Francis Seow has a new book out entitled Beyond Suspicion? – The Singapore Judiciary. I’ll be keeping an eye out for it in the local bookshops.

Front cover of Francis Seow's new book

“Once again, Francis Seow has revealed, with his usual rigour and attention to detail, a vital part of Singapore’s repressive machinery, this time by placing his spotlight on its judiciary. Beyond Suspicion? The Singapore Judiciary is essential to understanding the true nature of human rights abuses in that country. Particularly thorough are the chapters dealing with the use of civil defamation suits through the courts by ruling party leaders against political critics. Seow’s meticulous treatment of these suits clearly illustrates that in politically sensitive cases, the Singapore judiciary has not moved to check the Executive’s misuse of the law. Human rights campaigners now and historians of the future will regard it as required reading.”
– Margaret John, Coordinator for Singpaore and Malaysia, Amnesty International Canada

“Francis Seow has not just exposed the judiciary; he has also laid bare the serious limitations of the political system. This is a quite brilliant piece of sustained analysis of how the judiciary is harnessed to political persecution. It is a style and methodology that is more legalistic…., but it is only through this approach that the full magnitude of the judiciary’s emasculation and the PAP’s manic desire to crush the slightest semblance of serious scrutiny become fully clear.”
–Garry Rodan, Director, Asia Research Centre, Murdoch University, Western Australia

“This is an extremely valuable record of many significant cases and events that lay bare the dynamics of the Singapore judiciary and its intersection with political personalities and imperatives. It is an impressive work…of scholarly and public policy interest, providing chapter and verse on the politico-legal nexus in Singapore.”
– Christopher Tremewan, Pro Vice-Chancellor (International), University of Auckland, New Zealand