Following the much debated, widely talked about scandal involving Nicholas Lim and Monica Baey, both students of the National University of Singapore (NUS) and Workers’ Party (WP) secretary-general Pritam Singh, are pushing for all Singaporeans to play their part, instead of just contributing their views online.
He hopes that Singaporeans can “participate, organise and take charge” so that Singapore can become a better, more cohesive nation than it is today.
Sharing his thoughts on the case as a lawyer, Mr. Singh explains why he finds the 12-month conditional warning to Lim reasonable:
“Reading this article, it is not a surprise many trained in law found the Police’s explanation of why some offenders are treated more harshly than others, rational and reasonable. Even with a plea of guilt, proportionality is a central feature of criminal law. The Attorney-General, arguably the most powerful person in Singapore (because he/she decides who gets charged and who does not) in his/her wisdom, has to determine what is appropriate given the totality of the facts and circumstances.”
Meanwhile, with the different kind of opinions being floated on social media about the case, Pritam urged civic-minded Singaporeans to contribute actively to effect positive change to society and said:
“More significantly, it took one person to stand up and make a difference which highlights the lack of civic participation and organisation in Singapore. We cannot leave it for someone else to stand up and make a difference. All of us must play our part. As we push boundaries, we need to be open to reason and compromise, with a view to make tomorrow better. If you are scared to organise or are too apathetic to want to deal with the issue or find it sufficient to contribute “online”, change will be slow and it will require a Monica Baey to stand up. That requires courage. We can all do better than this. Talk, Participate, Organise, Take Charge.” /TISG