Saturday, September 4, 2010

Singapore. Loh Sze On, Quentin, who?

Ladies and Gentlemen,

About 2 months ago, Lee Kuan Yew's Singapore government appointed 2 more judges, both local ethnic Chinese despite their names, to the fast diminishing lawyer population in Singapore. It is interesting to note that Singapore has the lowest lawyer to population ratio compared to other similar cities in the world, a mere 3,000 to 5.8 million people.

Almost half the lawyers in the country had left for Australia and New Zealand because of the blatant misuse of the law by Lee Kuan Yew to destroy political dissent.

These 2 judicial appointees, one Loh Sze On Quentin and the other Steven Chong, have not been known for anything legal in Singapore, except their sworn loyalty to the Lee Kuan Yew family to use or rather misuse the law to keep them in power as long as possible.

As a boy, Loh Quentin lived in a Chinese looking roadside house in Devonshire Road in Singapore; the same ubiquitous ones that you see throughout Singapore along North Bridge Road and every other road in the city. Usually these houses are used as a shop in the ground floor while the Chinese merchant and his family live above his shop. I remember, his house did not have a shop, with his family or other tenants occupying both top and ground floors.

In school he never did any sports. He couldn't run jump or throw or do anything. In fact all he did was just to study and go home.

He had an elder brother Vincent Loh, also in the school. Unlike this man, Vincent Loh had some character about him. He was a respected member in the school's Army Cadet Corps. I have been told he got fed up with Singapore and Lee Kuan Yew and went to England to live. I am not sure what happened to him thereafter.

There is nothing much to speak of this man Loh Quentin, except to say that he studied in Raffles Institution, the premier school in Singapore. Being bad in the science field, he studied arts subjects such as History and Geography. After that he attended Singapore University Law School where the students willingly choose to shut off their minds entirely of critical thinking in fear of Lee Kuan Yew.

I suppose while there he decided or his parents decided for him that the best way to succeed in Singapore is to join the Lee Kuan Yew political party as a full time Lee Kuan Yew bootlicker.

I suppose he excelled in the bootlicking work, was recognised for the same, carried on with the shameful work while practicing law for several years, and finally, because all the good lawyers have left the country, for the lack of anyone better, Loh Quentin is made a Lee Kuan Yew judge. There is an English term for selecting men such as this for high judicial office. It is called scraping the barrel.

One of his first cases immediately after being appointed judge was Alan Shadrake. There is no doubt that he is going to please Lee Kuan Yew and do whatever he wants to him, that is, abusing the law any which way Lee Kuan Yew wants.

Personally I think Judge Loh is not being very smart if in this day and age he thinks that propping up Lee Kuan Yew by abusing the law is a good idea. You recall my hoax not too long ago when I reported that Lee had a heart attack and was admitted to a hospital. The nationwide reaction to that piece of "news" was unprecedented. The stock market dropped and many residents in fact began planning to leave the island en masse.

Don't forget, Lee Kuan Yew is a frail tottering 88 year old man and is being principally kept alive with a battery powered pacemaker in his heart and several bodyguards whose main job appears to prevent his falling down the staircase and kicking the misplaced bucket. He may truly die the next minute.

The result of such a happening in reality was made very clear. Lee Kuan Yew's son would not be able to hold the fort and he would clear out of the island with his entire family. So will the entire present Lee Kuan Yew cabinet and ministers. There is bound to be massive unrest and upheaval.

If there are any Lee Kuan Yew ministers or judges remaining, they would probably be arrested and held to account for their illegal abuse of power. And the same fate will very probably hppen to this newly appointed judge, a Lee Kuan Yew supporter, Loh Quentin.

If I were him, I would be careful how I judge Shadrake's case lest it's ghost haunts him after Lee Kuan Yew's very imminent demise. The smartest Singaporeans today are those who left the country entirely or the ones who keep a low profile and not seen as working for the strongman's family.

Coming back to Shadrake, we all know that he is not guilty of anything, not contempt of court, not criminal defamation, nothing. Shadrake wrote a book, just as anybody else can about anything. If Lee Kuan Yew does not like what Shadrake wrote, then he can write another book and disprove Shadrake. And in the end the people can decide whether Shadrake or Lee is right. This is suppopsed to be a democracy, not a Lee Kuan Yew feifdom. Democracy is not going around arresting people because you don't like what they say. Arresting Shadrake is an abuse of power. Lee is doing it because he has the army and police and guns. This is a classic case of abuse of authority.

I am not sure if Loh Quentin this new judge handpicked by Lee Kuan Yew realises this. Or perhaps he wants to enjoy the good life while it lasts.

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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