breaking the law. While I can understand the intent behind this precedent is
to ensure that real criminals do not get away by reason of ignorance. If I
were them, I think I would take my chances along the insanity route as
chances might be better ( not that I am a boderline psycho ) there. With
some hollywood skills and a set of good counsel and expert psychiatry
witness, chances might not be that dim. Even if acquittal is not on the
cards, dimished responsibility is a possibility.
Coming back to the point that ignorance of the law is no excuse for breaking
the law, it is amazing that when we cross the age of legal adulthood which I
think is 21 years old in Singapore, we ought to be aware of the entire
volume of the Singapore Statutes as well as key applicable case laws. By the
way, this rule is not unique in Singapore and it seems to be fairly
universal in its application.
The saving grace is that rule of law would be applied with commonsense in
most if not all circumstances. Even when the law does not seems fair in some
cases, you have the judge passing comments that it is the politicians that
make the law and the judge's task is to interpret and apply the law.
Permanent Judges and Temporary Politicians..aka Permanent Secretary and
Temporary Politicians of Yes Minister fame in that politicians have to stay
elected to stay in office. Permanent Secretaries are non-political positions
and not subjected to voting...I would recommend a read of Yes Minister book
as the humour is classic English dryness to it but very witty.
This is just my blabber writing to destress as I enjoy writing about most
things under the sun.
BTW, I am not a lawyer nor have any inclination towards that profession but
I must profess that I have a strong interest in most things intellectual and
law is no exception. Only difference is that my appreciation is from the
perspective of an observer that makes personal comments now and then. It is
a noble profession and has strong altruistics dimensions. I am hardly an
intellectual but like to stay in the company of intellectuals to be able to
glean off their wisdom. Perhaps I should head off to the new Think Cafe at
the Institute of Policy Studies at the National University of Singapore
campus. It is a think tank staffed by the brightest in their field. Saw a
friend in a photo feature of the think cafe who is a food lover. Not sure he
is there for the cafe portion or the think portion. To be fair, he is a very
intelligent guy that loves food. Have to ask him someday which comes first,
intellect or food if he had to choose. No offense intended buddy...just good
clean joke.
My ambition is to retire into the sunset writing jokes, crazy stuff like
this and remain oblivious mostly.
lkypeter@gmail.com Safe Harbor. Please note that information contained in these pages are of a personal nature and does not necessarily reflect that of any companies, organizations or individuals. In addition, some of these opinions are of a forward looking nature. Lastly the facts and opinions contained in these pages might not have been verified for correctness, so please use with caution. Happy Reading. Peter Lye (c) Peter Lye 2014