decision on a murder sentence should not cloud the real issue that guilt, or whatever the judgment may be, was determined by a majority decision.”

One suggestion is to go with the majority view but give the judges the discretion to impose life imprisonment instead of the death penalty in cases which are deemed appropriate.

Singapore’s laws do not allow that and one drawback is: Do we really want to put the burden of judging whether a man should live or die on the shoulders of a few individuals, however experienced and respected?

Singapore has never shied away from defending the death penalty, seeing it as a necessary aspect of upholding law and order.

But Took’s case has raised the question: How sure should the State be about a man’s guilt before taking his life?

If the answer is 100%, then Took deserves a re-trial, hang the time and the cost.

It is, after all, a matter of life and death. – ANN/The Sunday Times


Sign The Petition.

'Brokeback Mountain' to Open Uncut in Singapore, Which Bans Gay Sex

By GILLIAN WONG
Associated Press Writer
SINGAPORE


Singapore cinemas will begin screening the movie "Brokeback Mountain" on Thursday in what critics say is a sign of loosening censorship in a country that bans gay sex.

"This shows they are willing to give more scope for homosexuality to be examined as an issue in popular culture," said Russell Heng, founder of People Like Us, a gay support group. However, he said the loosening of censorship regulations has been slow.

"Brokeback Mountain," a movie about two cowboys swept up in a love affair, is the front-runner at the March 5 Academy Awards in Los Angeles with eight nominations. The movie led the Jan. 16 Golden Globes with four wins, among them best dramatic film and best director for Ang Lee.

In Singapore, Lee's uncut film will be restricted to audiences over age 21, and promotional material carries a consumer advisory saying "Mature theme, sexual scenes."

Gay sex, defined by the Southeast Asian city-state as "an act of gross indecency," is punishable by a maximum of two years in jail. There have been few prosecutions.

Amy Chua, director of media content at the state Media Development Authority, said the Board of Film Censors allowed "Brokeback Mountain" to be screened because the film did not "promote or glamorize the lifestyle."

"As the entire film focuses on and revolves round the issue of homosexuality, the Board of Film Censors decided to rate it R21," she said in a statement.

"The aim is to provide adults with more choices while ensuring that the young are not exposed to content that is not intended for them," Chua said.

Singapore has in recent years relaxed censorship regulations for films and plays in an effort to loosen up and market itself as a media and arts center. But controls remain tight.

The popular Taiwanese movie "Formula 17," about two teenage boys falling in love, was banned in 2004 after regulations had been revised. The government said the Taiwanese movie was banned because it showed homosexuality as "normal, and a natural progression of society."

Singapore's censors also have cut scenes from films, such as one depicting two women kissing in the 2002 award-winning "The Hours," which starred Nicole Kidman.

Wong Lung Hsiang, a film critic and secretary of the Singapore Film Society, said authorities were gradually loosening controls.

"I think Singapore's view is that people in the heartland don't object to showcasing films with these themes _ even if they don't necessarily accept the lifestyle," Wong said. "Also, 'Brokeback Mountain' by today's standards is not very controversial. The two characters suffer a lot, the film is very tragic, it wins sympathy from the audience."




2006-02-15 16:58
©2006 OhmyNews


Related Links:
Brokeback Mountain avoids Singapore censors : The Guardian UK

14 Feb 2006

Operational Controls over Casinos Eased

The government has decided to relax some controls over the casino operators of the two proposed integrated resorts in Singapore, like removing limits on the number of hours that a casino can operate.

On the other end, it is setting up a new statutory board called the Casino Regulatory Authority (CRA).

The CRA, to be set up 12 to 18 months before the first casino opens, will have investigative and enforcement powers and will be empowered to approve various aspects of casino operations.

Speaking in Parliament on Monday, Deputy Prime Minister and Home Affairs Minister Wong Kan Seng said the relaxation of controls took into account feedback and suggestions from investors on matters that may interfere with their day-to-day operations.

Mr Wong believes the supervision and regulation of the casinos will not be compromised by the changes.

Parliament also debated the Casino Control Bill which seeks to provide an environment where integrated resorts can thrive while keeping Singapore's social and law and order problems at bay.

The integrated resorts may spell big money for Singapore but also signal big trouble if not enough measures are taken to mitigate the social ills that may come with the
resorts.

The Bill will provide the legislative and regulatory framework to ensure that criminal activities associated with casino operations do not take root here.

Mr Wong said: "Only suitable persons will be licensed to operate the casino or to work in positions of influence in the casino.

"The considerations of 'suitability' include whether the applicant is of good repute with regard to character, honesty and integrity, and has the ability to work in the capacity that he or she has applied for.

"For applicants who wish to operate the casino, the applicant must also demonstrate that he has a sound and stable financial background."

To ensure that casino operators are legitimate and that there are no undesirable influence over the casino's operations, shareholders taking a 5%, 12% or 20% stake in the casino operator will have to seek approval from the Home Affairs Minister.

Under the Casino Control Bill, the casino operator must also ensure that prostitution and illegal money lending activities do not take place within its premises.

Social safeguards are also put in place.

The government has decided to keep the entry levy fee at $100 per 24 hours and $2,000 per year, to send the message that gambling is an expense and not a means to get rich.

This decision follows feedback that resulted from public consultation last year.

A study conducted by the Commercial Affairs Department on prison inmates who had committed commercial crimes also revealed that they got hooked on problem gambling after experiencing the euphoric feeling when they won.

Others gambled to relieve stress.

Mr Wong, who is also the Deputy Prime Minister, said: "Based on this study, there seems to be a point beyond which some casual and recreational gamblers begin to slide down the slippery slope to become compulsive and pathological gamblers.

"It is therefore vital that those who choose to gamble are aware of the vital signs so that they can seek help before their habits get out of control."

The Casino Control Bill also seeks to limit losses, so casinos cannot extend credit to Singaporeans and PRs, unless they're premium players and already have at least a $100,000 credit balance with the operator.

Another safeguard that will be implemented is the prohibition of automated teller machines or ATMs within the casino premises.

This is to prevent patrons from having access to their savings accounts to gamble continuously or to chase their losses.

Various bodies will also be empowered to impose Exclusion Orders, to prevent vulnerable gamblers from entering the casinos.

Family members and even those with gambling problems themselves can also apply to be excluded.

Minister Wong said: "The Government decided to allow two integrated resorts with casinos to be built in Singapore because we assessed that there are significant economic and tourism benefits if the integrated resorts succeed and take off in a big way.

"We will help provide the environment to help the industry succeed. However, this must not and need not come with heavy costs to our society or the law and order situation."

Ethnic Integration Policy on Public Husing Vital for Social Stability

The Ethnic Integration Policy on public housing estates is an important pillar for social stability in Singapore.

National Development Minister Mah Bow Tan says putting a racial quota on flats may have inconvenienced some flat sellers, but it's a small sacrifice Singaporeans must make to safeguard racial harmony.

He was speaking in parliament on Monday. About 300 flat sellers and buyers are rejected each year because they don't fulfil the ethnic quota in their housing estates.

But the Minister said these numbers are small - less than 1% of total annual HDB transactions.

Since 1989, the HDB has put in place the Ethnic Integration Policy to ensure a balanced mix of races within the public housing estates.

It aims to get people of different races to interact and foster social harmony.

The policy also broke up the racial enclaves in Singapore as towns see lower concentrations of a particular racial group.

And according to the HDB, only a quarter of the 162 housing estates have hit the
ethnic quota limits, compared to nearly one third 16 years ago.

Speaking in parliament, Dr Amy Khor, MP for Hong Kah GRC, asked: "In the light of the Workers' Party manifesto, which seems to suggest that they're proposing to dismantle the ethnic integration quota because they feel that we've achieved a certain level of social integration, I would like to ask the minister in his own opinion if we ever can dismantle this ethnic quota that we can ever achieve a level of social integration where racial enclaves will not re-emerge."

In response, Mr Mah said that Workers' Party's Secretary-General Low Thia Khiang, who was absent at the time, would be a better person to answer the question.

Mr Mah also said: "Whatever the motivation is behind his manifesto, the consequences of following that path is really very dangerous and disastrous.
It's like playing with fire."

He continued: "Racial harmony is not a given for Singapore. It's not a given for any multi-racial society but certainly for Singapore, we have had our experiences of racial riots in the 60s. And if you trace the history of public housing in Singapore, (you can see) the role that public housing has played in helping to create a much more integrated, a much more tolerant Singapore."

The issue of a need for the Ethnic Integration Policy emerged when the Workers' Party launched its manifesto which among other things, proposed scrapping the policy.

Several Ministers responded, calling it a dangerous idea as the ethnic quota policy is crucial to maintaining racial harmony. - CNA/ir

13 Feb 2006

96% of Sporeans back death penalty

By Lydia Lim and Jeremy Au Yong
The Straits Times

Publication Date : 2006-02-12

Almost everyone here, both young and old and of every race and education level, supports the death penalty for heinous crimes, a survey shows.

Nine in 10 also want the hard line to be taken against any foreigner who commits a crime that carries the death penalty. He should not be spared even if his country does not give the death sentence for the crime, they said in a Sunday Times survey.

Their responses are significant because the survey was carried out three weeks after Singapore hanged Australian drug trafficker Nguyen Tuong Van amid widespread protests in Australia.

The Home Affairs Ministry said that 35 people have been hanged over the last three years, most of them for drug trafficking.

The survey, done between Dec 23 and 28, also debunks notions that the younger or more educated would be less supportive of the death penalty.

On the contrary, it shows a graduate in his 20s is as likely to back capital punishment as someone in his 50s with below secondary education.

The survey of 425 Singaporeans and permanent residents, aged 20 and older, shows 96 per cent support the death penalty. Most also want it to remain mandatory for the crimes of murder, drug trafficking and the use of firearms.

The majority also want to keep the death sentence as the maximum penalty for acts of treason and kidnapping.

More than two-thirds want the death penalty introduced as the maximum sentence for those who plan or carry out terrorist attacks.

These people, who were interviewed face-to-face at their homes, believe the death penalty is effective in three ways:

-It deters others from committing the same crimes;

-Keeps the country safe and crime-free; and

-Is just punishment for those who carry out heinous acts.

And the majority want Singapore to stand its ground on this issue, regardless of what other countries do.

Almost three quarters say Singapore should not review its stand even if more countries do away with the death penalty.

The younger people are far more open to a review if circumstances change, according to the poll done by the marketing planning and development (research) department of Singapore Press Holdings.

About half of those aged 20 to 29 want a review if more people here oppose the death penalty, compared to one third among the fortysomethings and one quarter among those aged 50 and over.

If more countries decide to abolish capital punishment, 44 per cent of the twentysomethings think Singapore should review its stand but only 22 per cent of people older than 40 would agree to it.

Law professor Michael Hor said the timing of the survey could have contributed to the extremely high levels of support for the death penalty.

"Studies elsewhere have shown, for example, that if death penalty polls are carried out soon after a sensational and well-publicised murder, the approval rates are likely to be significantly higher," he said.

The 15 people in the poll who oppose the death penalty do so for three main reasons:

-They believe people deserve a chance to repent;

-They worry that innocent people could be executed; and

-Other countries have done away with the death penalty.

Entrepreneur Jane Ang, 35, counts herself among this small minority.

"I believe in the sanctity of life. I don't think you can put a price on any person's life, no matter what they've done," she said.

Criminal lawyer Shashi Nathan, a founding member of the Association of Criminal Lawyers in Singapore, said he cannot see how the death penalty deters murders.

"Most murders, I would say 90 per cent, are crimes of passion. In the heat of the moment, you just don't think about what the penalty for your crime is," he said.

But he does acknowledge that the death penalty may act as a deterrent "to some extent for drug trafficking".

Sinapan Samydorai, president of civil rights group Think Centre, puts the overwhelming support for the death penalty to an "overall lack of human rights understanding".

"People think if you kill one to protect many, it then becomes justifiable without considering whether killing the person is morally right or wrong."

In its response to the survey findings, the Ministry of Home Affairs said Singapore does not mete out the death penalty lightly and imposes it only for the most serious of crimes.

The number hanged each year fell from 19 in 2003 to eight last year.

The ministry said: "We weigh the rights of offenders against the rights of victims and the rights of the community to live and work in safety and security." The death penalty, it added, deters would-be offenders and has contributed to making Singapore "one of the safest places in the world".

11 Feb 2006

Family Values - the big lie

This is a duplicate post of the one I've posted on http://blog.sayoni.com

The Simpsons

"Did you hear that Marge? We are supporting family values here!"

Taken from synergisedsolutions.com

***

Family values. The big fuzzy cloud where all reasoning stops functioning.

Try as I might have, I still have yet to extract a coherent argument from any family groups all these years. How do gay people undermine the family unit? After all, if I am going to be destroying some invaluable family value by kissing girls, I should at least know what that is, right? But, I decided to do them a favour, and by painstakingly combing through several family values’ sites[and incurring irreparable mental trauma as a result], I am extracting the points that aren’t clouded by religious fervour.


Jerry Falwell, I am doing you a big favour by actually bringing some coherence to the ravings of your minions.

“We will see a breakdown of the family and family values if we decide to approve same-sex marriage, and if we decide to establish homosexuality as an acceptable alternative lifestyle with all the benefits that go with equating it with the heterosexual lifestyle.” Jerry Falwell

As an argument to make the public rally for their side, “family values” is a worthy cause, something with great moral appeal to every one no matter what their religion. It is easy to get fathers and mothers anxious over the integrity of the family to donate, by claiming they defend family values. It is even easier to get schools and the government to approve their cause, to protect the fragile state of the modern nuclear family, endangered by a menacing environment saturated with sex and violence.

And lest we forget, family values face their most dangerous adversary today: the Homosexual. The Homosexual, in all his capitalised glory, sleeps with every other person who comes his way, and injects his veins with crystal meth. Who seduces little kids from the playgrounds and recruits teenagers to become a Homosexual, like him. Who eventually dies from being whipped one too many times by his newest lover or AIDS.

Sounds familiar?

No, I didn’t think so. Because, the Homosexual in this construct is a figment of imagination at its worst, and a rarity at the best. It is a convenient lump of mashed bad eggs from the gay community, very useful in convincing the layman of their argument on the part of these “family groups”.


Okay, so we can’t go there. Let’s see what else I can dig up against gay people. Let me be rational and go point by point.

1. Gay people are paedophiles. I don’t want them molesting my children. Look at NAMBLA! Am I supposed to support such people?

Homosexuality is defined here as mutually consensual sex between two adults – paedophilia obviously doesn’t fit here. Homosexuality does not equal paedophilia. There is no conclusive link between the two, and drawing non-existent connections between the two is as good as saying global warming is causing George Bush to invade Iraq.

Statistics show that majority of child molesters are heterosexual. So, your child is more likely to be molested by a straight man rather than a gay man. Also, among those men who molest small boys, it has to be noted they often do NOT identify as gay.

NAMBLA is a pariah among the gay community, and almost 100% of us are strongly against its agenda. We do not even consider it a gay organisation – we have sisters, brothers, and even children. We do not want them to be in danger from child-molesters. Look at any gay website, and it is unlikely anyone would even list NAMBLA as a gay resource. Sex with minors is illegal, and completely wrong.

2. Granting gay marriage/rights will undermine the heterosexual marriage structure.

Let me imagine… it is the day after the government has legalised gay marriage, and all the wives and husbands wake up, and realise they are gay, and decide to divorce their spouses and marry someone of the same sex. Horrors of horrors! The family unit is gone! The human race will become extinct!


Sorry, Jerry. I simply can’t understand how this is going to happen.

I can understand, though, why family groups are concerned with the decline of the heterosexual family. Divorce rates are increasing, delinquency is turning into criminality, and dysfunctional families are on the rise. I am concerned too – but homosexuality is not the cause of this. Neither can it aggravate the situation. The reasons for the decline of the family is rooted deep in the failure of the social structure we lived with until now.

If anything, granting family rights to gay people would only help the state of the family, as gay people would have legitimised union to look forward to, raise kids etc.

To prove my point, I’d like to point to Massachusetts, which has legalised gay marriage. It has been a couple of years, and still there is no sign of the heterosexual structure breaking down.

In a nutshell: to beat back the gay community in order to save the heterosexual marriage is akin to building a dam to stop the volcano from erupting.

3. The only stable family structure is that of a man and a woman with children

This is very offensive to all the single mothers and fathers out there, who’ve slaved single-handedly to raise their children to be productive members of the society. If single parents can do it, and there is no lasting damage on the children, what is wrong with two men or two women? After all, two hands are better than one.

And I am strongly contesting the point about the heterosexual unit being the only stable one: the rising divorce rates speak for themselves.

4. Children raised by gay parents turn out gay/depressed/suicidal

I’d like to point to the study here. Clearly, the kids are all right. There is no conclusive evidence that gay parents rear gay kids, unless genetic evidence is taken into account.

Sorry, Jerry… I ran out of points. The rest were just lots of religious pronouncements, which no rational person would even consider as a valid argument.

If anything, I’d like to ask the family groups… why are you making so much of a fuss over homosexuality? Is it the last of your tenets, the last pillar left to knock over? There are certainly more important things to be concerned over than homosexuality. Rising divorce rates, for example. Why aren’t you doing something about that? Where were you when fathers were raping daughters? When fathers were hitting mothers? Instead of doing something about real social issues such as this, you choose to waste your efforts on marginalising the gay community.

Gay people are not against family. We have families of our own too. There is no rational reason why a queer would wake up in the morning and say, "I am going to destroy a family today, just for the fun of it."

In fact, these family values' groups have an adverse effect, by perpertuating homophobia, one is only helping widen the rift between millions of queer people on the planet and their immediate families, especially parents. Now THAT is how a family can be destroyed.


Oops, looks like even *I* can’t help you formulate a proper argument. You’re own your own, buddy.

Ministers right to challenge Opposition's ideas: MM

Minister Mentor Lee Kuan Yew has joined in the debate to debunk proposals put forth by opposition parties in its manifesto ahead of the General Election.
.
Speaking at his Tanjong Pagar constituency's Chinese New Year dinner on Friday, Mr Lee said People's Action Party (PAP) ministers were right to challenge the ideas. Otherwise, he said, some people might be misled into believing that these are possible solutions for Singapore.
.
The Workers' Party, supported by the Singapore Democratic Alliance, proposed "give-aways" in the form of subsidies to the unemployed, disadvantaged and the sick, he said.
.
And to pay for these, they want to abolish the Elected Presidency so that the country's reserves can be used. They also want to abolish Group Representation Constituencies (GRCs) and have all single constituencies, so that more opposition candidates can win. But to win the elections, Mr Lee said other parties must do what the PAP does — get good men to join them and craft better policies than the ruling party.
.
"There is no simple way to win. To win you must find good people, who will over time convince voters that they will do better or at least as well as the PAP. Then they will stand a chance," he said.
.
Turning to education, Mr Lee said the Ministry would promote Chinese as a conversational language for non-Chinese students in more schools. This comes after some Indian and Malay parents said their children wanted to learn Mandarin but not take it as an examination subject. Likewise, Malay will also be offered as a conversational language for non-Malay students.

— Channel NewsAsia

Singapore Elections blog

via Huichieh Loy,

Singapore Elections '06



The contributors at Singapore Ink, The Void Deck and From a Singapore Angle has just started a joint-venture: Sg Election '06.

See also:
Singapore Elections
Singapore Elections Watch
Singapore Rally
Singapore Government

Singapore Judiciary Unfair And Not Independent

Received via email today..

Statement of Chee Soon Juan submitted to the High Court, Singapore at the Bankruptcy Petition Hearing on 10 February 2006

Dr Chee Soon Juan, secretary-general of the Singapore Democratic Party, was sued in 2002 by former Singapore prime ministers Mr Lee Kuan Yew and Mr Goh Chok Tong for defamation. The courts awarded the case to the plaintiffs and ordered Dr Chee to pay $500,000 in damages. Messrs Lee and Goh then took legal action to declare Dr Chee bankrupt. In response Dr Chee submitted this statement at the bankruptcy hearing.

After much observation and having personally gone through the judicial process, I cannot but come to the conclusion that my case has not received the justice that it is entitled to; it has been crippled right from the beginning.

First, I was denied the services of QCs when the case commenced in 2002 because according to judge Tay Yong Kwang, the matter was not “complex enough”. This is in spite of the fact that I had made known the problem that few Singaporean lawyers would act for me because this involved politics. In this regard, it is instructive to note an AP report said criminal lawyer, Mr Subhas Anandan, was happy to represent “thieves and even terror suspects – but no dissidents, please.”

The fact that the plaintiffs, Mr Lee Kuan Yew and Mr Goh Chok Tong, had engaged Senior Counsel, Mr Davinder Singh, who is seasoned in handling PAP defamation lawsuits and the fact that I had no lawyer to argue my case for me seemed to not bother the courts at all. The US-based Lawyers Committee for Human Rights commented:

Neither at the hearing, on February 7 [2003], nor in the course of his judgment, did Justice Rubin display the least concern that Dr. Chee was unrepresented. The Lawyers Committee considers that this apparent lack of concern, coupled with the considerable latitude extended to Mr. Singh in his submissions to the Court, resulted in manifest unfairness in the course of the hearing and, specifically, the denial to Dr. Chee of a fair hearing that met the international norms to which we have referred.

Second, the case was awarded to the plaintiffs through Summary Judgment, which meant that I could not call witnesses and defend myself in open court. Again, the Lawyers Committee wrote:

The Lawyers Committee considers that there appear to be triable issues in this matter, such as whether or not the words spoken by Dr. Chee were defamatory and whether there was pressure brought to bear on Dr. Chee that should render his apology and admission void for duress.

In summary, not only did I not have legal representation but I also did not get a trial. It is well-known that Singapore has detention without trial. Now it seems that we also have defamation without trial.

To be sure my case is only the latest in several that have taken place through the years. Mr J B Jeyaretnam, one who has suffered the most under this legal tyranny, has had to endure much injustice. One case which he had appealed with Mr Wong Hong Toy to the Privy Council of London in 1988 will perhaps go down in judicial infamy. The Law Lords then had concluded that both the defendants had “suffered a grievous injustice” at the hands of the Singapore Judiciary and Law Society.

Another instance was the removal of former judge Mr Michael Khoo from the bench after he had passed a lenient sentence on Mr Jeyaretnam.

Through the years Mr Jeyaretnam has been hounded and was finally made bankrupt in 2001 which made him ineligible for the 2001 elections. He looks set to also be disqualified for this coming elections.

Then there was the case of Mr Tang Liang Hong who likewise was sued for defamation and made bankrupt in 1997. If ever there was any doubt as to the partiality of Singapore’s courts, this case and all its attendant proceedings removed it. It involved a police report that Mr Tang had made during the 1997 general elections about PAP leaders. Mr Lee Kuan Yew then got hold of the report, distributed it to the media, and then proceeded to sue Mr Tang for defamation.

The above have been but a small sample of instances showing the lack of independence and fairness of our judicial system. This has prompted international organizations to comment:

“Civil defamation suits are being misused by the Executive to intimidate and deter those Singaporeans holding dissenting views.” – Amnesty International

“[Defamation lawsuits have] done little to overcome the courts’ reputation as improperly compliant to the interests of the country’s ruling People’s Action Party.” – International Commission of Jurists

“What emerges…is a government that has been willing to decimate the rule of law for the benefit of its political interests. Lawyers have been cowed to passivity, judges are kept on a short leash, and the law has been manipulated so that gaping holes exist in the system of restraints on government action toward the individual. Singapore is not a country in which individual rights have significant meaning.” – New York City Bar Association

Our own former solicitor-general, Mr. Francis Seow said, “the judiciary…contort themselves into obscene positions to favour…the government.”

The US embassy in Singapore expressed concern over “the ruling party’s use of the court system to intimidate political opponents.”

Stuart Littlemore, QC, reporting for the International Commission of Jurists wrote: “The Singapore leadership has a long-standing record of using the high court as a mechanism for silencing its opponents – by suing them for statements that, in any comparable jurisdiction, would be seen as part of a robust political debate inseparable from democratic freedoms, and by being awarded such unconscionably high damages and costs as to bankrupt the defendants, forcing them out of parliament.”

More recently, Chief Justice Yong Pung How sued his former remisier, Mr Boon Suan Ban, for defamation when Mr Boon allegedly harassed Mr Yong over some financial matters. Mr Boon was subsequently arrested and remanded at the Institute for Mental Health at the “pleasure of the President.” The papers pertaining to the case were then sealed.

In 2005, High Court Judge Mr V K Rajah ruled that a silent protest staged by four activists calling for transparency and accountability from the Singapore Government was “incendiary” and that such protests would “improperly undermine both a hard-won national dignity and a reputable international identity.” This is in spite of the fact that the Singapore Constitution clear states that only five or more persons gathered in a public area constituted an illegal assembly.

The question of the independence of Singapore’s judiciary is also the subject of a dispute between two commercial companies that is taking place presently in Ontario, Canada. The arguments of one party can be found on: http://uy.http3.net/Corrupted_Singapore_Regime_Judiciary.pdf

Through the decades opposition politicians have been, and continue to be, hounded, persecuted, and prosecuted by the PAP through the courts. All this time no one in Singapore has dared to say anything. There comes a time, however, when one must look deep into oneself and ask how much more of the persecution one has to suffer in silence. Today I have made the decision not to remain silent any more and tell you what you don’t want to hear: That the judiciary in Singapore is, sadly, not independent especially when it comes to dealing with opposition politicians.

I wish I didn’t have to do this. I wish I could say that my country’s judicial system is independent and fair. But I can’t because that would be a lie. It would be a much easier decision for me, and more importantly for my family, to walk away from this bankruptcy hearing and accept the punishment that the court has meted out. But my conscience dictates otherwise and I must take the path that in all likelihood will lead to dire consequences.

However, making this statement is a decision that I have chosen and, having made it, to accept the consequences that it brings. I hope to make this statement a start to a campaign to pry the country’s judiciary from the clutches of the PAP Government.

I may or may not succeed in my endeavour, but I would rather live my life having spoken and fought for the truth than to share it with cowardice and deceit. In my little way, I would have stood up for Singapore, my home too.



Chee Soon Juan

10 February 2006