THE S’PORE JUDICIARY NEEDS MAINTAIN ITS INDEPENDENCE TO ENSURE FAIRNESS

Dear Editor,

As I was glancing through the various accounts of Singapore history, from a British Crown Colony to its present state after curiosity aroused from reading some of your rebuttal posts on official government positions, I realized that we not only had a rich history of Multi party vibrant contests but also of our Courtroom “dramas” filled with the victories of Jewish lawyer David Marshall and trials by a Jury.

I feel that Singaporeans at large should start researching our legal norms which was changed over time to suit the ruling party’s needs rather than the people’s and that we should bring back trials by qualified Juries rather than have our fate single handedly decided by a PAP dominated Judiciary! LKY’s argument to abolish the Privy Council and especially the Jury should be re-looked at since its abolition was filled and motivated with inconsistencies rather than sound executive judgement. LKY said picking up any Tom, Dick or Harry from the streets (of Geylang Serai) to be a juror is unsafe and hence we should not rely on this Commonwealth practice.

I say that this line of argument does not carry weight, for we can still have a jury but filled with rotating persons from the legal fraternity with proper legal training to come to a concise decision in light of past controversial judgements based solely on political considerations of either the ruling party and its grassroots leaders or Government/NTUC owned businesses. Since the government has introduced unlimited liability on the part of aggrieved appalants, it should similarly ensure fairness by having 7 men and women of integrity access the cases than 1. After all, don’t 7 heads function better than 1?

With public knowledge of the soon to be commenced legal proceedings by Hri Kumar against the Worker’s Party Town Councillors and the party’s own “Bricks in Blue” accounts to wipe out and taint Opposition politics in Singapore, the fact of Judicial Independence cannot be overemphasize! #seperationofpowers #powertothepeople

Chris Minjoot