Some back ground on the undesirable perception of the courts.
In 1990 Yong Pung How was appointed CJ after 20 years in Banking and Finance. He began clearing the backlog where cases in High Court would take a few years to be heard. He did an exceptional job instituting a system that allowed cases to be heard early which falls squarely within the concept of providing Justice. However he did couple of things that should have led to intervention of some sort but nothing happenned.
The public perception (again it is perception) is that appeal process was equated to a gamble and eventually the odds were so high that lawyers refused to undertake appeal cases. His arguments in such cases clearly pointed to the temerity of the accused in trying to appeal and therefore he should be punished for it and not just for the crime. And no one intervened. The mechanism did not operate even thought it was built in.
He also began imposing strict sentencing guidelines. Shoplifting attracted a mandatory jail term of 1 day even for first timers. In the early days one could see the magistrates trying their best by giving conditional discharge but then it was business as usual. Drug, road rage, foreigners using forged documents also began to have mandatory jail terms within the guideline. My sense is that these were not meant to fit the crime and the circumstances behind the crime but to serve as a strong deterrent and thereby reducing the workload of the courts which is not a bad thing by itself. What many missed is that he had literally usurped the powers of the legislature. No one dare say anything. The Guards Began to Guard Themselves.
Then something happenned. And it first involved Yong Pung How himself. This was a case of PRC lady who entered Singapored on the strength of falsified educational certificates. In her appeal, the CJ gave a glowing tribute of this lady and her contribution to Singapore. She did not go to jail but paid a fine. He broke his own sentencing guideline and I am sure he will argue that it is only a guideline. The rumours that she had a pipeline as big as theose along the causeway and not just cables began to surface. And believe me she was connected.
Then we have the case of Dinesh Bhatia, the son of a retired Judicial Commissioner Amarjeet Singh and NMP Kanwaljit Soin. Actually the family is a decent family but when his jail term was shortened on appeal and against the practice and guideline, the celebrity issue began to form shape. Though it went before a very respectable and decent appeallate judge who is now known for reversing many of the excesses of the CJ is besides the point. It took a celebrity at considerable expense to recalibrate judgement was telling.
Then the flood gates opened. Treating foreigners and celebrities with a light touch for some reasons became perception. One could more or less guess what would happen to a Singaporean but not what would happen to a foreigner or a celebrity.
Then a famous celebrity came upon this country with the unsual and unforgettable name of Woffles who was not only a celebrity in his own right but a celebrity to celebrities. Believe me when I say most Singaporeans were shocked that he ended up with a $1000 fine. Disbelief became the order of the day when till today the actual driver is not known.
Instead of remaining in the hole when Alex Au wrote that piece, AGC assumed that if Alex folded over the claims by the incorrigible and obviously dishonest online moniker scroobal on the strength of 1 SC from a private firm and antoher SC from the cabinet wititing to him, this would be quite a short bus ride.
Well this bus ride has as its driver a chap from PRC and he does not know thw way. It going all around the island and they now realise they can't charge Alex even if they have the appropriate laws whether applied for right ot wrong reasons.
In 1990 Yong Pung How was appointed CJ after 20 years in Banking and Finance. He began clearing the backlog where cases in High Court would take a few years to be heard. He did an exceptional job instituting a system that allowed cases to be heard early which falls squarely within the concept of providing Justice. However he did couple of things that should have led to intervention of some sort but nothing happenned.
The public perception (again it is perception) is that appeal process was equated to a gamble and eventually the odds were so high that lawyers refused to undertake appeal cases. His arguments in such cases clearly pointed to the temerity of the accused in trying to appeal and therefore he should be punished for it and not just for the crime. And no one intervened. The mechanism did not operate even thought it was built in.
He also began imposing strict sentencing guidelines. Shoplifting attracted a mandatory jail term of 1 day even for first timers. In the early days one could see the magistrates trying their best by giving conditional discharge but then it was business as usual. Drug, road rage, foreigners using forged documents also began to have mandatory jail terms within the guideline. My sense is that these were not meant to fit the crime and the circumstances behind the crime but to serve as a strong deterrent and thereby reducing the workload of the courts which is not a bad thing by itself. What many missed is that he had literally usurped the powers of the legislature. No one dare say anything. The Guards Began to Guard Themselves.
Then something happenned. And it first involved Yong Pung How himself. This was a case of PRC lady who entered Singapored on the strength of falsified educational certificates. In her appeal, the CJ gave a glowing tribute of this lady and her contribution to Singapore. She did not go to jail but paid a fine. He broke his own sentencing guideline and I am sure he will argue that it is only a guideline. The rumours that she had a pipeline as big as theose along the causeway and not just cables began to surface. And believe me she was connected.
Then we have the case of Dinesh Bhatia, the son of a retired Judicial Commissioner Amarjeet Singh and NMP Kanwaljit Soin. Actually the family is a decent family but when his jail term was shortened on appeal and against the practice and guideline, the celebrity issue began to form shape. Though it went before a very respectable and decent appeallate judge who is now known for reversing many of the excesses of the CJ is besides the point. It took a celebrity at considerable expense to recalibrate judgement was telling.
Then the flood gates opened. Treating foreigners and celebrities with a light touch for some reasons became perception. One could more or less guess what would happen to a Singaporean but not what would happen to a foreigner or a celebrity.
Then a famous celebrity came upon this country with the unsual and unforgettable name of Woffles who was not only a celebrity in his own right but a celebrity to celebrities. Believe me when I say most Singaporeans were shocked that he ended up with a $1000 fine. Disbelief became the order of the day when till today the actual driver is not known.
Instead of remaining in the hole when Alex Au wrote that piece, AGC assumed that if Alex folded over the claims by the incorrigible and obviously dishonest online moniker scroobal on the strength of 1 SC from a private firm and antoher SC from the cabinet wititing to him, this would be quite a short bus ride.
Well this bus ride has as its driver a chap from PRC and he does not know thw way. It going all around the island and they now realise they can't charge Alex even if they have the appropriate laws whether applied for right ot wrong reasons.
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