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The court case on the Prime Minister’s discretionary powers in calling by-elections will be heard on Thursday, 5 July at 10am, at the High Court. The hearing will deal with several issues, but mainly:

The Attorney General Chambers’ (AGC) application to strike out the application brought by Hougang resident, Vellama Marie Muthu, for the Court to declare that the Prime Minister does not have unfettered discretionary powers in calling by-elections.

Also, lawyer M Ravi, acting for Vellama, will present his arguments on the summons to cross-examine the Prime Minister.

M Ravi will be presenting the following arguments and will be raising these points tomorrow:-

By Tan Kian Hwee

Why Hougang went the other way of Potong Pasir.

At the recent by-election on 26 May 2012, the opposition ward of Hougang was retained by the Workers' Party (WP). The new Member of Parliament (MP), Png Eng Huat, is the WP's third MP in the ward in just over a year. Until April 2011 when Parliament was dissolved, WP secretary-general Low Thia Khiang was its MP. In the general election (GE), WP fielded Low’s protégé, Yaw Shin Leong, but a year later, the latter was expelled from the party, leaving his parliamentary seat vacant. Png was eventually victorious in the just-concluded by-election and, is likely to be sworn in some time in June 2012.

Editorial

The Hougang by-election, the first to be held in an opposition ward since Singapore’s independence, may boil down to two things: the Workers’ Party’s (WP) integrity and the People Action Party’s (PAP) national policies.

One year ago, the WP was riding high, coming off the back of a stunning and historic victory in Aljunied Group Representation Constituency (GRC), wrestling it from the PAP and in the event causing the Cabinet to lose a well-respected minister in Mr George Yeo. The WP’s gamble to have its secretary general and Member of Parliament (MP) for Hougang SMC - Mr Low Thia Khiang - lead the WP Aljunied GRC team and have Mr Yaw Shin Leong take over the SMC also paid off handsomely. Mr Yaw even surpassed Mr Low's best-ever score in the ward – 62.7% in 2006 – to garner 64.8% of the vote.

3 months after the Workers’ Party (WP) expelled its Member of Parliament (MP) for Hougang, President Tony Tan issued the Writ of Election in the single-member constituency.

Nomination Day has been set for 16 May, and Polling Day for 26 May.

“The by-election will give Hougang residents the chance to elect a new MP to serve them,” Prime Minister Lee Hsien Loong, who is also the secretary general of the ruling People’s Action Party (PAP), said in a statement on Wednesday. “I encourage Hougang voters to use this opportunity wisely, to elect the best candidate with commitment and integrity: someone they can rely upon to express their hopes and concerns, address their needs, and make a real difference to their lives.”

Andrew Loh / Editor-in-Chief, publichouse.sg

Richard Wan / Editor, Temasek Review Emeritus

Mdm Vellama Marie Muthu’s case in the courts – to seek the courts to declare that the prime minister does not have unfettered discretion in deciding when to call by-elections – is not one which affects her alone. Mdm Vellama, who is a resident of Hougang where the parliamentary seat had been vacated, fought the case on behalf of all Singaporeans.

Her contention was that the prime minister does not, in effect, have the power to deny citizens parliamentary representation by his arbitrary and unfettered discretionary powers to call by-elections in seats which have been vacated for any reasons.

SINGAPORE, 2 NOVEMBER 2012 -----  In a historic decision, Justice Pillai of The High Court of The Republic of Singapore has ruled that no order of cost will be levied against applicant Vellama D/O Marie Muthu, as she has no private interest in her Constitutional Challenge and instead took up this challenge through her counsel, M Ravi, in the interest of the public at large.

Justice Pillai’s decision sets a new precedent in Asian Jurisprudence to protect lay-litigants from costs in constitutional challenges. In his ruling, Justice Pillai determined that Madam Vellama had not challenged the election laws based on her own interest but this public law issue was a matter of general importance.

While the Justice maintained that these were "unusual circumstances", his ruling did hold that "where a matter raises a legal question of genuine public concern, it may be inappropriate to make a cost order against the applicant even where the judicial review is unsuccessful”.

Read Justice Pillai's decision here.

By Andrew Loh | Richard Wan

Before the controversy surrounding the Law Society’s attempts to stop lawyer M Ravi from carrying out his professional duties in the courts has died down, it has emerged that the society had tried 3 times in the space of 2 days to stop Mr Ravi from making representations for his clients in Court.

As previously reported on publichouse.sg and TR Emeritus, Law Society representative, Mr Wong Siew Hong, made the first attempt during Monday’s proceedings at the High Court. Mr Ravi was in Justice Philip Pillai’s courtroom putting forth his arguments in the case brought by Mdm Vellama Marie Muthu to have the Court declare the Prime Minister does not have unfettered discretion in calling by-elections.

By Ko Siew Huey

Last night I saw a symphony of people come together in celebration, wholly unorchestrated. It is proof that with the right reasons and the right conditions, the soul sings.

And perhaps when we put aside the metaphor of Singapore as a corporation and choose instead to see it as a friendly neighbourhood coffeeshop, an agora of colourful exchanges where lives intersect, only then may we be able to get a glimpse of this elusive thing called the human spirit.

The Workers' Party's candidate, Png Eng Huat, emerged victorious in the Hougang by-election. Beating the People's Action Party candidate, Desmond Choo, 62.09% to 37.91%, Png's victory was met with euphoric celebration among WP supporters who had gathered at the block 322 coffeeshop in Hougang.

Here are some exclusive footage from that night.