Deja Vu? Oppostition Politician Suspended By JCU
Singapore Democratic Party (SDP) assistant secretary-general John Tan, due to appear in court on Nov. 4. for contempt of court charges, has been suspended from his position as a psychology lecturer at the Queensland-based James Cook University (JCU).
Did anyone say deja vu?
SDP head Dr Chee Soon Juan was fired from his position as a psychology lecturer at the National University of Singapore (NUS) in 1993, over alleged misappropriation of research funds, just months after he joined the opposition party.
But the recent suspension of John Tan comes as a surprise. After all, JCU is an Australian-based institution, and supposedly enjoys autonomy from the Singapore state.
According to the SDP, Tan’s abrupt suspension followed an email complaint by a “Collin Lim”, copied to the Minister of Education, Dr Ng Eng Hen. The contents of that email was not revealed.
The SDP claims that “the University acted out of fear of the Singapore Government and suspended Mr John Tan for reasons other than academic considerations”.
