Today was the first day of Pritam’s Singh’s trial on charges of perjury before the Parliamentary Committee of Privileges, which was often rolled out during my father’s time in Parliament in an effort to hurt him financially and rein him in.

I wonder whether the precedent of judicial activism seen in the Iswaran case will continue with Pritam and he will receive a much stiffer penalty than forecast thereby disqualifying him from being an MP. That would be convenient for the AG and the Government though of course I am not suggesting that judges do not make independent decisions.

I remember in my father’s case in 1986 Lai Kew Chai sentenced him initially to three month’s jail and a $1,500 fine allowing him to keep his seat. However after a procedural mistake by Subhas Anandan, my dad’s counsel. the judge realised his error and quickly corrected the sentence to one month’s imprisonment and a $2,000 fine, ensuring he lost his seat. I don’t need to remind everyone that the UK Privy Council ruled in 1988 that JBJ had suffered a grievous injustice though they were unable to overturn his conviction due to the fact that the AG had started the prosecution in the subordinate court and appeals ended with the Court of Appeal in Singapore. This was no doubt a deliberate ploy. The Privy Council called upon the PAP Government to redress the injustice and pardon my father. They not only refused but they ended appeals to the Privy Council. In a striking parallel Pritam Singh failed in his application to move his case to the High Court though he will be unable to appeal any conviction to the Privy Council in any case.

Published by kjeyaretnam

I'm a Singaporean economist who became an opposition activist. I blog to provide an alternative to the porkies that the Pinkies tell. It just so happens that my alternative is the truth. That's why I've never been sued in any civil or criminal court no matter how hard hitting my criticism. I'm quoted and interviewed and asked to speak across the world but largely censored in Singapore in an effort to silence my political opinions. The left hate me because they think I split their vote and because I eschew their outmoded economic models. Models that don't work. The Right and the Conservatives hate me because I'm a liberal. I'm not sure what the middle think of me. I don't think there are more than a handful of people in the middle, here in Singapore. I'm a Singaporean born and bred, dual heritage, my parents Singaporean established here before the State of Singapore was created. I'm not Eurasian. I read economics at Cambridge and could be broadly described as from the Keynesian school but I believe in interventions. I was formerly a successful hedge fund manager. After economics and politics my greatest interests are history, film and Makan. I run but I run so I can eat like a Singaporean. View all posts by kjeyaretnam