| 188.140> Singapore is not a police state. It is not devoid of civil
> rights. I would happily live there when I retire. [...]
> It is an asian country with different cultural values...
It is not only westerners who sometimes consider Singapore to be a
police state.
DougO
-----
Singapore's Legal System Questioned Again
Manila upset -- Filipino faces hanging
Robert H. Reid
Manila, Philippines
Singapore's strict legal system, criticized last year after an American
teenager was ordered flogged for vandalism, is under fire again -- this
time from fellow Asians.
For more than a week, in banner headlines, Manila newspapers have
alleged a rush to judgment and a coverup in the case of Flor
Contemplacion, a Filipino maid and mother of four who has been
sentenced to hang for the May 1991 deaths of another Filipino maid,
Della Maga, and a 4-year-old Singaporean boy.
The controversy has led some to describe Singapore, a partner with the
Philippines in the Association of Southeast Asian Nations, as a
``police state'' with an inflexible legal code.
Under public pressure, Philippines President Fidel Ramos has asked the
Singapore government to postpone the execution until purported new
evidence can be evaluated.
In an interview yesterday in Copenhagen with AP Television, Ramos said
he has written twice to Singapore's president, most recently on
Saturday.
He said he was not asking Singapore to bend the rules, ``just asking
for a fresh opportunity to review the case once more.''
Singaporean authorities do not announce execution dates in advance, but
Contemplacion's family says it was told to claim the body on Friday.
Executions in Singapore usually are carried out on Fridays.
Filipino human rights lawyer Romeo Capulong believes Contemplacion was
framed. He plans to travel to Singapore today to lobby for a new trial
``to punish the real culprit.''
It is unclear whether the purported new evidence is strong enough to
merit a new investigation. It is based on allegations by another
Filipino maid, Emilia Frenilla, who has since returned to the
Philippines.
Frenilla, who worked next door to Maga in Singapore, said she overheard
her employers talking about the case. By eavesdropping, she surmised
that the 4-year- old suffered an epileptic seizure in a bathtub and
drowned.
When the child's relatives discovered what had happened, they killed
Maga in a fit of rage, she added. Frenilla said she fled Singapore for
fear she might be killed, too.
The Philippines imposes the death sentence for murder and other major
crimes, although no execution has been carried out in nearly 20 years.
As in Singapore, some convictions carry a mandatory death sentence.
But with national elections only two months away, politicians have
seized upon the case as an example of the abuse and mistreatment they
say is faced by hundreds of thousands of Filipinos who must leave the
country to find work.
Senator Blas Ople, chairman of the Senate Foreign Relations Committee,
has asked Manila Archbishop Cardinal Jaime L. Sin to urge Pope John
Paul II to intercede in the case.
``I just hope the Singaporean government will heed our appeal and just
deport her here,'' Vice President Joseph Estrada said.
In a press statement yesterday, the Alex Boncayao Brigade, a
Manila-based communist assassination squad, threatened to ``exact
justice'' against Filipino officials and diplomats if they fail to
stop the execution.
The outcry is reminiscent of the U.S. controversy over last May's
flogging of American teenager Michael Fay, who was convicted of
vandalizing cars.
Singapore has defended its strict judicial system by arguing that
Americans and other Westerners do not understand ``Asian culture,''
described as placing greater emphasis on the community's rights over
those of the individual.
The issue of Singaporean justice also has been raised in Germany by
lawyers for trader Nick Leeson, who plunged the British bank Barings
into bankruptcy by speculative trading in Singapore.
Leeson is being held in a German jail pending a decision on whether
Germany will extradite him to Singapore to face fraud charges. His
German lawyer has asked that he be sent to Britain to face any charges.
Migrante, an organization that lobbies on behalf of Filipinos working
abroad, has called for a boycott of Singapore Airlines and Singaporean
products to pressure the government there into stopping the execution.
The New Patriotic Alliance, a left-wing Filipino federation, condemned
Singapore's ``police state'' and said Contemplacion must ``pay the
price of being punished in a most primitive way -- through hanging.''
Published 3/13/95 in San Francisco Chronicle
|
| AP 16 Mar 95 21:25 EST V0824
Copyright 1995 The Associated Press. All rights reserved.
MANILA, Philippines (AP) -- Radio stations played somber music Friday
and a newspaper denounced Singapore as a "police state" after a
Filipino maid was hanged despite pleas that her execution be postponed.
Flor Contemplacion, 42, was hanged at dawn Friday at the maximum
security Changi prison, said prison spokeswoman Yim Pui Fun.
Mrs. Contemplacion was portrayed by the Philippine media as a martyr,
the victim of Singapore's harsh legal system and an uncaring Philippine
diplomatic service that ignores the rights of Filipinos who work
abroad.
As reports of the execution reached Manila, radio and television
stations played funeral dirges. About 200 people who held an all-night
vigil in front of the Singapore embassy shouted and cried after the
execution was announced.
"We cannot depend on those animals," said Jejomar Binay, mayor of
suburban Makati, where the embassy is located. "We have them here for
war games and this is what they do to us."
President Fidel Ramos, the country's Roman Catholic hierarchy and
numerous others had asked Singapore to postpone the execution until new
evidence in the May 1991 murders could be evaluated.
The Singaporeans refused, saying the new evidence was not credible.
Mrs. Contemplacion was convicted last April of killing another Filipino
maid, Della Maga, and her 4-year-old charge, Nicholas Huang, in May
1991.
Her former cellmate, Virginia Parumog, flew to Singapore late Thursday
and said Mrs. Contemplacion had told her the boy drowned in the tub and
his family killed Mrs. Maga in a fit of rage.
Other friends said Mrs. Contemplacion was drugged and tortured into
confessing.
"It is easy to understand why Singapore refused to look into
allegations ... that the convict had been drugged and tortured," The
Manila Chronicle said. "Such would confirm what many observers have
thought about Singapore: that behind the facade of prosperity and
peace, Singapore is actually a police state with rights and liberties
totally expendable."
Singapore has defended its strict legal system, saying it may offend
some Westerners but reflects Asian values which place rights of the
community above individual liberties.
|
|
That last reply is maybe a tad misleading. In the USA, we put more
people in jail than elsewhere. Janet Reno orders Waco. The parties
fall over each other as to who will spend more money "fighting crime".
Meanwhile, in a directly contrary trend, American civil liberties,
if you can afford fancy lawyers, are extended practically without
bounds. If anybody in the government, from the president to a police
detective, gets caught in the sights of the attack press, the official
is ruined forever, the guilty walk, random mobs riot in the streets
with impunity.
If you think the characterization "police state" is enlightening, in
describing a multidimensional solution space in citizen-state
relations, then go ahead and use it, if you like. But the word is
so pejorative, that the net effect of its use will be dischord,
not agreement, from your listeners.
That's all I meant. You set yourself up as a judge. A judge that
comes from a country whose idea of a justice system is People of
California vs. Simpson. That is, the laughingstock of the world,
a system absurd on its face, which no other country seeks to emulate.
Singapore does it different, and has a different set of problems.
I'm not sure whose are worse.
bb
|
| ------------ Forwarded Message -----------------------
BOYS IN BLUE......WHO DO YOU SERVE ?
In 1775, Blackstone wrote; A conspiracy is a combination by two or
more men, persons, or companies to bring about, either an unlawful
result by means lawful or unlawful, or a lawful result by unlawful
means.
Everybody agrees, including courts, on that definition......that
when two or more people combine together to effect an unlawful object,
it is a conspiracy; which is both a criminal offense under the laws of
the land everywhere, and also gives the party injured a right to
damages.
The branch of criminal justice which comprises a methodical system
for the prevention and detection of crime is commonly known by the name
of "POLICE." The police, in general in the past, has been a system of
precaution either for the prevention of crime or calamities. The
system of police administration includes neither the making of the law
or the law itself. Police are to be the instruments by which conformity
to the rules of the Commonwealth are obtained.
Historically, the government employed the police for the public
welfare only, to uphold the "peace." Police were always referred to as
" Officers of the Peace."
To uphold the peace is to be supportive of those natural Laws that
all human beings are bound by moral conscience to observe. The "peace
officer" represented that authority, serving and protecting all
interests of the people against those who would exercise unlawful
dominion.
Below is an example of the evolving definition of "POLICE." It is
easy to see how the once "officer of the peace" has been converted
into "law enforcement officer."
BOUVIER'S DICTIONARY, 1913:
"POLICE "
That species of superintendence by magistrates which has
principally for its object the maintenance of public tranquillity among
the citizens. The officers who are appointed for this purpose are also
called the police.
WEBSTER'S NEW COLLEGIATE DICTIONARY, 1953:
" POLICE"
1. The internal organization or regulation of a state; esp. such
regulation with respect to matters affecting the comfort, health,
morals, safety, or prosperity of the public.
2. a. The department of government charged with enforcing law and
order, now esp. with respect to the prevention, detection, and
prosecution of public nuisances, crimes, etc.
b. The organized force of civil officials in this department,
esp. as a collective pl., the police officers or constabulary of a
town, city, etc.
3. To maintain law and order in a country.
4. To make clean and put in order, as a military camp.
WEBSTER'S DICTIONARY, 1988:
"POLICE"
1. The internal government of a community;
2. A body of civil officers for enforcing order;
3. To guard or regulate by police.
Law enforcement is the exercise of unlawful dominion over others.
It is the imposition of the will of the state by force and fear, for an
economic advantage. The law enforcement officer enforces an artificial
morality for the benefit of the state.
Why have the public servants known in the past as "OFFICERS OF
THE PEACE" become known today as "LAW ENFORCEMENT OFFICERS?" Why did
you become a law enforcement officer? Was it to keep the peace and
preserve the America you love? Or, was it to enforce the foreign laws
of a foreign principle imposed against the American people brought
about by a contrived bankruptcy of this nation by a handful of criminal
politicians.
Perhaps you never heard about the National bankruptcy. It was
first declared in 1933 by FDR by Executive Order. The American people
were told it was a banking holiday. At that time, congress took us off
the gold standard and turned our dejure money into worthless paper
called "monetized debt." The bankruptcy was again announced to the
American people in 1938 by a change in our law. We couldn't keep
Constitutional Common Law without the backing of substance which we
previously derived from our gold and silver money. In 1938 the courts
did away with American common law, and basically, our Constitutional
rights. In its place we got "One Form Of Action" or, statutory law and
regulations. These statutes can only be enforced through the police
power for they have no force of law on their own.
The government through its bankruptcy, surrendered its sovereignty
and became a corporator. This government also surrendered the
sovereignty of the American people, making us the servants or slaves of
the international bankers. Therefore the real party in interest, or
the real party running this Nation is not the dejure "United States of
America" or "State", but the international bankers known as "The Bank"
and/or "The Fund." The Reorganization is located in Title 5 of United
States Code Annotated. The "Explanation" at the beginning of 5 U.S.C.A.
is most informative reading. The "Secretary of Treasury" was appointed
as the "Receiver" in Bankruptcy for the United States. ( see: Title 5
U.S.C.A., Public Law 94-564Legislative History, pg. 5967)
For all intent and purposes the Constitutions of this nation were
made null and void under the bankruptcy. American common law ceased to
exist and statutory law, under the Uniform Commercial Code, became the
law of the land. Every time an individual makes a court appearance, no
matter what the reason, he/she is appearing in a court of bankruptcy.
This nation is bankrupt and every case is designed to be settled under
the bankruptcy.
The United States accepted membership to Interpol in 1938,(see: 22
U.S.C. 263a) the same year the courts dopted statutory jurisdiction and
the Commonwealth constitution became civilly dead. Interpol is an
international law enforcement agency acting through the U.S. National
Central Bureau. The National Bureau, under control of the Secretary of
Treasury, controls the Dept. of Treasury, along with B.A.T.F., Customs,
I.R.S. and Secret Service. It also controls the Dept. of Justice, FBI,
DEA, Dept. of State, and Postal Service. Interpol's U.S. National
Central Bureau operates from Treasury Department facilities. Interpol
is a private organization, yet it seems to be enjoying all the
privileges of a U.S. Federal agency.
As law enforcement officers (police) are Corporate soldiers hired
by the Corporate government to protect it`s Corporate interest under
their control of Interpol. These Corporate soldiers don't protect the
people, that is not their job, and the courts have admitted this.(see:
South v. Maryland, 59 U.S. (HOW) 396, 15 L.Ed., 433 (1856); Riss v.
City of New York, 293 N.Y. 2d 897 (1968); Hartzler v. City of San Jose,
App., 120 Cal. Rptr 5 (1975); Warren v. District of Columbia, D.C.
App., 444 A 2d 1 (1991).
Law enforcement officers (police ie; fiduciaries) are now charged
with two duties;
1. To protect the corporate interests;
2. Corporate law enforcement officers (police) are to generate
revenue for it`s Foreign Principals. ( International Monetary Fund,
Interpol)
However, the police powers of this nation were never intended to
raise revenue and cannot be used to raise revenue. (See Bond Bros. v.
Louisville & Jefferson County Met. S Dist., 211 S.W .2d 867, 873; 307
Ky. 689, 699) The action of arrest, under color of law as a revenue
generating scheme by the Corporate states, their political Corporate
subdivisions, their agents, and local law enforcement, acting for its
foreign principal, represents an act of Conspiracy and Constructive
Fraud against the dejure sovereigns, the people. (COLOR OF LAW......
The appearance or semblance, without the substance, of legal right.
Misuse of power, possessed by virtue of state law and made possible
only because wrongdoer is clothed with authority of state, is action
taken under "color of state law." Black's Law, 6th Ed. pg.265,266 )
The people cannot obtain a remedy from the Interpol officers,
local law enforcement, while operating under the pretendment of the
character of a United States citizen, therefore, as law enforcement
officers you are committing a crime under Title 18 USC 911, 912.
Historically, Constitutionally, there is no federal jurisdiction
to legislate municipally for a Union State. It can only be done through
federal blackmail of the individual Union States.
To this author's knowledge, the people of America were never asked
by either the federal or State government to knowingly sign our
unalienable Natural rights away or pledge ourselves, our property, our
labor, and our posterity to a cabal of international bankers for a debt
we have never incurred.
It would appear that this nation has covertly received an
international police force to implement the new world order into
America, perhaps one state at a time. Every time a "law enforcement
officer" issues a citation, arrests, or assists in prosecution of a
victimless crime, they are enforcing "PUBLIC POLICY" legislation, which
is legislation by way of the federal corporate debt, enforced by police
powers. Perhaps unknown to you, but with your full cooperation, your
State may be the first to become part of the "NEW STATES" of America.
So.......tell me, Boys in Blue, who do you serve?
Copyright 1993 Joyce Rosenwald
Permission to reprint is given by author
|