S'pore ruling on clemency 'black day' for constitution
Aug 14, 2010
The lawyer for Malaysian death row prisoner Yong Vui Kong is “deeply disturbed” that the Singapore High Court yesterday ruled that the country's president has no discretion in clemency appeals, directly affecting his client's chance to escape the gallows.
NONEYong, 22, was found guilty on Jan 7 last year for trafficking in 47 grammes of diamorphine.
Singapore President SR Nathan rejected his clemency petition on Dec 1 last year, but his lawyer managed to obtain a stay of execution pending his clemency appeal which ends on Aug 27.
M Ravi, a well-known Singapore human rights lawyer said a presidential pardon as described in the Republic's constitution has existed over the last 45 years.
“The court ruling marks a black day for the constitution. All ... the thousands of petitions all these years have been sent to the President,” he told Malaysiakini.
“As we speak, I am directed to file the clemency petition by the prison authorities to the president. We are (being) misled by the State,” he added.
“Many criminal lawyers are shocked beyond belief over this latest development in the High Court ruling yesterday,” he said.
Ravi said the president could opt to convene a Constitutional Court of three judges, where he is empowered under Article 100 to reclaim his power (for clemency appeals).
“I will be writing to the president on this,” he said.
'Cabinet biased'
Yesterday, High Court judge Steven Chong ruled that the president has no discretion under the constitution, and specifically under Article 22P, to grant pardons as the power to do so rests solely with the cabinet.
NONEHe was ruling on Ravi's (right) application for a judicial review of the President's powers in granting clemency, to ascertain where the powers lay.
He had also requested the courts to decide on certain remarks by then-attorney general, Walter Woon, in March and Law Minister K Shanmugam's comments in April, that Ravi said were highly prejudicial to Yong's case.
The media had reported Shanmugam saying, “Yong Vui Kong is young. But if we say 'we let you go', what is the signal we are sending?” before Yong submitted his clemency appeal to the President.
“The remarks had prejudiced and compromised Yong's constitutional right to an appeal for clemency,” Ravi argued.
Meanwhile, Ravi said that in view of the ruling that the Cabinet makes the sole decision on clemency appeals, the latter in having identified itself with a press release in support of the law minister has “aggravated its bias” against Yong's case.
“This has resulted in the clemency process being irreversibly tainted, and denying the president his presidential clemency power puts Yong in a precarious situation,” he said.
No response to M'sia
Meanwhile, Singapore had yet to respond to the letter of clemency for Yong handed over by Malaysian Foreign Minister Anifah Aman to his Singapore counterpart George Yeo on July 20 in Hanoi.
However, Ravi continues to urge the Malaysian government to step in to bring the case to the International Court of Justice (ICJ), a plea he has made several times.
The lawyer said Malaysia could do so to obtain a stay order even if Singapore does not submit to ICJ's jurisdiction.
“We have consulted international law experts on this matter and Malaysia should do its part,” he added.
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