Second Hand smoke more important than criminal justice
Following the balloting procedure provided under the Standing Order of Parliament, it was decided that the matter of "Protection Against Secondhand Smoke in our Homes" raised by MP Louis Ng of Nee Soon GRC be debated under the Motion for Adjournment in the next parliament sitting instead of the matter of "Justice For All: Enhancing Equity in the Criminal Justice System" raised by MP Sylvia Lim of Aljunied GRC.
Three other PAP MPs - Carrie Tan of Nee Soon GRC, Dr Wan Rizal of Jalan Besar GRC and Denise Phua of Jalan Besar GRC have also raised other matters.
With five submissions in total, MP Sylvia Lim only stands a 20% chance of being drawn in the ballot process although most Singaporeans would probably prefer the Parti Liyani case to be heard first before Secondhand Smoke or any of the other matters raised by the PAP MPs.
The failure of the current parliamentary procedure (standing order) to give priority to the more important issue of the day to be heard and processed is another issue we will follow up in the future.
For now, we hope the parliamentary questions that PSP have raised separately will be addressed fully by the Minister of Law and Home Affairs. The questions are as follows:
Q1: To ask the Minister for Home Affairs if he will appoint a committee of inquiry consisting of members not affiliated to the Government to conduct a public inquiry into the Singapore Police Force's and Attorney-General 's Chambers' conduct with regards to the investigation and prosecution of Parti Liyani.
Q2: To ask the Minister for Home Affairs,
a. whether an expedited trial process can be created for economically vulnerable foreign accused persons.
b. whether the honorarium for volunteer lawyers under the CLAS scheme can be increased to signify their contributions.
c. whether an Office of Public Defender can be created to provide legal assistance to accused persons in Singapore like the Public Defender Service in the United Kingdom.
d. whether there are any steps being taken to strengthen the interpreter service in the Singapore Police Force in the light of findings in the Parti Liyani case.
We continue to advocate that for the Parti Liyani case, which is one of national importance, an Independent Committee of Inquiry be convened to investigate the case independently and to recommend remedial measures. This is the only way to regain public confidence and trust in our criminal justice system.
#partiliyani #anilbalchandani #criminaljustice #ProgressSingaporeParty #progresswithcompassion
This is probably the first time any thinking Singaporean has found out that there is a procedure that has to be followed to ballot the questions to be raised. This sounds to me to be a system that is so very hobbled by archaic rules that I feel must be revised and removed. Perhaps Louis should offer to Sylvia to withdraw his question and have the more pressing one tabled. The issue of 2nd hand smoke has been raised by Louis 4 times before according to the Hansard: a) 2 Oct 2018: https://www.parliament.gov.sg/docs/default-source/default-document-library/order-paper---2-oct18.pdf page 3 b) 19 Nov 2018: https://www.parliament.gov.sg/docs/default-source/default-document-library/revised-order-paper-and-ops---19nov18.pdf page 14 c) 20 Nov 2018: https://www.parliament.gov.sg/docs/default-source/default-document-library/order-paper-and-ops---20nov18.pdf page 6 d) 14 Jan 2019: https://www.parliament.gov.sg/docs/default-source/default-document-library/revised-order-paper---14jan19.pdf page 142 And 2 others on 6 Feb 2018: https://www.parliament.gov.sg/docs/default-source/default-document-library/order-paper--6feb18.pdf page 1
Senior Manager | Group CI Practitioner | Chair - PMAS | Member of the Board - IPMA CVMB
4 年The issue of 2nd hand smoke in our community has been here for a long time and people are already mitigating it. However, the issue on the justice system is more pressing. Using the same strategy to just delay and using number to cast this aside doesn’t help. We know, the people on the ground knows and we remember. Press on Mun Wai Leong 梁文辉 and bring forward the voices from the ground to be hear.