AG Walter Woon: People opposed to the Government expect special indulgence, but they too have no licence to break the law
Written by Ng E-Jay
12 December 2008
Attorney-General Walter Woon, in addressing criticisms raised recently over legal cases involving wealthy individuals, has taken the opportunity to lash out at people who are critical of the Government as well as Opposition parties and their supporters.
Addressing about 270 members at the inaugural Association of Criminal Lawyers of Singapore (ACLS) lecture on Thursday, Professor Woon said the prosecution does not consider whether a suspect is “rich or politically well-connected” before pressing charges. (ST Online, “One system of justice for all”, 12 Dec)
Interest in the topic had been stoked after the Association’s president Subhas Anandan raised the issue in its newsletter of certain well-off or white-collar accused persons being allowed to pay compound fines for their offences. (Channel News Asia, “AG Woon says there’s only one law for both the rich and poor”, 12 Dec)
But AG Walter Woon did not stop there. He went on to assert that the same standards apply to offenders who are aligned with opposition parties.
“People opposed to the Government expect special indulgence, but they too have no licence to break the law,” he said.
In mentioning that prosecutions cannot be conducted on the basis that some people are above the law, nor on the basis that the rich and well-connected can get away with it, Walter Woon also said, “This is dangerous; this undermines the whole rule of law –- that some people think because of their political convictions, they cannot be touched. That is a very, very slippery slope. Not the game that we will play here.”
In a discussion about whether our current legal system affords the rich and well-connected special privileges such as the chance to compound offences where others might not be allowed to, it is shocking, but not really surprising, that AG Walter Woon has chosen to drag Opposition parties and their supporters into the m&d as well.
AG Walter Woon has been known to make unprovoked and unfair statements about human rights activists and Opposition supporters, even going so far as to call the former “fanatics”. His latest accusation that people who oppose the Government think they should be above the law, or that they expect special indulgence, is but the latest icing on the cake.
Without having to read too much into Walter Woon’s statements, one can readily tell that he must be referring to civil disobedience activists as well as supporters and members of the Singapore Democratic Party who are currently paying the price for exercising their Constitutional Rights to freedom of assembly.
These activists believe that in a political climate where the ruling party has complete domination of Parliament and claims a monopoly on our political space through the mainstream media, the best way of demonstrating that a law is unjust is to break it and provoke an over-reaction from the authorities.
However, these activists have never felt they are above the law, or that they should be given preferential treatment in Court. Instead, they do what they do precisely because they have the greatest respect for the law, which must be subordinate to our Constitution since the Constitution is the highest law of the land.
Whether or not one agrees with the methods these activists are employing is a separate issue. The issue now is that AG Walter Woon’s accusation that these activists think that they are above the law or should not be prosecuted due to their political convictions is a flagrant misrepresentation of the facts. None of these activists have ever made any statement or conducted themselves in a way that even remotely suggests that they are of this persuasion.
Civil disobedience activists believe that the law should be applied fairly to all, and that selective application of the law should not be used to intimidate critics of the Government or suppress political dissent. But nowhere have they ever come close to asserting that Opposition should be above the law. Such a belief is wholly inconsistent with what they are trying to achieve for Singapore, which is a fairer and more just set of laws for all Singaporeans that gives full accord to their Constitutional Rights of freedom of speech, association and assembly.
Written by Ng E-Jay
12 December 2008
Attorney-General Walter Woon, in addressing criticisms raised recently over legal cases involving wealthy individuals, has taken the opportunity to lash out at people who are critical of the Government as well as Opposition parties and their supporters.
Addressing about 270 members at the inaugural Association of Criminal Lawyers of Singapore (ACLS) lecture on Thursday, Professor Woon said the prosecution does not consider whether a suspect is “rich or politically well-connected” before pressing charges. (ST Online, “One system of justice for all”, 12 Dec)
Interest in the topic had been stoked after the Association’s president Subhas Anandan raised the issue in its newsletter of certain well-off or white-collar accused persons being allowed to pay compound fines for their offences. (Channel News Asia, “AG Woon says there’s only one law for both the rich and poor”, 12 Dec)
But AG Walter Woon did not stop there. He went on to assert that the same standards apply to offenders who are aligned with opposition parties.
“People opposed to the Government expect special indulgence, but they too have no licence to break the law,” he said.
In mentioning that prosecutions cannot be conducted on the basis that some people are above the law, nor on the basis that the rich and well-connected can get away with it, Walter Woon also said, “This is dangerous; this undermines the whole rule of law –- that some people think because of their political convictions, they cannot be touched. That is a very, very slippery slope. Not the game that we will play here.”
In a discussion about whether our current legal system affords the rich and well-connected special privileges such as the chance to compound offences where others might not be allowed to, it is shocking, but not really surprising, that AG Walter Woon has chosen to drag Opposition parties and their supporters into the m&d as well.
AG Walter Woon has been known to make unprovoked and unfair statements about human rights activists and Opposition supporters, even going so far as to call the former “fanatics”. His latest accusation that people who oppose the Government think they should be above the law, or that they expect special indulgence, is but the latest icing on the cake.
Without having to read too much into Walter Woon’s statements, one can readily tell that he must be referring to civil disobedience activists as well as supporters and members of the Singapore Democratic Party who are currently paying the price for exercising their Constitutional Rights to freedom of assembly.
These activists believe that in a political climate where the ruling party has complete domination of Parliament and claims a monopoly on our political space through the mainstream media, the best way of demonstrating that a law is unjust is to break it and provoke an over-reaction from the authorities.
However, these activists have never felt they are above the law, or that they should be given preferential treatment in Court. Instead, they do what they do precisely because they have the greatest respect for the law, which must be subordinate to our Constitution since the Constitution is the highest law of the land.
Whether or not one agrees with the methods these activists are employing is a separate issue. The issue now is that AG Walter Woon’s accusation that these activists think that they are above the law or should not be prosecuted due to their political convictions is a flagrant misrepresentation of the facts. None of these activists have ever made any statement or conducted themselves in a way that even remotely suggests that they are of this persuasion.
Civil disobedience activists believe that the law should be applied fairly to all, and that selective application of the law should not be used to intimidate critics of the Government or suppress political dissent. But nowhere have they ever come close to asserting that Opposition should be above the law. Such a belief is wholly inconsistent with what they are trying to achieve for Singapore, which is a fairer and more just set of laws for all Singaporeans that gives full accord to their Constitutional Rights of freedom of speech, association and assembly.
