Singapore. Break the law now.

Ladies and Gentlemen,

I say break the law now. This certainly may be an unacceptable statement in most other circumstances, even a criminal one, but in the case of Singapore, I say it, and say it deliberately. I am not referring to laws such as murder and other violations which are criminal by any standards. I am referring to Lee's unjust laws, politically motivated laws to silence dissent, laws intended to keep Lee and his family in perpetual political grip over Singapore, such unjust laws as requiring a permit to speak in public where even if applied for by a political opponent will automatically be denied, laws such as requiring a permit to assemble which again is automatically denied when applied for by the opposition, unjust laws such as requiring a permit to form an association which is a means to keep surveillance on all political activities, all the unjust illegal laws enacted for the political advantage of the dictator Lee Kuan Yew and his family.

Dr. Chee has correctly quoted Gandhi and Martin Luther King having said that there are just laws and unjust laws and that it is the right of a free man, nay not just right, but his bounden duty to break that law and in doing so, in breaking that law, he is in fact being even more law abiding than another who complies with them.

There is no doubt on it. Lee stays in power by breaking laws. He shows such disdain and arrogance over his fellow citizens that he feels he can do anything and get away with it.

The pillars of any state are it's public institutions such as the judiciary, the civil service, the military, the police force, the media, the education system. These institutions need to be kept strong and independent for a country to continue to thrive and advance, but in Singapore, Lee has deliberately denied these institutions to function independently under the rule of law, making each of these institutions weak and entirely beholden to him and him alone. These are clearly illegal acts in violation of the law which has undermined the stability and strength of the country so much so that Singapore is turning into a failed republic before one's very eyes.

He has blatantly interfered with the independance of the judiciary, requiring judges to use their office not to administer the rule of law, but to destroy his political opponents. From the early 1970s till date the list of his victims at the hands of his enforcers in the judiciary goes on. JB Jeyaretnam, the former opposition politician repeatedly sued, charged with criminal offenses, thrown in jail, stripped of lawyer's license, forced to pay millions of dollars in illegal court awards and impoverished.

Mr. Tang Lian Hong, charged and sued for criminal and civil cases of defamation after the 1988 general elections, made to pay millions of dollars, bankrupted and hounded out of the country to Australia where he now lives. Mr. Francis Seow similarly dealt with, arrested detained and tortured by the dreaded Internal Security Department beaten, battered and assaulted with serious injuries, then released, for him only to escape to the United States to avoid further beatings, all because he contested the elections against Lee as he was entitled to do. The Marxist Conspirators, so labelled by Lee, 12 civic minded citizens who dared to speak against Lee between 1987 and 1988. Again, they were arrested severely tortured with sleep deprivation and other criminalities, detained for many days, beaten, their confessions obtained under torture, publicly made to confess as being communists and released. I can go on but I will stop. Lee is guilty of breaking the law. The law that makes it illegal to interfere in the independence of the judiciary.

Lee breaks the law by illegally interfering in the independence of the civil service. The civil service is required to carry out their work in accordance with the rule of law in fairness to all under the constitution. But they cannot do it, because Lee requires the civil service to be used as an instrument to oppress and destroy his political opponents. The Official Assignees office ensures Lee's opponents unable to pay Lee's unjust court awards are bankrupted and dealt with very harshly while others are dealt with leniently. Opposition politicians who become bankrupt find it impossible to discharge their bankruptcies and will remain so for life. Since bankrupts cannot contest elections, Lee uses bankrupting his opponents as a means to prevent them from challenging him ever. JB Jeyaretnam who has been bankrupted by Lee has never got out of it. He will die a bankrupt. He is 82 years old.

Dr. Chee has been sued, ordered to pay half a million dollars and being unable to pay has been made a bankrupt. And what did he do? All he did was to ask Lee Kuan Yew as to why he paid Dr. Suharto, the former Indonesian dictator, 17 million dollars and under what authority did he do it. I think he also told Mr. Goh Chok Tong, the former prime minister that he could run but may not be able to hide. Statements completely innocuous and normal in any other country. But under the instructions of Lee Kuan Yew, the Singapore judges beholden to him obediently turned it around and made it defamatory and criminal, ordering Dr. Chee to pay a mammoth crippling half a million dollars to Lee Kuan Yew and friends and unable to pay, he has been bankrupted by Lee's civil servants.

Lee has made the police force directly answerable to him. At his orders, they arrest anyone and everyone, harass them, keep surveillance on them, tail them, and make it very difficult for anyone who challenges Lee.

You can therefore see that Singapore's public institutions have lost credibility and their self respect and have been discredited, brought into ridicule and contempt. Recently, in the High Court of Canada, a Canadian company Evernorth have filed suit to prevent the enforcement of a Singapore court judgment against them in Canada, because they claim, and quite rightly so, that the Singapore courts are corrupt and the corruption vitiated the validity of the award. See Oakwell vs Evernorth. These public institutions such as the courts, have lost their fairness and are no longer bound by the rule of law, beholden only to Lee and his personal family members and friends. These are illegal acts of interference by Lee Kuan Yew and his family and friends. Lee Kuan Yew runs Singapore by personal decree. Singapore is no longer run by the rule of law by independent public institutions.

We also know that that under Saddam Hussein, Iraq was run, not by rule of law, but by his personal decrees. He removed and destroyed his opponents by requiring his judges to punish and put to death his political opponents. Lee Kuan Yew does the same. The only difference is one of degree. He tortures his opponests while under detention by sleep deprivation and other brutalities, but stops short of killing them. Only a question of degree. But the political climate is similar in both countries. People dare not criticise, lest they are arrested tortured, charged sued and bankrupted. Example, JB Jeyaretnam and Dr. Chee Soon Juan.

In this climate where Lee Kuan Yew feels he is at liberty anytime to break the law any time he wants, it is about time you took those liberties. And the reality is that if you do not take those liberties and intentionally break these unjust laws, then you can be certain as the sun rises tomorrow, that you will never be free, you will never enjoy a democracy, you will be forever ruled by this dictator and his family, you will never be able to express yourself freely, you will forever only read propaganda, you will never be able to congregate and discuss views as free men. In short you will die as slaves, which you are now anyway.

So I say this to you now. There is no shame in breaking unjust laws. There is nothing illegal in peaceful protest. It is your right as free men. So go ahead and apply for a permit to hold a peaceful protest. When you receive the notice from the government refusing you that permit, which you invariably will receive, write to them that you intend to break that law and break it and hold that protest anyway. They will arrest you but in the eyes of the world, they will look very small.

In the end, you will undoubtedly win and they will lose. Only in this way, by deliberately breaking unjust laws, and telling them in no uncertain terms that you intend to do it, that you will be able to bring about change to your country Singapore.

Lou Thia Khiang and Chiam See Tong will not be able to bring about any change by asking questions, merely for the sake of asking.

Gopalan Nair
39737 Paseo Padre Parkway, Suite A1
Fremont, CA 94538, USA
Tel: 510 657 6107
Fax: 510 657 6914
EMail: gopalnair@us-immigrationlaw.com