monty from the NORTH USA

Canadian with links to Chee attacks S'pore's political system

Government says lawyer is recycling Chee's views, facts speak for themselves

By Jeremy Au Yong, Political Correspondent


A CANADIAN lawyer with ties to opposition politician Chee Soon Juan has issued a 63-page 'white paper' attacking Singapore's political system and judiciary.

The paper has attracted a 25-page response from the Singapore Government.

The 63-page white paper was published on the website of Mr Robert Amsterdam, the co-founder of law firm Amsterdam & Peroff.

The website of the Singapore Democratic Party (SDP), www.yoursdp.org, carries a link to the paper.

The SDP is headed by Dr Chee who today remains a bankrupt after failing to pay debts incurred as a result of losing defamation suits filed by ruling party politicians.

Amsterdam & Peroff, which has offices in London and Toronto, has offered free legal advice to the university lecturer-turned-opposition leader.

The white paper, entitled The Repression of Political Freedoms in Singapore, provides an account of Dr Chee's political career.

It says: 'Being the leader of one of Singapore's most important opposition parties - the Singapore Democratic Party - Dr Chee has been sued, charged, and sentenced ever since his first political act of opposition.'

Using his many court cases as examples, it alleges that Singapore's judiciary is not independent and that political freedoms are constrained.

It calls on international bodies like the World Bank and the International Bar Association to put pressure on the Republic to reform its political system.

Leaders coming to Singapore for the Asia-Pacific Economic Cooperation summit this weekend are also urged to arrange meetings with Dr Chee and other civil society representatives.

In addition, the paper calls for all outstanding charges against him to be dropped.

Mr Amsterdam did not respond to this newspaper's calls.

According to earlier press reports, he represented Russian oil tycoon Mikhail Khodorkovsky, when the latter was charged with fraud in 2003.

The tycoon, who acquired his wealth during the era of then President Boris Yeltsin through shares in the Yukos oil company, lost his case and was sentenced to nine years' jail in 2005.

According to a February 2009 report in Romanian current affairs publication Q Magazine, Mr Amsterdam is, himself, a rather controversial figure.

The article states that there are persistent rumours that he maintains 'ambiguous relations with the secret services of certain Western countries, starting with those of the United States and Great Britain'.

A source close to the British services is quoted as saying that Mr Amsterdam 'was repeatedly approached to give information about the situation in Russia and about the Yukos case'.

The same article also suggests that his legal failure in the Yukos case led him to switch to a more media-centric strategy.

It said: 'Amsterdam quickly learnt the lesson of his judicial failure and quickly decided to modify his battle plans. He realised that as he was facing a bold Russian justice system, his best chance to win was to fight the case in the media with the international public as judge.'

Asked for its response to the white paper, the Singapore Government said the paper 'recycles the views and comments that Dr Chee has regularly expressed'.

It provided its own account of his political career, including his sacking by the National University of Singapore in 1993 for misusing research funds, his ouster of former SDP chief Chiam See Tong, and his various criminal convictions over the years.

'He has deliberately sought to break the law and has chosen to go to prison even though the courts imposed only fines on him,' the Government's response noted.

The response, which can be found at www.gov.sg, said the Government would not respond to 'each and every unfounded allegation' in the white paper, but 'encourages readers to research the facts which are publicly available and which speak for themselves'.