TR EMERITUS

I am writing this article to analyse and find out the reasons behind Japan's ambivalent attitude towards its WW2 history. Basically I believe the Japanese as an island people,tend to be petty and narrow minded.Also I am aware Japan is unique as it is the only country in the whole world to have Shintoism as their national religion. In the Shinto religion,unlike Christianity,there is no concept of heaven and hell.No difference between left and right,right and wrong.Hence while Germany,a predominantly Christian nation,was able to repent from its WW2 and Nazi past mistakes and make serious atonement,Japan has still to this very day,demonstrated an ambivalent attitude towards its WW2 history. And also important is the US's role.After the end of WW2,the Cold War soon started.Wary of the rise and victory of Communist forces in mainland China and North Korea,the US forces,after holding the Tokyo War Tribunal and executing Class A War Criminals including Hideki Tojo,decided to co-opt other war criminals and nationalist rightists and not burn down the Yasukuni shrine.The US government encouraged and supported the formation of the Liberal Democratic Party (LDP) in 1955 and strengthened the US-Japan military and political alliance.The LDP would go on to be the dominant party in Japanese politics.From the 1960s till the early 90s,some of the LDP's political donations and campaign funding actually came from the CIA. Today with the rise of China's economic and military might and the continued suspicion of the ruling Communist Party,both the US and Japan are trying to get China's neighbours-Mongolia,South Korea,Taiwan,India,Australia, the ASEAN and Central Asian countries,to form a military strategic encirclement of China.Politically,both the US and Japan are trying to form an Asian Democracy Alliance/Union as a counterweight to Communist ruled China and Stalinist North Korea. However South Korea,wary of Japan's intentions,has expressed its disinterest in the alliance while Taiwan under the leadership of the KMT and Ma Ying Jeou,is now keen on establishing closer trade,economic and cultural ties with Mainland China. With China's GDP now overtaking Japan's GDP as the world's second largest economy and with Japan's economy still in the doldrums after more than 20 years,Japanese leaders,obsessed with being the dominant power in Asia,are convinced only aggressive militarization and the use of collective self-defense with the blessings of their global boss-the US,could bring back the 'glory days' of the Japanese nation and people. Tokyo's hosting of the 2020 Summer Olympics also falls in line with their plans of bringing back the 'glory days' of Japan.   Liew Chin Fu * Submitted by TRE reader    Read More →

(Photo: Bebeto Matthew, AP) (2 Jul) - They may be part of what makes New York the city that it is, but the New York City Police Department is cracking down on people who dance and perform acrobatics on the subways for money. More than 240 people have been arrested for "pass-the-hat" performances on the subway in 2014 compared to 40 this time last year. While it is not a major crime, it is against the law and can set the tone for further lawlessness, Police Commissioner William Bratton says. .... Some riders enjoy the break from the grime, noise and crowds of the subways. Many performers wait for trains to start before turning up their music and beginning their routines. But not everyone is for it. Some riders say they resent that they are a captive audience and they see the performances as an intrusion. "I don't like all that action right in front of my face," commuter Kesia Hudson said. Outside of the art and legal issues, some are saying there is another element to the debate. At least one organization is arguing that the crackdown targets young black and Hispanic men, who make up a majority of street performers in New York. [Read more:  USA Today]  Read More →

Yesterday, the news of lawyer Alvin Yeo accused of overcharging went public ('MP & lawyer Alvin Yeo accused of overcharging'). He was one of the lawyers representing the Singapore Medical Council (SMC) in the court case against Dr Susan Lim. When Dr Lim lost her case, she was ordered to pay the SMC’s costs, including the legal fees of Alvin Yeo's law firm, WongPartnership LLP. While scrutinizing the legal bills of WongPartnership, Dr Lim and her husband alleged that WongPartnership was overcharging. In fact, in one of the bills, it was alleged that the fees of Alvin Yeo and Melanie Ho amounted to $100,000 per hour of court hearing. Later, Dr Lim filed notices of dispute for all the bills from WongPartnership, which amounted to some $1 million, before a taxation hearing. The assistant registrar at the hearing disagreed with the $1 million bill and slashed WongPartnership’s total bill charges to $340,000 instead. Unhappy with the decision made at the taxation hearing, Alvin Yeo and Melanie Ho then applied to the High Court to review the assistant registrar’s decision. The High Court Judge, Justice Woo Bih Li, eventually raised the charges allowed from $340,000 to $370,000, which was still far below the original $1 million. With the judgment from High Court, Dr Lim’s husband later complained to the Law Society against Alvin Yeo and Melanie Ho for overcharging. What happened next was that the review committee of Law Society actually dismissed the complaint against Alvin Yeo, as lacking in substance. It based its decision on WongPartnership’s assertion that Alvin Yeo was not involved in the preparation of the bills, and that there was therefore no misconduct on his part. Dr Lim’s husband is now applying for a judicial review before the High Court, of the decision made by Law Society’s review committee. He is asking the court to quash the review committee’s decision and appoint a new committee to review the complaint against Alvin Yeo and Melanie Ho again. ST reported the same news today ('Surgeon Susan Lim's husband launches new court action', 3 Jul). However, it avoided mentioning that lawyer Alvin Yeo is actually the same PAP MP of Chua Chu Kang GRC. ST only mentioned his name once in its article: "Mr Deepak Sharma, a 60-year-old retired banker who is funding his wife's case, has asked the High Court to conduct a judicial review of a Law Society committee's decision to dismiss most of his complaints that Senior Counsel Alvin Yeo and Ms Melanie Ho had overcharged his wife, who was ordered to pay the SMC's legal costs." In fact, the Parliament website shows that Alvin Yeo is the Managing Partner of WongPartnership [Link]: In other words, he is one of the bosses of WongPartnership. Lawyers were disciplined in the past for overcharging A lawyer who overcharges his client can face disciplinary action. In Nov 2012, two lawyers were suspended for three months for overcharging their client. The penalty was handed by 3 Judges of Appeal. They backed the findings of a disciplinary tribunal against the 2 errant lawyers, Ang and Decruz [Link]. In the Ang and Decruz's case, it was the Law Society which brought the charges against them. They had grossly inflated the bills to about $566,000 when a taxation hearing showed that the amount should have been $170,000. The judge who delivered the judgement against Ang and Decruz, pointed out that the level of overcharging amounted to "grossly improper conduct". He said the lawyers have "an overriding duty to charge fairly" and stressed that the final bill "must not be grossly disproportionate to the time spent" on the matter. He added their conduct is "redolent of dishonesty and deceit, and threatens to bring the legal profession into disrepute". "Such conduct must be regarded as grossly improper," he said. The judge noted that the total fees charged are three to four times more than the total amount eventually awarded after the taxation hearing. In absolute figures, the total difference was around $400,000. "Such a huge difference in the figures can only be regarded as egregious and can hardly be justified," the judge said. Alvin Yeo spoke only once in Parliament last year A search on the Parliament website [Link] showed that Alvin Yeo only spoke once in Parliament last year: In contrast, new MP Lee Li Lian from WP spoke at least 30 times last year:  Read More →