Re: The case against Gopalan Nair


"truth" <truth@xxxxxxxxxxxx> wrote in message
news:W606k.12159$IK1.3473@xxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxx

If you have lived in a first world democractic society, you will
know that their systems are fair, transperant and strictly abide by
rule of the law. The systems and values are superior. That is why
I can so easily see the glaring exploitations of Singaporeans by
the pap government. People like u have been subjected to
daily indoctrination until u just cannot see the injustice being
perpetuated by the Leegime. I mean here the judge will automatically
exclude himself when there is the slightest inclining that he has a
personal interests directly or indirectly in the case. In Singapore
you have Judge Belinda Ang presiding over a case in which
she was the target of the alledged offence. In Singapore judges
are appointed on 2 - 3 years basis by the govenment. They laugh
at this practice as how can the judge be independent in a case
involving the government when his job is on the line? So their
judges are appointed on a permanent basis and they can only
be removed against their will by a disciplinary committee.


West Australian government exploits boy¡¯s death to attack Aboriginal community
By Rick Kelly
15 September 2003
The Western Australian (WA) government has responded to the death of a
12-year-old Aboriginal boy in a high-speed car chase by attacking the boy¡¯s
family and pushing for the passage of further repressive legislation.

On August 18, a stolen car occupied by five Aboriginal children, aged between
ten and fourteen, was chased by a police car at speeds of up to 120 kilometres
per hour (72 miles per hour) through the southern suburbs of the capital, Perth.
After running a red light, the stolen car collided head on with another car,
injuring four of the youth, and killing 12-year-old Carl Morrison.

The WA Labor Premier Geoff Gallop reacted to Morrison¡¯s death by immediately
launching a callous attack on the grieving family. ¡°These youngsters need
leadership from their parents, they need leadership from the broader community
and finger pointing at the past, is simply not on when you see the consequences
[of what] happened yesterday,¡± Gallop said.

¡°We have a problem in our community, a problem with out-of-control youngsters
engaged in anti-social and criminal behaviour and, tragically, there¡¯s a
disproportionate number of those youngsters from the Aboriginal community.¡±

Gallop made a point of directly aligning himself with the Howard federal
government, which dismisses and denounces any connection between the terrible
social problems afflicting Aboriginal communities today and the oppression of
the Aboriginal people over the past 200 years.

¡°You¡¯re not going to get new solutions while people have blinkers as to what
the problems are. Let¡¯s deal with the issues honestly and openly instead of
trying to pretend there are some historical reasons that justify this
behaviour.¡±

The Howard government quickly backed Gallop, with federal Indigenous Affairs
minister Philip Ruddock echoing the theme of ¡°individual responsibility¡±.
Gallop¡¯s comments, Ruddock declared, corresponded ¡°with the message that is
coming from many indigenous people themselves, that is you have deal with
substance abuse and take responsibility for your own actions.¡±

Gallop¡¯s position was also hailed in the Murdoch media. An August 22 editorial
in its national flagship, the Australian commented that ¡°[t]his little bloke
[Morrison] may have been a thief but he had his life stolen from him by the
adults who failed in their obligation to protect him.¡±


Carl Morrison¡¯s background

Like many Aboriginal youth in Australia¡¯s urban centres, Carl Morrison, one of
eight children, grew up in an impoverished and troubled family. Repeatedly
moving house, and changing schools several times, Carl had not been taught how
to read or write. In the past year, however, the Morrison family had found some
stability, living in a state-owned home in the working class northern suburb of
Mirrabooka.

Carl was making strong progress in school, and was learning literacy skills. In
what was to be his last school report, the school principal commended Carl for
¡°great attendance and working hard in class.¡± He had missed only two days in
his final school term. After Carl¡¯s death, his school teacher wrote a letter to
the local community newspaper denouncing the media coverage and describing Carl
as ¡°a nice kid and a valued member of our class.¡± The letter also contained
moving tributes from Carl¡¯s classmates.

Not a single media report on Morrison¡¯s death has raised the question of why
Carl and his friends decided to steal a car on their day off school. While this
is a complex question, it is highly significant that the Morrison family was due
to be evicted from their home on August 20, only two days later.

After neighbours¡¯ complaints of excessive noise, the Morrison family was told
they would be forced to move, despite Carl¡¯s disabled elder sister being in
hospital with a serious chest infection. This eviction meant that Carl was faced
with renewed uncertainty in his home life, and was also threatened with a move
to another school.

The blaming of Morrison¡¯s death on Perth¡¯s Aboriginal community has served to
deflect all attention away from WA¡¯s police. Immediately after crash, Premier
Gallop rejected any suggestion that the police involved in the car chase might
bear any responsibility. He also flatly ruled out a review of police pursuit
policies, insisting that the real problem was that Aboriginal youth were
¡°contemptuous of the law and the system.¡±

The government has continued to refuse to mount any investigation, despite the
emergence of serious disparities between the police version of events leading up
to the crash and the account provided by the children in the car.

According to the police report, the police car began chasing the stolen car
after it was seen going through a red light. After a three-minute pursuit, the
officers called off the chase. This was one minute prior to the fatal crash.

In an August 23 interview with one of the passengers, the Australian reported
that the 10-year-old boy first saw the police approach their car when it was
stationary. They then tailgated the stolen vehicle right up until the moment of
the crash.

As the article noted, this would mean that the police ¡°had a clear opportunity
to blockade the car before it took off from the roundabout. And they would also
have been able to see clearly that the five children onboard were not wearing
seatbelts.¡±

When questioned about their policy on high-speed chases involving stolen cars.
Sergeant Mike Gough contemptuously replied: ¡°We¡¯ve never publicly released
what our policy is, other than to say we have a policy.¡±


No investigation into police responsibility

Instead of an independent inquiry into the role of the police, the Gallop
government has decided to focus its attention on the 14-year-old driver of the
stolen vehicle. The boy, whose name has not been released for legal reasons, has
been charged with unlawful killing, car theft, and reckless driving.

On August 19, the Perth Children¡¯s Court heard how the youngster had been
charged in July with similar offences of car theft and reckless driving. No
conviction had been recorded after it was determined that he suffered from
severe brain damage, caused by years of inhaling solvents. So grave have been
the effects of this ongoing substance abuse that he reportedly has difficulty
answering questions about the time, the day, and his location.

WA police minister, Michelle Roberts, called for the 14-year-old to be locked
away for the rest of his life. ¡°My view is he needs to be permanently detained.
He should not be free to go and steal another car and wreck anyone else¡¯s life.
I personally do not think he is someone who should be at large at all,¡± Roberts
said.

¡°It may be you¡¯ve got to have some sympathy for someone if their brain isn¡¯t
with it, and if they can¡¯t understand the charges, and yes, maybe he should be
regarded as a sick person. But one way or another, he should not be let loose.¡±

The Gallop Labor government¡¯s response to Carl Morrison¡¯s death is a
reflection of its inability to offer any solution to the terrible social and
economic problems facing Aboriginal youth in Western Australia.

Ever since its election in 2001, the government has boasted of its right-wing
credentials, with Premier Gallop counting British Prime Minister Tony Blair as a
close personal friend. Gallop has followed Blair¡¯s example in slashing social
spending and running a ¡°business friendly¡± economic policy.

The government¡¯s hostility to the working class has found its most aggressive
expression in its policies toward Aboriginal people. As in the rest of the
country, Aboriginal people in Western Australia lag far behind other Australians
on every social and economic measure.

An Australian Bureau of Statistics report issued on August 29 revealed that a
newborn Aboriginal boy is expected to live to 56 years, and a newborn girl to
63. The Australian average is 77 and 82 respectively. Aboriginal babies are
twice as likely to be born underweight than are non-Aboriginal children. And
Aboriginal children are eight times more likely to be in child protection
systems than are non-Aboriginal children.

These statistics provide just a small indication of the extent of the crisis
facing Aboriginal youth. The response of both the Howard government and the
state Labor governments has been a bipartisan embrace of punitive measures
attacking the democratic rights of Aborigines.

In June, the WA government decided to deal with serious issues of youth
homelessness, substance abuse and lack of recreation facilities by introducing a
curfew that prohibited children from the popular nightclub and restaurant
district of Northbridge.

Openly targeted at Aboriginal youth, the curfew was widely condemned, especially
by those who remembered Perth¡¯s apartheid-style curfew laws of the 1950s and
60s, when no Aborigines were permitted on the streets after 6 p.m.

The government has seized upon Carl Morrison¡¯s death to further extend its
punitive approach. The police minister has indicated she will look to passing
new laws to facilitate the effective prosecution of brain damaged children,
while Gallop has indicated he wants new legislation targeting youth crime. The
premier has also expressed his desire to work closely with the Howard government
in implementing this agenda.

While the demand for a full and open investigation into the role of the police
in the death of Carl Morrison must be raised, there can be no doubt that
ultimate responsibility rests with both the WA and federal governments.


.

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