Fantastic Discounts

It sure looks like the Great Singapore Sales is on again, with offerings of fantastic discounts to make up for the dwindling number of tourists. Visitor arrivals in Singapore slipped 2.8 per cent year on year to 7.5 million in the first half of 2014 as the number of Chinese visitors slumped 30 per cent. They blame it on the New tourism laws in China, implemented in October last year, which clamp down on "zero-dollar tours" that hit travellers with surprise fees. Other predictable excuses include the MH370 mystery, Sabah kidnappings, Thailand unrest, and possibly Ebola. Nothing is mentioned about the kid gloves treatment reserved for Yang Yin, as any special deal for the rogue tour guide from, China might be construed as scandalisation of the legal system.

What then to read of the persistent refusal of the Singapore Medical Council's (SMC) to accept the court's judgments about their share of overcharging? By appealing against the latest round of price slashings will the SMC not pose a real risk of undermining public confidence in the judicial system, a charge which is currently levied at one blogger?

When Assistant Registrar Jacqueline Lee decided that Senior Counsel Alvin Yeo's bill for legal fees was way too high - even the combined 718 hours spent on the case by Alvin Yeo, Melanie Ho and Lim Wei Lee of WongPartnership were inflated to 1,900 hours - shouldn't the  Commercial Affairs Department (CAD) of the Singapore Police Force be called in to investigate?

Public confidence is further eroded when the Singapore Law Society can actually write a letter to the Straits Times on 16 Oct 2014 entitled “Don’t equate reduction of costs with overcharging”. Which is the way of the Law Society saying that it is the winning lawyer’s duty to charge as much as possible, except that recourse is not available to medical doctors. Meaning, had they represented the ailing Brunei royalty in a court case, their bill could possibly match or exceed the $24.8 million invoiced by Dr Susan Lim.