Singapore axes eight UK law varsities

The Star
by SHAILA KOSHY

KUALA LUMPUR: Malaysians planning to study law in Britain and later practise in Singapore should choose their law schools carefully as eight of the 19 previously recognised in the island republic have been axed.

“If Singapore is the preferred eventual work destination, then it would be unwise to go to any one of them,” said Malaysian Bar vice president Steven Thiru in an interview.

“This is irrespective of whether they do the English Bar course.”

On Feb 24, Singapore’s Law Ministry announced that only 11 institutions remained in the list of Overseas Scheduled Universities, whose degrees are recognised from 2016 to practise at the Singapore Bar.

Citing quality control, the Singapore Institute of Legal Education recommended that the Government cut the law schools of these universities’ based on their ranking in Britain – Exeter, Leeds, Leicester, Liverpool, School of Oriental and African Studies at University of London (UOL), Manchester, Sheffield and Southampton.

Asked whether the Bar and Legal Profession Qualifying Board (QB) here was concerned about the law schools omitted following a review because some 48% of the Bar are graduates of Britain or UOL’s external law programmes, Steven said a periodic review of recognised universities under the Legal Profession Act 1976 should be considered.

“It will ensure that law schools maintain their standards (content and delivery) and keep abreast with new developments in training lawyers.

“It will also provide an opportunity for the QB to identify areas of weaknesses in graduates from particular law schools with the view of getting these concerns addressed.”

Saying that recognition should only be withdrawn if there was a serious drop in the standards and quality of training, Steven added that such a university should first be given the opportunity to respond to the criticisms.

Asked whether the local Bar accepted ‘lower’ standards seeing as Singapore had reiterated its 1990s stance not to recognise external law degrees for qualification to its Bar, Steven replied: “Certainly not!”

“We also do not accept that graduates of the external UOL degree are of a lower standard. We have many good lawyers in the Malaysian Bar with this degree, many of whom lacked the financial means to pursue their law studies in Britain, Australia or New Zealand.

“They overcame this hurdle and are, in many cases, leading members of the Bar.”

He said all law degrees must provide graduates with the basic legal knowledge in a number of specified areas, adding that the focus should then shift to practical training.

Asked for updates on the Bar and QB’s efforts to check the disparity in quality of law graduates, he said they were working to replace the Certificate of Legal Practice with the Common Bar Course (CBC).

“The CBC will be a post-graduate vocational training course that encompasses pupillage and it will be a uniform single entry point into the profession, irrespective of the law qualification of the new entrant.

“Our desire is to train the future generation of lawyers in a manner that will equip them to compete domestically and internationally.”

On why it was taking so long, Steven said the CBC was benchmarked against international standards that were continuously being revised, adding that there had been consultations with all key stakeholders.

“We have also been working on the course materials and looking at preparing dedicated training manuals. The proposed implementation date is by the end of 2016.”

Singapore urged to end ‘barbaric’ punishment

Human Rights Watch makes a call against caning as appeal begins in Yong Vui Kong's case.

PETALING JAYA: Human Rights Watch (HRW) today urged the Singapore government to “immediately and unconditionally” abolish caning as a punishment for crimes.

The call came just hours before the Singapore Court of Appeal was to hear the case of Malaysian national Yong Vui Kong. Yong was found guilty of drug trafficking in 2008. His death sentence has been commuted to life imprisonment and caning. His lawyer is in court today to challenge the caning part of the sentence.

In a press statement released early today, HRW Deputy Director (Asia) Phil Robertson said he hoped the Court of Appeal would recognise the damage that continued use of caning would do to respect for human rights in Singapore.

Describing caning as a “barbaric, colonial era throwback that constitutes cruel and unusual punishment,” he said the court should rule to end the “heinous” practice.

“Every time a prisoner is caned in Singapore, whether it be for vandalism, illegal entry, or something else, it is a dark stain on Singapore’s justice and its reliance on this systematic use of torture to punish people,” he added.

Government To Impose Entry Permit Charge On Singapore Vehicles Entering Johor

JOHOR BAHARU, July 16 (Bernama) -- The government has agreed to impose the vehicle entry permit (VEP) charge soon on Singapore vehicles entering Johor, said Prime Minister Datuk Seri Najib Tun Razak.

Announcing this Wednesday, he said Minister in the Prime Minister's Department Datuk Seri Wahid Omar, who oversees the Economic Planning Unit, had been informed of the decision.

"I ask that the state government notify the Road Transport Department on when the move can be implemented," he said in his speech before the breaking of fast with Johor residents at the Persada International Convention Centre, here, today.

Najib, who is also Finance Minister, said the government would announce the effective enforcement date of the VEP charge soon.

"We will decide on the rates to be imposed. Part of the fee collection will be shared with the Johor government," he said.

Earlier, the prime minister attended a briefing on Johor's development to obtain information, especially on the plans and implementation of the pledges made during the 13th general election.

Also present were Deputy Prime Minister Tan Sri Muhyiddin Yassin and Menteri Besar Datuk Seri Mohamed Khaled Nordin.

Deputy Transport Minister Datuk Abdul Aziz Kaprawi who was met after the briefing, said the ministry was fine-tuning the proposed VEP charge.

However, he said, the VEP charge would not be applicable at the border checkpoints in the northern part of the peninsula.

"We are taking a bilateral approach only between Malaysia and Singapore because only Singapore is imposing a VEP charge on Malaysian vehicles and not the other countries," said Abdul Aziz.

Khaled recently said the Johor government suggested a VEP charge of RM20, with RM5 going to the state government for road maintenance, for Singapore vehicles entering Malaysia through the Johor Causeway and the Second Link.

Singapore had earlier announced an increased VEP charge of $35 from $20 now on foreign vehicles entering the island republic effective this Aug 1.

Singapore DPM says security breach at Woodlands checkpoint not acceptable - Bernama

Deputy Prime Minister and Minister for Home Affairs Teo Chee Hean (pic) says the security breach at the Woodlands checkpoint last month involving a Malaysian woman and the subsequent action resulting in her arrest three days later are 'not acceptable'.

He said the Immigration & Checkpoints Authority of Singapore (ICA) and police ground commanders had made an error of judgement and classified the incident, which occurred on Jan 17, as a less serious one - an immigration offence.

In an oral reply to parliamentary questions on the matter, Teo, who is also the co-coordinating minister for national security, said appropriate disciplinary action would be taken against the officers and their supervisors.

Relating the incident, Teo said that on January 17, 2014, at 1.58 pm, a 27-year-old woman arrived at the Woodlands checkpoint in her Malaysian car.

The woman, from Pendang, Kedah, drove past the ICA officer without going through the mandatory checks by tailgating the car in front of hers, and slipping past the drop-arm barrier, he said.

She was then detained for crashing through the security barrier at the Ministry of Foreign Affairs on January 20, he added.

"The ICA and police ground commanders made a serious error of judgement in deciding to treat this intrusion as a less serious immigration offence, instead of a serious breach of border security, as required in the protocol.

"This was a major reason for the subsequent inadequate response which resulted in the vehicle and driver not being detected and arrested much earlier," Teo said, adding that both ground commanders had been redeployed to non-operational posts pending disciplinary action.

He said that if a vehicle made an unauthorised exit from the checkpoint, there was a security protocol for the police and ICA to treat the incident as a breach of border security and issue a high-priority alert to all ground resources.

In this case, however, he said, the ICA and police ground commanders did not follow the protocol.

Teo said the ICA and police did not issue a heightened and persistent alert, with the description of the car and driver, that would have alerted all ground forces to continue looking for them when they conducted vehicular searches, checks and screening. - Bernama, February 17, 2014.

Singapore Bans its First Internet Website

Shutdown ends hands-off policy put in place in 1996
Singapore’s Media Development Agency has shut down its first Internet site, an innocuous fledgling called the Breakfast Network that was run by Bertha Henson, a former journalist with Singapore Press Holdings who now is a journalist in residence at a local college while acting as a media consultant.
The action was taken under media guidelines published in May that required all Internet sites to register with the government if they have 50,000 unique visitors a month. They must put up S$50,000 bond if they report more than one article a week on Singapore-related news over a period of two months. If the government objects to an article, it must be taken down within 24 hours.
The registration and banning puts an end to 17 years of so-called “light touch” regulation put in place by the Media Development authority to foster the country’s image of high-tech communications to lure western technology and communications companies.
The Breakfast Network didn’t appear to be doing anything sinister beyond not bothering to register – which may have been more out of not being prepared than any defiance. Henson said in a parting posting that she had only started the website to give journalism students at her college the opportunity to write and publish under professional guidelines and standards.
“Singapore’s vibrant ecosystem of socio-political blogs was spared the discretionary licensing regime that has blocked the development of alternative print and broadcast media, wrote blogger and media critic Cherian George. “Blogs could be punished if what they published broke the law – but they were never expected to persuade regulators that they deserved the right to publish before they were allowed to do so. Until today.”
"I got the ball rolling sometime in August,” Henson said in a farewell note. “I incorporated a company and started to work on the legal and business end of things while everyone, except for one paid full-timer and a couple of interns, contributed articles pro bono. I had pro bono help from experts. I hired a team to do a new, improved website. So it was a bit of a surprise to get an email from the Media Development Authority about three weeks back about having to register the site. I hadn’t even begun to pull together a business plan to show the network contributors.”
The government has never interfered with the website’s operation or curbed content, Henson wrote.
Websites have been anticipating government action since the MDA’s guidelines were published in May. More prominent websites including The Online Citizen and TR Emeritus have not registered with the authority. Kumuran Pillai, editor of the newly-fledged news site The Independent, told Asia Sentinel his publication had registered.
“There’s no fallout now that I know of” so far from the shutdown of the Breakfast Network, Pillai said. “We have registered.” The site was required to make a statutory declaration that it hadn’t received any foreign funding. Yahoo, which some observers believe was the initial target of the government’s move to license websites, comes under a different licensing regime.
The operators of more than 160 Singaporean websites rallied after the measure was passed, calling for concerned citizens to assemble at Hong Lim Park, the site of the city's Speaker's Corner, to protest the new requirements, with the bloggers closing down their sites for 24 hours to protest the implementation of the new laws.
The bloggers launched a campaign using the Twitter hashtag #FreeMyInternet to spread the word about the campaign. Online commentators expressed concern over the breadth of the definition of "online news sites," warning that it could sweep in blogs that discuss a wide range of issues, and websites that enable users to discuss online content.
The regulations, promulgated at the behest of Communications and Information Minister Yaacob Ibrahim, have been condemned internationally by Human Rights Watch, the Committee to Protect Journalists and Reporters Without Borders, saying the rules would further discourage independent commentary and reporting. Yaacob, however, later said the government intended to keep its light hand on the Internet.
Singapore's mainstream media have long been cowed into submission by the government through libel lawsuits, contempt of court cases and outright intimidation. Although the Media Development Authority said the new law was only meant to bring Internet sites into compliance with existing press regulations, Singapore's tame courts have been used to bludgeon the press into not reporting at all on the country. The Internet sites can be expected to face the same fate.
Many international news outlets including the International Herald Tribune, the Financial Times, the Wall Street Journal, Time Magazine, the now-defunct Far Eastern Economic Review and AsiaWeek, Time Magazine and others have been sued successfully by the family of Prime Minister Lee Hsien Loong and his father, Lee Kuan Yew. All have reacted by shying away from critical reporting on the country.
According to the Human Rights Watch report: "In response to criticism, the Media Development Authority clarified on its Facebook page on May 31 that, “An individual publishing views on current affairs and trends on his/her personal website or blog does not amount to news reporting.' However, in a separate statement, the Authority undermined this claim by asserting that, "If they [blogs] take on the nature of news sites, we will take a closer look and evaluate them accordingly."
The Media Development Authority also asserted that the framework is "not an attempt to influence the editorial slant of news sites" and that it will only step in "when complaints are raised to [their] attention, and [they] assess that the content is in breach of the content guidelines and merits action by the website owner."

Singapore PM criticizes U.S. `game of chicken'

(CNN) -- Singapore's prime minister openly criticized the United States over the government shutdown and ongoing deadlock over the debt ceiling, calling them "problems you have created for yourself in a game of chicken."

In an interview with CNN's Patricia Wu on the sidelines of the Asia Pacific Economic Cooperation (APEC) summit, Prime Minister Lee Hsien Loong said Americans "are unable to get their act together," and that Washington's behavior sends a "negative signal which will last much longer that the shutdown."

The government shutdown led U.S. President Barack Obama to cancel his attendance at the APEC Leaders' summit just days before he was meant to arrive. The summit finishes today in Bali, Indonesia. Aside from Taiwan, Obama is the only leader missing among the 21 economies of the APEC group, which together account for half the world's output, 45% of its trade and 3 billion of its inhabitants.

The U.S. government is also facing an October 17 deadline to raise its debt ceiling or risk a possible default.

Prime Minister Lee said he was more worried about the long-term message the U.S. was sending than the prospect of a direct hit to U.S. growth.

Asked if the U.S. would benefit from a system like Singapore's -- where government ministers are paid hundreds of thousands of dollars in salaries -- Lee said he believes his country runs a clean system in which officials are paid "what their job is worth."

He criticized the conflicts of interest that result from the "revolving door" between the United States government and the private sector. Lee is paid more than $1 million to serve as Singapore's prime minister.

Singapore is heavily dependent on exports and trade, so the fate of the city-state is closely linked with the health of the U.S. economy. Both Singapore's property and stock markets have boomed over the last few years as investors flooded in seeking higher returns thanks to loose liquidity from the U.S. Federal Reserve and China.

The prime minister said he is comfortable with Singapore's footing as the United Stated considers turning off the flow of easy money.

"The emerging economies, many of them are concerned. They didn't want the money to slosh in. They are afraid when the money sloshes out, but the tapering has to take place and we have to be able to manage it," Lee said.

He also expressed concern over the stiffening tone in territorial disputes between Asia's power players, including Japan and China.

"It is very hard for any government to give up what it has claimed, because it will lose face and standing and domestic support, so you can only manage these issues, you cannot solve them," Lee said.

Gay Rights an Issue in Singapore

Does Senior Pastor Khong know about this?

Churches demand that the government not decriminalize gay sex
Members of Singapore's Christian community have ignited a rising controversy over gay rights, to the point where the Attorney-General Chambers has reminded all parties that the High Court is hearing two cases on a section of the penal code which criminalizes sexual acts between men, and that any comments "calculated to affect the minds of the courts hearing the case" will be held in contempt of court.

The current controversy began with a statement from Senior Pastor Lawrence Khong of the Faith Community Baptist Church, made during a visit to the church by Emeritus Senior Minister Goh Chok Tong, the former prime minister.

During his address, Khong appealed to Goh for the Singapore government to retain Section 377A of the Penal Code, which states that "Any male person who, in public or private, commits, or abets the commission of, or procures or attempts to procure the commission by any male person of, any act of gross indecency with another male person, shall be punished with imprisonment for a term which may extend to two years."

The code was amended in 2007 to remove criminal sanctions on lesbians and other offenders, but kept the stricture against gay men. The government has promised that the law will not be "proactively enforced" although the topic has once again gained public attention as challenges to the section are pending in court. Two applications had been taken out against the section, one by a gay couple and another by a man initially charged under the section.

Last July, the government tolerated a gay rights organization called Pink Dot that drew more than 15,000 people to a local park to celebrate different sexual orientations. The movement has gained larger and larger crowds every year.

Prime Minister Lee Hsien Loong, in debate over the amending the law in 2007, told Singapore's parliament that "Singapore is basically a conservative society...The family is the basic building block of this society. And by family in Singapore we mean one man, one woman, marrying, having children and bringing up children within that framework of a stable family unit."

Fundamentalist American-style mega-churches that peddle religion, showbiz and virulent social conservatism have been gaining strength in a society that has always maintained an uneasy balance over religion. The government has allowed plenty of it as long as it doesn't get too fervent.

However, the new evangelical churches for instance have been making explicit attacks on homosexuality, claiming in defiance of all medical expertise and any notion of equality and common sense that it can and should be "cured."

Khong's statement, which was also posted on his Facebook page, attracted a flurry of comments, many of which were pro-gay rights. The reaction led to a series of posts addressing "the homosexual agenda" and charges that the repeal of the prohibition would "open the door for the advancement of the homosexual agenda in Singapore." With the patriotic call of "Majulah Singapura" (Onward Singapore), Khong encouraged Singaporeans to oppose the repeal.

Khong's message to Goh was picked up by Pastor Yang Tuck Yoong from the Cornerstone Community Church, whose blog post initially said "the church must get herself into battle footing, and be battle-ready" against the LGBT community. The post has since been edited.

The two pastors are also leading members of LoveSingapore, a network that represents about 40,000 Christians in the country. The network has stated that it would organize to oppose the repeal of Section 377A.

"If they [the LGBT community] had not pushed for the repeal, we would not come out into the public square," Yang told The Straits Times. "You touch a law that affects us, we have the right to speak up."

Many Singaporeans have responded to the anti-gay sentiment. Actor Lim Yu Beng posted an open letter to Khong, asking, "Nobody is making it compulsory for him to be gay. Why should he make it compulsory for others to be straight?"

Reverend Miak Siew from the Free Community Church also penned a response: "The repeal of 377A poses no threat to families bound together by love. Instead, the idea of a "traditional family" is a threat to all families - because it has placed obstacles in how parents understand their children who are different and it has made people who do not fit in - whether they are single parents, divorcees, or children who are orphaned, whose parents are not around by circumstance - ashamed of who they are."

(Kirsten Han blogs for Asian Correspondent. A version of this story appeared on that website)

Dr Tony Tan Keng Yam Is New President Of Singapore

SINGAPORE, Aug 28 (Bernama) -- Former deputy prime minister Dr Tony Tan Keng Yam has become the island state's seventh president, winning the four-corner election by 7,269 votes or a 0.34 per cent margin following a recount.

Returning officer Yam Ah Mee announced the result early Sunday morning after he had allowed the recount as the difference in votes between the two leading candidates was less than two per cent of the total valid votes cast.

Keng Yam secured 744,397 or 35.19 per cent of the total valid votes while Dr Tan Cheng Bock received 737,128 or 34.85 per cent.

Tan Jee Say garnered 529,732 votes or 25.04 per cent and Tan Kin Lian obtained 103,931 votes or 4.91 per cent.

This is the first time that Singapore has seen a four-corner fight for the post. It is also the first contested presidential election since 1993.

The president is the head of state and holds office for a term of six years.

Immigration forced S'pore duo to do 'nude squats'

 (Malaysiakini) Two Singaporean women were reportedly forced to do squats in the nude by Immigration Department personnel following their arrest for “illegal entry” into Malaysia.

Such a practice was declared as “inhumane and undignified” and be immediately discontinued by the Royal Commission to Inquire into the Standard Operating Procedure, Rules and Regulations in Relation to the Conduct of Body Search in Respect of an Arrest and Detention report in 2006.

According to Singapore's Chinese daily Lianhe Zaobao, the incident happened during the wee hours of June 9 when the two women drove across the Causeway from the island republic.

The duo were headed to Johor Bahru for supper, but they were apparently negligent and walked passed the immigration counter without having their passports stamped.

For this, they were reportedly detained on the charge of being illegal immigrants and held at a lock-up facility in Pontian, Johor.

Under the pseudonym of Lin Li Li, the woman told the newspaper that she and her friend Zhan Ting Ting, another psuedonym, were ordered to take off their clothes and do 10 squats.

They were reportedly only given clothes meant for detainees after performing the act. They also complained about being handcuffed and that the lock-up conditions were atrocious.

"The clothes were dirty and smelly. The cell was only as big as two third of a basketball court, but there are 50 people inside. There were also a lot of mosquitos and cockroaches.

"We were handcuffed, we were treated as detainee even though we were proved not guilty. This is an insult,” Lin was reported as saying.

Home Ministry yet to receive report

After the 24-hour detention, they were released with a warning letter from the immigration officer.

Upset with their treatment, the duo said they will never enter Malaysia again even if they were invited to do so.

According to a Sin Chew Daily website, Home Ministry secretary-general Mahmud Adam has declined to comment on the matter because he had yet to receive any report on the matter.

This is the second major allegation of abuse of power by the Malaysian authorities since November 2005, when a video of a woman forced to perform nude squats by the police began circulating on the Internet.

According to the police, the nude squats was meant to look for illicit drugs.

The incident led to the formation of an independent commission led by former chief justice Mohamed Dzaiddin Abdullah, which recommended that the practice be discontinued.

Ethnic Indian appointed as Singapore Army Chief

By Krishna Singh
7th Rangers (Mechanized)

Singapore: The appointment of Brigadier-General Ravinder Singh, a Sikh, as the next chief of the Singapore Army is the culmination of a long tradition of the community serving in uniform, both as policemen and in the armed forces, in the city-state.

Their role in Singapore belies their small number: There are only an estimated 12,000 to 15,000 Sikhs in Singapore, a nation of five million people. Their number is small even when compared to 100,000 Sikhs living in Malaysia. Sikhs came to this part of Southeast Asia as soldiers and policemen during the British era.

Brig. Gen. Singh will replace Major-General Chan Chun Sing as army chief March 25.

Singh, 46, currently deputy secretary (technology) in the defence ministry, was previously commanding officer, 3rd Signal Battalion; commander, 2nd Singapore Infantry Brigade and assistant chief of general staff (plans); head joint communications and information systems department.

He has also held the posts of head joint plans and transformation department; commander 6th Division and chief of staff – joint staff. Singh holds a Master of Arts (Engineering Science) from the University of Oxford, Britain. He also holds a Master of Science (Management of Technology) from the Massachusetts Institute of Technology, US.

He joined the Singapore Armed Forces in December 1982. Brig Gen Singh is also the first non-Chinese Chief of Army in nearly 30 years. Colonel Mancharan Singh Gill was the first ever when he took up the post in 1982, the report said.

Hat tip: Colonel Mike Nasir via e-mail. Note: This will never happen in UMNO/BN led Bolehland, as discrimination against minorities is policy.

Farish Noor in Singapore shares with us his thoughts on a landmark general election. “Looking as the campaign as whole it can be said that the opposition parties have managed to build a wider support network than before. “Though this did not lead to a massive swing, it has forced the PAP to take notice of public opinion. The PAP now sees the potential of the internet and some of their politicians have finally gone on twitter. “Issues like house prices and jobs will have to be addressed in the near future.” Some Singaporeans maybe disappointed, but I think the results give them something to build on. The Singapore government has also been put on notice about the high income inequality in the republic. Singstat provides the Gini coefficient for employed households and at no point in the past 10 years is the Gini lower than 0.430, and that only if we take into account transfers to households. If only earned income is used as the basis, then the Gini, at lowest (in 2000) was 0.444, at highest (2007) at 0.489 and in 2010, 0.48. The overall trend over the last 10 years has been upwards. Malaysia too has similar problems. If one were to calculate the gini on the same basis as the one in singstat’s report, then Malaysia’s Gini would be around the same level of 0.48-0.49. Time for both government’s to sit up and take notice of serious income inequalities.

Farish Noor in Singapore shares with us his thoughts on a landmark general election.

“Looking as the campaign as whole it can be said that the opposition parties have managed to build a wider support network than before.

“Though this did not lead to a massive swing, it has forced the PAP to take notice of public opinion. The PAP now sees the potential of the internet and some of their politicians have finally gone on twitter.

“Issues like house prices and jobs will have to be addressed in the near future.”

Some Singaporeans maybe disappointed, but I think the results give them something to build on.

The Singapore government has also been put on notice about the high income inequality in the republic. Singstat provides the Gini coefficient for employed households and at no point in the past 10 years is the Gini lower than 0.430, and that only if we take into account transfers to households. If only earned income is used as the basis, then the Gini, at lowest (in 2000) was 0.444, at highest (2007) at 0.489 and in 2010, 0.48. The overall trend over the last 10 years has been upwards.

Malaysia too has similar problems. If one were to calculate the gini on the same basis as the one in singstat’s report, then Malaysia’s Gini would be around the same level of 0.48-0.49.

Time for both government’s to sit up and take notice of serious income inequalities.

Singapore general election: Democracy rising

It’s just two more days to polling day in Singapore – and the democratic awakening sweeping across the world has not left the island republic untouched.

“Singapore is a country – not a company,” says private teacher Michelle Lee, speaking at an opposition SDP rally

An opposition rally in Singapore

One political observer in Singapore told me he expects the opposition to pick up 10 to 12 seats in the 87-seat legislature. “(It is) difficult to predict though…..could be more. People I spoke to (seem) determined to cast their votes to the Opposition.” In the 2006 general election, the opposition won just two out of the 84 seats up for grabs. Under the circumstances, even if the opposition captures six to eight seats, it would be a significant advance.
Like elsewhere, part of this newfound democratic consciousness may be attributed to the stranglehold over the mainstream media being broken by wider public access to alternative views on the Internet. There’s solidarity in numbers too – and that has helped to cast off some of the fear of earlier years.
What’s interesting is that quite a number of the major election issues in Singapore are similar to ours – although of course the obvious corruption and the racial and religious rhetoric over there is much less.
The core issues seem depressingly familiar: lack of freedom of expression, the rising cost of living, an influx of migrant workers, the absence of a minimum wage, a clamour for affordable health care and housing, traffic congestion and crowded public transport, long hours at work, retired workers having to work into their twilight years.
Apart from this, many seem resentful over the high ministerial pay packets. Like in Malaysia, income inequality in Singapore is worrying: the island republic’s Gini coefficient was 0.425 for 2000-2010, the second highest of 42 nations with “very high human development”.
But beyond all this there seems to be realisation that human development should not be measured solely in economic terms. At the heart of it all, many Singaporeans appear tired of the focus on GDP and productivity in Corporate Singapore even as a large proportion of workers appear to be struggling.
Voters now seem to be looking at larger quality of life issues; they want to be treated with dignity and they want their democratic freedom, their basic universal rights. Surely, there must be more to life than slogging away in the service of GDP growth rates and the bottom line or being a human cog in the production line.
That’s not too dissimilar from what is happening in Malaysia, where many are waking up to hard economic realities. Many Malaysians are also burdened by the inability of wages to keep pace with the soaring cost of living. And all the while, the government bows to Corporate Malaysia with pro-business policies that promote corporate-driven GDP growth (for whom?) while dishing out corporate incentives, soft loans, and contracts for the ‘boys’.
It’s time for a more sustainable and people-centred approach to development that would put people above profits. The economy should serve the people and not the other way around.  

Warkah di ambang maut: Saya dan hidup saya

Yong Vui Kong rakyat Malaysia berasal dari Sabah sedang merengkuk di penjara Singapura. Beliau menunggu hukuman bunuh ke atasnya dilaksanakan kerana kesalahan mengedar dadah.

Malaysiakini akan menyiarkan surat-surat terakhir Yong sepanjang 12 minggu ini kepada Yetian, seorang anggota kempen Selamatkan Vui Kong pada saat-saat beliau menghadapi kematian.

Yetian,

Yun Leong membawa surat awak apabila dia melawat saya pada hari Isnin. Katanya, surat pertama telah disiarkan.

Terima kasih dan terima kasih juga kepada mereka yang tidak saya kenali tetapi sudi membantu saya. Terima kasih juga kepada mereka yang membaca surat saya. Saya berharap lebih ramai dapat membacanya. In sahaja cara yang dapat saya berhubung dengan dunia luar.

Yetian, awak kata hidup ini amat berharga.

Bagi saya, hidup atau nyawa adalah perkara terpenting dalam dunia. Banyak benda lain yang amat berharga bagi diri saya. Malah jika awak mempunyai wang yang banyak ataupun memiliki harta kebendaan yang tidak terkira, awak cuma mempunyai satu nyawa.

Pada masa lalu, saya tidak menghargai kehidupan saya. Kemudian, baru saya sedari mereka yang tidak menghormati kehidupan mereka sendiri tidak boleh mengharapkan orang lain bagi menghormati mereka.

Selepas mendekati ajaran Buddha, baru saya sedar saya mempunyai tanggungjawab dalam kehidupan ini.

Saya menyaksikan seorang demi seorang tahanan hilang nyawa mereka kerana mereka jahil ataupun dengan senang terpedaya. Saya sedari saya juga akan menjadi seperti mereka. Justeru, saya ingin menggunakan sisa hidup ini untuk menceritakan kisah saya kepada orang ramai.

Saya ingin gunakan falsafah Buddha untuk beritahu orang ramai supaya tidak melakukan kesalahan dan tidak tercampak menunggu hukuman mati seperti saya kerana kesalahan dadah. Saya ingin nasihatkan awak supaya jangan mengambil dadah kerana ia menjahanamkan kehidupan.

Mengimbas kembali hari Yun Leong datang melawat saya di pusat tahanan, saya menangis seperti anak kecil. Saya begitu takut. Tangan dan kaki saya menggeletar semasa saya menangis teresak-esak dan saya sedari segala keberanian dan ketabahan selama ini ranap begitu sahaja.

Saya takut menghadapi kematian. Saya tidak tahu apa yang akan berlaku kepada saya selepas mati.

[Baca surat penuh]

YONG VUI KONG, dijatuhkan hukuman mati pada November 2009 kerana mengedar dadah. Beliau hanya berusia 19 tahun. Pada 4 April lalu, beliau gagal dalam rayuan terakhirnya bagi mengelakkan hukuman mati mandatori.

Dia akan digantung dalam tempoh tiga bulan kecuali diberikan pengampunan oleh presiden Singapura.

Hanging Mules in Singapore

Ready for the big drop

(Asia Sentinel) The island republic's inflexible drug laws doom drug couriers
"He is a good boy," Cheong Kah Pin whispers, "but they took him away."

He scrunches up his tear-streaked face, uses the back of his hand to rub his eyes. His anguish is palpable. "Please help. Please." Cheong is living a parent's worst nightmare. His 28-year-old son, Chun Yin, sits on death row in Singapore, convicted in 2010 of smuggling 2.7 kg of heroin into the country. It's a harsh punishment for a first offender. But under Singapore's laws, judges have little choice but to impose a mandatory death penalty. Anyone caught with more than 15g of heroin is presumed to be trafficking, and once found guilty, will almost certainly be hanged.

Chun Yin is not alone. A long string of drug mules have been strung up in the island republic The issue has come to the fore now in particular in the wake of the prosecution of a British author, Alan Shadrake, for allegedly insulting Singapore in his book Once a Jolly Hangman for its eager use of the hangman's noose in a way that casts doubt on its image as a strict but fair state.

Tough Stand
It's not clear how many drug mules Singapore sends to the gallows each year, since the government doesn't publish figures. But the city-state and neighboring Malaysia have some of the most draconian drug laws in the world. Supporters say they are necessary in order to prevent what Singapore's Law Minister K Shanmugum describes as an "unstoppable stream of people" from dealing drugs.

Opponents disagree. They say the law targets those low down in the supply chain – mules like Chun Yin who may or may not be aware of what they were carrying – while allowing the real culprits to go free. Cheong says Chun Yin was tricked by an acquaintance who had promised him a holiday in Burma and a nice bit of cash in exchange for carrying gold bars into Singapore. The father and son duo ran a small but profitable business selling DVDs across the strait in Johor Bahru and were not desperate for money. Cheong says he didn't want Chun Yin to go but relented in the end.

"I told him to come back soon. Come back because I can't run the business on my own."

Lawyer M Ravi, Singapore's leading anti-death penalty lawyer, calls the policy "unconscionable".

"It's a one-size-fits-all approach that doesn't take into account mitigating factors or the personal circumstances of the accused," he says. "What kind of law is this?"

Ravi looks exhausted when we meet. He's a somewhat controversial figure, even among anti-death penalty campaigners. Where some advocate taking a softer approach, Ravi doesn't shy away from a more confrontational stance. Earlier this year, the Court of Appeal rejected his request for a judicial review of the powers of Singapore's president in clemency proceedings, as well as of statements made by Shanmugum about the mandatory death penalty.

"These are important questions," Ravi says. "I know it might be unpopular to ask, but a life's at stake, I have to do my job."

Yong's Story

The life in question belongs to another former mule, a 23-year-old whose story has triggered an unprecedented wave of sympathy in Singapore and his native Malaysia. Not yet 19 when he was caught with 47.27g of heroin, Yong Vui Kong came from a broken home, grew up in extreme poverty and throughout his teens, struggled to care for a mother with a mental illness. He was also poorly educated and impressionable – a prime target for drug syndicates. Family members say he is now a changed person who doesn't deserve to die. More than 100,000 people agree and have signed a petition pleading for a second chance for him.

Singapore's Court of Appeal was unmoved. In a unanimous decision, it upheld Yong's sentence and disagreed with Ravi that the mandatory death penalty was unconstitutional. Yong is now preparing his petition for clemency.

"There's a possibility he's been wronged"

Singapore and Malaysia's tough stance on drugs has drawn flak from various human rights organizations. Amnesty International is a regular critic. In Kuala Lumpur recently, the organization's Nora Murat said there is no proof the mandatory death penalty acts as a deterrent against crime and together with Chun Yin's family, urged authorities to reexamine his case.

Unlike Yong, who has admitted his guilt and is seeking clemency on the basis of his youth, ignorance and willingness to change, Chun Yin maintains to this day, that he never intended to smuggle drugs. Cheong says Chun Yin was tricked by an acquaintance who had promised him a holiday in Burma and a nice bit of cash in exchange for carrying gold bars into Singapore.

Family members point to the fact that Chun Yin had even left a copy of his e-ticket and passport details inside the suitcase containing the heroin.

"Why would he do that and risk being caught?" Cheong asks.

Upon his arrest, Chun Yin also gave officials at Singapore's Central Narcotics Bureau, or CNB, the telephone number and a detailed description of "Lau De," the man whom he said had arranged the trip to Burma. Investigators did not follow up on the lead. But in handing down the death sentence, High Court Judge Choo Han Teck described the CNB's lapse as "immaterial" to the case.

The judgment has triggered a minor uproar in Malaysia.

"How can they not investigate? There's a possibility he's been wronged," says human rights lawyer Ngeow Chow Ying. "We feel this young man deserves our help."

Activists say Chun Yin's case is a classic example of how drug laws, enacted to protect the general population, can lead to an injustice. The presumption of guilt is hard to rebut. Couple that with the fact that a judge's hands are tied when it comes to sentencing, and the odds are stacked against the mule. The intention to commit a crime might not be relevant so long as an accused person is caught with the requisite amount of drugs.

No Apologies
Singapore makes no apologies for its stand. In a written statement issued during the 2009 session of the UN Human Rights Council, it said:

"[W]e strongly disagree that States should refrain from using the death penalty in relation to drug-related offences. The death penalty has deterred major drug syndicates from establishing themselves in Singapore…"
Critics have been quick to point out a major inconsistency in the position.

"If the Singapore government is serious about tackling the scourge of drugs," says Rachel Zeng, who is a member of the Singapore Anti-death Penalty Campaign, "then it should take a good look at its cozy relations with Burma, which is a known heroin producer."

Malaysia, Ready for Change?
Over in Malaysia, there are signs change could be afoot. Yong Vui Kong's case has been a catalyst. "The support has been tremendous," says Ngeow. "His story has really struck a chord with many people."

The "Save Yong Vui Kong" Facebook group has drawn more than 23,000 fans. Several newspapers are now running a weekly column featuring letters from Yong to a friend outside prison. Last year, the Malaysian government even sent a letter, through its Foreign Ministry, pleading for mercy on his behalf.

Most telling perhaps are comments from the de facto Law Minister, Nazri Abdul Aziz, made during the height of the Save Yong Vui Kong campaign in 2010. Nazri was quoted as saying that it was time for Malaysia to abolish the death penalty. Among the reasons he cited – the fact that it did not seem to be deterring crimes like drug trafficking and murder. But he also added that the country lacked the political will to change things.

The Case of Noor Atiqah
Some activists are hoping that the case of a Singapore drug mule sentenced to death in Malaysia will bring about that transformation. Noor Atiqah M. Lasim, a 27-year-old single mother, was arrested at Kuala Lumpur's Low Cost Carrier Terminal on the 5th of January 2009. Immigration officials found 342.1g of heroin and 30.3g of monoacethymorphine hidden inside a bag she was carrying. Noor Atiqah's supporters say she had no idea she was transporting drugs. They say she was duped into becoming an unwitting mule by her Nigerian boyfriend.

Ravi, who has met Noor Atiqah's family, is cautiously optimistic about her case. Lawyers are still discussing the best course of action, but there is talk of a constitutional challenge to the mandatory death penalty in Malaysia. Activists hope that if that happens, and Noor Atiqah succeeds, Singapore's government might feel compelled to reconsider its position.

"Renew. Rehab. Restart."
There's a photo taken outside Changi Prison that's making its way around some circles on the Internet. The picture shows Yong's brother, Yun Leong, signing a piece of paper held up by Cheong.

Time is running out for Chun Yin and his family members are making a desperate last push to save his life. Over the past few weeks, they've collected thousands of signatures in support of a call for Singaporean authorities to stay his execution and reopen his case. His punishment, they say, should be for smuggling gold, not drugs.

It's a painstaking, heartbreaking exercise only someone like Yun Leong can understand. Just months ago, he too was out on the streets with his siblings, canvassing support for their own brother. Their campaign climaxed with a visit to the back entrance of Singapore's presidential palace, the Istana. There, they handed over files containing 109,346 signatures to a security guard who promptly told them to leave. The family's response was to get on their knees, begging Singapore to spare Yong's life.

Supporters who've seen the photo of Yun Leong and Cheong speak of how moved they are by the younger man's show of solidarity, his willingness to stand with those facing a similar plight. What they don't realize though is the awful irony of the situation. Had the photographer taken a wider angle, they would have seen some big, bold words behind the two Malaysians.

They form the prison's motto – Renew. Rehab. Restart.

Time running out, Cheong family cries for help

The Sun
by Alyaa Alhadjri

KUALA LUMPUR (April 8, 2011): There is not much time left for 27-year-old Cheong Chun Yin who was sentenced to death by Singaporean authorities in February last year for drug trafficking, claims his distraught family members.

Cheong has exhausted all his appeals and is now awaiting the final verdict, following submission of a "Petition for Clemency" to the Singapore President S.R Nathan on Jan 31, they told a press conference held at Kuala Lumpur and Selangor Chinese Assembly Hall (KLSCAH) today.

The outcome of his application is expected to be known by the end of this month.

The family, together with Amnesty International executive director Nora Morat, highlighted Cheong's plight and enlisted support to save Cheong.

Cheong, and another Malaysian, 54-year-old  Pang Siew Fum were reportedly arrested by the city-state’s Central Narcotics Bureau (CNB) officers on June 16, 2008 after they were found to be trafficking a total of 7.7kg of diamorphine.

Cheong had claimed that he was told to carry the bags containing the drugs and passed them to Pang, thinking they contained gold bars.

A strong advocate for abolishing the death sentence, Nora said: "As a developed nation, the death penalty have to stop. It has no place in any parts of the legal system."

She added that it also very important give "human faces" to the death penalty in order to highlight stories of people who might have been victims of unfortunate circumstances.

Based on the Amnesty International's Death Sentences and Executions report 2010, Nora said there were 114 death sentences handed down in Malaysia last year, mostly for drug related offences, but only one was carried out.

Another supporter of the call to abolish the death sentence was Kelana Jaya MP Loh Gwo Burne who said: "The death penalty have not proven to be an effective deterrent. Instead, more people are falling victims to professional drug barons who use them as mules."

Emotions were running high as Cheong's parents, Cheong Kah Pin and Lim Mooi Hoh were seen wiping away tears as they recounted their son's plight.

They had come from Johor Baru, accompanied by Cheong's two sisters, Jesleen Cheong and Joanne Cheong.

Also present was lawyer and KLSCAH civil rights committee vice-chairman Ngeow Chow Ying.

Last village standing evokes Singapore’s rural past

Its days are numbered but until development forces residents to move, the village gives visitors a glimpse of what life was like in the 1950s.

FEATURE

SINGAPORE: Quietly tucked away in a corner surrounded by high-rise apartments and rows of bungalows is a rustic village where the old Singapore still survives.
Dogs and cats run freely and chickens cluck noisily as children play around colourful, zinc-roofed houses made of wood and cement, undisturbed by the din of cars zipping by on an expressway just a few metres away.
Welcome to Kampong Lorong Buangkok, the last surviving village on the Singapore mainland.
Its days are numbered but until development forces residents to move, the village gives visitors a glimpse of what life was like in the 1950s before Singapore became one of Asia’s most modern and wealthiest cities.
Occupying a land area the size of three football fields in the northeastern suburbs, the kampong (“village” in the Malay language) has 28 houses scattered haphazardly with a total of about 50 residents.
With unpaved streets, large backyard gardens, grassy patches and occasional banana plants, the cluster is an anachronism in a city-state crammed with office towers, high-rise apartment blocks and shopping malls.
For residents, the village provides relief at the end of each working day, a quiet oasis where neighbours still know each other intimately, quite unlike the anonymity of city living.
“I have a deep attachment to my neighbours,” said Sng Mui Hong, a 57-year-old spinster who rents out houses in the village for S$6.50 to S$30 a month.
Colonial rule
Most of Singapore’s five million residents live in government-built apartment buildings and private condominiums.
“After all they grew up with me, and some of the grandmothers and grandfathers here have watched me grow up,” said Sng, who currently lives with a nephew and niece, three dogs and several pet birds.
Her family moved into the plot of land in 1956, when Singapore was still under British colonial rule. Electricity and running water came into the village in 1962, a period when the country was in political transition.
Singapore, a largely ethnic Chinese island, became part of the Malaysian Federation in 1963 but was expelled two years later as Kuala Lumpur pursued policies favourable to the Malay majority.
In modern-day Kampong Lorong Buangkok, racial harmony comes naturally for the Chinese and Malay families whose houses are about five metres apart.
“They are like my own parents because we are from the same village. So I don’t care if they are Malay or Chinese,” Sng said of her older neighbours.
And while the village is by Singapore standards far from supermarkets, schools and bus and train stops, residents rarely mind as there are perks to village life that cannot be found elsewhere.
Some even own cars, a luxury in Singapore.
Future generations
Makeup artist Jamil Kamsah, who has lived in Kampong Lorong Buangkok since 1967, enjoys the amicable nature of the village folk.
“People here are very friendly, motherly and polite, and it is easy for me to make friends with them,” the 55-year-old said. “I don’t scold animals and I talk to plants.”
In his free time, Jamil tends to his garden and touches up the exterior of his house, welcoming visitors with a ready smile.
In land-scarce Singapore, where many older buildings and residential areas have been converted to more modern housing or commercial use, Kampong Lorong Buangkok faces an uncertain future.
Sng hopes the village can be preserved to educate future generations about the past and show them how their forefathers lived.
“Not everybody started off wealthy, many grandfathers built their lives from scratch,” she said
Some city schools take their young students on excursion trips to Kampong Lorong Buangkok to learn about village life.
“Some children mistook the chickens for birds,” Kamsah recalled.
The village’s days are numbered, and the residents know it.
Singapore’s land-use planning agency, the Urban Redevelopment Authority (URA), said there are plans to redevelop Kampong Lorong Buangkok, but gave no time frame.
“The kampong at Lorong Buangkok and its surrounding land is planned to be comprehensively developed to provide future housing and other neighbourhood facilities supported by a road network,” said a URA spokesperson.
Sng, however, does not feel sad even if her village has to go one day.
“Nothing lasts forever,” she shrugged.

KAUM MELAYU SINGAPURA

1. Tan Malaka yang namanya amat terkenal di zaman Sukarno mendakwa Melayu Singapura lebih disiplin (daripada Melayu Malaysia). Ini memang benar. Bahkan rakyat Singapura tanpa mengira bangsa juga amat disiplin.

2. Sebagai contoh mereka tidak akan buang sampah di jalan. Dengan itu jalan-jalan di Singapura amat bersih.

3. Tetapi apabila mereka menyeberang ke tanah besar Malaysia mereka akan buang sampah dari kereta mereka dalam perjalanan.

4. Ada pelawak yang memanggil Singapura "a fine city". Sebabnya kerana bagi tiap kesalahan kecil rakyatnya akan dikenakan denda iaitu "fine".

5. Rakyat Malaysia pun bila ke Singapura akan berjaga-jaga supaya tidak dikenakan fine.

6. Di Malaysia buang sampah selori di tepi jalan pun tidak diambil apa-apa tindakan. Sudah tentu rakyat Malaysia di Malaysia tidak disiplin dalam soal kebersihan dan lain-lain.

7. Mungkin ini kerana kita demokratik. Parti-parti politik takut rakyat tidak akan sokong mereka jika mereka bertindak terlalu keras supaya rakyat berdisiplin.

8. Parti pemerintah Singapura tidak takut kepada rakyat. Jika rakyat pilih bukan calon PAP, dia akan diheret ke mahkamah, didenda dan dijadikan bankrap. Selepas itu dia tidak dapat ke Parlimen untuk membantah perlakuan pemerintah.

9. Jika dia dibenar mengambil tempat di Parlimen, dia tidak akan berani berkata apa-apa.

10. Mungkin Tan Malaka lebih senang jika amalan di Singapura didapati di Malaysia.

11. Jika "demokrasi" ala Singapura diamal disini saya yakin bukan sahaja Melayu Malaysia akan disiplin tetapi semua kaum akan disiplin.

12. Sesungguhnya keadaan di Singapura amat mengagumkan sesetengah daripada kita di Malaysia. Apa tidak. Masalah Kampung Baru dapat diselesaikan dengan mudah. Pindahkan sahaja penduduk Kampung Baru, dan bangunkan rumah pangsa yang akan diduduki oleh sesiapa sahaja. Seperti hilangnya Geylang dan Pasir Panjang akan hilanglah Kampung Baru.

13. Menteri-Menteri pun lega kerana jika dicalonkan semula oleh parti, kemenangan terjamin walaupun menidakkan hak bersuara rakyat. 

Singapore gags citizens’ criticism, says Dr M

KUALA LUMPUR, Jan 23 — Tun Dr Mahathir Mohamad said last night that Singaporeans were not allowed to cast their government in a bad light.

The former prime minister was responding to Singapore Berita Harian readers who were reportedly unhappy with him for claiming that Singaporean Malays were marginalised.

“They have freedom of speech in Singapore where you can say what you like, so long as it is approving of the government,” Dr Mahathir told reporters after launching the movement Viva Palestina Malaysia here today.

“(You have freedom) as long as you don’t say something that the government of Singapore does not like,” he added.

On Thursday, national news agency Bernama reported several Singapore Berita Harian readers as saying that Malays on the island-republic enjoyed progress without subsidies and were on equal treatment with other communities.

One reader, Sallim Ahmad, reportedly said it had become Mahathir’s theme that “the Singapore Malays are being marginalised until the end of world.”

He also said the position of Islam was protected although it was not the official religion in the republic where Malays are the minority.

Another reader called Kamariah Lim Li Hwa was quoted as saying: “We the Malays of Singapore feel at ease and are grateful that the Singapore rulers execute our trust with transparency.”

Today, Dr Mahathir said Singaporeans were welcome to make such remarks, but that they were required to “be nice in Singapore”.

On Friday, Malay rights group Perkasa voiced similar sentiments in their defence of the former PM.

“No Malays in Singapore dare to talk the truth about the treatment they received,” Perkasa president Datuk Ibrahim Ali told The Malaysian Insider.

He had also claimed that the comments by the Singapore Berita Harian readers did not represent the Malay community in Singapore in its entirety.

Dr Mahathir recently warned against dispersing Kampung Baru’s Malay residents in the same way Singapore had scattered the Malay community and diluted its voice.

He wrote in his blog that while Malaysia is being governed by a Malay majority government that cares for the fate of Malays, “let us not be so sure that there will never be a government where the voice of Malay representatives is removed.”

In June, Dr Mahathir told a rally of Malay NGOs that Malays in Malaysia risked becoming marginalised like their Singapore counterparts because of political divisions.

The former PM had said: “If we do not think deeply about the future of our community then there is a possibility that we can become [like] the Singaporean Malays and have no power.”

Singapore's WikiLeaks Gaffes

In the jungle, the mighty jungle, the Merlion sleeps tonight/wimoweh, wimoweh, wimoweh

(Asia Sentinel) Oz papers find top Foreign Affairs ministry officials trashing the neighbors

Some of Singapore's top Foreign Affairs Ministry officials made devastating assessments of Malaysia and its leaders to senior US officials in 2008 and 2009, according to leaked US State Department cables that the WikiLeaks website made available to Australian papers.

In exclusive stories over the weekend, the trio also trashed Japan, India and Thailand, according The Sunday Age and the Sydney Morning Herald, which reported separately that Singaporean officials believed opposition leader Anwar Ibrahim had been set up by the Malaysian government over the charges of sexual perversion that he is on trial for now, but that he was probably guilty.

The Sunday Age reported that Malaysia is in "dangerous decline," fueled by incompetent politicians, that Prime Minister Najib Tun Razak could be prosecuted over the gruesome 2006 murder of Mongolian translator Altantuya Shaaribuu if the ruling national coalition were to lose power, and that the situation in the country is "confused and dangerous," fueled by the distinct possibility of racial conflict that could see ethnic Chinese fleeing Malaysia to "overwhelm" Singapore.

The officials who made the comments in separate meetings with senior US officials were foreign affairs chiefs Peter Ho, Bilahari Kausikan and Tommy Koh, according to the Age article. The trio at the time occupied some of the most senior positions in Singapore's Foreign Affairs Ministry. They all gave US officials damning assessments of Malaysia, according to the stories.

Moreover, the trio said, Thailand is dogged by corruption and a ''very erratic'' crown prince, Japan is a ''big fat loser'' and India is ''stupid."

Although the newspapers speculated that the reports would raise a storm among Singapore's neighbors, Singapore's neighbors have long known of the island country's superior attitude. The quotes in the story merely ratify what is already known. It should be pointed out that Singapore, predominantly made up of ethnic Chinese, has always privately held the view that the surrounding countries have been ruled by hostile, often crooked incompetents who are mostly inferior to the technocrats who run the island republic.

Singaporean authorities have been perennially worried about a Muslim threat to their island country from both Indonesia and Malaysia, formulating the famed "poisoned shrimp" strategy that in a phrase means "swallow us and we will kill you." Singapore thus has a bigger, more modern and more competent air force than Malaysia and Indonesia combined.

''A lack of competent leadership is a real problem for Malaysia,'' Kausikan told US Deputy Secretary of Defence for East Asia David Sedney in one cable, according to the story, citing the need for Najib Razak - now Malaysia's Prime Minister - to ''prevail politically in order to avoid prosecution'' in connection with a 2006 murder investigation linked to one of Mr Razak's aides.

''Najib Razak has his neck on the line in connection with a high-profile murder case,'' Kausikan said, according to the story.

As Asia Sentinel has reported in a long series of stories since Altantuya's murder in October of 2006, Malaysia placed a US$1 billion order for two Scorpènes in a deal engineered by then-defense minister and Deputy Prime Minister Najib. In exchange, a company wholly owned by Najib's close friend, Abdul Razak Baginda, was paid €114 million in "commissions," according to testimony in the Malaysian parliament.

Caught up in it, besides Najib and Razak Baginda, was Altantuya, who was shot in the head and whose body was blown up with military grade explosives. Razak Baginda, her jilted lover, was charged along with two of Najib's bodyguards but was acquitted under unusual circumstances without having to put on a defense. Before she was murdered, Altantuya told witnesses she was to be paid US$500,000 for her role in the submarine deal.

After his release Razak Baginda immediately decamped for Oxford University and apparently hasn't set foot in Malaysia since.

The case, however, remains alive in France. In April, three French lawyers, William Bourdon, Renaud Semerdjian and Joseph Breham filed a case with prosecutors in Paris on behalf of the Malaysian human rights organization Suaram, which supports good-governance causes. In an email, Breham said he and Bourdon are expected to be in Southeast Asia to ask more questions this week. It is unclear if they will visit the Singaporean authorities.

In the Sydney Morning Herald's story on Anwar, ''The Australians said that Singapore's intelligences services and [Singaporean elder statesman] Lee Kuan Yew have told (Australia's Office of National Assessments) in their exchanges that opposition leader Anwar 'did indeed commit the acts for which he is currently indicted'.''

"The document states the Singaporeans told ONA they made this assessment on the basis of ''technical intelligence,' which is likely to relate to intercepted communications. The ONA is also recorded as saying that Anwar's political enemies engineered the circumstances from which the sodomy charges arose. "ONA assessed, and their Singapore counterparts concurred, 'it was a set-up job and he probably knew that, but walked into it anyway','' the cable states.

In Malaysian media Sunday, Anwar charged he was not guilty and that Malaysia's Special Branch was behind the story and had fed it to the Singaporeans.

In Kausikan's September 2008 meeting with Sedney, according to the story, "Kausikan savages Thailand's political elite, labelling Thaksin Shinawatra as ''corrupt'' along with ''everyone else, including the opposition." Kausikan is also critical of Thaksin's relationship with the Thai crown prince, stating that Thaksin ''made a mistake in pursuing a relationship with the crown prince by paying off the crown prince's gambling debts''.

"Kausikan said the crown prince was 'very erratic, and easily subject to influence','' the cable states, while also saying that Kausikan warned of continued instability in Thailand. The statement by Kausikan about Thailand's prince and heir apparent, Vajiralongkorn, could open him to charges of lese majeste if he were to visit the Thai kingdom.

According to the story, "in a September 2009 meeting with US officials, senior Singaporean foreign affairs official Tommy Koh savages Japan and India in relation to the impact on both countries of China's increasing regional might."

'''Koh described Japan as 'the big fat loser' in the context of improving ties between China and Asean. He attributed the relative decline of Japan's stature in the region to Japan's 'stupidity, bad leadership, and lack of vision','' the cable says, according to the story. ''He was equally merciless towards India, describing his 'stupid Indian friends' as 'half in, half out' of Asean.''

Other notable comments about regional affairs made by Kausikan in September 2008, according to the story, include his reported claims that:

• Burma's neighbors, including China and India, are ''more concerned with stability than justice'' and they feared the Burmese junta's demise could produce ''an Asian reprise of the breakup of Yugoslavia''.
• He would be ''more comfortable with a nuclear-capable North Korea than a nuclear-capable Iran''.
• Russia's economy is ''Third World'', its health system a shambles and its demographic challenges almost insurmountable.
• Koh is recorded praising China's ''investment and intelligent diplomacy in the region''. ''I don't fear China. I don't fear being assimilated by China.'' The story quotes the cable as stating that he pointed to China's decision to invest in Africa ''without lecturing them about human rights and democracy as the West does''.

LKY says wife made sure Malaysia could not cut off water supply

KUALA LUMPUR, Oct 6 — Singapore’s minister mentor Lee Kuan Yew delivered a eulogy today to his wife Kwa Geok Choo and credited her with safeguarding the republic’s interest “each time Malaysian Malay leaders threatened to cut off our water supply.”

He also revealed that Kwa, who died on Saturday in Singapore, had cautioned him against joining the Malaysian federation, because the politics of Umno’s Malay leaders were “communally-based, on race and religion.”

Lee (picture) was speaking at Kwa’s private funeral service today at Singapore’s Mandai crematorium where the couple’s family and friends had gathered to pay their final respects to the 89-year-old.

In his eulogy which drew tears all around, Lee took time to fondly recall how his wife’s quiet defiance and unrelenting support had influenced him in many of his decisions in their 63 years together.

It was Kwa, he said, who had been instrumental in ensuring that the Malaysian government would stick to its guarantee to observe two water agreements, signed back in 1961 and 1962, when the city state was forced to leave the Federation of Malaya in 1965.

“When separation was imminent, Eddie Barker, as Law Minister, drew up the draft legislation for the separation. But he did not include an undertaking by the Federation Government to guarantee the observance of the two water agreements between the PUB (Public Utilities Board) and the Johor state government.

“I asked Choo (Kwa) to include this,” he explained.

Kwa, added Lee, was “meticulous in her choice of words”.

“The amendment statute was annexed to the Separation Agreement, which we then registered with the United Nations.

“The then Commonwealth Secretary Arthur Bottomley said that if other federations were to separate, he hoped they would do it as professionally as Singapore and Malaysia,” he continued.

Lee proudly said that Bottomley’s words were a compliment to both Barker and his wife’s professional skills.

“[Now] each time Malaysian Malay leaders threatened to cut off our water supply, I was reassured that this clear and solemn international undertaking by the Malaysian government in its Constitution will get us a ruling by the UNSC (United Nations Security Council),” he said.

Kwa, he pointed out, had also been spot-on in her foresight that a Malaysia-Singapore union would not work.

“When we were about to join Malaysia, she told me that we would not succeed because the Umno Malay leaders had such different lifestyles and because their politics were communally-based, on race and religion,” he said.

At the time, however, Lee recalled, he had told his wife that the union had to work for want of a better choice.

“But she was right. We were asked to leave Malaysia before two years,” he said.

Lee, Singapore’s founding father, made a similar reference to Umno’s communalism in a recent interview with the New York Times last month, when he expressed regret of how the city-state had been “turfed-out” of Malaysia in 1963.

During the interview, the former premier claimed that if this had not happened, Malaysia would today be enjoying Singapore’s brand of nationalism and multi-racialism.