Interesting hot seat: Aljunied GRC (Singapore)

Before the nomination day, I thought that The Workers' Party will field Slyvia Lim in a Single Member Constituency (SMC).

If she lost in the SMC, she will stand a chance to enter Parliament as a Non-Constituency MP (the candidate with the highest percentage of votes among the losing opposition candidates), just like what happened to Steve Chia in the previous election. Steve Chia has lost his credibility. He is involved in a scandal when topless photos of his maid were discovered by his wife in his computer's "Recycle Bin".

Slyvia Lim is trained in law and currently a lecturer in Temasek Polytechnic, a public funded institution. She is the Chairman of the Workers' Party.

Well, she is not eyeing to become a Non-Constituency MP. She wants to slash the overall majority of PAP.

She is teaming up with James Gomez and a few others to contest in Aljunied GRC (Group Representation Constituency). Her team will face the incumbent team - George Yeoh (Foreign Minister) and the gang.

There was no contest in the Aljunied GRC back in 2001 General Election.

James Gomez has a Master degree and currently a PhD candidate. Check out his blog on the campaign trail.


According to an analyst, Slyvia Lim, James Gomez and the team would not cross the hurdle of 25% total votes.

As reported in Lian He Zao Bao , Lee Hsien Loong has thrown down the gauntlet to her team.

My comment: Let's cross the fingers. It is a barometer whether Singaporeans would accept a first class opposition team.

One thing for sure, the PAP is facing a tough time to maintain their 75% popular votes they enjoyed in 2001.

Interesting blogs

Here are the blogs that I read.

Legal related blogs
1. 麻辣大状的BLOG (In Chinese) -- about the life of a young practicing lawyer in Johore Bahru.
2. 山猫の宇宙 (Yamaneko) (English & Chinese) -- by a chambering student in KL
3. A Touch of Tims -- The Brookes Diary -- by a Malaysian law student in UK.
4. Shih - A Malaysian brought up in Singapore and ended up practicing law in KL.

Political activists
1. Awaken the Giant Within (In Chinese) -- by Ng Wei Aik 黄伟益 . He is the executive editor of an established newspaper, the Rocket (Chinese edition).
2. Malaysian Voters Union - by BK Ong, leader of several NGOs.
3. Wengsan's blog - by Lau Weng San. A chemical engineer turned full time political activist.
4. Freedom in Solidarity - by James Wong. Former MP of Kampar.
5. Last but not least, the voices of DAP MPs - namely Lim Kit Siang, Chow Kon Yeow, Teresa Kok, Fong Po Kuan and Teng Chang Khim.

The Red Book

This is not the Red Book by the Communist China.

Bar Council has published a book with a red cover called "Police & Your Basic Rights". (English version)
It outlines many useful tips to the general public on their basic rights.

The Chinese version is available here.

Thanks to my learned friend, YJ, for forwarding me this info.

One piece of info not included in this red book, in which I think will be
useful for my friends in the opposition parties. The "minum kopi" invitation is kind of routine for them.

If you receive a letter from a police station which is more than 7 miles from your office or house, inviting you to give a witness statement (112 statement),
you may write a polite letter or give a phone call declining the invitation by quoting Section 111, Criminal Procedure Codes or even to the stage of putting the letter to recycle bin.

In Section 111 CPC, there is no legal obligation to attend to such invitation if the police station is more than 7 miles from your office or residence.

Rafiah Salim -- the academician

Rafiah Salim, the former dean of Faculty of Law, is the new Vice Chanchellor of Universit of Malaya.

Base on my preliminary and limited google search on her academic credential, she has written the following books and articles.

1. Evidence in Malaysia & Singapore Cases, Materials & Commentary (2nd Ed).
2. Rafiah Salim, Akta Pembahagian 1958, Journal of Malaysian Law.

I have not read the first book. The current locus classicus in the area of Evidence law is written by YA Augustine Paul.

I wish that she can bring UM as well as the Faculty of Law to the new heights.

A man with 64 children -- contract marriage in Singapore

The case in point is Public Prosecutor v MX [2006] SGHC 67.

MX, a Muslim of the Shi’ite Sect, has ten wives. Four are legal wives while six are contractual wives. He has a total of 64 children from these ten wives, consisting of 33 sons and 31 daughters.

MX has committed the offence of rape (or rather incest). He has interpreted certain verse in the Al Quran and claimed that as a father had ownership over his children and that such ownership extended to having sexual intercourse with his daughters. He had sexual intercourse with 5 of his daughters.

The Singapore High Court ruled that the accused’s interpretation of the relevant verse in the Al- Quran is not adopted by contemporary or classical Muslim scholars.

The court sentenced MX to 32 years imprisonment and 24 strokes of the cane.

The court did not deliberate on the issue of contract marriage. It was not the core issue. Whether the victim is legitimate or illegitimate child of MX, that does not affect the culpability. It is still incest.

Contract Marriage for Muslim couples in Malaysia

What is the legal implication of a private marriage contract between Muslim couples? It is common knowledge that Muslim couples are required by law to register their marriage with the authority.

A muta’a is a marriage contracted between a male Muslim and a female Muslim, a Jew, a Christian or a fire-worshipper, with the former declaring: "I have united myself to thee" or "I have married thee" or words to that effect, and by fixing the period of cohabitation and specifying the amount of dowry.

The Court of Appeal has an answer for this in the case of Ishak Shaari v PP, as reported in NST on April 15th 2006.

Ishak Shaari was charged for statutory rape on a 14-year-old girl. He put up the defence of a contract marriage, also know as muta'a. If he succeed in convincing the court that he has entered the contract marriage with the girl,he will be acquitted. Under the Penal Code, a man having sexual intercourse with his wife without her consent within a valid marriage is not rape.

The Court of Appeal delivered the verdict that such marriage is unlawful and is not recognised in Malaysia. Muslim couples have to register their marriage with the proper authority.

I would add that such marriage contract is illegal as it is against the public policy, as stipulated in Section 24, Contracts Act.

For non-Muslims, they are governed by Law Reform (Marriage and Divorce) Act. Effective from March 1st, 1982, the marriage of non-Muslim couples must be registered under the Act. The main purpose of the Act is to prohibit polygamous marriages among non-Muslims. Customary marriage for non-Muslim couples (for instance:tea ceremony or signing a marriage contract) without registration with the proper authority is not recognised in Malaysia.

Exam for Patent Agents

Examination for Patent Agents is opened for registration. In order to sit for the exam, candidates should possess BSc or B Engineering or be Advocates and Solicitors.

UKM (Faculty of Law) offers a new weekend course called Master in IP. The course prepares the students to take up the exam for patent agents.

Intellectual Property (IP) lawyers are specialist. They usually work in the area of civil litigation.

Most of the semiconductor factories in Penang are filing patents in US, European Union, China and Japan. Malaysia is not in the radar screen. There will not be much patent activities in the semiconductor industries in Penang until we build up a broad base of locally design products.

There are two reasons why companies want to file patents.
1. Defensive: Cross Licensing, Protects the Implementation, Litigation Counterclaims
2. Offensive: Access to Others Technology, Licensing Revenue or Litigation

Intel Technology files patents to protect its dominant market share against competitor like AMD. IBM generates revenue by licensing the patents.

"Open Sesame" - Rule 137 (RFC 1995)

Highland Towers residents have made a second attempt to persuade the Federal Court, the apex court, on the same subject matter.

It is common knowledge that we have a three tier system. This case originated from High Court and went through Court of Appeal and has reached the court of final appeal namely Federal Court. The Federal Court has passed the judgment on February 17, 2006.

So, how come there is a second attempt?

For the lawyers who worth their salt, there is a provision in the Rule of Federal Court 1995 that preserve the inherent power of the Federal Court that enables a second or even multiple attempts.

The Rule 137 stipulates that:
"For the removal of doubts it is hereby declared that nothing in these Rules shall be deemed to limit or affect the inherent powers of the Court to hear any application or to make any order as may be necessary to prevent injustice or to prevent an abuse of the process of the Court."

The burden is on the litigant to prove there has been substantial injustice or abuse of the process of the Court.

In the case of Megat Najmuddin, the Federal Court allowed a second attempt thus virtually has created a forth-tier system. The case set a precedent and unsuccessful litigants are trying their luck for the second attempt. It is a high hurdle.

Most of the cases did not even pass the leave stage. The case in point is Kobchai v Adorna Properties.

Suhakam Annual Report 2005

Human Rights Commission of Malaysia (Suhakam) has uploaded the 2005 Annual Report to their official website this week.

The report was tabled in Parliament last month. It took them a month to upload to the website.

I have been following up the Suhakam annual report since year 2001.

One of the interesting part in this year's report is an additional chapter on the SUHAKAM's Comments on the Government's Response to SUHAKAM's Annual Report 2003. (105 pages).

I will spend sometime digesting the report. I will blog it later.

Warren Buffett: Wealthy and yet unassuming

My lunch buddy passed me a book on the success story of Warren Buffett - the second richest person in the world, behind only Bill Gates. He is basically an investor on businesses. Despite his wealth, he is unassuming and lives in the same house at Omaha, Nebraska for the past 35 years. I could not locate his photo in his Berkshire Hathaway Website.

His Berkshire Hathaway Investment Fund has the stakes in Gillette, Coke and tonnes of traditional businesses. He wouldn't touch technology or dot com stocks. The growth rate of his investment fund is 24% per annum for the past 35 years. This is amazing.

Quotable quote:
"It takes a life time to build a reputation and fives minutes to ruin it"

His son who aspired to run for public office asked him one day: "Do you think voters would think less of you if you ran for political office and lost?"

His answer: "Not at all. People will respect you if you are willing to participate and put yourself on the line?

Introduction of New Candidates: PAP Singapore

PAP Singapore has unveiled their election lineup by introducing 24 new candidates.
Their profiles are presented in a professional and yet engaging manner.

The PAP manifesto is going to be announced on April 15th.

Chee Soo Juan from the opposition Singapore Democratic Party, has been declared a bankrupt and thus not qualify to stand for election.

The Singapore General Election is around the corner.

A good question from Ronnie Liu

Bar Council has organised a seminar on the Federal Constitution on March 12, 2006.

During the Q&A session, Ronnie Liu from DAP asked the question from the floor on whether the freedom of religion encompassed the right to renounce a religion. It went without saying that he was asking in the pespective of Islam. The panelists did not answer his question.
This was indeed a good question.

The Federal Court in the case of Kamariah Ali chose not to answer the question. The question put to the apex court was:
"Sama ada hak untuk menganuti agama di bawah Perkara 11(1) Perlembagaan Persekutuan merangkumi hak seseorang beragama Islam yang telah mencapai umur majoriti untuk mengisytiharkan keluar dari agamanya"

Chief Justice, YAA Ahmad Fairuz in his judgment said: "Berpandukan fakta di hadapan Mahkamah ini, kami sebulat suara berpendapat soalan-soalan (1), (2) dan (3) tidak perlu dijawab walaupun kebenaran untuk merayu di atas soalan-soalan tersebut telah diberikan oleh Mahkamah ini."

In the case of Lina Joy, the Court of Appeal has pointed that only the proper authority can decide whether a Muslim has renounced Islam. The proper authority meant is the Majlis Agama Islam of the respective state. In Terengganu, a Muslim has to serve 3 years sentence in a rehabilitation center if he chooses to renounce Islam.

In fact, the Reid Commission who drafted the Federal Constitution back in 1957 chose not to adopt the spirit of Article 18, Universal Declaration of Human Rights 1948.

According to Article 18 UDHR:
"Everyone has the right to freedom of thought, conscience and religion; this right includes freedom to change his religion or belief, and freedom, either alone or in community with others and in public or private, to manifest his religion or belief in teaching, practice, worship and observance"

That's why I said Ronnie Liu has asked a good question.

Case note: Attorney-General v Chee Soon Juan

On 17 March 2006, the High Court of Singapore has found Dr Chee Soon Juan, the Secretary General of Singapore Democratic Party to be guilty of 2 offences namely contempt in the face of the court and scandalising the Singapore judiciary.

The High Court imposed a jail sentence of one day on Dr Chee and set the fine at S$6000. In default of the fine, Dr Chee has to serve seven day's jail.

Dr Chee chose not to pay, he served a sentence of eight days' imprisonment.

The full judgment is available at the website of the Singapore Supreme Court.

For more photos and discussion, please check out Dr Chee's blog.

The charge on the scandalising the judiciary is rare in the common law world. In UK, none has been successfully brought for more than 60 years.

The HC opined that the geographical size of Singapore renders its court more susceptible to unjustified attack. In other words, the administration of justice in Singapore is more vulnerable than in the UK.

In UK, the position is difference as the act of contempt of court is regulated by Contempt of Court Act 1981 . Moreover, European Convention on Human Rights and Fundamental Freedoms has effectively altered the development of law in this area.

For Malaysia, our position is the same as Singapore. There has been numerious charges on contempt of court and scandalising the court. One of the recent case is PP v Zainur Zakaria, the counsel for Dato Seri Anwar Ibrahim. He was sentenced to three months imprisonment by the High Court. On appeal, the Federal Court set aside the sentence.

檳州巴士重組失敗

檳州行動黨州委黃漢偉說，檳州首席部長許子根最近在報章上說推行巴士服務是中央政府的責任，其實這是推卸責任的說法。1976年地方政府法令有闡明地方政府有權力推行公共交通服務。


For the full report, please click here (Sinchew Jin Poh)

Kegagalan sistem bas di Pulau Pinang

Kenyataan Media oleh Wong Hon Wai, Ahli Jawatankuasa DAP Pulau Pinang pada 6hb April 2006 di Pulau Pinang.

Kegagalan sistem pengangkutan bas di Pulau Pinang: MPPP dan Kerajaan Negeri harus bertanggungjawab sepenuhnya

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Sistem bas baru yang dilancarkan di Pulau Pinang pada 1hb April 2006 merupakan satu kegagalan yang amat memalukan. Penumpang-penumpang bas terkeliru dengan sistem yang baru dan terpaksa menunggu lama sebelum sampai ke destinasi mereka. Tambahan pula, tambang bas telah naik di beberapa destinasi dan ini sememangnya membebankan rakyat.

Ketua Menteri Pulau Pinang, Tan Sri Dr Koh Tsu Koon, telah menyatakan dalam media seperti yang dilaporkan pada 6hb April 2006, bahawa tugas Kerajaan Negeri hanyalah menyediakan rangka kerja sistem bas yang baru dan bukan untuk melaksanakan dan menguatkuasakan rangka kerja tersebut. Dr Koh telah merujuk kepada Lembaga Pelesenan Kenderaan Perniagaan (Commercial Vehicles Licensing Board, CVLB), sebuah badan statutori Persekutuan yang menguruskan pengeluaran lessen bas, sebagai badan yang bertanggungjawab.

Saya ingin mengingatkan Dr Koh bahawa adalah menjadi tugas Majlis Perbandaran Pulau Pinang (MPPP) sebagai kerajaan tempatan untuk memberi perkhidmatan pengangkutan awam kepada pengguna di kawasan di bawah pentadbiran MPPP.

Seksyen 101(o) Akta Kerajaan Tempatan 1976 telah jelas menyatakan bahawa, Kerajaan Tempatan adalah bertanggungjawab terhadap memastikan perkhidmatan pengangkutan awam dalam kawasan pentadbiran kerajaan tempatan dan juga kawasan sekitarnya.

Seksyen berkenaan berbunyi:
“The local authority shall have power subject to the provisions of any law relating to road traffic, to establish, acquire, maintain and carry on within or without the local authority area public transport services”

Harus diingatkan bahawa Akta Lembaga Pelesenan Kenderaan Perniagaaan 1987 hanyalah satu undang-undang berkenaan pelesenan dan bukan satu undang-undang berkenaan pengangkutan jalanraya seperti yang diertikan di bawah Akta Kerajaan Tempatan 1976.

Sistem pengangkutan bas di Pulau Pinang adalah antara yang mundur berbanding dengan kota-kota antarabangsa yang maju di Europe, Singapura, Australia dan New Zealand. Ini bukan sahaja menjejaskan kegiatan harian dan produktivi penduduk Pulau Pinang malahan telah meninggalkan pengalaman yang tidak selesa kepada pelancong-pelancong asing.

MPPP dan Kerajaan Negeri Pulau Pinang tidak boleh melepaskan tanggungjawab mereka dalam menyediakan satu sistem pengangkutan awam yang cekap kepada pengguna.

Civic Party of Hong Kong

Civic Party of Hong Kong 公民黨 was formed on March 19th, 2006. Asiaweek (Chinese) YZZK carried a comprehensive news report on the formation of this new party. The Civic Party aspired to be the ruling party in the Hong Kong Special Administrative Region.

The EXCO lineup of Civic Party is quite impressive. It comprises 1 Professor, 4 lawyers and NGO leaders. They have 4 representatives in the HK Legislative Council.



In our home ground, the Democratic Action Penang (DAP) has launched a "Go Big" campaign. The DAP Penang has expressed the desires to play a pivotal role in the next General Election in year 2008.

In fact, DAP Penang is more advance in the lineup. There are 5 legislative members, 4 lawyers, one accountant, engineers, chief editor of the Rocket, succesful businessmen, former trade unionist, former staff of Air Force, representative of major races in Malayisa, former student activists etc.

International Law

I am aware that there are recent changes to the syllabus in the Malaysian law schools.

International Law is now a core subject in the Bachelor of Jurisprudence (External) offered by University Malaya.
During my time in UM (2000-2004), the focus was on the municipal laws.

I will spend sometime in April to learn the operational aspect of the International Law namely:
-- the mechanics of International Court of Justice and International Criminal Court

-- The UN Charter and various treaties

-- Application of International Law in Malaysia

There are high authorities of Malaysian Federal Court that International law is not part of the domestic law unless there are domestic legislations to that effect. The cases in point are Merdeka Universiti and Mohd Ezam.

Abdul Ghafur Hamid (an IIUM lecturer who is from Yangon) wrote a good piece of analysis on the judicial application of International law in Malaysia.

My other reference books are Mark Dixon on International Law, Cases and Materials on International Law by DJ Harris.