TR EMERITUS

Written by Our Correspondent In an uncharacteristic Freudian slip, Singapore's octogenarian leader Minister Mentor Lee Kuan Yew finally confirmed the suspicions of many Singaporeans - that all grassroots organizations are part of the PAP and not "non-partisan" as they are supposed to be. Dispensing his usual "pearls of wisdom" on China yesterday during a dialogue, Lee said that the Chinese have been studying Singapore for several years, sending many teams of officials, at different levels of government, to attend courses at, for example, the National University of Singapore, the Nanyang Technological University, and the Lee Kuan Yew School of Public Policy. To illustrate one lesson the Chinese learnt, he said: "They discover that the People's Action Party (PAP) has only a small office in Bedok. But everywhere they go, they see the PAP - in the RCs (residents' committees), CCCs (citizens' consultative committees), and the CCs (community clubs)." [Source: Straits Times, 30 December 2009] Over 85 per cent of Singapore's population lives in public housing estates built by HDB.  Every estate is subdivided into various zones, each with its own RC. A RC usually comprises of residents living within the zone and serve to promote interaction between Singaporeans by organizing events such as "block parties" at the void decks of HDB flats. Community Clubs cater to residents of the entire estate and offers a broader range of activities such as yoga classes, language courses and cooking classes. All grassroots organizations in Singapore are under the purview of the People's Association, a statutory board set up on 1 July 1960 "to promote racial harmony and social cohesion." Its Chairman is none other than the Prime Minister himself who is also the Secretary-General of the PAP. Though grassroots organizations are non-political organizations, they are often involved in "pseudo-political" activities which serve the partisan interests of the PAP. The premises of RCs are used for the weekly "Meet-the-People" sessions of PAP MPs. Dialogue sessions with ministers are often held in the halls of Community Clubs. To further complicate matters, the Chairpersons of RCs are sometimes PAP members who sit on many boards. A PAP branch secretary may be the Vice Chairman of a Community Club Management Committee and a RC Chairman at the same time. As an example, a YPAP member and moderator of the YPAP Facebook Network Mr Fong Yoong Keong, is the Vice Chairman of Eunos Community Club Management Committee and Assistant Secretary of Eunos Zone "3" RC at the same time. The RCs and CCs give the PAP a powerful grassroots machinery on the ground which enables it to steamroll over the opposition election after election. Since the PA is a statutory board funded entirely by taxpayers' monies, Singaporeans have been unwittingly "sponsoring" the PAP's partisan activities over the last four decades. In fact, the PAP is found not only in grassroots organizations, but everywhere in Singapore as well from the mainstream media, trade unions, police, Internal Security Department, state-linked companies and what not - you name it, you have it! Lee once boasted unashamedly about the PAP's complete dominance in Singapore during an interview with its mouthpiece Petir in 1982: “I make no apologies that the PAP is the (Singapore) Government and the Government is the PAP.” No wonder the Chinese Communist Party (CCP) is so interested to learn from Singapore.  Read More →

OPINION When opposition candidate in the last election James Gomez tried to leave Singapore for Sweden where he worked, he was stopped by the police at the airport and his passport impounded. The reason? Gomez was being "investigated" for "intimidating" a civil servant when he (wrongly) accused an election officer of misplacing his application forms. Gomez was never charged in court and was let off eventually with a "stern warning". If the Singapore police had been so vigilant and proactive in the dogged pursuit of such a trivial case, we should expect them to be even more "on the ball" with serious crimes such as a hit-and-run accident which shocked the entire nation two weeks ago. In the accident on Dec 15, the black Audi A6 belonging to the Romanian embassy hit three people at two junctions in Bukit Panjang at about 3am. It then sped off. One of the accident victims 30 year old Mr Tong Kok Wai passed away on Christmas Day after being declared brain dead. He was married only a month ago. The Romanian charge d’affaires Dr Silviu Ionescu was called up for questioning by the Singapore police the next day. He told them and the media that the vehicle was discovered to be missing by him and his driver at 3am at the time of the accident and a police report was made. However, the driver said he was sleeping then and was only informed of the car "theft" by Dr Silviu himself. The police report was also made 40 minutes after the accident had occurred. Two eye-witnesses who saw the face of the driver at the accident scene had described his features to the Singapore police. Dr Silviu was not called up subsequently for further investigations. He was allowed to remain in Singapore for one more week before he left the country. His current whereabouts is unknown. One does not need to be a Sherlock Holmes to detect the glaring inconsistencies in Dr Silviu's statement. With two eye-witnesses who are able to identify the culprit, the case could be solved within 24 hours. Being the prime suspect in the case, Dr Silviu's passport should be impounded to prevent him from leaving Singapore until the investigations are completed. Some may argue that the police does not have the power to detain Dr Silviu as being a diplomat, he is immune from Singapore's criminal laws, but an earlier letter by Mr Sudesh Maniar from the Ministry of Foreign Affairs to the Straits Times Forum had assured Singaporeans that “members of the Diplomatic and Consular Corps must respect the laws and regulations of Singapore, despite their diplomatic immunity under the Vienna Convention and that “this immunity is intended to protect them only in the discharge of their duties.” Singapore is a signatory of the 1961 Vienna Convention on Diplomatic Relations: Article 29 of the Vienna Convention states: "The person of a diplomatic agent shall be inviolable. He shall not be liable to any form of arrest or detention. The receiving State shall treat him with due respect and shall take all appropriate steps to prevent any attack on his person, freedom or dignity." While the Singapore police has no right to detain or arrest Dr Silviu, there is no clause stating explicitly that his passport cannot be impounded. Article 30 of the Vienna Convention states: A diplomatic agent shall enjoy immunity from the criminal jurisdiction of the receiving State. He shall also enjoy immunity from its civil and administrative jurisdiction, except in the case of: (a) A real action relating to private immovable property situated in the territory of the receiving State, unless he holds it on behalf of the sending State for the purposes of the mission; (b) An action relating to succession in which the diplomatic agent is involved as executor, administrator, heir or legatee as a private person and not on behalf of the sending State; (c) An action relating to any professional or commercial activity exercised by the diplomatic agent in the receiving State outside his official functions. This means the diplomatic immunity enjoyed by Dr Silviu covers only his official duties. Dr Silviu admitted that he had gone to a KTV for a "few drinks" with some friends on the night of the accident. Since he was driving the embassy car for a private function, his actions therefore do not fall within the ambit of the diplomatic immunity. The Attorney-General Chambers has the powers to prosecute Dr Silviu and charge him in court. Article 32 of the Vienna Convention states: 1.The immunity from jurisdiction of diplomatic agents and of persons enjoying immunity under article 37 may be waived by the sending State. 2. Waiver must always be express. Even if Dr Silviu is protected by his diplomatic immunity, the Singapore authorities can apply for a waival directly to the Romanian government. They had more than one week to do so, but did not. The Singapore police appears to be nonchalant about the case and dragging its feet about it - two weeks later, one victim had died, another still in ICU, the prime suspect had fled the country and they are still "investigating". It is not known if Singapore has any extradition treaty with Romania which is part of the European Union. Even if there is, it may not be possible to track Dr Silviu down easily in such a vast country like Romania. Besides he can easily make his way from Romania to neighboring countries like Russia and Bulgaria. Drink-driving is a serious offence in Singapore with many offenders being jailed in the past including Mediacorp artiste Christopher Lee and a Consultant Radiologist from KK Children and Women Hospital. If the driver were a Singapore, he would have been charged in court and jailed a long time ago. Due to intense public interest in this case, the Singapore police should explain the following to the public: 1. Why wasn't the passport of Dr Silviu impounded when he is the prime suspect? 2. Was a waival of diplomatic immunity put in officially to the Romanian government? 3. Why did they they so long to investigate the case? 4. What are their findings? 5. What are they going to do next to bring the culprit to justice? If Dr Silviu is able to get away with his atrocious crime which had already robbed the life of one innocent young man, what message is the Singapore police sending to the rest of Singapore? That there are two sets of laws in Singapore - one for locals and another one for diplomats? The Attorney-General Chambers should spend more time and energy on important cases like this instead of going after opposition members and activists over trivial matters. Five ordinary Singaporeans who happened to be supporters of the Singapore Democratic Party (SDP), were charged for "illegal procession" in 2006 when all they did is to walk from one point to another in public except that they wore T-shirts emblazoned with the words "Democracy Now!" A district judge had earlier acquitted the five of them, but the Attorney-General Chambers had since filed an appeal against the decision. The case will be heard again in January next year. Nobody knows how much precious public resources have been poured into this and other cases involving SDP members so far. While the Singapore police is still happily "investigating" the case, Dr Silviu Ionescu is probably sharing his "great Singapore escape" with his friends high up in some mountain chalet in Romania and having a good laugh about it. Related articles: 1. Singapore police has not ruled out Dr Silviu Ionescu as a suspect in its investigations 2. Romanian diplomat suspected to be driver of Audi in hit and run accident at Bukit Panjang  Read More →

Written by Our Correspondent Two weeks after a hit and run accident with the prime suspect already out of Singapore, the police would only say they had "not ruled out any suspect surfaced in the course of their investigations" and that "investigations were still under way with officers 'following up on all available leads'." On Christmas Day, one of the victims, 31-year-old Tong Kok Wai, died after he was taken off life support at the National University Hospital. He had suffered severe brain damage. In an earlier interview, Dr Ionescu said he and his driver came out of the embassy at about 3am on Dec 15 and discovered that the car was missing. They immediately made a police report. However the driver claimed that he was sleeping in his room and knew of the missing car only when Dr Ionescu called and told him about it. Two eye witnesses at the accident saw the driver of the black Audi and had described his features to the Singapore Police. Dr Ionescu remained in Singapore for a week before he left. His current whereabouts is unknown. Dr Ionescu is the highest-ranking Romanian Embassy official in Singapore. Diplomats of his status are generally granted legal immunity in their host countries under an international agreement known as the Vienna Convention on Diplomatic Relations. The convention's provisions became law here in 2005. Under the agreement, a diplomatic agent, who can be the head of a mission or a member of the diplomatic staff, is immune from the host country's criminal laws. An earlier letter by Mr Sudesh Maniar from the Ministry of Foreign Affairs to the Straits Times Forum had assured Singaporeans that “members of the Diplomatic and Consular Corps must respect the laws and regulations of Singapore, despite their diplomatic immunity under the Vienna Convention and that “this immunity is intended to protect them only in the discharge of their duties.” As expected, the Attorney-General's Chambers could not immediately respond when asked to confirm if a diplomat of Dr Ionescu's status is immune from prosecution until a waiver from the host country is secured. The case has attracted widespread public attention with many Singaporeans eager to know who the culprit is. With the Singapore police still conducting their "investigations", it will probably take quite a while before action is taken, if any at all.  Read More →