Singaporean justice: The results speak for themselves 5555

The Late Horace Wachope

Err, not exactly ..

"Singapore's Parliament is unicameral, with 84 MPs elected on the basis of universal adult suffrage for a 5-year term. Of the 84 elected MPs, nine are from single member consbreastuencies and the others are elected from 14 GRCs or Group Representative Consbreastuencies. In the latter, candidates contest the election in teams of 5 to 6 members, all from the same political party or independents, with at least one member necessarily having to be from a minority community. In addition, there are 9 nominated MPs, appointed for two years on the recommendation of a special parliamentary committee, who are intended to reflect independent, non-partisan views. There is also a provision that a minimum of 3 MPs should be from opposition parties, and if this minimum is not met through the election process, an equivalent number of opposition party members (or upto a maximum of 6) can be declared as elected. Such MPs are known as Non-Consbreastuency MPs (NCMP)."

That we can't be sure of either as the press is government controlled and the ability to campaign freely in favour of, or against polcies is very limited. By contrast with Australia, defemation laws are used freely to bankrupt or threaten to bankrupt those who are critical of those in high office. Lawyers who have taken up cases that were politically inconvenient have suffered harbuttment. Were the full facts of the matter put to the people of Singapore, there might well emerge a different consensus than what is presented.

Of course, even if most people of Singapore do support judicial liquidate, that wouldn't make it right any more than the majority opinion amongst a group of criminals ought to persuade us about how they can behave in their bailiwick.

If, for example, one majority community decides to engage in what is now dubbed "ethnic cleansing" against a minority community will civilised people agree that this is their right as this is what the majority want?

Respect for the sovereignty of nations must be based on them conducting themselves with at least a minimum of respect for basic human rights.

Those that don't do this ought to be placed under pressure to respect human rights, ideally by buttisting those within that state to resist such conduct.

Fran