I need a pinch of salt.

Singapore Locks Up Rights Lawyer in Mental Hospital

By Jaya Gibson
Epoch Times Staff deported to Sydney
Sep 28, 2006

Singapore authorities have forced the city-state's leading human rights attorney, Madasamy Ravi, into a psychiatric institution, The Epoch Times has learned. Ravi's hospitalization, which sources say is against his will, follows his legal defense of eleven Falun Gong practitioners in a series of cases which Ravi believes are politically motivated.

Falun Gong adherents believe the Singapore government is prosecuting the cases to please the Chinese communist regime, which persecutes Falun Gong.

Ravi was arrested on September 19, said his younger sister Seeniamah. Singapore officials arrested Ravi on the day he was to travel to Geneva to address the United Nations Human Rights Council.

Ravi had told The Epoch Times he would speak to the Council on Singapore court irregularities he had witnessed during his most recent defense of Falun Gong adherents in the Singapore Subordinate court, as well as on the court's lack of independence.

Two days later, he was sedated against his will and committed to Singapore's Adam Road Hospital, Seeniamah said.

In the days between Ravi's arrest and his commitment, he was released "conditionally" into the care of his family, said family members. Police then reportedly told Ravi's family that he would be jailed, and that they would have no access to him—unless they agreed to have him committed. Ravi's brother Sivam signed the commitment papers.

He does not suffer from mental illness, according to acquaintances.

A source close to Ravi, whose anonymity will be kept for safety reasons, managed to visit him on Thursday, September 22. Ravi appeared in good health, but said that he was being held against his will and wanted to be released immediately. Ravi said he "did not feel safe" at the hospital, said the source.

In 2005, Ravi did make a successful visit to the UN—to the now defunct Commission on Human Rights. There, he raised Singapore authorities' ire by successfully lobbying the UN Special Rapporteur on extrajudicial, summary or arbitrary executions Philip Alston to publicly speak out against a case of mandatory death sentencing in the city state.

Following his reporting on the Singapore trials of Falun Gong practitioners as well as the protests at the International Monetary Fund (IMF) and World Bank meetings in Singapore earlier this month, this reporter was regularly monitored and followed by local police.

Upon returning to Singapore after a brief trip to Europe, this reporter was detained by immigration authorities and deported to Australia on September 25. No reason was given for the deportation.

At the time of writing Ravi remains hospitalized. All attempts by The Epoch Times to gain access to him have been blocked by hospital officials. The Singapore state press has reported that the trial of Falun Gong practitioners will be postponed until next month as a result of his absence.

The trail was due to continue on Monday, September 25.

From Epoch Times

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Related News

Today, 26/9/06: British Falungong journalist deported from Singapore: Falungong - from AFP
Today, 26/9/06 : Lawyer Ravi fails to keep another date

Blogs with related new or comments

i-speak, 27/9/06 - Miscellaneous
Singabloodypore, 27/9/06 - M. Ravi - Get Well Soon
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This is quite a serious accusation by Epoch Times, which is Falun Gong linked newspaper. As someone who lives here, i can only hope that this is not true coz the alternative is too scary even for me. There is not much verifiable facts available now to form an opinion. Let see how this will develop in time.

To be updated.

Clinton slaughters the Fox

Background : Fox Network is a known right-winged affiliated media network, i.e with the Republicans aka “Grand Old Party” (GOP).

Fox proposed to interview Clinton where it was agreed that the interview is to be half on The Clinton Global Initiative and half on any other things.

And the interviewer, Chris Wallace, tried to pin the blame on Bill Clinton for not doing enough, during his administration, to tackle terrorist threats and especially Osama. thus leading to some spectacular fireworks from Mr Clinton.

This is probably the Republicans’ strategy to deflect some of the fallout from the National Intelligence Estimate (NIE) on Iraq and terrorism, which represents the comprehensive consensus findings of the 16 US intelligence agencies. This report essentially finds that the US-led Iraq War worsens terrorism and Islamic extremism threats globally.

As Yahoo has reported, since the NIE report was out, the Democrats had seized upon the NIE to undermine the image fostered by current President George W. Bush and Republicans as the party best able to stop terrorism before November elections in which control of Congress is at stake. Thus leading to this embarrassing episode.

But man, was Chris Wallace slaughtered by Mr. Clinton who laid bare the hypocrisy of Fox Network.

Luckily I witnessed the incredible moment on Youtube before Fox Network forces the Youtube to take down this embarrassing footage.

Serve them right.

Luckily you can view the transcript and the video at these links.

One is not the President of the USA for nothing.

Addendum

A rebuttal from the current Administration. Obviously more will follow in time.

I'm inclined to believe Mr. Clinton on the "comprehensive anti-terror strategy" left by his administation but then the truth may never be totally clear in a media slug fest.

Addendum - an update

Guardian UK Report
Various views collected by CNN

Its official. Damage control time for the Republicans.

An ordinary week and some random thoughts

Some random thoughts

IMF-World Bank Annual Meeting finally ended. Not really sure if I can believe our state media that we had really impressed our guests but there is no doubt that we didn’t gain the full benefits as touted by the administration. Now at least, we can finally go to Suntec and not get lost.

The Hong Lim Park Debacle helped CSJ gain some political mileage in his quest for freedom of speech and right to assembly on this red dot. Hopefully more people can see CSJ as a normal politician instead of a troublemaker as portrayed by the PAP and State Media. Here are 3 links to bloggers to have blogged about it. (1, 2, 3)

One may not agree with all his methods but you have to respect his tenacity in pursuing something that he believes in.

And then there’s the Pope’s clumsy slip-up seems to be abated judging by the events this week.

While their PM is out for meeting, the Thai Military staged a so-far-still-peaceful Coup, effectively throwing out the existing administration. There seems to be some protest by students this weekend where hopefully no blood will be spilled. Singaporean’s money might go down the drain due to Temask’s action in purchasing shares of Thailand’s national communication company which were owned by the deposed PM.

There’s a rumour in the wind that Ms Chua Sock Koong who took over the position of CEO at Singtel from Lee Hsien Yang was LKY’s niece. This is yet to be verified. Also till date, LHY never explained his sudden resignation from the top post.

The Taiwan street protest seems to be spilling out to this weekend. Will and should the current Taiwan’s president step down ?

The Verdict is still not out on the Lina Joy case in Malaysia that concerns Islamic conversion.

And 19 days to go before my last day with this Company.

‘I disapprove of what you say, but I will defend to the death your right to say it,' – attributed to Voltaire

The Vatican Vs Muslims

Apparently, during a lecture, the current Pope said some offending stuffs to Muslims yesterday.

And by today, there is a global outcry among the Muslim population.

No doubt this will be another controversy in this sensitive period. Would things blow up ?

I’m guessing no one vetted through the Pope’s notes properly. Mentioning the works of dead people who are considered bias seems insensitive. There seems to be a gap between the Vatican and the Muslims. It would be good if both sides can use this event to engage in dialogue as per the Pope’s original intentions.

But I can’t convince myself that no one would use this controversy for their own purposes thus resulting in tragedies.

To quote from the movie “ Miss Congeniality ” - World Peace !

Public Relations - PAP just dun learn

Famous blogger, Yawning Bread, summed up the issue to a T on the current IMF-World Bank Annual Meeting 2006 fiasco and the current state of political affairs on this red dot.

In the face of all this, doesn’t PAP have some Public Relations people on the standby to manage all this backlash ?

If PAP dun buckle up (although it might have been already too late), instead of the MICE that this government is hoping that this island will become, it will be a mice as in a 过街老鼠 which will be mentioned in the same bad breath together whenever restrictions of freedom of speech debate is mentioned globally.

I particularly like this phrase from Yawning Bread :

“(By the way, many Singaporeans think that "upholding the law" means enforcing rules and clamping down. That only shows how brainwashed we've all been. "Upholding the law" means defending our legal rights and freedoms against those who would trample on those rights and freedoms, be they robbers, kidnappers or politicians.) "

4 more days till the IMF-World Bank Annual Meeting closes. Will the Red Dot’s reputation survive till 20th September 2006 ?

To digress a bit, I hope people also dun neglect the discussions and results from this meeting, because the repercussions affect everybody globally.

Addendum 01

It just occured to me... The SDP's protest march today... besides the fact that his gang will be rounded up, what will happen if some IMF-World Bank / NGO, CSO people decided to join the event ?

World Press Photo 2006

On display at the new National Library.

Thanks to a friend for mentioning this exhibition, otherwise it might have escaped my notice, thus missing out on an impact-ful exhibition.

Even viewing the pictures on their official website brought about raw emotions and critical evaluation of my tiny world view. Can’t wait to visit them later this week.

Personally I can’t imagine myself keeping a firm grip on a camera while taking such beautiful yet tragic photos, which is probably why I’m not a good photographer bah. How does one separate your emotions in the face of tragedy and capture the moment?

A picture really says a thousand words, if not better.

The Fallout before 9/11

The IMF-World Bank Saga Exploded 2 days before the infamous 9/11.

The Intelligent Singaporean has all the reports.

But it makes you wonder, if this Red Dot did receive any “substantiate“ threats that make the local authorities this edgy, besides the fact that this is near to a sensitive time. Maybe they did but are just keeping it quiet ?

Let see how it plays out in the end as an Authoritarian State / Host is embrassed by its Client. Will how many of all the supposed 16,000 visitors really come at all? The show will go on lah, however it will be less crowded ?

My day has just started some more.

4 million smiles are just ain't enough.

Singapore under fire as World Bank-IMF protest, 8th September 06

Naked Truth - Protesters say S'pore will deport them, 8th September 06

The Sound Of Silence, I-S Magazine, 8th September 06

Gloom in Hotel Lobbies, 8th September 06

With all the negative publicity generated, would you be surprised if less than expected number of visitors actually came ? Will they come with their family and spend all their money here or will they just come for the conference and return back home / go else where immediately ?

One thing for sure, this gov't doesn't know how to do good PR.

IMHO, I think the supposed protests or demostrations that will come and "disrupt our sheltered island lives" can be effectively managed by changing the mode of their delivery. We could give permits to the NGOs and CSOs to do their speeches and discussions at our Hong Lim Park (i.e the defuncted Speaker's Corner) where it is supposedly there for. Then, while they are in the area, these guys can stroll into Chinatown or the nearby Boat Quay to help boost our economy here and stuff.

By concentrating them into one area, monitoring would be easier for the men in blues. And if the Red Dot can pull this off, the positive publicity generated will do us good in the long run. Instead, our uncreative adminstrators just do the lazy thing by shutting these people out.

Sometimes 4 million smiles are just ain't enough.

Swallowing, a Double Entendre

Coutesy of Imedeen

When will the Prudes ever learnt to open up ? (Pun intended)

Crikey !

Steve Irwin

(22nd February 1962 - 4th September 2006)

Steve Irwin was killed by a stingray while shooting a documentary in the sea.

Its ironic and a pity, but, in a weird way, fitting that he went because of an animal.

Its a reminder that, in spite of all the things that Man had achieved, nature is something unpredictable and cannot be tamed that easily.

Nevertheless, my condolences to his Wife and Kids.

The World just lost an entertainer, environmentalist / naturalist and a Role Model.

No news on Joy. Again.

How long will the Malaysia’s Judicial System take to make a decision?

Incidentally, as I was searching around for new updates on the Islam conversion Case in Malaysia’s court regarding Lina Joy; I found that a blogger Maobi actually comment my post on this issue as surreal under the post “Carnival of Joy Day 4”. I’m cool with that.

What’s cooler is that this blogger bothered to gather the links to various other blogs that commented on this issue.

The eventual decision and its rationale by the Malaysia would be interesting, no matter which way the decision falls. What would be more interesting would be the ramifications thereafter in the Islamic World.

As before, we shall wait (again) to see.

She’s a Virgo

Name : I know but will let Uncle Kwok announce to the world

DOB : 3rd September 2006 (Chinese Dog Year)

Location : Mount Alvernia Hospital

Weight : 3.19 kg

The relieved Mother, the blessed Princess and the stressed Father (now Uncle) are all fine.

Photo? No need lah, there will be more than enough of that coming from the new parents soon enough.

Killing Time with Flash

Added a link to my frequented flash game site.