Leong Wee Keat
[email protected]
Kangaroo court
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Nov 4, 2008'Kangaroo' case postponed
By Jeremy Au Yong 
The trial of the kangaroo T-shirt wearing trio has been postponed for three weeks to give them more time to prepare for the case. -- ST PHOTO: CHEW SENG KIMTHE TRIAL of three men taken to court for wearing T-shirts with a kangaroo dressed in a judge's robes has been postponed for three weeks to give them more time to prepare for the case.The defendants - Singapore Democratic Party (SDP) assistant secretary-general John Tan Liang Joo, 47; full-time national serviceman Muhammad Shafi'ie Syahmi Sariman, 20; and activist Isrizal Mohamed Isa, 33 - wore the T-shirts between May 26 and May 28 in the Supreme Court building when hearings before Justice Belinda Ang were being held in Court 4B.
Those hearings were to assess defamation damages that the SDP, its leader Chee Soon Juan and his sister Chee Siok Chin had to pay Prime Minister Lee Hsien Loong and Minister Mentor Lee Kuan Yew.
At the start of court proceedings in the case against them on Tuesday morning, the trio stood up to ask the judge for an adjournment.
Tan and Muhammad Shafi'ie both told Justice Judith Prakash that they did not have time to prepare for the case as they were involved in a separate trial in the Subordinate Courts for participating in an illegal assembly.
Isrizal, in turn, said he needed more time to prepare, and to also look for a lawyers to represent him in the case.
Tan and Isrizal did not have lawyers present at the hearing, while Muhammad Shafi'ie was represented by lawyer Chia Ti Lik.
After a brief recess, Justice Prakash granted them an adjournment. The case will resume on Nov 24.
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kangeroo court shouldn't grant extension, that is too unkangeroo like.
and people asking kangeroo court to grant them extension is asking kangeroo court to be fair to them, which is not kangeroo like too.
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LOL! Why don't they just ban Qantas from landing in Changi altogether. No kangaroos allowed in Singapore!
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hhhhh
the court is very generous to give them a chance.But they give it up!!
Justice Judith Prakash adjourned the hearing, which began in the morning, to give time to the trio to decide if they want to tender an apology or withdraw their insinuation about the Singapore courts.
All three refused to do sohttp://www.todayonline.com/articles/289016.asp
‘Not too late’ to say sorry: Prosecution
Trio found guilty of offending court, refuse to budge
Leong Wee Keat
[email protected]FOR 15 minutes, they huddled to discuss their options. The trio had just been found guilty of contempt of court, and faced the possibility of jail. But offered a possible reprieve, Mr John Tan Liang Joo, 47, Mr Isrizal Mohamed Isa, 33, and Mr Muhammad Shafi’ie Syahmi Sariman, 19, opted not to take it. “It was not too late” for them to apologise for their actions, the Deputy Solicitor-General told them. It was just two weeks ago that blogger Gopalan Nair escaped a jail sentence after he offered an unreserved apology for his most recent contempt of court offences. But after the 15-minute adjournment, the trio declined to apologise. They denied any intention of holding a court in contempt by wearing T-shirts depicting a kangaroo dressed in a judge’s robes, and cited various personal beliefs, such as the right to freedom of expression. They will now be sentenced on Thursday. In May, they had turned up at the Supreme Court each wearing the T-shirts to show their support for Dr Chee Soon Juan, the Singapore Democratic Party (SDP) secretary-general, who was at a hearing for a defamation lawsuit filed against him by the Prime Minister and Minister Mentor. The Attorney-General then started contempt of court proceedings against the three as their actions were meant to imply that the Court was a “kangaroo court”, which is “generally understood as being a court characterised by unauthorised or irregular procedures, or sham and unfair legal proceedings”. Yesterday, Deputy Solicitor-General Jeffrey Chan Wah Teck argued that the trio’s allegations were the “worst insult anyone can give” to a judiciary and pressed for jail sentences. He argued that Mr Tan was more culpable than the other two as he was “obviously a leadingplayer” in this initiative. Closed-circuit television footage played yesterday showed that Mr Tan, whois also the SDP assistantsecretary-general, had distributed the T-shirts inside the courthouse. Another clip showed the trio wearing the T-shirts and posing for photographs outside the Supreme Court. Media photographers gathered outside snapped pictures of the trio. Mr Shafi’ie claimed that they were taking photos for “private remembrance”, while Mr Tan said that he tried to wave the media away. But Mr Chan argued that the trio stood there for 26 seconds. If they did not want the media to snap their pictures, they could have walked away. One photo of the three eventually appeared on the SDP website. Despite being found guilty of holding the court in contempt, full-time national serviceman Shafi’ie did not want to apologise “due to his personal convictions”, said his lawyer Chia Ti Lik. Justice Judith Prakash, who was presiding, asked Mr Chia# if his client knew of the adverse consequences. “I have submitted as per instructions,” replied the lawyer. “It is his personal belief.”
Trio found guilty of offending court, refuse to budge#--lion note--http://www.chiatilik.wordpress.com/
2.The trio blamed ST for publishing the photo.see hard copy today.
Further,one defends that some people told him it is not kangaroo.
The animal was a wallably ,Isrizal said!!
Someone asked him if it was chihuahua,he added!!
wallaby
chihuahua
Oh.Can we say wallaby court!!
This is a well planned collective action to make a statement!!
So sad.They gave up the chance to apologise.
I seldom see court so generous:
Justice Judith Prakash adjourned the hearing, which began in the morning, to give time to the trio to decide if they want to tender an apology or withdraw their insinuation about the Singapore courts.
All three refused to do sohttp://www.straitstimes.com/Breaking%2BNews/Singapore/Story/STIStory_306232.html
gggg
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and people asking kangeroo court to grant them extension is asking kangeroo court to be fair to them, which is not kangeroo like too.
Could be for fucking show wah.
Kangeroo can't be so fucking obvious mah.
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I think they should apologise. Then of course it is easy for me to say this because I am not in their shoes.
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So now it is against the law to wear clothes with your own design
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like that next time all must wear white like the KKK liao. To support ghamen...
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Originally posted by TemplarKnight:
like that next time all must wear white like the KKK liao. To support ghamen...
yay, the black people will be so pleased to see KKK
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The government urges the people not to be extreme, look like they have become very extreme too.
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Ha ha ha, this is a global joke, people are not allowed to wear T shirts with kangaroo's pic on them. Ha ha ha, the "first world" gahmen don't want people to wear them. Ha ha ha.
Any foreign media journalists here, please publish this as the headline and tell the whole world about the sort of gahmen who claim themselves to be world class doing this to the people of the country.
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Originally posted by Shotgun:
LOL! Why don't they just ban Qantas from landing in Changi altogether. No kangaroos allowed in Singapore!
Good suggestion. -
Whats wrong with kangaroos?
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Originally posted by (human):
The government urges the people not to be extreme, look like they have become very extreme too.
It is tyranny at its peak.
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Quite frankly i find it rather offensive to taunt the judge like that, irregardless of whether they felt the case was fair or not.
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Originally posted by Stevenson101:
Quite frankly i find it rather offensive to taunt the judge like that, irregardless of whether they felt the case was fair or not.
Offensive???
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Judge?
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can any one explain to me why kangaroo polo t in judge robe cannot wear?
me seriously don't know..
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The courts still requires an amount of respect to function.
By wearing those T-shirts in the Supreme Building it is already showing disrespect towards the court of law. The Justice has to do something about it, or risk the practice spreading.
I know your intention is to say the court is a puppet of the government but politics aside they have been doing their part to uphold the law. Everyone in it has worked hard to earn their current position.
I say give respect to that at least.
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Originally posted by Stevenson101:
The courts still requires an amount of respect to function.
By wearing those T-shirts in the Supreme Building it is already showing disrespect towards the court of law. The Justice has to do something about it, or risk the practice spreading.
I know your intention is to say the court is a puppet of the government but politics aside they have been doing their part to uphold the law. Everyone in it has worked hard to earn their current position.
I say give respect to that at least.
Ha ha ha, distorted view they have. Nobody saying the court is a puppet. In fact there is no difference at all. The govt is in control.
Must tell aussies not to bring any kangaroos and wear kangaroos Tshirts to Singapore lest they end up in the kangaroo court in singapore.
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Originally posted by youyayu:
can any one explain to me why kangaroo polo t in judge robe cannot wear?
me seriously don't know..
From my understanding, they are basically saying that the entire court proceeding is a sham. -
Originally posted by Stevenson101:
From my understanding, they are basically saying that the entire court proceeding is a sham.I don't understand
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contempt of court.
if you go to your mother's friend funeral wearing a shirt "this is a bitch funeral", that is awfully offensive. the thing about court is that it has to be absolutely fair, for people to put their trust in it.
you can argue about the judgement, but don't flame the judge.
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Ha ha ha, distorted view they have. Nobody saying the court is a puppet. In fact there is no difference at all. The govt is in control.
Must tell aussies not to bring any kangaroos and wear kangaroos Tshirts to Singapore lest they end up in the kangaroo court in singapore.
If all 3 of them are wearing the same T-shirts, they are fully aware of the significance of it. It is also a political charged case, you have to be pretty slow as a Justice to not catch what they're trying to say.
Please note that it's a kangaroo in a judge robe, not just a kangaroo. Referring to the term "Kangaroo Court". Yet strangely enough, the term did not orginate from Australia.
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Originally posted by Beautiful951:
I don't understand
Err...could you be more detailed on what you don't understand?
I made the mistake of assuming too much already, don't want to make the same mistake again.