the real intention is to break the law

CJ to master chee: go be a lawyer first, ok!

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Jan 4, 2009
Law won't tolerate attacks
Courts' authority must be respected by all, says CJ; Shanmugam and A-G echo his words
By K. C. Vijayan, Law Correspondent

Chief Justice Chan Sek Keong, speaking at the opening of the legal year in the Supreme Court, noted that the mission of the courts requires that its authority be respected by all. -- ST PHOTO: LIM SIN THAI

The Chief Justice, Law Minister and Attorney-General made clear yesterday that they would not brook any attack on the courts here.

2 key officers made Senior Counsel
Two top officers from the Attorney-General's Chambers have been appointed Senior Counsel. They are the first lawyers from the Attorney-General's Chambers to be given the coveted title since the scheme started in 1997. Deputy Solicitor-General Jeffrey Chan and Mr David Chong of the civil division were among four senior lawyers named Senior Counsel yesterday.

Chief Justice Chan Sek Keong, speaking at the opening of the legal year in the Supreme Court, noted that the mission of the courts requires that its authority be respected by all.

'This is so fundamental and critical to the rule of law, and the just and proper governance of a state, that the law itself will not tolerate any attempt by any person to undermine public confidence in the courts by making false and scandalous allegations,' he said.

'The courts need to be protected in that regard by the law.'

His remarks were echoed in the comments of Attorney-General Walter Woon and Law Minister K. Shanmugam, and come in the wake of several high-profile cases that were convicted for contempt of court last year.

Among those prosecuted were former Singaporean lawyer Gopalan Nair, three activists who showed up in the court with offensive T-shirts, and the Asian Wall Street Journal.

Present at yesterday's ceremony were Deputy Prime Minister S. Jayakumar, former chief justice Yong Pung How, High Court judges and about 200 senior lawyers.

In his address, Professor Woon spoke at length about the need to protect the integrity of the judicial system.

He said that there appears to be a campaign by certain people both here and abroad to attack the integrity and independence of the Singapore courts.

The Attorney-General's office has had to charge several people to show that it is not permissible to 'undermine the courts and judiciary for political or ideological reasons'.

He recalled the spate of incidents last year that began with the first day that he took office in April.

A group of activists linked to an opposition party had come to the Attorney-General's Chambers and sought the return of items seized by police investigating certain offences.

They threatened to stay all night and call in more supporters to stage a protest if their demands were not met. They left after more than an hour following repeated requests.

'I can only conclude they were testing our resolve and probing to see how far we could be intimidated by their tactics,' he said.

This was followed shortly by another incident in the Supreme Court where three activists wore T-shirts to accuse the court of being a kangaroo court.

All three were subsequently charged and convicted.

On the heels of this came an e-mail to various people in Singapore stating that a judge of the Supreme Court had 'prostituted herself' in certain proceedings.

The culprit, politician and former Singaporean Gopalan Nair, also posted the same remarks on his blog. He was jailed for three months for contempt.

Mr Nair has since been repatriated to the United States where he has reposted all that he said.

This was then followed by a series of commentaries in 'an international newspaper' casting aspersions on the integrity and independence of the Singapore judiciary, Professor Woon said.

In November, the Asian Wall Street Journal was fined $25,000 after being found guilty of contempt of court for publishing three articles in June and July that alleged bias and lack of independence on the part of the judiciary.

Prof Woon stressed that these prosecutions are not instituted lightly.

He said that while freedom of speech and expression is guaranteed in the Constitution, the line is crossed 'where a person deliberately attempts to undermine the authority of the courts by casting aspersions on the integrity of the judges in order to further a political or ideological agenda'.

He said the assault on the courts appears to be 'part of a broader campaign to force a change in our laws by extra-legal means'.

This involves the deliberate breaking of laws in an effort to pressure the Government to amend them, rather than go through the 'unexciting route of campaigning for change through proper constitutional means'.

Stressing that those who oppose the Government cannot be expected to be excused from obeying the law, he said: 'The essence of the rule of law is that the law applies to all.'

Speaking on the sidelines of the event, Mr Shanmugam, who is also the Second Minister for Home Affairs, said that the Chief Justice's remarks on the rule of law were timely.

He noted that in the last few years, there have been people who did not like certain laws and the way they showed it was 'to go out there and protest'.

The way to change the law was to get elected politically and argue in Parliament why the law should be changed, he said.

'But an aggressive small group of people think they can change those laws by going out there and protesting and the courts have repeatedly emphasised they will apply the law as it is. That is justice according to the law,' he said.

'Unfortunately, even publicly sometimes, this is forgotten. People forget that some of these protests are really aimed at breaking the law and changing the law and is that what we want?'