Monday, March 3, 2014

Kinky Laws in Political Play

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Associate Professor (with tenure) Khairudin Aljunied of the National University of Singapore (NUS) Malay Studies department thought he could cover his tracks after three students complained his online behavior was “unbecoming of a university professor”, and his choice of words were “tantamount to hate speech”.

Facebook has a facility to allow all and sundry to see that he had indeed modified the offensive pejoratives "diseases" and "cancers" in his initial post to politically correct "social issues" and "developments". He also deleted one sentence that spelt out his agenda: "Make the pure message of Islam viral to cleanse liberal Islam and lesbianism from the hearts of the faithful." One suspects even Lawrence Khong would say amen to that.

Khairudin is also alleged to have refused to apologise, and removed the post that argued that his comments were borne out of his religious convictions, and to prevent him from voicing his views is akin to acting to “censor” him.  Commenting, a spokesperson for the university said, “NUS advocates a culture of respect for individuals regardless of gender, ethnicity, religion, nationality, political or sexual orientation.” She did not say that NUS advocates a culture of respect for freedom of expression. Therein lies the conundrum.

It is unfortunate for the outspoken don that we do have a law (section 8(1)(b) of the Maintenance of Religious Harmony Act) which stipulates that the Minister may make a restraining order against any priest, monk, pastor, imam, elder, office-bearer or any other person who is in a position of authority in any religious group or institution for:
"(b) carrying out activities to promote a political cause, or a cause of any political party while, or under the guise of, propagating or practising any religious belief"

Since its publication, the Health Promotion Board's FAQ on homosexuality seems to have kicked a hornet's nest, with some good folk stung for veering too close to the topic. Whoever's responsible may be testing the waters about Section 377A of the Penal Code, or it could be just a ploy for the gay vote. Whatever the political price, it's definitely cheaper than $8b for the Pioneer Generation Package.

There are some who still maintain that Tey Tsun Hang was persecuted for his political commentary. The former law professor has just been acquitted by Justice Woo Bih Li who ruled that trial judge Tan Siong Thye had wrongly equated conduct which is morally reprehensible with conduct which is legally wrong according to the Prevention of Corruption Act. Call him a cad, scoundrel, philanderer - feel free to add your choice of invective - but in the eyes of the law, Tey was not corrupt as charged. And then there were the alleged  threats, inducements and/or promises made by officers from the Corrupt Practices Investigation Bureau - Tey's lawyer cited purported comments by graft officers that his client had taken as threats to arrest his wife - when they were fantasizing about a dream job at Abu Ghraib.

And who can forget the police commissioner - the missing person in the Little India riot Commission of Inquiry - who blackmouthed Ng Boon Gay when he was found not guilty after another drag-through-the-mud type court case. The same Ng who prime minister Lee Hsien Loong, in January 2102, had remarked, "If he did wrong, he must be punished; if he did nothing wrong, he must be exonerated."

The chief justice who used to dispense justice based on the satisfaction of his morning breakfast is no longer around, but the legal system still has a few kinks to be ironed out. So how should Khairudin Aljunied be judged, by the law or by his peers? What do you think?

16 comments:

  1. I will comment only on one aspect of your note, namely, the separation of law and morals. The Ng and Tey cases are examples of this confusion in the minds of the Prosecution, which is a kink, as you called it, in the system This is a very troubling kink which ought to be looked into by the Attorney- General.If the professor had committed an offence he should be brought to book and not be judged by his peers alone.

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  2. Having an intimate relationship with one's students should be an offense in any case. Whether he gave her a better grade than what she should have received is another matter. By letting him off the hook, what messages are we sending out? OK to have such relationships? This should never be tolerated.

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    Replies
    1. So, employer & employee MUST not have relationship other than work?
      Both parties above 21 years old.
      Immoral?.. we should cover exposed skin and hide in our homes.

      Unlike school going kids and teachers, these are adults.

      Clearly, it was an opportunity to drag him through the gutters. Why not Palmer too? Immoral or not? Corruption or not? Gutter to small for this person?

      Delete
    2. How about Foreign Minister and Minister of law who divorced his wife and pioneer Minster who divorced his wife and married to a young nurse? How about Jackie Chan who was treated as superstar to mingle with Singapore university and University Governor? are they Saint? Singapore has 2 set of law for the dissents and for the PAP leaders?

      Delete
  3. He certainly sounds like a religious fanatic who would carry out Jihad against all Infidels. Osama would be proud of him. Is he a member of Perkasa?

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  4. Ukraine crises..Terrorists dying for their "god" and can't wait to go to "heaven" manipulated by self serving leaders who rather live in this world than the next...People who jus can't forget the past and wants to do it all over again..China vs Japan...self serving politicians living in the now instead for the future of man-kind..

    At this rate, yes...humanity will become extinct...thanks to all these idiots...looks like fusion tech (National Ignition Centre in California) and the accuberie warp drive (NASA)...will not come to pass....and humanity will remain on this singular planet and died on it...too bad....

    Hostile Universe towards all intelligent life win 1...Humanity big fat ZERO.

    zzz

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  5. What about women wanting or prowling for good sex? The entire nation has been led to think that only men are sexual predators You think that's true in the real world?

    So long as women are as capable of getting what they want in bed as men, who is to judge, in the case of the Mr Tey, who is the predator?
    It takes two hands to clap. Morality is just a convenient political and religious tool.

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  6. Khairudin Aljunied should be judged by the same standards set for the old fart. He has in a way retracted his offensive statements. What he needs to do now is to say "I stand corrected", like what the old fart did after he said in his Hard Truths about Islam which caused an uproar: "I would say, today, we can integrate all religions and races except Islam."

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  7. So Prof Tey went to jail for 5 months for nothing?
    And Ng's reputation went through the mud for nothing?
    Both cases where CPIB is so wrong on their definition and judgment of what constitute Corruption versus Morality.
    But when one of their own were corrupted big time, it went unnoticed for years?!
    And this is the same outfit that reports to the PMO office?
    All incidents happened under his watch?
    What does it tell us?

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    Replies
    1. Mind you, this was just the knuckle duster in the cul de sac.. the hatchet is still in the bag.

      Delete
  8. So Prof Tey went to jail for 5 months for nothing?
    And Ng's reputation went through the mud for nothing?
    Both cases where CPIB is so wrong on their definition and judgment of what constitute Corruption versus Morality.
    But when one of their own were corrupted big time, it went unnoticed for years?!
    And this is the same outfit that reports to the PMO office?
    All incidents happened under his watch?
    What does it tell us?

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. It is self explanatory that the Competency of the Regime is as good as a dying dynasty.

      Delete
  9. http://kita.sg/dr-khairudin-aljunied/

    And he calls himself a "humane" academic by discriminating a small segment of population?

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  10. When Kangaroo is politically skewed and affiliated to its paymaster. you know who is above the law. It is no wonder we kept hearing arbitrary laws being applied, no further reason needed to screw dafft Sinkies left,right, center if you are seen against the system and another set of laws only applied to those who voted you-know-who.

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  11. When the law is not kinky, the AG can be kinky - “The relevant question is whether any person who is inside a polling station can be said to be "within a radius of 200 metres of any polling station". … Plainly, a person inside a polling station cannot be said to be within a radius of 200 metres of a polling station.”

    When its heads I win, tails you lose, is it kinky?

    ReplyDelete