TR EMERITUS

When Tharman Shanmugaratnam became the president of Singapore in September 2023, I told several young anti-death penalty activists that he may pardon some death row prisoners. They looked skeptical but did not voice any opinion. The young activists had all been working their guts out for death row prisoners and their families. But none of the cases they worked on succeeded in having their death sentences commuted to life through presidential clemencies. In the entire history of independent Singapore (since 1965), only six death row prisoners were granted clemencies. President Benjamin Sheares – 2 President Wee Kim Wee - 2 President Devan Nair – 1 President Ong Teng Cheong - 1. President Ong also granted the petition to release one prisoner who had earlier had her death sentence commuted to life imprisonment to be released from prison owing to severe illness. From 1999 till today, a period of 25 years, no death row prisoner had been granted clemency. This dark history started with President S R Nathan who served two terms from 1999 to 2011. After Nathan, Presidents Tony Tan and Halimah Yacob did not grant a single clemency. For my young friends, there was therefore no good reason to be hopeful. So why was I so hopeful and activists completely skeptical? It is no secret that Tharman has a social conscience. He once said that there was "no greater purpose in life than serving your own country", adding that "we all have to feel responsible for Singapore". In 1987, the Internal Security Department had apparently suspected him to be involved in the activities of the 22 people who were accused of being Marxist conspirators intent on overthrowing the PAP government. The allegations were of course, completely false. While the 22 people were arrested and imprisoned without trial under the Internal Security Act, Tharman was not arrested. Instead, he was subjected to intensive interrogation by officers of the Internal Security Department for several days. In the end, he was let off. He did not lose his job with the Monetary Authority of Singapore. He continued to rise in his political career from ordinary member of parliament to Minister of Finance, Deputy Prime Minister and finally Senior Minister. When he was proposed to stand for election as president of Singapore in 2023, he vowed to be his “own man”. He told his audience at the Pasir Panjang Townhall meeting on 25 August 2023: "Everyone in government, in the civil service and frankly everyone outside government knows that I'm my own man. I'm independent-minded, I've always sought to find a consensus with my colleagues on the direction of change and the policy changes required." President Tharman is a man with vast experience, not only of the government but also of the people on the ground. He was highly popular in his constituency when he was a member of parliament. His poll score at one general election was higher than that of PM Lee Hsien Loong. President Tharman has full knowledge of how the cabinet works. He praised the workings of the cabinet in that townhall meeting and talked about his role in cabinet proclaiming: "I'm not known as someone who just toes the line, or is a yes-man ...” So what happened to his claim of independence and ability to persuade his colleagues to agree with his views and take Singapore forward with regard to the death penalty? Did he ever raise the subject when he was a cabinet minister? The death penalty concerns every one of us in Singapore and the world. The majority of countries in the world have abolished the death penalty. Why is Singapore retaining the death penalty and actively executing people. Why is Singapore such a strong advocate of the death penalty joining the ranks of China and Saudi Arabia? Does hanging drug mules eradicate the drug problem? Tharman became president in September 2023. Under his presidency, he has already ordered the execution of at least nine death row prisoners who all belong to the ethnic minority group. Singapore’s population is made up of: Chinese 75.9%, Malays 15.4%, Indians 7.4%, and residents of other descent make up 1.6%. I don’t claim to be knowledgeable about the composition of our prison population but I suspect that the majority are made up of the minority ethnic group. I wonder if Tharman as minister and deputy prime minister had ever raised the subject in cabinet. I am aware that the president acts on the advice of the cabinet. But am I to believe that the president has absolutely no role in the decision? Could the president speak to the prime minister who works next door to his residence about clemency petitions? Could he raise the subject of clemencies when he meets ministers at his residence? Could he use his skill and influence as a former cabinet minister to persuade the main decision makers to grant clemencies? I am sure the past presidents who granted seven clemencies exercised their influence over some cabinet ministers. If President Tharman had done nothing with regard to the death penalty while in office as minister, I am deeply disappointed. Now as president he has rejected nine clemency petitions in the short duration of 16 months of his presidency. Last Friday, Masoud Rahimi, aged 34, was executed at dawn after being on death row for 14 years. He was arrested for a drug trafficking offence at the age of 20, shortly after he completed his national service. Apparently, he denied that he was involved in trafficking but the courts disbelieved him. The burden of proof on the accused is extremely heavy. I am told that he filed a last minute application to stay his execution claiming that he had finally found a witness who he was looking for since he was arrested. That witness was, unknown to him, already in prison. He also has a pending constitutional case scheduled for hearing in 2025. The court rejected his plea for stay of execution. The president too rejected his clemency petition, making him the 9th person to be executed under the hand of the President Tharman. I understand that there are about 50 death row prisoners today. Will President Tharman execute all of them in the remaining four years of his presidency or will he try to influence the ministers to grant clemencies?   Teo Soh Lung    Read More →

Standing on a stage to speak to hundreds and thousands of people can be quite intimidating to most people, at least for first timers. This is very different from giving briefing to a small group of people. But such fear could be overcome by consistent practice and training with proper guidance and coaching. However, for me, I didn't have such luxury and good fortune to have any mentor to teach me public speaking or delivering rally speeches. My first "rally speech" was made in 1985, when I was first contesting for Student Councilor in front of the grand assembly of my fellow peers. Well, I have a written script but when it was my turn to step up to stage to give my speech, I decided to put that piece of paper away because my hand was shivering and that piece of paper with my script would make it too obvious! Nevertheless, I must have performed well as I was elected as the Vice Chairman. Although I became the Chairman after the original Chairman was forced to step down due to some reasons, but I wasn't really having a good time with the disciplinary masters. By then I realized I am a rebel at heart even though my look might be deceiving as someone who will "follow orders"! I resigned just shortly after. It was because of this bad experience I had in my secondary school that I decided to refrain from participating in Student Council during my JC days as well as NUSSU. But my father had planted in me the seed of paying more attention to current affairs from daily reading of newspapers and I could say that I have more current affairs knowledge than most of my peers while they knew more about fashions and pop culture than I do. I have watched almost all the important speeches LKY had made during the 80s and 90s, marveled at his skill of delivery even though I didn't agree with many things he had said. I had initially selected double Maths, Double science with computer science as my core subjects in JC. Although I have great strength in Maths but I lack the interests in it. I made a bold switch of subjects after 3 months in HCJC, dropping Further Maths and took up a totally new subject Economics. It was the best decision I have made in my life although I suffered bad results for the first 6 months. My initial substandard results didn't deter nor demoralize me at all but instead, I got more interested and intrigued by the economic theories. I have even spent unnecessary time in library reading up "out of syllables" topics on economics. Economics coupled with my indulgence in current affairs had given me a great foundation in understanding politics. My subsequent study in Philosophy during NUS 1st year has further nurtured me in Logic 101 as well as Philosophical perspectives on social ethics and morality. No one could become a politician overnight. It has to go through a long process of nurturing not only with certain essential knowledge but also the important skill sets. At this stage of my life, I am trying my best to provide the necessary knowledge and training of skill sets to the next generations of potential political candidates which most politicians would not share. Critiques of various policies are easy to make but to understand in-depth of the rationale, especially economic rationale of policy stance will need a lot more efforts. To read a scripted speech on rally stage isn't difficult but to DELIVER a speech effectively will need training and coaching, apart from past experiences. Some people are natural speakers and some are not, just like me. But with consistent efforts in learning, practice and coaching, I believe most people could eventually give a decent speech on a rally stage. Of course there are still things which cannot be taught but can only be self enlightened. But at the very least, I would have done whatever I can in my capacity to contribute to the process of nurturing Democracy.   Goh Meng Seng    Read More →

I refer to the CNA’s Commentary: “Don't get distracted by Trump's outlandish Cabinet picks” (Nov 25), and “'No one will win a trade war’, China says after Trump tariff threat” (Nov 26). As everyone knows, U.S. President-elect Donald Trump will return to power on January 20, 2025. Trump has dismissed quite a number of his former cabinet members and many top political appointees during his first term of 45th presidency. For examples, Secretary of State, Rex Wayne Tillerson resigned under pressure during the second year of Trump’s administration(13 Mar 2018), and Secretary of Defense, Jim Mattis resigned for protest also during the second year of Trump’s administration. This fully shows that Trump is a president who is not easy to get along with. He has a weird, strange and unpredictable personality, with an elusive mind, and "doesn’t play his cards according to the usual rules". On the other hand, Trump is indeed a shrewd, very calculating, and out-and-out businessman. All the decisions he makes are based on the premise of profit. He gave all his political opponents and many American voters the impression of never admitting defeat and never giving up. In Trump’s second administration, he is prioritizing his loyalists for top jobs. Most of the cabinet members Trump 2.0 wants to appoint are from controversial backgrounds and have a distinctly hawkish stance. For examples, Trump named Florida Senator Marco Rubio, to be Secretary of State. He is a noted hawk on China, Cuba and Iran. Trump also named pro-tariff billionaire Scott Bessent for Treasury Secretary, Former Hawaii Rep. Tulsi Gabbard has been recruited by Trump to be director of national intelligence, Pete Hegseth has been tapped to be the Defense Secretary (he lacks senior military and national security experience), Pam Bondi has been named by Trump to be Attorney General, Trump also appoints Elise Stefanik to be the Ambassador to the United Nations (one of Trump's staunchest defenders during his first impeachment), Matthew Whitaker is named as Ambassador to NATO (Whitaker faced questions about his past business dealings, including his ties to an invention-promotion company that was accused of misleading consumers). Looking at Trump's appointment alone, it is clear that he wants to carry out and accomplish the following tasks and deliver his presidential campaign promises in his second term presidency: - A. On domestic issues a) Trump will attack the mounting U.S. national debt and slash government programs and other spending. b) Trump will adopt fiscal policy to facilitate the implementation of tightened and eased monetary policy so that to curb inflation, while also reducing financial stability risks issues (as according to Trading Economics.com annual inflation rate in the United States accelerated to 2.6% in October 2024, up from 2.4% in September)。 c) Trump has vowed to dismantle the liberal "deep state" and his political opponents and personal vendettas. For example, getting rid of “woke” generals/military personnel. d) On Nov 18, U.S. time, U.S. President-elect Trump confirmed on social media platforms that he would mobilize U.S. troops to expel illegal immigrants from the United States by declaring a national emergency. e) Trump wants to remove unnecessary regulatory measures and allow the U.S. economy to regain its vitality. f) Trump emphasizes the need for deregulation of the high-tech sector. For example, Trump argues that Biden's Executive Order on the Safe and Secure Development and Use of Artificial Intelligence impedes the development of AI in the United States and it should be repealed. g) Trump suggests that regulation of the crypto industry should be deregulated. h) Trump is likely to use tax cuts to motivate people to create value. i) Trump believes that the United States is rich in natural resources, so it should try to extract and use oil and gas to the fullest. j) Trump believes that the current infrastructure in the United States is seriously aging and difficult to adapt to the needs of development, so he recommends large-scale infrastructure activities to modernize American cities and infrastructure. B. On foreign strategists and policies a) Trump insists to Implement trade protectionist policies and impose high tariffs on imported goods. For example, Trump pledges 25% tariffs on the United States’ three largest trading partners - Canada, Mexico and China. b) On June 1, 2017, U.S. President Donald Trump announced that the United States would withdraw from the Paris Agreement. The move made the United States one of three countries opposing global efforts to combat climate change, drawing strong condemnation from the international community. Would Trump do it again in his second term of presidency? c) Trump's strategic competition with China, especially in the fields of human rights, security, economy, science and technology, as well as Taiwan issues are deserved great attention. d) It will be interesting to see how Trump will effectively handle the peace talks of the Russia-Ukraine war and reach a ceasefire agreement to end this brutal three-year war. e) How Trump responds to and handles the Israeli-Hamas and Israeli-Lebanese wars and ensures that the crisis of the Middle East conflict does not expand will be a great test of his wisdom. for) Will Trump continue his "America First" policy of the past, focusing on nationalist foreign policy objectives while imposing political and economic pressure on most international adversaries, while strengthening ties with traditional allies? This is something we need to keep an eye on! Trump's business model of closed trade and high tariffs will ultimately harm the interests of American consumers. The price of imported products from the global market will soar, which will undoubtedly affect the income of the middle and lower class people in the United States and further push up inflation. All in all, this is an unwise plan to harm others and not to benefit oneself, and in the end it will hurt both sides. Therefore, Trump should consider how to cooperate with other countries in various fields to seek development and live in peace to create a win-win situation, rather than blindly adopting confrontation and containing the development of other countries.   Teo Kueh Liang (Mr)    Read More →