3/06/2016

No one is above the law? Not in Singapore

Below is a letter by Felicia, a mother who lost his son in National Service during an accident. She went to court to sue the officers and SAF for negligence but the case was thrown out as there is a law that says officers/men of the SAF cannot be sued. Here is the law.
‘Section 14 of the Govt Proceedings Act precludes a serviceman from commencing any action in tort arising from any (and all) negligence during their active service, against the SAF.’
Taking this act literally, and now a court judgement, the SAF and its officers/men are above the law. If they killed or maimed anyone out of negligence, they cannot be sued. My God, I thought only an emperor or a dictator is above the law. Would such an act compromise the standard of professionalism. safety and the lives of soldiers in the SAF when officers/men think they are immuned from the law and thus acted less diligently?
Now we have a mother crying desperately for justice. The SAF said they have compensated her with $50,000 which some commented could not even buy a COE for a car. How much did the mother and many mothers paid to raise a child, and the pain and aches and love cost? $50,000, that’s all? Ok, sorry to make this comment. Please don’t ask me how much I want or think should be enough.
Read the mother’s letter and keep quiet. Do not say anything or express your grief, compassion, empathy for the mother. It did not happen to your loved ones so let it pass. It happened, let’s move on. The law that provides for the SAF and its officer/men to be above the law shall remain. Would they even think of a COI to review this law like the Benjamin case?


My dearest Dom, my heart continues to bleed for you. It has been 3 years and 10 months since you were taken from me and still, I haven’t been able to get any closure.
Today, Honourable Judicial Commissioner Kannan Remesh ruled that I have no case against those responsible for your death – the SAF and the 2 officers who did not follow the training exercise SOP. He also ruled that I have to pay for their legal costs. Dom, how can I possibly pay them for taking away your life? Where is the justice? It seems, the price I paid has not been enough. Your death has not been high enough a price for SAF and the 2 officers, and now, not enough for Honourable Remesh, it seems.
They must be right, of course – the judge, the ministers, the SAF and their officers. They are experts in their fields. Individuals who studied and trained for years to be in their current positions. What do I know? I’m only a mother to two sons. I only know to love my sons, to nurture them to become young men who will do right by others, to live with dignity, decency and human compassion. What do I know? They are the experts in their fields. They must know best. They do no wrong.
Dom, in these past 3+ years, I have been worn-down, beaten and defeated by the very government I taught you to trust; worn-down, beaten and defeated by the very system I counseled you to have faith in; worn-down, beaten and defeated by the very people I advised you to respect and honor.
Dom, forgive me. I taught you wrong.
Felicia

An article on the above is posted in TRE.

43 comments:

Anonymous said...

" Mine is a very matter-of-fact approach to the problem.
If you can select a population and they're educated and they're properly brought up, then you don't have to use too much of the stick because they would already have been trained.
It's like with dogs.
You train it in a proper way from small.
It will know that it's got to leave, go outside to pee and to defecate.
No, we are not that kind of society.
We had to train adult dogs who even today deliberately urinate in the lifts. "
- Guess who said this?

Do you think Singaporeans are a well trained workforce?

Anonymous said...

Opposing for the sake of Opposing (How to vote wisely)
------------------------------------------
Trump Supporters - In Their Own Words

" I don’t find conversations about how morally repugnant Trump is to be interesting when the rest of the candidates seem to also support imperialistic and fascist policies concerning drone strikes, torture and mass surveillance. "

" Do I like Trump’s platform? No, I think most of it is silly and misguided, but at least it is not the same bullshit casserole that has been on the menu in Washington DC for as long as I have been alive. "

" His candidacy is a happy accident that is currently ripping the soul of America apart, which is something that I think we desperately need (and deserve) at this time in our history, for better or for worse. "

– From the Guardian article: ‘Not Even My Wife Knows’: Secret Donald Trump Voters Speak Out

http://www.theguardian.com/us-news/2016/mar/03/secret-donald-trump-voters-speak-out

Anonymous said...

Opposing for the sake of Opposing (How to vote wisely)
------------------------------------------
Trump Supporters - In Their Own Words


The Guardian recently asked Trump supporters to explain in detail the rationale behind their support. What emerged is one of the most fascinating articles I’ve read all year. Not only are the demographics not what you’d expect, but their reasons for support were much more varied, complex and nuanced than you might imagine.

One surprisingly common response consisted of people who supported Trump despite the recognition that his presidency could be an unmitigated disaster. Many of them believed the American populace was in need of such a disaster in order to shed its apathy and become politically active.

http://www.theguardian.com/us-news/2016/mar/03/secret-donald-trump-voters-speak-out

Anonymous said...

"We either have a country or we don't have a country."
- Donald Trump on the immigration issue

Anonymous said...

For death of NS, the (military) court would have charged the wrongful people for their triple error (6/2=3) . For duty of NS, the (dangerous) exercise would not be covered under insurance for any unfortunate mishandling (3X) . Undeniably, there are more professional/ thoughtful army people doing their rightful duty to help/ cooperate with everyone to finish rightful duty (safe n sound) . Hands-On Green Matters

Anonymous said...


善有善报,恶有恶报

不是不报,时候未到

可怜! 可怜! 可怜!

Anonymous said...

"Repression, Sir is a habit that grows.
I am told it is like making love-it is always easier the second time!

The first time there may be pangs of conscience, a sense of guilt.
But once embarked on this course with constant repetition you get more and more brazen in the attack.
All you have to do is to dissolve organizations and societies and banish and detain the key political workers in these societies.

Then miraculously everything is tranquil on the surface.
Then an intimidated press and the government-controlled radio together can regularly sing your praises, and slowly and steadily the people are made to forget the evil things that have already been done, or if these things are referred to again they're conveniently distorted and distorted with impunity, because there will be no opposition to contradict. "

- Guess who gave this warning?

jjgg said...

government showing their pimples n worts..lky set up all these rules to create a moat around his castle so that he can be secure in his ivory tower . How now fellow citizens? You still think that all the rules are working for you? The cpf rules are to help you? Next time consider your vote wisely.

Anonymous said...

" Let us get down to fundamentals.
Is this an open, or is this a closed society?
Is it a society where men can preach ideas - novel, unorthodox, heresies, to established churches and established governments - where there is a constant contest for men's hearts and minds on the basis of what is right, of what is just, of what is in the national interests;
OR
is it a closed society where the mass media - the newspapers, the journals, publications, TV, radio - either bound by sound or by sight, or both sound and sight, men's minds are fed with a constant drone of sycophantic support for a particular orthodox political philosophy?

I am talking of the principle of the open society, the open debate, ideas, not intimidation, persuasion not coercion...

- Guess who asked this question?

Chua Lee Kheng said...

Oh mu goodness !

Chua Lee Kheng said...

Oh my goodness !

jjgg said...

Ah... 2016... PAP won the election n lost the people..more to come... Perhaps the 2015 elections is a threshold.

Anonymous said...

"I make no apologies that the PAP is the Government and the Government is the PAP."

Who said this ah?

Chua Lee Kheng said...

I'm a Singapore citizen. I say that the individual has rights.

Anonymous said...

Should be anyone to be free from blame, even if negligent?
Oh my God.

Anonymous said...


the future......I don't know.......

but the known fact is...........

in 2015....70% said OK.....thank you very much, sirs.........

so.....................

let me tell U......Singapore is like that lah............

U don't know meh........

hahaha........

Ⓜatilah $ingapura⚠️ said...

One can understand a mother's grief. But she's (implicitly) supported the idea of NS.

I have always said that the day the mothers of boys came out in force to say to the govt,

"You will not take our sons by force, they will join up VOLUNTARILY if they choose to",

...there will be no more NS and Singapore will have a PROFESSIONAL fighting force which would probably end up being the ENVY of many western nations that have 100's of years of military history.

Which govt. will DARE to take on a nation of angry mothers?

The idea of suing the military for negligence is simply untenable. No one should be allowed to bring any tort claim against the military. National defense is a dangerous business. The prospect of being killed or seriously injured is ever present---that's just the nature of the business. Risks have to be taken, decisions often made in the moment with insufficient information. Naturally, occasionally accidents will happen, and lives will be lost.

Therefore Section 14 of the Govt Proceedings Act , is actually "good law". If servicemen or their families could sue, the situation will end up with a barrage of claims for situations which have gone "bad", and in time officers won't be making crucial RISKY DECISIONS for fear of being sued.

If you're an officer, how the fuck can you defend the cuntry with your hands and minds tied up like that?

Anonymous said...

Q: Why did the chicken cross the road?

A: The chicken knew the difference between meritocracy and bullying.

Veritas said...

My take is all military training have high risk of casualty and your army wont be able to fight without the training rigor. USA army have high death in training as well. Others like UK military report one death every 6 weeks.

The problem is not training death. When leaders want people to risk their sons life for military, they must shown example that they sacrifice more. In ancient Rome, the senate run extremely high risk of losing their life in war.

Few complaints Israel IDF training is tough or risky. When I read about IDF, I seen elites Jews sacrificing their life, education and career, and jump into war so that Israel stand. The brother of current PM is Yonathan Netanyahu, a Stanford scholar, who volunteer for the most dangerous role in IDF, eventually got killed.

The IDF elites also shown example make sure that the best and most honorable got to leadership. In IDF officers served fucking 5 years.

Everyone fuck SAF because Kuan Yew and friends like to put their sons in leadership position without making them sacrifice.

These aircon scholars move in and out of fancy univeristy in their career of SAF, never been with the man, and suddenly got parachutte out to be a minister, of CEO somewhere.

SAF is rotten organization and many KPKB not because someone die. Many die in training elsewhere. Just that someone happens to die and we take the chance to bash SAF.

Anonymous said...

Don't be a hero. Look after yourself. Life is short!

Anonymous said...

Fukushima: Tokyo was on the brink of nuclear catastrophe, admits former prime minister
Five years on from the tsunami, the former Japanese prime minister says the country came within a “paper-thin margin” of a nuclear disaster
-------------------------------------

He said he considered evacuating the capital, Tokyo, along with all other areas within 160 miles of the plant, and declaring martial law.
“The future existence of Japan as a whole was at stake,” he said.
“Something on that scale, an evacuation of 50 million, it would have been like a losing a huge war.”

Mr Kan admitted he was frightened and said he got “no clear information” out of Tepco, the plant’s operator. He was “very shocked” by the performance of Nobuaki Terasaka, his own government’s key nuclear safety adviser. “We questioned him and he was unable to give clear responses,” he said.

“We asked him – do you know anything about nuclear issues? And he said no, I majored in economics.”

“We were only able to avert a 250-kilometre (160-mile) evacuation zone [around the plant] by a wafer-thin margin, thanks to the efforts of people who risked their lives. Next time, we might not be so lucky.”

Dramatic CCTV footage from the plant, released in 2012, showed a skeleton staff – the so-called “Fukushima 50” - struggling to read emergency manuals by torchlight and battling with contradictory, confusing instructions from their superiors at Tepco.

Total disaster was averted when seawater was pumped into the reactors, but the plant manager, Masao Yoshida, later said he considered committing hara-kiri, ritual suicide, in despair at the situation.

"I knew that even based on what little we were hearing, there was a real possibility this could be bigger than Chernobyl. That was a terrible disaster, but there was only one reactor there. There were six here.”

Although the Fukushima disaster caused no immediate deaths from radiation, it did force the evacuation of almost 400,000 people, most of whom have still been unable to return to their homes

We shouldn’t be building nuclear power plants in areas where there is a population to be affected.

http://www.telegraph.co.uk/news/worldnews/asia/japan/12184114/Fukushima-Tokyo-was-on-the-brink-of-nuclear-catastrophe-admits-former-prime-minister.html

Anonymous said...

Do you know how much money our PAP government is spending on nuclear power research?
...................................................
BUILDING SINGAPORE’S NUCLEAR KNOWLEDGE

But the study also concluded that Singapore needs to build up its nuclear knowledge and capability. In 2014, the government announced it would set aside S$63 million over five years for the Nuclear Safety Research and Education Programme.

http://www.channelnewsasia.com/news/singapore/singapore-must-be/2154300.html

Anonymous said...

USA military motto is leave no man behind. I think if you are in SAF better look after yourself and don't be a hero cause u die your business. I am not sure a SAF that protects herself so well, whether soildiers are prepared to fight for SAF. The more one protects herself against others the least the other party willing to sacrifice.

It's something that SAF has to ponder whether to hide under the law.

Anonymous said...

The law says you die your own business. If, under a freak accident, you can succeed in winning the case against the SAF, they will make sure the law is changed to protect the SAF, not you as citizens, your children or grandchildren. Got it? You never win against the power that be, because they made the law to ensure you are always under, not above te law.

Anonymous said...

Look, Jeyaretnam can't win the infighting.
I'll tell you why.
WE are in charge.
Every government ministry and department is under our control.
And in the infighting, he will go down for the count every time... I will make him crawl on his bended knees, and beg for mercy.
.....................................

No one is above the law.
Hee hee hee.

Anonymous said...

Would you trust an army trained by officers that are protected from being negligent? What kind of army is that? Are they saying it is ok to be negligent?

Anonymous said...

Mother of late NSF who died in 2012 during military exercise turns to SDP’s Chee Soon Juan for help

http://mothership.sg/2016/03/mother-of-late-nsf-who-died-in-2012-during-military-exercise-turns-to-sdps-chee-soon-juan-for-help/

---------------------------------------------------
Is it true?
If you ask CASE for help, they will ask you to become a member first before they will help you?

What about CSJ and SDP?
Do you think they should also ask you to become a member first before helping you?

Anonymous said...

You find out what seeds a flower has left behind only after it has faded.
In the same way, you will know the legacy a person's left behind only after he is dead.

Anonymous said...

What can Chee soon juan do when he is not in a position to even help himself. Here u die your business so just try to survive if bad thing happen then just suck thumb. 70% don't mind so nothing u can do.

Anonymous said...

Here u die your business so just try to survive if bad thing happen then just suck thumb. 70% don't mind so nothing u can do.
March 06, 2016 7:43 pm

You are indeed a very well trained slave dog.

"It's like with dogs.
You train it in a proper way from small.
It will know that it's got to leave, go outside to pee and to defecate.
No, we are not that kind of society.
We had to train adult dogs who even today deliberately urinate in the lifts. "

Anonymous said...

Anon 9.48 pm. U should expect a knock at your door at midnight. Then see you advocate against majority rule no matter how unhappy u may be by I assume overthrowing a majority elected government. Knn under very cold air con when your balls shrunk and your tiny little Brother almost disappear, see u can talk tough or not.

The other anon merely stated that majority supported the government elected so no choice and u want to stir up trouble outside the election process? Knn u very brave is it and got nothing better to do?

Anonymous said...

Hi anon 9.48 pm, be very careful cause if you overthrow a majority elected government by violent mean, chaos will occur. Rule of law breaks down. Your Mother, Wife and daughters may be raped in front of your eyes then see u can still talk tough or not.

Anonymous said...

@ March 07, 2016 7:17 am & March 07, 2016 7:21 am

" But we either believe in democracy or we don't.
If we do, then, we must say categorically, without qualification, that no restraint from the any democratic processes, other than by the ordinary law of the land, should be allowed...
If you believe in democracy, you must believe in it unconditionally.
If you believe that men should be free, then, they should have the right of free association, of free speech, of free publication.
Then, no law should permit those democratic processes to be set at nought, and no excuse, whether of security, should allow a government to be deterred from doing what it knows to be right, and what it must know to be right... "
- Lee Kuan Yew, Legislative Assembly Debates, April 27, 1955

https://en.wikiquote.org/wiki/Lee_Kuan_Yew

Anonymous said...

@ March 07, 2016 7:17 am & March 07, 2016 7:21 am

Are you threatening Lee Kuan Yew?

Lee Kuan Yew said;

"It's like with dogs.
You train it in a proper way from small.
It will know that it's got to leave, go outside to pee and to defecate.
No, we are not that kind of society.
We had to train adult dogs who even today deliberately urinate in the lifts. "

https://en.wikiquote.org/wiki/Lee_Kuan_Yew

Anonymous said...

Anon 8.33 am, I think people just good hearted so u don't get into trouble by advocating violent overthrow of majority elected government no matter how unhappy u are as Long as the 70% is happy. If u can not fit in, u either suck thumb or immigrate before some people may ask u to suck something else unpleasant to u.

I don't know about cold air con but I do remember overseas in winter, one's balls really shrunk and the little Brother from 4 inches become only 1 inch. So we hate to see u Kena like that. Knn we have better thing to do lar. U are very free is it, go volunteer to help the poor rather than have this dangerous thought that get u into trouble.

If your little Brother can not re extend himself After suffering severe cold, your Wife will also leave u or let u wear the green hat. Knn what do u gain from it?

Anonymous said...

@ March 07, 2016 9:31 am

Nice doggy.
Good doggy.
Go and chase a car along AYE.

Chua Chin Leng aka redbean said...

Welcome to the blog, independent individual and Tom John.

Anonymous said...

Anon 1.06pm, I think u taking the many good advice very negatively. It's for your own good. U think very funny about doggy joke till u Kena doggy from behind or your Mother, Wife or daughters also Kena doggy style then u know and u won't be laughing anymore or so free scolding people.

Wake up man, Knn before it's too late. For all you know your radicalised thought is already being tracked. My advice wear many layers of underwear if Kena called up. You do not want to lose your tiny little Brother, Tio bo? Otherwise u only get your Wife very frustrated.

Anonymous said...

The various anon on that guy have great sense of humour, very funny haha😀😀😀

Anonymous said...

Haha😂😂😂

Anonymous said...

Anon 8.35 pm why so touchy touchy! Relax lar Knn for your own good.👍😀😀😀

Anonymous said...

Red Bean
Seems like your blog has been infested with drones and yahoos, the likes which even matilda avoids,

kaki

Anonymous said...

Kaki what talking you? U very free is it?