Ladies and Gentlemen,
I have known Venogopal Ragavan, a
Singapore lawyer who is now in his 60s, while I was practicing law in
Singapore. What he told me a few days ago on the phone did not come as
a surprise; it was another of this government's series of stupid
policies that inconvenience Singapore lawyers unnecessarily. Now, it
appears every lawyer has to deposit with the Government Medisave
Program 7% to 8% of their annual income as security for their medical
expenses! And listen to this; if they did not, they cannot practice law
in Singapore!
This requirement is not only stupid, it is
completely unwarranted. What, may I ask, has contributing to medisave
got anything to do with practicing law! And if Singapore requires
lawyers, as well as cooks, hairdressers and lion tamers to contribute
to Medisave, then they should have rules to require this.
But
prohibiting a lawyer from practicing his profession is a punishment
totally unrelated to medisave. Does it also mean, an air-conditioning
technician or a Cantonese noodle cook should also stop work if there is
no money in medisave? And does it not occur to these million dollar
ministers that if they do not work, you would be in fact be making sure
they don't have any money to eat, let alone depositing money in this
government account.
According to Mr. V Ragavan this sum to be
deposited can amount to as much as $30,000 to $40,000 and for some even
more. And together with the already existing money they have to pay to
get their yearly law practicing certificates which amount to $6,000 a
year, the total amount is simply beyond the means of many lawyers,
especially those who do not have the Lee Kuan Yew/ PAP connections like
Mr. V Ragavan.
I tell you, I do not know anywhere else in the
world where it costs so much to practice law, when the legal work
available is almost non existent for the ordinary lawyer. As you know,
with the bulk of the legal work being Lee Kuan Yew's government
contracts, it all goes to people who are sycophants like Davinder Singh
and Hri Kumar of Drew and Napier. Essentially bootlickers who make a
living that way.
And if you are foolish enough, or brave
enough, depending on which way you look at life, you have nothing to
look for in Singapore's legal market. As it is, the courts charge an
arm and a leg merely to file a law suit in the courts, thousands in the
High Court and hundreds of dollars in the Subordinate Court. And if you
were an ordinary regular bloke with no connections, you are probably
going to lose your case anyway, so why bother. As for criminal cases,
no need to hire a lawyer since whatever the prosecutor says goes unless
you are the newspaper editor of a Singapore Chinese daily who got away
after killing a pillion motorcycle rider, while on a cell phone! You
can read about this abuse of the law in my blog about this woman
Chinese editor who got away.
All in all, Singaporeans have come
to know there is no need to squander hard earned money in law cases in
Singapore, because you simply cannot win in Lee's courts. Best to
simply eat humble pie and take what comes.
According to Mr.
Ragavan, many lawyers especially senior ones who are not making any
money, when they should be, except for Lee Kuan Yew's selected few, are
simply calling it a day. As many as 300 to a 1,000 lawyers have left or
will leave by the end of this year when the payment has to be made.
Tell me, with an already world record for insufficient lawyers, 3,000
in a country of 5 million, with the drain of this impending number, how
many lawyers will actually be left in that island? An island which
according to the recently appointed Lee Kuan Yew's Minister for Law Mr.
K Shanmugam, is a London of the East!
Mr. Ragavan is Venogopal
Ragavan of the firm RS Balan in Chin Swee Road, a cheap office premises
next to Lee Kuan Yew's Subordinate Courts. His phone number is
67344207. I have not got his permission to mention him, but being a
lawyer, I expect him to stand up against any reprisals from Lee Kuan
Yew. He tells me that he too is contemplating giving it up. And looking
at the bleak situation as it is, I tend to agree.
He says, if
you were a bachelor like him, and you don't use up the money and die,
it will revert to Lee Kuan Yew and his government. Surely that alone
should be a reason to refuse to pay and give up practice altogether.
After
my writing this, I don't expect my old friend to speak to me anymore.
This can be expected after all, in Lee Kuan Yew's fear ridden
Singapore.
And by the way, I guess you noted the absence of
any report of this in the state controlled newspapers. After all it is
not very good news, is it?
Gopalan Nair
39737 Paseo Padre Parkway, Suite A1
Fremont, CA 94538, USA
Tel: 510 657 6107
Fax: 510 657 6914
Email: [email protected]
Blog: http://singaporedissident.blogspot.com/
Your letters are welcome. We reserve the right to publish your letters. Please Email your letters to [email protected] And if you like what I write, please tell your friends. You will be
helping democracy by distributing this widely. This blog not only gives
information, it dispels government propaganda put out by this
dictatorial regime.
http://singaporedissident.blogspot.com/2009/11/singapore-even-further-resignations.html
I've noticed lately that GN has been betraying the trust of those he knows personally or who have contacted him via email, by mentioning names, and even pasting entire emails in his blog that the sender requested he not publish. Some names and emails are given in full, and others are half-heartedly hidden, leaving plenty of context to go by for authorities to determine the authors' identities.
I mention this as a warning for anybody considering corresponding with GN.