PAP distortion of Privy Council Judgment

Statement from JBJ! Hooray!!

PAP distortion of Privy Council Judgment

I see that the PAP government is resorting to chicanery to hide the truth from Singaporeans about the Privy Council's verdict on the "convictions" I suffered at the hands of the Singapore courts (ST Friday Dec 9). It is not the first time. It is completely dishonest in the way it is presented.

Jayakumar, the Minister for Law, or Chan Sek Keong, the Attorney-General, should have pointed out any "inaccuracy" in interpreting the judgment of then Singapore's highest court of appeal. Instead, they hide behind the skirt of a civil servant. The PAP forces civil servants to make political capital for them. It is thoroughly unworthy of a government that claims to be creditable.

To put the record straight and to nail the lie once and for all that the Privy Council did not condemn the judgments of the Singapore courts, will Jayakumar or the Attorney-General honestly and truthfully, as though on oath, answer the following questions:-

1. It is true or not true that in 1987 the Singapore court of three judges ordered that I be struck off the Roll of Advocates and Solicitors on the ground that I had been correctly convicted on four criminal charges, a ground specified in the Legal Profession Act for striking out an Advocate and Solicitor;

2. Is it true or not true that in my appeal to the Privy Council I had challenged the validity or correctness of the criminal convictions against me;

3. Is it true or not true that the Privy Council in October 1988 overturned the Order of the Singapore court holding that I was not guilty of any of the offences, the convictions were all wrong and that "by a series of misjudgment' in the Singapore courts I had suffered a "grievous injustice". (See Judgment of the Privy Council
(1989) A C 1);

4. Is it true or not true that I was restored to the Roll of Advocates sad Solicitors following the decision by the Privy Council to overturn the Singapore high Court decision to strike me off the Rolls;

5. Is it true or not true that I was thwarted by the Singapore courts in three attempts I made to make it possible for me to appeal to the. Privy Council and which the Privy Council noted in their Judgment and regretted the actions of the Singapore courts.

It is completely dishonest to say that "Mr Jeyaretnam did not appeal to the Privy Council against his convictions" deliberately hiding the fact that the then Singapore laws gave no automatic right of appeal to the Privy council from any convictions in the Singapore courts.

It is again completely dishonest for the PAP government to say, through Its civil servant that the validity of my criminal convictions were not before the Privy Council. How dishonest can this government get. I do not want a civil servant to answer the questions. They must be answered by the government's highest legal officers.

If either Jayakumar or the Attorney-General do not answer these questions, Singaporeans will be entitled to assume that the government's protest about the programme is totally unfounded and only worthy of a government that distorts the truth.

JB Jeyaretnam