M Ravi to lead team to contest in Ang Mo Kio
Mr M Ravi. Photo: Raj Nadarajan
SINGAPORE — Recounting difficulties he faced in challenging “unfair laws” in court — citing the death penalty regime and media regulations — lawyer M Ravi said he wants to bring his legal expertise into the legislature to check these laws.
The human rights activist has defended various Opposition political figures and persons on death row — most notably Yong Vui Kong, the first drug-trafficker on death row to be spared the gallows after changes to the mandatory death penalty — before he was suspended from practice earlier this year due to his mental health.
If elected, the 46-year-old wants to call for constitutional reform, an aspect he felt had been “left out of the entire discourse in the elections”.
Specifically, Mr Ravi wants the death penalty to be abolished, and regulations against online media relaxed. “It is difficult for the courts to handle some of these issues because they are in the parameters of Parliament ... Given my legal expertise and interest, it is best that I go to Parliament and be an effective check there,” he said.
Mr Ravi, who joined the Reform Party last week, is leading its six-man team to contest in Ang Mo Kio. “We are a mixed team of activists ... We are ordinary Singaporeans and we can understand ordinary Singaporeans,” he said. Mr Ravi said he chose to contest under the RP banner because he saw its founder J B Jeyaretnam as an inspiration. “He inspired me to do what is right in the legal arena. Why Ang Mo Kio? This is the last place that (J B Jeyaretnam) fought in the General Election(GE),” he said, referring to the late founder of the RP who fought but lost in Cheng San GRC in the 1997 GE on a Workers’ Party ticket.
Acknowledging that fighting for a ward helmed by Prime Minister Lee Hsien Loong “will not be easy”, Mr Ravi said his team is not daunted. “We are here for the challenge.”
M Ravi, 46
Lawyer, human rights activist
FACT FILE:
• Studied law at the University of Cardiff; admitted to the Singapore Bar in 1997
• Degree in Political Science and Sociology from National University of Singapore
• Represented Opposition political figures and persons on death row, advocate for abolishment of death penalty in Singapore
HE SAID: “This election is ... about the entire system of democracy in Singapore.”
