Whatever one might say about Mr Nair. One does have to appreciate his commitment to declaring to the world that Singapore isn’t all that those in power woul like us to believe…
In his latest broadside Singapore’s law minister, Mr. K Shanmugam is chided for inept speechmaking, bad English, the re-invention of Singaporean histrory since 1945 and a lot more besides. Everything Mr Nair says may not be strictly true but one can’t deny the general underlying truth is his attacks on the Singaporean ruling elite. They say that the city state has rule of law and he states that that rule of law is there to protect the ruling elite and foreign investment. The government would of course argue that by protecting foreign investment and running a city as though it were a Disneyland park the greater good is preserved.
Shanmugam Consults With His Speechwriters
Singapore’s Law Minister a poor specimen of a lawyer.
Ladies and Gentlemen,
The Singapore state controlled media repeatedly depicts K Shanmugam, Lee Kuan Yew’s recently handpicked Minister for Law as brilliant lawyer, an asset to Singapore and praises, flowers, garlands, etc etc.
Recently I happened to look at a video of him speaking in Parliament. He did not come across as that gift to mankind, as Lee Kuan Yew’s newspapers make it out.
For one, his spoken English was seriously wanting. He spoke in Parliament as if he was reading out a prepared text and that too badly.
Of course, I understand it is a dictatorship, and no one can effectively challenge him for whatever nonsense he may say; as you would expect in a dictatorial monologue of sorts.
But still, it would have been good for him to put some life to his speeches, for the show of it at least, which did not occur to him.
Frankly, if he was to be listened to by native English or American speakers, they may not even recognize it as English.
But the other thing I wanted to say was his clearly visible lack of general knowledge; which should be expected of a Minister for Law of any country.
Recall the recent meeting in Singapore of the New York Bar Association at which he spoke.
He was, as you know trying very hard to persuade the American lawyers, 200 of them or so that Singapore, unlike what everyone else suspects to be otherwise, is in fact a democracy.
He started off by giving a lecture in the history of the island from 1959.
In 1959, he said, Singapore was nothing more than a backwater, but today, it has progressed from that to an island with glass towers that line the waterfront and MRT trains.
This history lesson took no less than half his talk.
The point which he was trying to make is to say that because the island has progressed from a mere fishing village to what it is today, therefore it has the rule of law and therefore the Americans were all wrong in thinking it is otherwise.
In this argument, Mr. K Shanmugam not only shows his lack of wisdom for a Minister of Law, (he is a product of the University of Singapore), he also shows the University produces very poor lawyers like him.
He completely lacks any history which we would have expected of any lawyer, let alone a good one. And he totally misjudges the wisdom of his American audience by thinking they are no better than him!
Any good lawyer, who should know at least something of history, would have known that economic success is no yardstick for rule of law and justice in a country.
Fascist countries like Germany under Hitler and Italy under Mussolini achieved tremendous economic success. But they shamelessly misused the law, using it as a political tool to silence dissent, just as Singapore does today.
So when he makes the argument of economic success in Singapore he completely forgets that the Americans are fully aware of the abuse of the law in Singapore and they are aware also that pure economic success can be achieved by harsh and intolerant political systems without any rule of law whatsoever.
American lawyers unlike these Singapore ones are taught that a good lawyer not only knows the law, he also knows some other things too. A lawyer just as any other professional should have a desire for knowledge and should continue seeking it.
K Shanmugam, the Minister for Law was either not aware that American lawyers unlike him also know some history, he completely underestimates them by assuming total ignorance on their part of Singapore?s disgraceful track record in silencing dissent.
He spends a lot of time trying to convince the American lawyers that New York has more crime than in Singapore.
and there’s more at? http://singaporedissident.blogspot.com/2009/11/singapores-law-minister-product-of.html
