Ghostly Hands At Work

After the Todds left the official hearing about their son Shane's death in a huff, they told Reuters: "What has made us say that we can no longer stay here is the testimony from the beginning saying they are always only looking at suicide, never murder. The outcome was pre-determined."

Father of the deceased, Rick Todd promised, "Our next step from today is using the court of public opinion," and he is delivering the goods. The material sent to Associated Press includes some pictures not made available in the extensive coverage given by the 149th ranked local rag. Quite plausibly, they fear falling short of the regulatory framework misinformation minister Yaacob Ibrahim had in mind when he told the BBC that the Media Development Authority (MDA) regulations are crafted in "the interest of ordinary Singaporeans" to enable them to "read the right thing".

Rightly or wrongly, it looks suspiciously like the ultimate cover up. Use your own eyes, before you have to be licensed to be permitted to make your own observations.

In the light of so many discrepancies, why couldn't the jaundiced judicials have prepared to come away with an open verdict? That way, no one wins, but no one loses either. In death there's no need for a victor.

The Singapore view

The American view

Strategic hands in play?

 

Redacted, 6 June 2013

How Mistrust is Generated

Watching Acting Minister of Manpower Tan Chuan Jin on the Talking Point programme special reminds one of a book which has the full title, "Denialism, How Irrational Thinking Hinders Scientific Progress, Harms The Planet, And Threatens Our Lives." The despicable licensing of news sites is no rocket science, but Tan was definitely in full denial mode.

He repeated ad nausem there was nothing new to regulations already in place. Well, before 1 June 2013, there was no $50,000 dangling like the sword of damocles over sites that have a reach of 50,000 and offer at least one article per week on Singapore’s news and current affairs. And then there's the potential fine of up to $200,000 and/or 3 years in jail if the Media Development Authority (MDA) feels you are tardy in taking down the offending post within 24 hours. The lawyers' letters of demand, which has seen quite a bit of action, at least provides a longer time-frame to respond.

One caller phoning in asked point blank whether Tan is prepared to state on air that no blog site will ever need to be licensed. The cowardly general took evasive action behind the "until such point that we notify other sites" caveat emptor, choosing instead to keep all options open. His empty promises smack of the hypocrisy of 377A, which also promised a light touch. Like the duplicitous legislation of 377A, Tan is as good as criminalizing bloggers with a free spirit.

“First they came…” is the famous statement and provocative poem attributed to pastor Martin Niemöller (1892–1984), an indictment of the sloth of German intellectuals after the Nazis' rise to power and the subsequent purging of their chosen targets, group after group:

When the Nazis came for the communists,
 I remained silent;
I was not a communist.

When they locked up the social democrats,
I remained silent;
I was not a social democrat.

When they came for the trade unionists,
I did not speak out;
I was not a trade unionist.

When they came for the Jews,
I remained silent;
I wasn't a Jew.

When they came for me,
there was no one left to speak out.

And you actually thought you were safe. Think again.

In "Denialism", New Yorker staff writer Michael Specter reveals that Americans have come to mistrust institutions. One guest on the Talking Point panel touched on a similar mistrust generated by MDA's obscene haste in railroading the licensing regime. The final tally at the end of the program: more than 70 percent felt the new licensing rule will limit online news content.

A Tale Of Two Corrections

Associated Press (AP) was taken to task for its article ("Singapore police protocols flouted in US death") by ambassador Ashok, who called it "inaccurate, misleading and mischievous". Read AP's statement in response (italics mine):

"The Associated Press erroneously reported that police admitted violating or flouting official protocol in their investigation by not seeking fingerprints or DNA samples, and by examining the contents of a laptop in the dead man's apartment.
"Rather than admitting to any incorrect behavior in testimony, a police investigator simply recounted his actions, which he described as permissible under the guidelines."

Of course the Singapore Police Force will never admit their mistake, doing so will confirm its procedures fall short of FBI standards. Thanks to the "correction", the whole wide world now knows how the cops bungled the handling of evidence at site. In first world countries, tainted evidence will have a case thrown out of court easily on technical grounds.

The National Environment Agency's (NEA) political foray into a town council's custodial duties was more easily debunked. NEA said the town council sought to charge hawkers for scaffolding needed for cleaning purposes. The smoking gun email from NEA has this bit:

"... the hawkers association will make the necessary arrangements with their contractors on the scaffolding erection/dismantling during the spring cleaning period."

The hawkers did approach a contractor for the scaffolding quote. Doing so, it was de facto confirmation of the competence of the partisan elements at NEA. "Inaccurate, misleading and mischievous" would an apt descriptive.

But all is not lost. NEA can hire the writer at AP to craft a response statement with real bite. Let the war of words begin.

Case Closed

The horny law professor from the National University of Singapore (NUS), Tey Tsun Hang, has been sentenced to a jail term of 5 months and ordered to pay a penalty of S$514.80, a figure presumably rounded to the nearest 10 cents, since nobody in Singapore accepts the 5 cent coin anymore.

The precision of the fiscal punishment to two decimal points makes you wonder what kind of judges are sitting on the bench. The amount reportedly includes the balance of a dinner bill and the cost of two tailored shirts. First off, has the GST been accounted for? Assuming the tailored shirts were really made to measure, their quality (material and workmanship) will have to depend on whether the dinner was held at a hawker center, food court or fancy restaurant. Some press reports mention a Garibaldi dinner, but kopitiams are so up market nowadays it's hard to tell. And whatever happened to the iPod and Mont Blanc pen?  The duty free shop at Kuala Lumpur International Airport departure terminal (at Gate C) had a special offer for the latter at $400, but the Raffles City outlet carries more expensive models. Maybe the portable media player and writing instrument turned out to be made in China variants, and could explain why the prof gave her a B grade instead of an A. And why it would be embarrassing to record in the court documents cheap knock-offs are still being sold in Singapore shops.

Earlier the good judge said Tey's corrupt intent hinged on, amongst other things, a balance of power, highlighting that he was 38 when he took advantage of a student at nearly half his age, "just shy of her 21st birthday". To emphasis the point, the judge said she was about 6 years older than Tey's 14-year-old daughter. Okay, the math works here. Power corrupts, we have seen enough daily reminders of that, and we are told he had great influence over her, the future was in his hands. By same extrapolation, didn't Michael Palmer overwhelm the PAssionate grassroots leader with his "past achievements" too? We can only speculate whether Mike sought out to impress Laura, resulting in the homage of mangoes. Only a corruption case in open court can enlighten us further here.

It is doubtful whether anyone in the legal fraternity, or anywhere else on planet earth, will shed a tear for the philanderer. He was dumb to be his own lawyer, but it was downright cruel to cause her to undergo an abortion at such a tender age. Maybe the earth didn't move for either party at the interlude on his office couch, but he should at least have given her an A for the effort. Only then, can we truly file this away as a sex-for-grade case.