Jolovan Wham Asked The Sky… And Received Lightning

Fellow Singaporeans,

Our mutual friend Mister Jolovan Wham is at it again. You think you’ve heard the last of him holding a smiley face in front of some government building again ? Think again. He just got a one way trip to Changi Prison for shouting with a bunch of people on an MRT in 2017 to raise awareness on the shady stuff the Lightning Party did before Goh Chock Tong became PM. This one being 22 people being detained under the “Internal Security Act” in 1987….

I mean… either being sent to jail for 32 days or an $8000 fine, it is obvious which would be taken up more. Still, this is incredibly aggravating that an act of expression without violence is penalized that steep. And this is not his first time. He had to serve 10 days jail for organizing a Skype event with Hong Kongee Democratic advocate Joshua Wong, now imprisoned for angering the Mainland with Umbrellas.

While the judge cites him as a mere “repeat offender”, we all got to ask… “What heinous crime has he repeatedly occur exactly” ? Grabbing a bunch of people in public to talk loudly ? Holding a sign with a smiley face silently in front of a building ? Sticking a bunch of scribbled words inside an MRT ? Talking to a foreigner from a city often viewed as a rival in culture and business ?

Come on, at this point it is just plain pathetic. This isn’t an example that the government is slowly building a police state encompassed by drones wielding electric stun guns. It’s an example that our own government is somehow less mature than my Primary 6 cousin Charlotte ! She does not even own her own smartphone yet… and somehow has a larger capacity to receive and acknowledge criticism than a guy who had to at least hold a law degree for 10 years and somehow got appointed by the President on the advice of the Prime Minister… on the advice of the Chief Justice… BEFORE serving until death, retirement at 65, resignation or Presidentially removed. Unbelievable. 

This fella who gave Mister Jolovan Wham a month in jail for basically doing nothing… earns more than you and I. With such loose interpretations, I could get myself arrested for holding a large sign advertising a local business for work. Or talking with some friends over Iced Kopi. A zoom call to my uncle Albert. Maybe even doing homework inside a SBS Transit bus ! Behind all that legal jargon, these are actions anyone and everyone in Singapore could do ! Now it is our turn to ask our masters in the sky. Do they want a liberal democracy or a conservative one-party state ? You can’t sit on a fence forever ! 

Anticipating a fine to take away my ang bao money, I am your loyal reader, Justin