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Coffeeshop Chit Chat - Fatty Woon lost to FUGLY Princess????</TD><TD id=msgunetc noWrap align=right> </TD></TR></TBODY></TABLE><TABLE class=msgtable cellSpacing=0 cellPadding=0 width="96%"><TBODY><TR><TD class=msg vAlign=top><TABLE border=0 cellSpacing=0 cellPadding=0 width="100%"><TBODY><TR class=msghead><TD class=msgbfr1 width="1%"> </TD><TD><TABLE border=0 cellSpacing=0 cellPadding=0><TBODY><TR class=msghead vAlign=top><TD class=msgF width="1%" noWrap align=right>From: </TD><TD class=msgFname width="68%" noWrap>Browser34 <NOBR></NOBR> </TD><TD class=msgDate width="30%" noWrap align=right>May-7 8:00 pm </TD></TR><TR class=msghead><TD class=msgT height=20 width="1%" noWrap align=right>To: </TD><TD class=msgTname width="68%" noWrap>ALL <NOBR></NOBR></TD><TD class=msgNum noWrap align=right> (1 of 8) </TD></TR></TBODY></TABLE></TD></TR><TR><TD class=msgleft rowSpan=4 width="1%"> </TD><TD class=wintiny noWrap align=right>32834.1 </TD></TR><TR><TD height=8></TD></TR><TR><TD class=msgtxt>27 April 2010 03:03:56
Subject: Fwd: Fw: AN OPPORTUNITY MISSED?- Former Attorney-General Walter Woon
Today, Singapore - 19 Apr 10
AN OPPORTUNITY MISSED?
By P Balji
In Singapore, any exit interview is a slippery business. Leave the scene with guns blazing, like former President Ong Teng Cheong did,and be prepared for a rapid-fire response. Do it with lips half-sealed, like most Singaporeans do, and expect the rumour mill to go into high gear.
Former Attorney-General Walter Woon (picture) chose a middle path:Reveal quite a bit but leave a lot to the reader's imagination.
Here's a sampling of his diplomat-lawyer speak: "The longest period in my life".One can read that statement in many ways. Was he saying that it was
the worst or toughest period in his life? Or, that it was the most challenging?
Asked if he had annoyed the powers that be, Mr Woon's reply was that it was "not unlikely". Since two negatives make a positive, it must
mean that his departure was due to problems he had with people upstairs. But it leaves enough wiggle room for him to say: I never said that.
There was one quote that betrayed his sentiments very clearly: "I think among some people, I've already overstayed my welcome." Hmmm ...
very careful people who know how to twist and turn the language and keep people guessing can sometimes slip and give away some truths.
Mr Woon's departure and his farewell interview, however he tried to shade it, show that the Singapore establishment has some way to go in
redefining the line between public and private discourse. The law academic and former diplomat tried to define it his own way.
He got into a public spat with Dr Lee Wei Ling over whether C K Tang boss Tang Wee Sung should be shown some kind of a mercy because of the
retailer's illness. Mr Woon was categorical, and some might say,principled. He said Mr Tang's lies in a statutory declaration about
buying a kidney "was an assault on our basic foundation of law ... You can't lie on oath".
Mr Woon didn't start the public debate. Dr Lee did that with her letter to The Straits Times in 2008. Some other senior civil servant
would have got his spokespeople to sign off the response. Not Mr Woon; he put his name to the letter.
Then there was the case in 2008 when he went to court to appeal against the nine-year sentence given to a woman for instigating her
boyfriend to kill her husband. Mr Woon said he argued the appeal personally because the case carried on from when he was
Solicitor-General in 2007. Still, unusual by Singapore standards.
He appeared for the Government in another appeal, this time brought by a man given the death sentence for drug trafficking. Mr Woon explained
he wanted to defend the constitutionality of Singapore's death penalty. Not really necessary, for it is an old issue and could have been left to a DPP to handle.
There was no doubt that Singaporeans were seeing a very different AG, one who won't shy away from doing what he thought was right, whether
in private or in public. The august and rarefied place that the legal fraternity is versus an AG who was just the opposite - a face-off was
inevitable.
Mr Woon must have decided that change - the word thrust into the world's consciousness by United States President Barack Obama - is not
going to happen the way he envisioned it. So he decided not to extend his two-year contract, not even wanting to wait for his successor Sundaresh Menon to take over from him on Oct 1.
Like in the case of Mr Chip Goodyear, who quit even before he took up his CEO post at Temasek Holdings, somebody forgot to tell Mr Woon that the Singapore culture of top officials articulating their points of view in public is still a no-go.
Mr Woon's appointment was a great opportunity to change all that - but it's now gone. That's a pity, really.
The writer is director of the Asia Journalism Fellowship, a joint initiative of the Temasek Foundation and NTU.
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Reply</TD><TD class=wintiny width="25%" noWrap align=right> </TD></TR><TR><TD class=msgbfrbot> </TD><TD colSpan=3> </TD></TR></TBODY></TABLE></TD></TR></TBODY></TABLE>
Subject: Fwd: Fw: AN OPPORTUNITY MISSED?- Former Attorney-General Walter Woon
Today, Singapore - 19 Apr 10
AN OPPORTUNITY MISSED?
By P Balji
In Singapore, any exit interview is a slippery business. Leave the scene with guns blazing, like former President Ong Teng Cheong did,and be prepared for a rapid-fire response. Do it with lips half-sealed, like most Singaporeans do, and expect the rumour mill to go into high gear.
Former Attorney-General Walter Woon (picture) chose a middle path:Reveal quite a bit but leave a lot to the reader's imagination.
Here's a sampling of his diplomat-lawyer speak: "The longest period in my life".One can read that statement in many ways. Was he saying that it was
the worst or toughest period in his life? Or, that it was the most challenging?
Asked if he had annoyed the powers that be, Mr Woon's reply was that it was "not unlikely". Since two negatives make a positive, it must
mean that his departure was due to problems he had with people upstairs. But it leaves enough wiggle room for him to say: I never said that.
There was one quote that betrayed his sentiments very clearly: "I think among some people, I've already overstayed my welcome." Hmmm ...
very careful people who know how to twist and turn the language and keep people guessing can sometimes slip and give away some truths.
Mr Woon's departure and his farewell interview, however he tried to shade it, show that the Singapore establishment has some way to go in
redefining the line between public and private discourse. The law academic and former diplomat tried to define it his own way.
He got into a public spat with Dr Lee Wei Ling over whether C K Tang boss Tang Wee Sung should be shown some kind of a mercy because of the
retailer's illness. Mr Woon was categorical, and some might say,principled. He said Mr Tang's lies in a statutory declaration about
buying a kidney "was an assault on our basic foundation of law ... You can't lie on oath".
Mr Woon didn't start the public debate. Dr Lee did that with her letter to The Straits Times in 2008. Some other senior civil servant
would have got his spokespeople to sign off the response. Not Mr Woon; he put his name to the letter.
Then there was the case in 2008 when he went to court to appeal against the nine-year sentence given to a woman for instigating her
boyfriend to kill her husband. Mr Woon said he argued the appeal personally because the case carried on from when he was
Solicitor-General in 2007. Still, unusual by Singapore standards.
He appeared for the Government in another appeal, this time brought by a man given the death sentence for drug trafficking. Mr Woon explained
he wanted to defend the constitutionality of Singapore's death penalty. Not really necessary, for it is an old issue and could have been left to a DPP to handle.
There was no doubt that Singaporeans were seeing a very different AG, one who won't shy away from doing what he thought was right, whether
in private or in public. The august and rarefied place that the legal fraternity is versus an AG who was just the opposite - a face-off was
inevitable.
Mr Woon must have decided that change - the word thrust into the world's consciousness by United States President Barack Obama - is not
going to happen the way he envisioned it. So he decided not to extend his two-year contract, not even wanting to wait for his successor Sundaresh Menon to take over from him on Oct 1.
Like in the case of Mr Chip Goodyear, who quit even before he took up his CEO post at Temasek Holdings, somebody forgot to tell Mr Woon that the Singapore culture of top officials articulating their points of view in public is still a no-go.
Mr Woon's appointment was a great opportunity to change all that - but it's now gone. That's a pity, really.
The writer is director of the Asia Journalism Fellowship, a joint initiative of the Temasek Foundation and NTU.
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