Daily Lessons from Life 12 October 2014 - Police question blogger Han Huihui for 7 hours

Hkg SAR Protests Updates - side show: "US$6.45m deal was legal, says CY Leong': It is legal and CY Leung has no legal obligation to disclose the deal. YET, it is NOT the point. The point is APPEARANCE of being impartial. It is about moral authority and NOT just legal one. Anyway, it will be swept aside in this part of the world if it is legal and there is no legal case to answer to.

"Police question blogger Han Hui Hui over Hong Lim Park protest that disrupted charity carnival - The Straits Times Oct 12, 2014

In response to media queries, Police confirm that investigations have been ongoing since a Police report was lodged on September 27, 2014 with regard to an incident at Hong Lim Park on the same day.

Several persons involved in the incident are currently assisting Police in investigations. Ms Han Hui Hui was one of the persons asked to assist in our investigation. Our officers visited her registered residence on October 9, 2014 at about 9.30pm after she did not answer our telephone calls.

As she was not at the registered residence, our officers handed over to her family member a notice informing her of the scheduled interview appointment at Central Police Division. Ms Han subsequently made a phone call to the Police on the same night at about 11pm to reschedule her appointment to 8pm on 10 October 2014. However, at about 1.45pm on October 10, 2014, Ms Han contacted Central Police Division and indicated that she would arrive shortly thereafter for the interview.

She subsequently turned up at about 2.30pm and arrangements were made to accommodate her schedule. Her interview concluded at about 9.30 pm on the same day.

During the interview, Ms Han was provided with refreshments. She took several breaks but she declined an offer to take a break for dinner."

The netizens, some anyway, took issue with the length of time of the questioning session - about 7 hours. Some felt this is another example of intimidation of so-called 'dissenters'.

Lessons for me are:

1. before I 'jump to that conclusion of intimidation by the authorities', I like to know what is the standard questioning time for similar type of cases not involving so-called 'dissenters'. IF it is quite standard, there is really no reason to jump to that conclusion. However, if it is NOT, then maybe we can explore IF this is an act of intimidation by the authorities;

2. what does Ms Han has to say about the questioning session? Did she feel intimidated? If yes, she can share her personal input so that we can all learn a bit more about what actions had been done to her that were considered intimidation. IF not, there is really no further case to push on;

3. at a time when the authorities seems to be very focused on 'getting our history right with the ex-communists and the struggles then', I hope we are not overly paranoid about 'current dissenters' harbouring subversive motives to destabilise present Singapore. We should be mindful of potential flare up of flash points with strong dissenting views expressed by some Singaporeans, but there is no need to over-react. At least not at this point of time.

Hope that this is just a routine interview and nothing more.

Majulah Singapura on peace and harmony so that people can focus on making prosperity that can be given to the needy amongst us!