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Tag: K Shanmugam

  • K Shanmugam To Lodge Police Report Against Sangeetha Thanapal For “Inaccurate And Seditious” Facebook Post

    K Shanmugam To Lodge Police Report Against Sangeetha Thanapal For “Inaccurate And Seditious” Facebook Post

    Law and Foreign Affairs Minister K Shanmugam says he intends to lodge a police report against independent scholar Sangeetha Thanapal on Friday for a Facebook post he called “inaccurate and seditious”.

    He said her post – which has since been taken down – had misrepresented remarks he made at a Singapore Press Club talk on Thursday on how regional trends can affect Singapore.

    “What Ms Thanapal wrote is inaccurate and seditious, and attributes to me sentiments that I do not hold and have never held,” he said in a Facebook post last night.

    “I intend to file a police report about this tomorrow.”

    He added: “She unfortunately twisted what I had said and suggested that I was an ‘Islamophobic bigot who thinks Malay-Muslims are a threat’. I had not said anything like that.”

    Ms Thanapal, 33, took her post down less than an hour after Mr Shanmugam’s post was put up at around 8pm. She also said she was seeking legal advice.

    Mr Shanmugam, responding on her Facebook at about 11.15pm, said he held “no personal animosity” towards her, and said he would be happy to speak to her.

    Shortly afterwards, she responded saying: “I am very sorry for all that has happened. The post took on a life of its own, and came out differently from how I intended. Thank you so much for agreeing to speak with me. I will make myself available anytime you wish to do so.”

    Mr Shanmugam then asked for a telephone number and said he would contact her today. As at midnight, there was no indication in the exhanges about whether he would still file a police report.

    When Mr Shanmugam first posted about Ms Thanapal’s remarks, he said the point he actually made at the event was that the Malaysian education system was not good for integration.

    “The Chinese leadership in various local areas in Malaysia want to maintain control over the Chinese population. It suits them to have Chinese students go to Chinese schools instead of mainstream Malaysian schools. And the schools are more Chinese (because they are effectively single race),” he wrote.

    “At the same time, many mainstream schools in Malaysia are becoming more Malay (because the students are largely Malay) and Islamic (e.g. through the way some principals and teachers handle matters) which discourages the Chinese from going into those schools. So you end up with having more Malays going to mainstream schools, and more Chinese going to Chinese schools. As a result, the different races are kept apart from a young age.”

    Ms Thanapal’s Facebook post appeared to take issue with Mr Shanmugam saying that mainstream schools in Malaysia were “becoming more Malay and Islamic”.

    She wrote: “The only reason you would consider this important enough to make statements about, is if you are an Islamaphobic bigot who thinks Malay-Muslims are a threat.”

     

    Source: www.straitstimes.com

  • K Shanmugam: Difficult To Replace Lui Tuck Yew

    K Shanmugam: Difficult To Replace Lui Tuck Yew

    Minister Lui Tuck Yew has announced that he won’t continue. Several people spoke with him, including myself, to try and get him to change his mind.

    But his mind was made up.

    People like Tuck Yew don’t come along every day. Person of complete integrity and honesty – and spent his life serving the country. By the time he became a Minister, he was hugely experienced. And he brought that experience to his portfolio. Was subjected to daily incessant attacks but carried on doing his duty, calmly, and with equanimity. Could not have been easy for him and his family to be subjected to such incessant and frequently unfair attacks. Many in his position will naturally ask why should they subject themselves to this.

    He had an excellent engineering mind and understood the issues in transport. Oversaw the announcements of so many major initiatives, including the building of expressways, new MRT lines, bus service expansions etc. And you knew that with Tuck Yew in charge, the billions the Ministry were spending would be disbursed honestly .He could have served in any Ministry with distinction. Was in Foreign Affairs with me. And was a great colleague.

    Another good man gone. Another loss to the system.

    Finding people to fill positions is not difficult. But finding good men like Tuck Yew is always more challenging.

     

    Source: K Shanmugam Sc

  • 30 Years In Chong Pang – K Shanmugam

    30 Years In Chong Pang – K Shanmugam

    After nearly 30 years, tales of woe, triumph, joy and loss have formed a mental library of memories. Some of them remain vivid.

    In one of his first few Meet-the-People Sessions as a Member of Parliament for Sembawang GRC, a resident wanted Mr K. Shanmugam to build helipads on top of HDB blocks for medical evacuation, the Minister recalled with a laugh.

    Since he was elected in the 1988 General Election, Mr Shanmugam has been serving the Chong Pang ward and attending weekly Meet-the-People Sessions.

    The area, which consists of about 40,000 residents, is now part of the five-member Nee Soon GRC which Mr Shanmugam leads. The other MPs in Nee Soon are Dr Lee Bee Wah, Dr Lim Wee Kiak, Associate Professor Muhammad Faishal Ibrahim and Mr Patrick Tay.

    Of the resident who requested helipads, he said: “(The man went to the session) simply to give trouble to an MP. He wasn’t mentally unsound. He was all together. He knew what he was doing. But he just wanted to make unreasonable demands.”

    There is a small number of people who are like that, Mr Shanmugam added, whose unreasonable demands stop him from attending to the more genuine cases.

    Mr Shanmugam tried to reason with the man but “he wasn’t listening, he wasn’t interested in my answer”.

    Despite that rocky start, most of his memories in the area are happy ones.

    Asked about his fondest memories from being an MP, he smiled and said: “That’s a very difficult question.”

    “(There are) so many different moments. In the end, it’s people reaching out to you, forming the networks, forming the community support groups and helping people,” he said.

    “There are countless stories of people helping each other, people helping me and me helping people.”

    Calling Chong Pang an area where there is a strong “kampung spirit”, he said the residents do not go to him just to get help but also to help one another.

    The minister cited a case of an elderly woman selling vegetables at a bus stop in the area.

    “(She was a) very warm, very friendly, very old lady. She didn’t want to take any kind of assistance and wanted to earn her own living,” he said.

    But residents had complained about her causing a mess and as a result, the National Environmental Agency (NEA) told her to stop selling vegetables there.

    Other residents found out about it and alerted Mr Shanmugam, who wrote to NEA to appeal on her behalf.

    “NEA was good enough to give her a licence,” he said.

    There is also a case from 15 years ago that still stands out for him.

    A young, pregnant woman was about to go to jail for hiring illegal workers in her father’s laundry business.

    Not wanting her child to be born in jail, she was going to terminate the pregnancy and Mr Shanmugam found out about it.

    He advised her not to abort the baby and sent appeals to the Attorney-General’s Chambers and the Ministry of Home Affairs on her behalf.

    At that time, he was still a practising lawyer and would ask his colleagues to attend the woman’s court hearings to keep him updated.

    The woman was eventually let off with a fine and her daughter is now 14 years old.

    When it was mentioned that it was cases like these that endeared him to residents, he let out a rare smile and said: “I hope so.”

    “(There are) so many different moments… In the end, it’s people reaching out to you, forming the networks, forming the community support groups and helping people. There are countless stories of people helping each other, people helping me, and me helping people.”

    – Mr K. Shanmugam on his fondest memories from nearly three decades as an MP

    On General Election

    OUTSPOKEN: Criminal lawyer and pro bono advocate Josephus Tan is now in Chua Chu Kang GRC. ST FILE PHOTO

    Asked about preparations for a possible General Election, Mr Shanmugam said preparations have be ongoing.

    “The latest you can have it is early 2017, so it’s a good bet it’s going to be the next year or so.

    “Many people think it might be faster than that. And you don’t wait until the last minute (to) prepare,” he said.

    On the issue of possible new candidates, Mr Shanmugam said with a laugh that many had already been identified by the media.

    “(Some of these people have) been in my branch and they’ve been in other places. I wouldn’t know if they’re going to stand for certain,” he said.

    “But I know that there are people who have started in my branch and are in a number of different places now, that much I can say.

    “You have Henry (Kwek), you have Louis (Ng), you have (Yee) Chia Hsing in Punggol, quite a few.”

    MOVEMENTS

    Mr Kwek, 39, executive director of a food supply company, started out as a branch secretary in Chong Pang but has joined veteran MP Inderjit Singh in Kebun Baru in Ang Mo Kio GRC.

    Animal rights activist Ng, 37, who started out doing grassroots work in Chong Pang, was moved at the start of the year to Joo Chiat constituency under veteran MP Charles Chong.

    Mr Yee, who works at CIMB Bank, also started out in Chong Pang but is now branch chairman of the People’s Action Party at Punggol East.

    Asked about criminal lawyer and pro bono advocate Josephus Tan, who has been very outspoken about his grassroots work in Chong Pang, Mr Shanmugam smiled and nodded.

    “Yes, Josephus is now in Chua Chu Kang (GRC),” he said.

    On animal cruelty

    ANIMAL LOVER: Mr Shanmugam and his wife with Zorro, a mongrel they later adopted. PHOTO: NEE SOON GRASSROOTS ORGANIZATION

    Mr Shanmugam said that when it comes to animal welfare, one has be realistic.

    “However much society progresses, there will always be a small minority – and you hope that it’s a small minority – that engages in wanton cruelty against other human beings,” he said.

    He was responding to questions about the recent cases where cats in Pasir Ris were believed to have been fed poisoned fish flakes and an old, blind dog that was abandoned in a plastic bag in Siglap on June 21.

    Mr Shanmugam said: “Different traits of irresponsibility, inflicting of pain, cruelty – all these are human characteristics. Thankfully, I would say, it’s in a very small minority. That’s where you need tough laws and you need to enforce them.”

    DIFFICULTY

    Looking down for a brief moment, he added: “The difficulty with cruelty to animals is that it’s hard to find who perpetrated the crimes.”

    Mr Shanmugam’s love for animals has been well documented.

    A strong advocate of animal welfare in Parliament, he has four dogs of his own – all adopted from animal shelters.

    “I’ve always liked animals, I’ve always wanted to have pets but it wasn’t possible for a number of different reasons,” he said, adding that his first two dogs were mongrels.

    One was from a shelter and the other had been given up by a family moving from a house to a flat.

    “In Singapore, mongrels are not easily adopted. And if someone didn’t adopt them, they’d most likely be put down,” he said.

     

    Source: www.tnp.sg

  • K Shanmugam: AHPETC’s “Egregious Conduct” Must Be Punished

    K Shanmugam: AHPETC’s “Egregious Conduct” Must Be Punished

    A day after a High Court raised the red flag on the goings-on in Aljunied-Hougang-Punggol East Town Council (AHPETC), Law Minister K Shanmugam followed up with hard-hitting words for the Workers’ Party, which runs the town council.

    The scathing comments Justice Quentin Loh directed at AHPETC confirms his remarks previously that AHPETC’s town councillors had acted in an “unlawful” manner, said Mr Shanmugam, who is also Foreign Minister. He also zeroed in on the fact that the judge had highlighted AHPETC chairman Sylvia Lim’s misleading statements to Parliament about the financial transfers the town council was required to make.

    “I said in February, in Parliament, that the WP MPs’ conduct on AHPETC was unlawful. I said that several times. I choose my words carefully. This judgment confirms what I have said,” said Mr Shanmugam, who was giving his views on the court’s decision at the Ministry of Foreign Affairs today (May 28). “The judge was scathing about the town councilors and their conduct. He said that the chairman of the WP misled Parliament. It is very serious to lie in Parliament.”
    Today was not the first time Mr Shanmugam has, shorn of parliamentary privilege, described the WP town councillors’ conduct as unlawful. Parliamentary privilege refers to the legal immunity from any action in the courts for words spoken in the course of parliamentary proceedings. The aim is to allow Members to speak freely and frankly without fear of legal consequences.

    In an 80-page judgment released on yesterday, Justice Loh had said that AHPETC’s actions were “at the height of financial irresponsibility”, quoted Mr Shanmugam.

    The judgment underscores the fact that action should be taken over the “egregious conduct” of the AHPETC, he added, highlighting that the judge had said the conduct was “possibly criminal” and that the town council could be sued by residents and the Housing and Development Board.

    Mr Shanmugam said: “If this were to happen to a People’s Action Party town council, what do you think Singaporeans would be asking? If this were to happen to a public company, what do you think the shareholders would be saying? Is conduct like this responsible? Is the Government responsible if it just keeps quiet in the face of a judgment from the Supreme Court that says all these things?”

    The judge also noted that “it is clear there are grave and serious questions” in AHPETC, relating to its books and the validity and property of payments made to related parties.

    Calling for WP’s Secretary-General Low Thia Kiang and other AHPETC town councillors to take action, Mr Shanmugam said: “(They) have to explain what are they going to do to set right the situation? … What are they going to do to answer the ‘grave and serious questions’ that the court says has been raised? This is pretty serious.”

    Mr Shanmugam said MND will consult the Attorney-General’s Chambers on its next steps, but said the Government has a responsibility to pursue further action.

    Reiterating that the judgment concurs with the government’s position that AHPETC’s conduct “was bad … and actionable”, Mr Shanmugam said the judge was of the view that the Town Councils Act empower the HDB and residents, not MND, to seek legal action.

    “That is something the Attorney-General will advise us on, as to whether it is the correct interpretation, and what they should do about it,” he said.

    AHPETC could not be reached for comment today.

     

    Source: www.todayonline.com

  • Martyn See: Did K Shanmugam Make An Illegal Party Political Film?

    Martyn See: Did K Shanmugam Make An Illegal Party Political Film?

    Did Law Minister K. Shanmugam make an illegal party political film?

    Dear K. Shanmugam,

    On the 10th of May 2015, you uploaded a video entitled “A Day in the Life of a Minister”, which features a camera crew tracking your activity of the day. It was an unscripted video shot and edited in the style of a reality-TV programme.

    You stated that the 12-minute long video was made by “volunteers”. By that, one would assume that this is not a government-sponsored production. As such, may I inform you that this video is not exempted under section 40 of the Films Act and therefore in possible violation of section 33 which criminalises “party political films”, the penalties of which are a fine not exceeding $100,000 or to imprisonment for a term not exceeding 2 years.

    I cite the following clauses of the Films Act relevant to “A Day in the Life of a Minister”.

    “Party political film” means a film —

    (a) which is an advertisement made by or on behalf of any political party in Singapore or any body whose objects relate wholly or mainly to politics in Singapore, or any branch of such party or body; or

    (b) which is made by any person and directed towards any political end in Singapore;

    For the purposes of this Act, a film is directed towards a political end in Singapore if the film —

    (a) contains wholly or partly any matter which, in the opinion of the Board, is intended or likely to affect voting in any election or national referendum in Singapore; or

    (b) contains wholly or partly references to or comments on any political matter which, in the opinion of the Board, are either partisan or biased; and “political matter” includes but is not limited to any of the following:

    (i) an election or a national referendum in Singapore;

    (ii) a candidate or group of candidates in an election;

    (iii) an issue submitted or otherwise before electors in an election or a national referendum in Singapore;

    (iv) the Government or a previous Government or the opposition to the Government or previous Government;

    (v) a Member of Parliament;

    (vi) a current policy of the Government or an issue of public controversy in Singapore; or

    (vii) a political party in Singapore or any body whose objects relate wholly or mainly to politics in Singapore, or any branch of such party or body.

    None of the following films shall be regarded for the purposes of this Act as a party political film:

    (e) a documentary film without any animation and composed wholly of an accurate account depicting actual events, persons (deceased or otherwise) or situations, but not a film —

    (i) wholly or substantially based on unscripted or “reality” type programmes; or

    (ii) that depicts those events, persons or situations in a dramatic way;

    Exemptions

    40. —(1) This Act shall not apply to —

    (a) any film sponsored by the Government;

    (b) any film, not being an obscene film or a party political film or any feature, commercial, documentary or overseas television serial film, which is made by an individual and is not intended for distribution or public exhibition; and

    (c) any film reproduced from local television programmes and is not intended for distribution or public exhibition.

    (2) The Minister may, subject to such conditions as he thinks fit, exempt any person or class of persons or any film or class of films from all or any of the provisions of this Act.

    (3) An exemption granted under this section may be withdrawn at any time.

    I put it to you that the video “A Day in the Life of a Minister” may constitute an illegal ‘party political film’ under section 33 of the Films Act because :

    1. It is an advertisement made by or on behalf of a political party in Singapore whose objects relate wholly or mainly to politics in Singapore.

    2. It is made by a person and directed towards a political end in Singapore – by featuring a Member of Parliament.

    3. It is a film that is substantially based on unscripted and “reality” type programmes, and it also contains dramatic elements.

    4. It is not a government-sponsored film.

    Of course, the Minister may opt to exercise section 40 of the Films Act to exempt your film from the Act.

    In the interest of upholding transparency in the application of the Rule of Law in Singapore, this letter will be made public. I look forward to your reply on this matter.

    Yours sincerely,
    See Tong Ming

    The above was emailed to K. Shanmugam on 11 May.

     

    Source: Martyn See