WP chief Low Thia Khiang (left) with former Hougang MP Yaw Shin Leong at a Chinese New Year dinner a week ago. Mr Low had mentored him since 2001. — ST PHOTO: NURIA LING By Kor Kian Beng, Rachel Chang and Teo Wan Gek

Suddenly, after being seen as the most disciplined opposition party since the last general election (GE), the Workers’ Party (WP) had a bit of a climbdown last week.

After steadfastly refusing to explain itself, the party sacked its Hougang MP Yaw Shin Leong for not accounting to the WP leadership amid mounting allegations of extramarital affairs, including with a married WP member.

The prurient interest may be on Mr Yaw’s sexual shenanigans but the political implications rest squarely on the party leadership’s – especially WP chief Low Thia Khiang’s – handling of the saga.

First, the sacking, coming after weeks of silence by the WP and Mr Yaw over his alleged extramarital affairs, still leaves many questions unanswered even as the party’s top ranks held a half-hour press conference and issued two statements to explain their actions.

– ST ILLUSTRATION: ADAM LEE By Jennani Durai

That, every year, many of the new lawyers in Singapore come from only a few top junior colleges is an open-and-shut case.

But it does not necessarily mean they are cut from the same cloth when it comes to, say, agreeing to do pro bono work or their choice of career, said lawyers and academics.

All in, they presented a mixed bag of views.

Background story

Potential problems

‘Having only those with the best academic grades admitted to (NUS) Law School can give rise to problems if they all come out… seeking jobs and opportunities in the same sort of areas – typically high-end commercial practice or in the Legal Service.’

ATTORNEY-GENERAL SUNDARESH MENON

If indeed there was a ‘pattern’, said top criminal lawyer Subhas Anandan, it could be in the lawyers’ socio-economic backgrounds rather than school backgrounds.

At the Workers’ Party press conference announce Mr Yaw Shin Leong’s expulsion were (from left) Mr Gerald Giam, Mr Low Thia Khiang, Ms Sylvia Lim and Mr Pritam Singh. Mr Low Thas made clear that he and the party’s election committee had ‘absolutely no idea’ of the alleged extramarital affairs when they decided to field Mr Yaw as a candidate in last May’s General Election — ST PHOTO: NEO XIAOBIN By Andrea Ong & Kor Kian Beng

Workers’ Party (WP) chief Low Thia Khiang has made clear that he and the party’s election committee had ‘absolutely no idea’ of the alleged extramarital affairs of sacked member Yaw Shin Leong when they decided to field him as a candidate in last May’s General Election.

‘Even though I was familiar with Yaw Shin Leong’s background and I have met his family and attended his two wedding ceremonies, I have no way and no authority to inspect his private matters and personal life.

‘I am a Member of Parliament, not a private investigator!’ Mr Low said in a letter to Chinese daily Lianhe Zaobao on Monday.

Background story

‘Even though I was familiar with Yaw Shin Leong’s background and I have met his family and attended his two wedding ceremonies, I have no way and no authority to inspect his private matters and personal life.

I am a Member of Parliament, not a private investigator!’

WP chief Low Thia Khiang, in a letter to Chinese daily Lianhe Zaobao yesterday

He added: ‘Mr Ho Kah Leong said I should take responsibility for the Yaw Shin Leong saga. May I ask how I should take responsibility?’

The Singapore Parliament will be sitting every day from Feb 28 to March 9, 2012, excluding Saturday and Sunday. — ST PHOTO: LAU FOOK KONG

The Singapore Parliament will be sitting every day from Feb 28 to March 9, 2012.

This excludes Saturday and Sunday.

Sittings will begin at 12 noon every day.

Families with a maximum household income of $2,200 per family member can now get government subsidies for services like home hospice and day care. — ST PHOTO: MALCOLM KOH By Poon Chian Hui

Families with a maximum household income of $2,200 per family member can now get government subsidies for services like home hospice and day care.

Such households will also qualify for a grant of $120 if they hire a foreign maid to look after elderly family members.

All community hospital patients will also get subsidies, ranging from 20 to 75 per cent.

Details were released by the Ministry of Health on Monday at a press conference.

Senior Social Worker at the Society for the Physically Disabled (SPD), Ruth Lim (second from left), 51, chats with Mr Teo Keng Fatt, 22, who is in the computer lab at the Society for the Physically Disabled making an online application for the Microsoft specialist certification. The SPD conducts IT courses in this lab. — ST PHOTO: ALPHONSUS CHERN By Tay Suan Chiang

The Ministry of Community Development, Youth and Sports (MCYS) on Monday launched an inaugural nationwide campaign to encourage more people, especially the young to join the social work profession.

There are currently over 800 registered social workers, but Singapore is still short of about 200. As demand for social services increases, there is a critical need to attract and retain more social workers.

The campaign features five real-life social workers and how they have the power and authority to improve social conditions, quality of life and the well-being of those in need. Their stories are shown through a series of print and TV ads.

Among them is Ruth Lim, a 20-year social work veteran who works at the Society for the Physically Disabled. She switched careers from being a legal secretary to becoming a social worker. Her job requires her to help clients develop life skills as well as find employment.

Taiwanese singer Fong Fei-fei — ST PHOTO: DESMOND WEE By Candice Neo

The link between lung cancer and non-smokers has come under the spotlight with the recent death of renowned Taiwanese singer Fong Fei-fei.

The 58-year-old died from the disease last month but according to Mr Ken Lim, the director of Hype Records which organised her last concert in Singapore in 2010, the singer led a healthy lifestyle and ‘did not smoke’.

Research in recent years has shown that abstinence from smoking is no immunity from lung cancer.

Background story

She ‘did not smoke’

Taiwanese singer Fong Fei-fei, 58, died of lung cancer last month. But the singer led a healthy lifestyle and ‘did not smoke’, according to Mr Ken Lim, the director of Hype Records which organised her last concert here in 2010.

In the United States, non-smokers make up an estimated 10 per cent or 17,000 of all lung cancer cases each year.

By K. C. Vijayan, Law Correspondent and Jalelah Abu Bakar

More lawyers are carrying out pro bono work as members of the profession heed the call to serve the less privileged.

About 700 of them took on cases for free last year, up from about 640 in 2010.

Another 250 non-practising lawyers and law students volunteered for various kinds of work under Law Society programmes, compared with 240 the year before, said spokesman Shawn Toh.

Chief Justice Chan Sek Keong encouraged lawyers to take on more cases pro bono last month at the opening of the new legal year.

Police on Saturday arrested two 14-year-old youths in connection with loanshark harassment in Serangoon housing estate.

The boys were nabbed by officers from Ang Mo Kio Police Division, who were responding to the case at about 10pm on Feb 18.

Although the suspects were no longer at scene when the police arrived, the officers carried out an extensive search and tracked them down in the vicinity of Serangoon Avenue 4 and Serangoon Central respectively.

Loanshark-related paraphernalia such as spray paint and mobile phone believed to contain debtors’ records were found on one of the youths.

By K. C. Vijayan, Law Correspondent

The number of licensed moneylenders kept growing last year, figures show. There are now at least 249 of them, up from 239 in 2010. Lenders themselves said having more players in the market is good for clients as it could help keep down interest rates, which are currently as high as 240 per cent per year.

They claim it could also help combat loan sharks by depriving them of business.

However, licensed lenders have been criticised in the past for jacking up interest rates and the associated costs.

The figures, from the Insolvency and Public Trustees Office (IPTO), show the number of registered lenders has been growing since 2007, when there were 169.