Sunday, July 18, 2010

Lee Kuan Yew's Singapore arrests Alan Shadrake.

Ladies and Gentlemen,

Singapore's state controlled official newspaper The Straits Times Online edition of July 19, 2010 carries the story ""Hangman" author arrested". In his compelling book, "Once a Jolly Hangman" Alan Shadrake, who was arrested, investigates death penalty in Singapore, and clearly exposes the systematic abuse of the legal system where the courts routinely treat well connected Western foreigners backed by their governments leniently, escaping death, while poor unconnected Singaporeans are always hanged.

One disturbing example in the book is the story of Julia Bohl, a young German woman who was caught red handed with more than 600 grams of heroin, an amount well above the minimum for hanging but whose charge was later quietly reduced behind the scenes, enabling her to escape the noose because the German government made a deal with Singapore promising to invest huge sums of money there. Whereas even though the evidence was contentious and unreliable in many instances, Filipinas, Singaporeans, Malaysians and others, all ordinary people with neither wealth nor powerful connections were all promptly put to death.

The frightening message by Shadrake is this. Don't ever believe that you have any real security in Singapore if you just a nobody. The government can do anything to you, anytime they want, including putting you to death, because the law is entirely in their hands and there is simply nothing you can do. Remember that whenever you step into Lee Kuan Yew's Singapore.

The message in Shadrake's book cannot be more powerful than that, which is, the Singapore legal system is simply corrupt, and puts business and commerce above justice and fair play. The clear message is that in Singapore, if you are wealthy and well connected, you can do anything you want including drug trafficking, provided you have enough money and a country like Germany to back you all the way.

And that is why the powerful condemnation of the respected International Bar Association in 2008 which unequivocally stated among other unflattering things, that Singapore does not have the rule of law and that Singaporean judges are beholden to the Lee Kuan Yew government, could not have been more forcefully proven, once again, this time by Shadrake.

The reports state that Shadrake will be charged with criminal defamation and contempt of court in those kangaroo courts. I have every confidence he will not give in to these bullies and will plead not guilty to all charges. In the end, after the inevitable verdict of guilty, Shadrake will profit much more than Singapore ever would by exposing this whole shameful spectacle in another book, this time from outside Singapore.

Of course when it comes to Singapore, as in Alice in Wonderland, you might as well come out with the verdict even before hearing any evidence. Guilty as charged. They might as well dispense with the entire trial process because when you already know the verdict beforehand, you will agree that it all becomes rather boring.

We are all for you, Shadrake. Hang in there. Don't give in to these tin pot bullies. Tell them exactly what they are, which is, a bunch of cowards who strut around their tiny island in their hind legs, just because they have a compliant corrupt judiciary and a bunch of thugs in police uniforms to back them up.

Gopalan Nair
39737 Paseo Padre Parkway, Suite A1
Fremont, CA 94538, USA
Tel: 510 657 6107
Fax: 510 657 6914
Email: nair.gopalan@yahoo.com
Blog: http://singaporedissident.blogspot.com/

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7 comments:

Anonymous said...

Be strong Mr Shadrake. I'm for you! Take care of your health. Try not to let these pigs get into you.


Renaldi

Anonymous said...

Singapore cannot progress much. It is now circling and soon, it will be regressing. (A lesson from history)

It becomes a moral hazard when people doing wrong things are getting away with their crimes.

They will be encouraged to repeat their crimes.

mycroft said...

Shadrake, who wrote articles for London's Daily Telegraph and other newspapers, told AFP after the book's Singapore launch on Saturday that he had expected trouble but felt that the authorities were not going to take action.
"If they do anything, it'll just draw more attention to it all, and they have no defense,'' he said.


I am shaking my head in disbelief that an investigative journalist of Shadrake's repute should be so foolish as to believe for an instant that The Republic of Singapore is a democracy which would repect his right to free speech. He just wrote a book on how utterly callous the state is over hanging anyone, innocent or guilty, on the flimsiest pretext, for heaven's sake! How could he have been so deluded as to think that the political thugs operating such a system would not dare touch him?

He has made exactly the same error as you did, Gopalan, in believing that there was the slightest semblance of shame left in this tin-pot tyrannny. Their reputation has become so tainted internationally over their ugly record of trumped-up charges, imprisonment without charge or trial, and egregious abuses of law that no one in their right mind would ever call PAP's Singapore anything other than a pariah police state. They have nothing more to lose now reputation-wise and it is not a factor. As long as they have the nation's sovereign wealth as a shield, they reckon they'll be OK because money talks.

Of course they have 'no defense', Alan. They wouldn't have a legal leg to stand on in any real democracy in the world. Does it matter one bit? You can bring in the world's finest QC and present a water-tight defence by any measure and the verdict will still go against you - Lee's kangaroo courts in Lee's fiefdom will guarantee that outcome. Your chances of getting a fair trial are the same as they would be in N. Korea or Burma or China. Bloody zero.

So Shadrake will be made to jump through the same hoops as Gopalan Nair was, to harass and exact revenge in the most vindictive way possible. First, keep him under control by impounding his passport. Next, apply stress by requiring daily reports to police stations and interrogation without the presence of legal counsel. Employ third world bullying techniques to try and break him and extract a confession. He is after all 75 years old and not in the best of health. Third, order the house-trained judge to throw in a contempt of court charge which can be used as a holding charge. Finally, if all else fails then some trumped-up charge will do fine, perhaps an incriminating email or bogus statement by a 'witness'. Does any of that sound familiar?

“I’m feeling pretty shaken at the moment,” said Shadrake, whose case is to be heard in court on July 30. Well yes, you poor bugger, you can expect to fell stirred as well, in due course. Your only chance will be if your family can kick up enough of an almighty stink in theUK press to force the UK government to take a public stand against the injustice being meted out by your captors. Good luck with that.

Anonymous said...

"If you are wealthy and well connected, you can do anything you want including drug trafficking, provided you have enough money and a country like Germany to back you all the way. "

Remember George Quek, the owner of overpriced, overhyped bread chain BreadTalk (and kopi/toast chain ToastBox)? He was caught drink driving during a road block and rammed his car into a police vehicle because he was so damn wasted on alcohol.

George "donated" large amount of money to PAP's marine parade RC and was 'let off' with a slap on the wrist--$4,000 fine + 2 1/2 year suspension.

Lesser unconnected mortals who committed similar offence (less ramming their cars into police vehicles) are typically slapped with at least $5k fines, suspended from driving for 5 years or more and a jail term.

Anonymous said...

Let's hope the German embassy will issue him a new passport, and help him get the hell out of Singapore via Indonesia or Malaysia.

I urge everyone to protest this decision to their local Singapore embassy or consulate.

Anonymous said...

I have the great respect for him when a foreigner is fighting for our freedom where Singaporean gives it away easily.

Anonymous said...

The PAP is a bloody sucking machine using all sort of methods like rules, regulations, commerical companies etc backup with some beautify reasons