TR EMERITUS

Alas, Pritam should have let dead dogs lie. I am surprised that he is making a bid to have his case heard in the high court. His reason? His case is similar to Iswaran’s. After hearing his lawyer’s submission yesterday, Judge Hoo will give her decision on Sept 9. I would think this is a relatively straightforward case. Did he lie to COP or not? Did he tell her to bring her lie to the grave or come clean with parliament? I feel that one can distinguish his from Iswaran’s case. I will leave you to discern the differences as contended by Deputy AG Ang Cheng Hock. As the leader of the opposition, people look up to him for substance, and not effect, especially during such time. There is no doubt he has dedicated his life to make Singapore a better, fairer and wiser place. He is our alternative voice, and the political history of this little red dot will remember him and his team, especially his mentor Low Thia Khiang, for what they have done. We are imperfect being, perennially flawed. But the issue is not about admitting that. We say it to spruce up our image of being humble. The issue comes with a twist of that, and it is about how LESS imperfect we are as compared to others, especially when the target of our comparison are people we are running up against, like in a race, election or school exams. In other words, it’s about degree and comparison. There is a contest to that, a contest of self-conceit, hiding behind the hemline of humbleness. But isn’t that the real test of character, politican or otherwise? In that furnace of character building, do you just call a spade a spade or use it to dig ourselves even deeper? Whether Pritam has lied or not, let the courts decide. Most of us may have made up our mind, including me, but I don’t think it is necessary to air it on a higher plane. I really feel that a case like this can be resolved, as discreetly as possible, in the lower courts. Why fan the electoral flame when the fire can be better used elsewhere for deeper, more lasting, impact? Pritam affirmed in his affidavit that his case would “benefit from the stature of a High Court judge”. It reports that “according to him, High Court judges, who have security of tenure, are best placed to hear his case without being swayed by the political atmospherics that surround his matter.” I think he is overestating his matter. His case will be heard before a reasonably competent judge in the state courts. Whether high court judge has the security of tenure, that is not the reason for their impartiality. One would benefit from their experience, but this is not a case that is too complicated for judges in the state courts. We are not living in a dictator state, although some here may think I am naive. Well, at times, it’s better to be naive than over-paranoid. And the trial has been booked for a 16-day trial to suss out whether he had lied. Pritam has thus a wide berth to fully ventilate his evidence. Every accused has the right to be heard, so that justice is not only done, but seen to be done. But truth be told, perception is, at times, more important than the outcome; the shadow looms larger than the light. That is why the outcome is, at times, not always seen as fair, even if it is so. Tbh, that should be the end of it. If he wants to appeal, go ahead. It would be heard in the high court, and that’s a second bite of the judiciary’s cherry. After that, let’s move on - close one curveball chapter in his glowing political journey, and move on to the next much more fruitful chapter. Nobody is perfect. He at least did admit that he should have be more expeditious with disclosing Raeesah’s lie to parliament, but he explained he was being sensitive to her past experiences of being a victim herself. After all said, let me end with the farewell message of former WP members Loh Pei Ying and Yudhishthura Nathan. "We've both been with the party for nine years or more, and have been cadres since 2016. In these years, we've loved the party dearly, and contributed actively in many teams and departments, both grassroots and strategic. "We hold our memories of our time in the Workers' Party with fondness. We've made lifelong friends in each other, and with others along the way. "There are many good people in the rank and file of the Workers' Party who've dedicated their lives towards building a better Singapore. We hope they remember to keep the welfare of Singaporeans at the centre of all that they do." They have a point. That has always been WP’s focus. A focus for the betterment of Singapore. It is a good reminder for times like this.   Micheal Han  Read More →

Lawrence Wong talked about "reset" but up till now, I am still not quite sure what is installed in his "reset". Over the decades, PAP has been meddling with quite a number of key policies and intertwined them in a very complex way that deviated from their original good intents. Sometimes the spin off impacts from these policy meddling are enormous so much so that they added more problems to the whole balancing act. I always say PAP has lost its way and moral compass because they are too obsessed with solving current problems by kicking down other less obvious problems down the road. CPF and HDB are the two main pillars of PAP's long standing political capital. Ironically, both of them are not originated from PAP itself but an inherited good policy framework from others, namely British Colonial administration and David Marshall. The enactment of the Land Acquisition Act has enhanced the success of HDB. However when PAP sets to intertwine CPF with HDB policies, that's where the troubles begin. Some people may think it's a great idea to use CPF to buy HDB but it will ultimately compromise on retirement financing. If there is anything needs to be reset urgently, it's the interwined CPF HDB policies. I shall start to talk about this complex issues (again, since GE2011) for the coming weeks and months. Lawrence Wong will have to equip himself with iron will and great courage to reset and unwind these messed up policies of his predecessors. Else, I will only see him as putting up lips service.   Goh Meng Seng    Read More →

In one of the biggest air attacks launched by Russia, hundreds of missiles and drones were launched targeting Kyiv and other regions in Ukraine for the second consecutive day. The Russian aerial attack killed at least seven people while dozens were wounded in Russia’s overnight strikes.    Read More →