Ministerial Committee versus Hague Tribunal

Jeannette Chong-Aruldoss, another member of the SPP, described the Ministerial Committee as a “tragic joke”.

“It is like the Boss of a company has a quarrel with Mr Someone. Then the Boss gathers a number of his employees and empowers them to decide who is right: he (the Boss) or Mr Someone. Boss submits a long testimony to this group of his employees giving them his account of the events and his opinion about Mr Someone’s motives.

How on earth can such a group of subordinates, who are otherwise answerable to the Boss, be expected to act independently and to able to make an objective decision? Does such a dubious committee really have the option to decide against their Boss?

It is a rule of natural justice that a man cannot be a judge in his own cause: “Nemo judex in causa sua”. Asking your underlings to determine the outcome of a case in which you have a personal interest in, is to me a breach of that rule.

Tragically, the joke is on us, the citizenry. For it does not bode well for us when we cannot detect, turn a blind eye to or condone conflict of interests and use of state powers for personal benefits.”

After reading Jeannette Chong’s comment about the Ministerial Committee it straight away reminded me of the ‘UN supported’ Hague Tribunal that ruled against China on the SCS Islands case. In this tribunal, supposedly a private court that willing parties went for an arbitration but the western media trying to con the world that it was a ‘UN backed’ organization as if it was an UN body, it was set up unilaterally by the Philippines and its backers ie the USA and Japan, without China participating, chose its own judges, paid the judges to decide in their favour against China. And the Americans and some western countries including little USAs went about trumpeting that it was a fair and ‘UN backed’ court and that its decision must be complied with. Today all these silly buggers are like what the Hokien phrase said, ‘chui tat lan’, all voiceless, become dumb, after their scheme was exposed as hollow, silly and mischievous.

 

Now, would this kind of court be a tragic joke, ridiculous?  Setting up your own court, choosing and buying your own judges to judge against another party that did not agree and did not want to be a part of it? Compares the Ministerial Committee to this kangaroo court, which is the bigger joke? Was there any natural justice, did supporting this kangaroo court bode well for Singapore as a country that has been touting the rule of law?