Does he deserve to be charged?

Kidney patients will die from dialysis complications after a while. Should they be punished in this manner just for trying their best to stay alive? What sort of govt is this?

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<!-- Author --> <table border="0" cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" width="100%"><tbody><tr><td colspan="2" class="verdana10 padlrt8 verdana10 grey" id="stybc">Home > Latest News > Courts & Crime</td></tr> <tr> <td class="padlrt8 blue verdana10" valign="center">July 10, 2008

</td> <td class="padlrt8 blue verdana10" align="right" valign="center"> </td> </tr> <tr> <td colspan="2" class="padlrt8"> <!-- headline one : start --> Kidney-for-sale: CK Tang chairman charged with 3 counts

<!-- headline one : end --> </td> </tr> <tr><td colspan="2" class="padlrt8 georgia11 darkgrey bold">By Salma Khalik

</td></tr> <tr> <td colspan="2" class="georgia11 padcell8"> <!-- more than 7 paragraphs --> <!-- show image if available --> <table valign="top" class="padl8" align="right" border="0" width="154"> <tbody><tr><td>

Tang faces three counts - two under the Human Organ Transplant Act which bans the sale of human organs, and another for making a false declaration. -- FILE PHOTO: LIM WUI LIANG (ST)

</td></tr> </tbody></table> <!-- story content : start --> CK Tang's chairman Tang Wee Sung, 55, was charged in court on Thursday afternoon with trying to buy a kidney from a living donor, for which he was willing to pay $300,000 to a middleman to procure it.

Tang faces three counts - two under the Human Organ Transplant Act which bans the sale of human organs, and another for making a false declaration.

He is said to have arranged with Wang Chin Sing, Whang Sung Lin and other persons to get a kidney from a living donor, Indonesian Sulaiman Damanik, 26, between April and June 19.
The charge states that he agreed to pay $300,000 to Wang for 'the supply' of the kidney from Mr Sulaiman in June.

The second charge accuses him of lying to the Commissioner for Oaths that he did not pay any money to procure the organ and that he was related to Mr Sulaiman.

<!-- show media links starting at 7th para --> On the third charge, he is said to have also lied in his application to the transplant ethics committee.
Sung, in blue shirt, dark tie and pants, was to have been charged on Thursday morning at the same time as Wang, 43, but he did not show up because he had to go to Gleneagles Hospital.
He turned up in court 20 minutes earlier in the afternoon to face the charges, accompanied by his nurse, and a number of family members and friends, looking calm.

The court granted him bail of $15,000 and fixed a pre-trial conference on July 21.
Earlier on Thursday morning, Wang, said to be the middleman in the kidney-for-sale arrangement, was charged with 10 counts for his involvement in procuring kidneys for recipients - Tang and Juliana Soh - from two living donors.

Sulaiman, 26, was to have received about 150 million rupiah (about S$23,700) for supplying his organ to Tang. He was dealt with last week together with another Indonesian and was released last Saturday after serving his three-week jail term.

He was arrested on June 19 after the ethics committee had given the approval for the transplant but the authorities stepped in before the transplant could go ahead.

Read also:

Middleman to be paid $300,000 to get kidney for CK Tang boss
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Organ Sales - Should be legal?

Dear bros,
Just want to see how many of you guys feel about legalising kidney sales in Singapore. Boss of CK Tang was arrested for buying the kidney from an indo guy desperate to sell to feed his family.
Basically, my personal opinion is if there is a willing seller and buyer, why stop them as long as the organs are not obtained through illegal means.
Basically a patient has to suffer a min of 6 years before they can even have a chance of a donor. If they have the dough to buy it, why make them suffer? Yes, you may say what about the poor? Well, too bad, you just have to join the normal queue. That's how the world works.
If you look at another angle, you are also helping the sellers who may be jobless and in debt. They are desperate for money that they might even venture in crimes. If organ selling is legal, they may want to make the sacrifice to ensure their family are fed. Eg. in the CK Tang's case, he was willing to pay 300K, the bloody broker only offered 20K+ to the seller, which could translate to 16 years of salary for the seller!
Well, I seriously hope the government will study the issue before making hasty decisions. It should not involve theft or criminal means to steal organs but if it is a legitimate transaction with both parties willing, they should allow it to alleviate the sufferings for the buyer and provide another avenue for the seller to obtain a way out instead of suicidal or criminal acts.
Just my 2 cents and I would love to hear the other opinions. Please do not flame me cos' it's only a personal opinion and not a statement.
Thanks.

if tang had been willing to take a chance, perhaps perform the operation in another country (he does, after all, have the means to do so). it's a tough thing to govern, and this fella is being made into an example, maybe cos he's rich

He deserved to be throw with every charges.

Bohtong said:

He deserved to be throw with every charges.

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Why do you say that? Because he is rich?

What if he is a poor man? Will you feel the same way?

waahaa said:

if tang had been willing to take a chance, perhaps perform the operation in another country (he does, after all, have the means to do so). it's a tough thing to govern, and this fella is being made into an example, maybe cos he's rich

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I feel that Singapore is a very cruel country. The govt is cruel towards the people and end up the people of singapore become cruel to each other.

That's why I hate Singapore so much. There is no joy in the face of any Singaporean except those govt ministers and their friends.

Maybe he was punished becoz din pay garment GST for the kidney...

Microsoft said:

Maybe he was punished becoz din pay garment GST for the kidney...

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*laugh* Not only GST, the Seller didn't have to pay Income tax for earning the revenue.

skydancer said:

*laugh* Not only GST, the Seller didn't have to pay Income tax for earning the revenue.

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Yah... and jus when our garment working out a COE (Cert of Organ Entity) law... How dare anyone sell organ b4 this rule pass thru pariament... :p

well laws are laws, if you break them, you pay the price.

"No man is above the law and no man is below it; nor do we ask any man's permission when we ask him to obey it.” Roosevelt

Of course every person deserve to have a chance to live. And the kidney patient can do this by obtaining a healthy kidney from a donor legally.

The above may not be the quickest way to solve the problem. But if the government passes a law allowing the sale of human organs, many triad members from neighbouring countries will start to kidnap people and cut out their organs and sell them to the black market for huge profits (while leaving the poor abductees bleeding on the streets at their own fate).

Nobody wants to see that happen.

E93M3 said:

Of course every person deserve to have a chance to live. And the kidney patient can do this by obtaining a healthy kidney from a donor legally.

The above may not be the quickest way to solve the problem. But if the government passes a law allowing the sale of human organs, many triad members from neighbouring countries will start to kidnap people and cut out their organs and sell them to the black market for huge profits (while leaving the poor abductees bleeding on the streets at their own fate).

Nobody wants to see that happen.

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quite true.. it's pretty difficult to get the right balance.. on 1 hand if the 2 are willing parties.. & also the risk of ppl taking advantage of it..

there will be many loop-holes to cover to ensure ppl are not exploited.. not an easy task.. :(

hi,

Singapore is a practical country organ donations is now mandatory unless u opt out buying of organs is illegal n who breaks the law must pay . i believe that one day with the genome project singapore will be able to clone whatever body parts u need. thanks for reading

prob when someone from the govt gets hit by the same kind of ailment then they will start to amend the law......

kwh79 said:

prob when someone from the govt gets hit by the same kind of ailment then they will start to amend the law......

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alamak, this is kind of a overstatement la.

Singapore has always been respected (by other countries govt and even citizens) for the strict laws. It doesnt matter if you love it or hate it. These are one of those things that make Singapore today. Theres no perfect system in the world , its a give and take. Eg if you love to own a gun , you cant do that in Singapore. But in return, you will be relieve to learn that chances school mass gun killing in school is almost zero here.

On the other hand, if you love to have the freedom of owning a gun(legally), then US is your choice but you must accept the fact that your children is always life threatening risky (education) environment.

Like I said , theres no perfect system in the world. Everything is a give and take and the grass is always greener on the other side :P

what happen if LKy or LHL want to buy a kidney.will they pass a law for that

what kind of a gahment is this u asked?

the kind where they banned her citizens from trying to stay alive by buying organs, and yet if u die, it is ok for them to harvest your organs.

Microsoft said:

Maybe he was punished becoz din pay garment GST for the kidney...

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lolx,nice one

This one another incident to show that singapore is a very clean country.

E93M3 said:

Of course every person deserve to have a chance to live. And the kidney patient can do this by obtaining a healthy kidney from a donor legally.

The above may not be the quickest way to solve the problem. But if the government passes a law allowing the sale of human organs, many triad members from neighbouring countries will start to kidnap people and cut out their organs and sell them to the black market for huge profits (while leaving the poor abductees bleeding on the streets at their own fate).

Nobody wants to see that happen.

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Actually it is a nightmare to legalise the sale of organs. Worst still once legalised it could cause prices to fall as the flood gate would be open!