Well, he was a Judicial Commissioner (“JC”) of the Supreme Court of Singapore for a fixed term from 1991 to 1992. It is claimed that a JC is the equivalent of a High Court judge. However, in all truly FIRST WORLD countries, a High Court judge or equivalent has what is called “security of tenure” i.e. once duly appointed, he cannot be removed unless there are good grounds such as dereliction of duty. If you want to continue to be appointed as a JC after your initial term of 2 years, would you be making those kinds of judicial decisions which you know would not find favour with the Executive branch which decides whether or not your appointment is going to be renewed?