Introductory Lecture on Public Law - Professor Thio Li-Ann

The morning introductory lecture on public law was by Professor Thio Li-Ann. She spoke about the role of the constitution in the role of governance. Constitution, she says, serves as a kind of map telling how power is to be distributed. But in the study of constitutional law, it is also important to have a "compass" to tell what the power is to be used for. Constitutional law serves as a limit to the government.

Professor Thio says that the more restrained the government is when exercising power, the less law you need to externally restrain them. There is a relationship between the degree of internal restraint and the need for external restraint. Professor Thio then posed the question, "Should you or should you not trust your government?" That, she said, depends on your view of human nature.

In the view of Confucian idealism, where power is viewed as indivisible and wholly belonging to the emperor, the idea is that political authority is based on personal morality. This restraint is termed as li. Professor Thio said that this notion of good faith is not absent in Singapore constitutionalism. This notion of good governance is not just an Asian conception. The philosopher Plato conceived of the notion of governance by philosopher kings who would rule with wisdom and benevolence. In society where there is a high degree of trust of the government, we can be more comfortable in giving discretion to the government.

This is in contrast to what Professor Thio Li-Ann calls Madisonian Idealism, after the views put forth by James Madison in his paper Federalist No.51, which is an espousal for auxiliary checks to power such as a constitution.

Professor Thio also talked about how political ideologies shape constitutions and have consequences. For example, China's political ideology places centrality of power in the communist party. Article 128 of China's constitution states that the Supreme People's Court is responsible to the National People's Congress and its Standing Committee. This effectively removes the ability of the court to check the power of the communist party if it infringes upon the rights of the people, even if there are more rights described in the chinese constitution than there are in Singapore.

Professor Thio also picked dirt of the western political ideology of liberal democracy, which although gives great freedom, leads to 'hyper-individualism' and rights talk, a litigious society, erosion of personal and social responsibility, coarsening of public discourse, and excessive consumerism, materialism, and commodification.

Professor Thio used the term 'Paternal Democracy' to describe Singapore's political ideology. I suppose this is a reference to the strong one-party rule in Singapore by the People's Action Party (PAP) government, and its top-down approach to governance.

Professor Thio also highlighted another prevailing political ideology in Singapore called Communitarianism, which is a social philosophy that maintains that society should articulate what is good. This is often contrasted with classical liberalism, a philosophical position that holds that each individual should formulate the good on his or her own.

I was quite taken aback to see an excerpt of an interview of Lee Kuan Yew in 1984 which quotes him as saying "it is anathema to Chinese culture that the Emperor’s mandate from heaven should depend on the counting of heads. It depends on the chopping of heads and that mandate was exercised not through a rabble in a legislature but through a strictly quality‐controlled Mandarinate that went through a series of Imperial examinations." To a fairly liberal english-educated Singaporean, I think we are naturally apprehensive of authoritarianism

In my opinion, the ideal government rules by benevolence and is restraint by morality. However, I believe that human beings are fallible in nature and easily corruptible by power. Hence, there must be restraint on their power. But we can and should cultivate a culture that is conducive towards providing internal restraint within government. I do see religion playing such a part in providing guidelines and principles for governance.

Questions:
1. What kind of exam questions will be featured for public law exams? How do I study for it?

Help
1. Trading of muggers (Senior notes).

First day of school for Second Semester of Second Year

School begins again for the second semester of second year. I am feeling much better after the period of rest during the december holidays. I feel calmer and more emotionally balanced. My tension headache has lessened substantially than it was during the previous semester. I suppose I would try to take this semester within my stride. I pray that God would give me the ability to think clearly and understand the materials for this semester, and that I may study effectively and efficiently. If I can, I shall blog about the lectures or materials I went through and pose some questions that I may have. Perhaps, if you are someone from law school as well, I would be very thankful if you would be so kind as to provide any helpful advice or information on the topic or on how to study, or offer to trade school notes with me. And if I have any misconception about any concepts, I would be greatly appreciative if you would correct me on my misconceptions. I figured that a blog could be a good medium to discuss law stuff with law school friends, and considering that I have been quite a weak student at law school, I will appreciate all the help that I can get.

Notes
1. I am really impressed with the initiative of a law student to set up an internal portal for the sharing of muggers (Law School notes). It is still relatively undeveloped though.

2. The Lawnet Downloader program is really cool. Goes to show the potential of IT in alot of things. I believe that there could be further developments of such tools to enhance the efficiency of law school studies and law research.

Sunday Service – Baptised for you! (Luke 3 :15-17; 21-22)

Today’s Sunday sermon by Pastor Richard Chiu was about the role of baptism to believers in the Christian faith. Pastor Richard Chiu said that in our baptism, we are spiritually put to death on the cross with Jesus, and similarly raised to life so that we need not hence die the spiritual death for our sins. The passage that was used for the sermon was John’s baptism of Jesus at the river Jordan. Pastor Richard Chiu also explained the various allegories inherent in the passage. He pointed out that in the baptism of Jesus, the heavens opened. The only other time in which the heavens open was in the Great Flood of Noah, and that was the punishment of sin with water. I can’t exactly remember what Pastor Chiu said about the significance of the opening up of heaven, but he said something along the lines of original sin separating us, and the baptism of Jesus hence a reconciliation of God to man, and that with baptism, we find our identity as a child of God. Pastor Chiu also pointed out the Holy Spirit which descended on Jesus like a dove, and drew parallel of this with the dove in the story of Noah. Just as the dove’s return to the ark represents life, so is it with the holy spirit in our lives.

For today’s service, we had a special bowl of water placed on a small table in front of the youth congregation. Pastor Chiu told us to dip our hands in the bowl of water when coming up for Holy Communion, as a reminder of our baptism and our identity in Christ.

I like the songs that were used for worship today. In particular, The Great I Am and a new worship song which has the lyrics “Dying you destroyed our death, rising you restored our life”. I like the lyrics and the emotive building-up tune of the bridge to the chorus of The Great I Am, which goes “There is no power in hell, or any who can stand, before the presence of the Great I Am”. I found it comforting to be reminded of the all-powerful nature of God. I find myself liking songs which describes God’s great and mighty power, and evil forces fleeing before him.  In fact, one of my favourite Christian song is the hymn Onward Christian Soldier, which features lyrics such as “At the sign of triumph Satan's host doth flee”, and “Gates of hell can never gainst that church prevail”. I suppose it comforts me to know that God is sovereign over everything, even when things seems to be out of control.

Update : The name of the new worship song, as told to me by the worship leader today, is Remembrance by Matt Redmann]

Description of symptoms of pressure sensation in head

I have been trying to find a solution for the pressure sensation in my head during this school holiday. It started since June last year, and has persisted everyday and is present with me all day long. It could be due to stress because I had a number of anxiety attacks during that period of time due to bad school results and difficulty coping with a moot competition. The sensation feels like something is pressing upon my brain from every side, or a pressure pressing upon the top of my brain. The sensation changes in intensity in the way it pushes against either sides my brain when I move my jaws. When I slide my upper teeth, there feels to be a grinding or clicking of muscles/nerves/arteries/veins within my head or upper jaw region. There does not seem to be any predictability to the intensity of the pressure sensation. It is usually mild to moderate, but on a particular occasion, quite severe as to be painful so much so that I went to the emergency ward at a hospital to see a doctor. It seems that the intensity of the sensation is mild in the morning, but is heavier later in the day. It also seems to increase after an afternoon nap. The sensation is usually around the head region, but on a particular occasion, seemed to migrate to my jaw area. The painkillers that I have been prescribed, such as paracetamol, naproxen, and tramadol, do not seem to relief or alleviate the pain or intensity of the sensation. On a related note, I have also been experiencing nervous tics and involuntary utterances since about the same period of the onset of this pressure sensation in the head. I also seem to be experiencing difficulties in my cognitive capabilities, such as finding it difficult to concentrate or understand my study materials.

I have visited two different dentists on two different occasions, one in July to remove my upper wisdom teeth, and another in December to remove my lower wisdom teeth because I initially suspected the problem to be due to pressure from wisdom teeth. I was admitted to Alexandra hospital in August when I had a fainting spell at the school library after what seems to me to be an anxiety attack when I read in the internet about the symptoms of brain aneurysm and suspected that my pressure sensation in the head was due to it. After I described my symptoms to the doctors at the emergency ward, I was admitted to a ward. The doctors first conducted a strength and balance test on me and concluded no apparent abnormalities. During the next few days, I was given blood tests, electrocardiogram (ECG) tests, oxygen tests via pulse oximetry, blood pressure tests, electroencephalography (EEG), and an MRI scan of my brain. The doctors concluded that I was not suffering from any abnormalities and referred me to a psychologist. The psychologist at Khoo Teck Puat Hosital dismissed my symptoms as psychological, and recommended stress-relief exercises

I went to see a doctor at the emergency department at Khoo Teck Puat hospital in October after I had a very strong painful pressure sensation around my head during the evening. I refused a preliminary CT scan because of my fear of radiation. I was admitted to a ward thereafter. The doctor at the ward said that he did not recommend another MRI scan because I had taken a previous MRI scan not too long ago and it was thus unlikely I was suffering from any brain abnormalities. A senior doctor conducted a preliminary dental check and diagnosed gingivitis. I was discharged with prescription of painkillers.

My dad brought me to see a Chinese Sinseh in December. The Chinese sinseh did what seems to me to be acupoint nerve massage on my neck, back, arms, and hands. The intensity of the pressure sensation seems to alleviate substantially but not completely subside after the treatment. However, it seems that immediately subsequent to treatment, the frequency and severity of my nervous tics and involuntary utterances increased, but decreased to the normal frequency after a few days.

The pressure sensation aggravated after I did some jaw stretching exercises. I think I overly exerted while stretching. My jaw now seems to experience a popping sensation if I move my lower jaw to the side, and it makes a cackling sensation when I open my mouth.

I would suspect that the symptoms I have are indicative of either a tension headache, or temporomandibular joint disorder (TMD).  I think it should be safe to rule out more lethal conditions like brain aneurysm or brain tumour since the neurologist has not made such diagnosis after the MRI scan, but I am worried that the neurologist may have missed out certain details when examining the MRI images, or that the condition was not apparent even in the MRI scan.

Any useful information on what I may be suffering from or possible remedies would be greatly appreciated.

Matthew 5:39 - Dilemma of enforcement of secular law

I had a discussion with some friends from the law VCF a year ago where we discussed the words of Jesus in Matthew 5:39 to 'turn the other cheek'. A girl in our discussion brought up the dilemma of  whether Christians can enforce secular law against their wrongdoer. A friend of mine answered the dilemma by referencing the works of Martin Luther in his work titled Secular Authority. In Secular Authority, Martin Luther argues that the secular sword/government is introduced to protect Christians. Christians should thus have no qualms about doing violence in the name of the secular rule. Luther’s conclusion is that the two governments (secular and church) must be kept separate, since they have completely different functions. The church makes men just and good, government keeps the temporal peace. The church clearly serves nobler aims.

I was wondering though whether the principle of 'turning the other cheek' may extend beyond simply desisting from assuming personal action against one's wrongdoer and relegating the meting out of punishment to the state. Perhaps there may be instances where one should forgo the right to vindicate himself with state punishment against the wrongdoer. One such example is in the story of Les Miserables, where Jean Valjean, a former convict, ran off with the silverware of the Bishop Myriel who had housed him when all other innkeepers had turned him away. When the police caught Valjean, Myriel exculpated Valjean of his crimes by pretending that he had given the silverware to Valjean and pressing him to take two silver candlesticks as well, as if Valjean had forgotten to take them.

In my opinion, it can be just as vindictive to use state instruments to exact revenge. I think that a better approach to interpreting the words 'turn the other cheek' would be to qualify the extent of he wrongdoing that is inherent in the words "being struck on the cheek" rather than a delineation of the role of who is to exact punishment on the wrongdoer. Perhaps being struck on the cheek could be purposively interpreted to mean inflicted wrongdoings which are not too severe in nature? Whereas there might be circumstances where the wrongdoing is of such a severe nature that a Christian is justified in seeking retribution personally or by recourse to state instruments.

Movie - Life of Pi

I watched the movie Life of Pi yesterday. I did not really get the conclusion of the show though.  The writer who had come to visit Pi was presented with two versions of the account of the shipwreck, neither of which explained the shipwreck, and asked which account he preferred. The writer replied that he preferred the one with the animals in the boat over the one with humans in the boat, to which Pi replied, "And so it is with God". Is it trying to imply that since we do not have an explanation for our existential predicament, so it doesn't matter whether we have a rational reason for believing in God as the explanation? Is it also trying to imply that the God explanation is preferable simply because it is the more beautiful one?

I thought that a better storyline explaining Pi's path to spirituality or belief in God could be the sheer tribulation he faced stranded in the shipwreck, during which he witnessed the magnificence of creation, and the encounter with God from the divine providence of fishes and the signs directing him towards civilization. But certainly for cinema, some form of new-age sophistry would make for entertainment value.

I thought that the the tiger who was stranded in the boat with Pi could be an allegory of man. The blood-thirsty nature of the tiger parallels with the sinful nature of man. Yet as Pi loves the tiger by providing food for the tiger and taming it, so is it with God towards man.

With regards to the characters, I wonder what is the reason for the author presenting the protagonist of the film as being embracive of all religion simply out of his love for God. I have met people who holds such unificative views on religion, including Christians, who think that all people who seek God would go to heaven whatever their faith. I do see the reasons for preferring such a view, but I don't think it conciles easily with the exclusive nature of the doctrines of the respective religious faiths.

Personally, I am more like Pi's father, who quipped at the dinner table that one cannot choose all religions, but should start with reason, and then determine for himself which is true, or if all are not. It does explains my interest with Christian apologetics and comparative religion.

Back from Anntic Camp

During my time at the varsity christian fellowship camp in malaysia, we had daily sermons by Rev Paul Woods on the book of Colossians from chapter 1 up to chapter 3. I like the sermons about how Christians undergraduates in university should recognise the sumpremacy of God in all affairs of life, be contented with what we have and not be materialistic in our pursuits in life, be more open and inclusive in the way we conduct our relationships with fellow believers, and be a counter-cultural Christian influence in moulding society into a more loving, inclusive, caring, and compassionate one. I always feel that happy optimism of warmth and joy when hearing sermons like these speaking of such simple, yet inspiring message of being God's people and living out our lives in such a manner with one another and towards society.

It's nice to see fellow undergraduates from the National University of Singapore from the various faculties sharing the same Christian faith. I got to interact with people from medicine, engineering, architecture, social sciences,etc. My interaction helps me regain a perspective of what being a human being is about, that there is some sort of commonality in all humanity that is not describable in simply vocation-specific terms. I liked what Han Ting, a law undergraduate senior shared about how he is able to see how small his knowledge and study of the law is compared to everything in the world. He put it quite aptly in his example that he still has to visit a doctor when he is sick and all his knowledge in the law would not help him.

We also had an inductive bible study session to learn how to study the bible. I liked the presentation given by the speakers for the session. However, I had much difficulties in the group work because of my hearing difficulties, disorientation in a group discussion, and general difficulties in research work such as inability to read and comprehend fast enough. I would leave the group on these occassions, frustrated that I am exhbitedly expressing such aloofness by 'stoning' there inappropriately in a social situations, and not participating in the group activity. I experience such frustrating episodes as well in group works for my Law and Research Writing Skills module in law school as well. I am struggling to find a solution to my predicament.

Still, I was quite quiet in social situations like meals with the group that I was assigned to in camp. The groupmates from the other faculties must have been baffled by my apparent aloofness, which is different from the typical conception of a law student as being articulate and outgoing in mannerism. My hearing difficulties and condition with Asperger's Syndrome are just rather debilitating to me socially.

After a while, certain people in the group stopped trying to interact with me. I am not sure what their impression was of me. I told the group leader of my hearing difficulties, and she was kind enough to get a quiet room for bible study discussion sessions. I later told the group of my having Asperger's Syndrome when sharing about how I have found the Christian community being an inclusive and caring one to me despite my social aloofness, and I told them that I would like them to recognise such symptoms around them in school as stemming from an autism spectrum disorder and to reach out to these people as a Christian community. I told them I was not trying to be arrogant when I am quiet, but I do experience this general inhibition in my mannerism which I can't help myself.

I later also shared about my condition to my law VCF community and about how I wish to function normally as a human being despite having such a condition because I felt that some people were avoiding talking to me or even looking at me when I pass them by because they might have some misconception about my character based on my behavior. I told them about how I was trying to reach out to them, but I find it difficult due to my social deficit disorder. Truth be told, I don't think anyone cared much about my sharing. No one approached me after my sharing to ask me more about my condition. But I suppose I hope that they would perceive me in a different way and not be prejudicial of my character from my social awkwardness.