Tag: PAP

Kenneth Jeyaretnam: Amos Yee – Singapore’s Youngest Political Prisoner

Yesterday I attended Amos Yee’s sentencing hearing at the State Courts at 9.30am. As you may be aware, Amos has refused to accept probation. The AG had asked for probation, presumably to save the PAP the international opprobrium for jailing a child who had spoken the truth about the late Lee Kuan Yew.

Instead Amos requested that he serve a jail term instead. After all he had already served a longer period in remand than the man who assaulted him received after automatic good behaviour. However the AG objected and asked the judge to sentence Amos to reformative training instead on the grounds that he was unrepentant.

For those of you who are not familiar with what “reformative training” is in the Singapore context, let me enlighten you. The regulations governing it can be found in the Criminal Procedure Code (Reformative Training) Regulations 2010. A person sentenced to reformative training must serve at least eighteen months but no longer than three years. However after release they will be under the supervision of a probation officer and must comply with any conditions imposed. Any breach of those conditions will result in six months additional sentence. This supervision lapses four years after the date of the original sentence so in the case of someone sentenced to three years reformative training the supervision period is one year but if the sentence is only eighteen months the supervision period is three years.

This is what an AsiaOne article had to say about reformative training:

Reformative training is a strict prison regime for young offenders. It consists of foot drills, counselling and education. Offenders spend at least 11/2 years behind bars. Upon release, they are placed under supervision, which includes wearing ankle tags that track their movements electronically.

The article was about how the courts deemed reformative training as a suitable punishment for young loan shark runners who would not be allowed the “soft” option of probation even for a first offence. However the runner in this case was 20 years old and in NS.

It revulses me that the court and the AG could somehow think that the punishment option for someone defacing and vandalising the flats of those owing money to loan sharks, presumably with threats of violence intended to intimidate the unfortunate debtors, and other violent young criminals is appropriate for a child like Amos.

I say “child” advisedly even though our law treats him as an adult when he reaches 16 despite not being allowed to vote till you are 21. Yet another inconsistency in Justice Kaur’s judgement was that she claimed to be protecting the youth of Singapore from being corrupted and depraved by Amos’s supposedly obscene image while she was treating Amos as an adult for the purpose of sentencing. Amos’s blog and video were clearly aimed at adults and viewed mostly by adults and not children.

I will get back to yesterday’s hearing. The queue for the public gallery was quite short, perhaps because the hearing was originally scheduled for 2pm but was then moved to 9.30am. Singaporeans do not like to get up so early. The atmosphere among the crowd was slightly flippant considering that it was a child’s future we were talking about. When I said that the Government was out to break Amos, some people said jocularly that he would be more likely to break the AG and the judicial system by his refusal to bend. A young man in a suit made some comment to the effect that unlike the “soft” West we treated criminals like Amos as adults from the age of 16 and that the “shackles” which presumably soft-hearted liberals like myself objected to were just cuffs.

After a delay while the prosecution and defence lawyers met outside the courtroom, Justice Kaur entered at about 9.50am. I expected someone older and tougher looking. Instead she looked quite slight and undoubtedly younger than me. She was extremely soft-spoken so it was very difficult to hear what she was saying. It was difficult to fit her image to her reactionary and inconsistent judgement.

The DPP argued that as Amos had not “learnt his lesson” and refused to agree to probation that a reformative training sentence was necessary. He said that Amos’s conduct and his decision to make the image and video public again demonstrated the need for rehabilitation and appropriate counselling. The DPP said a jail term or a fine would have no rehabilitative effect on Yee and would therefore not be “tenable, because we cannot be popping back into court every other day.”

The judge agreed with him and said that “Rehabilitation is the fundamental tenet of our justice system” and ruled that he be remanded for three weeks to assess his mental and physical suitability for reformative training.

Alfred Dodwell, Amos’s lawyer, argued in vain that Amos should be given a fine or a jail term equivalent to the time he has already spent on remand and pointed out quite correctly that Amos was being punished for a second offence for which he had not been tried.

At the end of the hearing Amos was taken into custody again. I saw his mother passing him a plastic bag which made me feel very sad.

There can be no doubt that in this case “rehabilitation” is just a euphemism. The PAP Government mean to break Amos’s spirit through a harsh regime that is worse than prison. They would like to show Singaporeans that anyone here who dares to challenge the official narrative will be harshly dealt with.

In totalitarian regimes like Communist China, the Soviet Union and Nazi Germany “rehabilitation” meant years of imprisonment in harsh concentration camps. Everyone remembers the infamous words above Auschwitz which said “Arbeit Macht Frei” which loosely translated meant “Work Makes You Free” which was meant to be a sadistic joke about rehabilitation.

I feel only a slightly milder version of this punishment regime is in store for Amos. He will be forced to work and if he refuses will likely be punished. I am concerned that reformative training may include caning if Amos refuses to obey the orders given to him by his captors. He has years of imprisonment to look forward to and when he is inducted into NS he will probably end up serving his time in a military prison. Meanwhile a father who failed to strap his toddler into a car seat causing her death in an accident was only fined. And Lee Kuan Yew made countless racist remarks designed to wound the feelings of minorities and was commended globally for his wisdom and candour.

Even with his time on remand Amos has served more time than the man who attacked him. The reports said that he would not be with adult inmates. However since Amos is already being treated as an adult that seems just another example of the AG’s disingenuity. He will presumably be placed with the kind of hardened criminals who are normally considered suitable for reformative training. He wlll probably be bullied and may be sexually assaulted. Of course many comments from PAP supporters and LKY worshippers on the internet were that rape was much too good for him.

The PAP Government’s treatment of Amos is an international embarrassment to them and to Singapore. The PAP always justify draconian restrictions on our freedoms by saying we enjoy Swiss standards of living as a result. But I look around and I can see that we have neither, except maybe PAP Ministers and their relatives and wealthy foreigners. Steve Wozniak, who founded Apple with Steve Jobs. said no innovation or creativity would come out of SIngapore. Is it any surprise?

I called Amos Singapore’s youngest political prisoner which led to the usual fierce attacks from people saying that he was tried and convicted. However so was Nelson Mandela who received a sentence of life imprisonment for terrorism. Yet today no one would dream of calling Nelson Mandela a criminal let alone a terrorist.

I will end by letting Amos’s own words speak for him:

“And yes, to the chagrin of numerous people, I have not ‘learnt my lesson’, nor do I see any ‘lesson’ that needs to be learnt.If you are going to try to tower over me and say that you know something important that that I don’t, make sure you have a compelling argument for that. And if your lessons are borne from a corrupt, archaic Government lead by primitive monkeys,…then sorry if I doubt the credibility of your quote unquote ‘lessons’.

Hopefully history eventually vindicates me. But as of now, district judge Jasvender Kaur has deemed me guilty and the Prosecutor does in fact feel, that 30 months of a place worst than Prison (RTC) should be given to a boy who has posted an internet video.

Unless you do in fact relish in my misery, I hope both of you will be able to sleep at night, and live with the fact that right now, as it is written in the annals of history, my blood is on your hands.”

Source: http://sonofadud.com

June 5, 2015
An Open Letter To Grassroots Leaders About The Word Cum

Esteemed grassroots leaders,

I am writing to highlight an important issue surrounding our banners in this day and age.

You see, as a local blogger, aspiring journalist and young punk, I am intrigued by the number of posters – even at this day and age – that use the word ‘cum’.

Reddit

Yes, ‘cum’. And if you’re giggling, stop.

Because if you’re giggling, you jolly well know what people think the word ‘cum’ means. And it certainly doesn’t mean ‘in conjunction with’.

Bukit Batok East blog

Some of you might be asking: “punk, who gave you the rights to the English language?knnccb, we Singaporeans we like to use the word ‘cum’, cannot ah?”

Truth be told, your publicity officers (or fellow grassroots leaders) have left the word everywhere.

Bukit Batok blog

They’re most commonly found in banners…

Bukit Batok East blog

but some of them have gotten in our flyers as well.

Sembawang Town Council

They’re even on our websites – and more ironically, on a banner publicising a clean-up day.

The thing is – the word ‘cum’ can be simply avoided by a matter of planning.

You can dodge it with an ampersand (for those of you who aren’t atas enough to know what it means, it’s a “&”).

Everything East

Or you could simply use the word ‘and’ – it’s frankly not that difficult.

Given the simplicity of their replacements I have no idea why there are some esteemed leaders who insist on using the word.

Toa Payoh RC Facebook

It frankly leaves a bad taste in the mouth – and none of us certainly appreciate it –

Bukit Batok East blog

So please, stop getting the word ‘cum’ in our eyes.

If not, I’ll have to write up another article cum anti-’cum’ campaign to stop you.

Source: http://the-yishus.sg

June 4, 2015
Edwin Tong: Allegation That I Scolded Volunteers Completely False, I Did Not Even Have To Queue

I have been a fan of football since I was very young and was thrilled to attend the @SEAGames2015 football opener between ‪#‎Singapore‬ and the Philippines at @JalanBesarStadium. I have a lot of regard for our ‪#‎SEAGames2015‬ volunteers, the people on the ground who make these Games tick. In fact, many in my family and amongst my friends are SEA Games volunteers, and I know how much time and sacrifices they have put in.

So I was very surprised at the contents of an article on social media, claiming that I was supposedly “clearly unhappy” about having to wait in queue at the stadium or had shouted at volunteers.

This is completely false.

As I was trying to make my way into the stadium that night, I had stopped to ask for directions to the correct entry point to my allocated seat. I was given directions to the correct entrance and I made my own way there. At no point did I make an issue with having to queue or complain to anyone about having to queue. In fact, the contention that I had been unhappy about being made to queue or to “wait so long” is plainly false because I did not have to queue at all that night to get to my seat, let alone that I had apparently complained about having to queue.

The next game is against Myanmar tomorrow night. Please come and watch what promises to be a very exciting match, especially after Myanmar upset Indonesia 4-2 last night. Let’s stay united behind @TeamSingapore at the SEA Games and spur them on to give their best!

Source: Edwin Tong

June 4, 2015
School, Career Worries Among Students’ Concerns

Anxiety over their future — be it in school or at the workplace — was among the concerns raised by students during a question-and-answer session with Minister for Culture, Community and Youth Lawrence Wong at the annual pre-university seminar today (June 2).

More than 20 questions were raised during the hour-long session, which was attended by around 550 students from 30 pre-university institutions — polytechnics, junior colleges and the Millennia Institute.

One student noted it is difficult to gain admission into local universities, with competition for places seemingly coming from foreign students, and sought clarity on this issue.

In response, Mr Wong clarified that local and foreign students are on different admission tracks.

“All the universities have a separate track to take in international students because they want to add diversity into their student population. They think it’s a good idea to allow their own students international exposure and they want that to add vibrancy into their campuses,” he said.

Foreign students take up 10 to 20 per cent of the cohort at universities in the United Kingdom, Australia and the United States, and Singapore has also kept the proportion to about 15 per cent of the overall student population in each campus, he noted.

He also assured students that the number of university places have been increasing with the establishment of additional autonomous universities here, and local students can get a place if they meet these universities’ benchmarks.

Asked about the competition posed by foreign manpower for jobs, Mr Wong, acknowledging the concerns, noted that employers are keen on hiring Singaporean talent, but they also want to be able to hire talent from around the world.

“If we decide to close our doors and say foreigners cannot work here, the bank will have a very simple response and say, ‘Well then, I can’t operate in Singapore and I should operate in Hong Kong instead’ or ‘I should operate in London instead’, and then all of the Singaporean jobs will be lost. This is the tension, the dilemma we will always face,” he said.

The issue of encouraging youths to care more about the community was also raised, with one student asking how young people could be motivated to pursue jobs in sectors such as social services and sacrifice better pay elsewhere.

In response, Mr Wong said: “What we should try to do is to make sure that if you want to take the path in the social service job, then the remuneration is a fair one, a decent one and one that will allow you or whoever it is to have a good living.”

When a student observed that Singaporeans’ proficiency in their mother tongues appeared to be declining despite the bilingualism policy, Mr Wong said it was not only an issue of what is taught in schools, but also which languages are used at home.

Bilingualism remains important, he said, adding that efforts to develop a strong foundation in mother tongue languages will put one in “good stead in the future”. He noted that the decline in the use of dialects is not unique to Singapore; China is facing the same issue among its youths.

The pre-university seminar ends on Friday. This year’s programme will see students reflect on Singapore’s achievements over the past 50 years by interacting with Singaporeans from all walks of life and participating in panel discussions on their findings, among other things.

Source: www.todayonline.com

June 3, 2015
PAP MP Edwin Tong Raised His Voice At Volunteers For Being Slow To Serve Him

Dear Editors,

I was working at the SG vs Phillipines game last night at Jalan Besar Stadium. As usual the crowd will queue up to enter the stadium once the gates opens.

As this is the first match played at JBS, there was a queue forming at the security check point.

Most of you probably do not know that all our MPs and their spouses are given access to all games venues and they are allowed to enter the venues even if the tickets are sold out.

So Mr Edwin Tong of Moulmein-Kallang GRC turned up at my queue and he was clearly unhappy that he being a “VIP” was being made to wait in the queue. So he started raising his voice at me as well as those student volunteers doing the ticket scanning. His complaints were “no proper signage around the stadium”, “made me wait so long”, “how you all organize the games”.

I am clearly disappointed that he being a MP, could not even stand in line and queue with the ordinary citizens who voted him into the parliament.

After he left, the student volunteers asked me who is that fellow. I told them he is an MP and they were shocked. They asked me how come our MP is so uncivilized. My reply to them is our dear Mr Tong is only human. Maybe he had a busy day yesterday and lost his cool. But I am still very disappointed with his behaviour. This is totally uncalled for.

Regards,
Shawn Quek

Source: www.allsingaporestuff.com

June 2, 2015