Saturday, January 13, 2007

A Singaporean's boring and humiliating life.

Ladies and Gentlemen,

Singapore is fascist. Fascism is a state where all organs of power are firmly in the hands of the ruling elite. They then use these organs of power any way the want to run the country. These organs of power that the fascists control are the judiciary, the press, the unions, the civil service, the Parliament, the police, everything. In a fascist society, any opposition to their decisions are not brooked. Every man must comply and submit. If not, it is your peril. This is in a nutshell, Singapore.

Those who stay behind, accept such as orchestrated life. Those who refuse are either punished and persecuted or they leave the country to live elsewhere.

First, life is boring. Boring because the press is owned and controlled by Lee Kuan Yew and his family. They tell you what they want you to hear. Things that are good for them. Things that help them stay in power.

And you as a Singaporean is aware of this. They themselves have admitted that theirs is not a press like what we have in the West. They say that theirs is different. They say it is a "responsible" press, a euphemism for propaganda, nothing less. And being told that it is nothing more than propaganda, it becomes very distasteful, patronizing and condescending of the government to compel you to read it, and for you to do so.

As for Singapore news, one has no choice but read the Singapore press. Where else can you get local news? And it puts you in a very uncomfortable position. Read the local propaganda or none at all.

There are some who do not mind it. An inertia has taken over these. They have abandoned their right to think. They are prepared to accept what is told them, day in and day out. These have decided that Lee and Company will do the thinking. All they have to do is just live. They have no desire to involve themselves in matters of government. No ambition, no aspirations, just a vegetable existence. These live boring lives. But some don't mind it. They stay behind in Singapore.

There are others who find this totally unacceptable. They demand to be heard. They claim Singapore to be their's as well, not just the property of Lee Kuan Yew, his son and collaborators. These will find living in Singapore unpleasant. For them, this talking down to them is demeaning. An insult to their intelligence. What can they do. The choices are dire, both ways. First if they protest and challenge Lee, they will be turned into Jeyaretnams or Dr. Chees. They will be turned into criminals. They will continue to be harassed, persecuted, defamed in the local press, charged with convenient criminal violations, and bankrupted. They as well as their children will suffer financially. Life becomes intolerable.

Otherwise they can get out of Singapore for good and live elsewhere as men, and not sheep. Many have taken this route and they continue to do at present. This is the brain drain. Educated Singaporeans leaving Singapore because they cannot stand being spoken down to, being treated like children.

Then there are those who remain and flourish. These are the "yes men". The minions. They have no self respect and will say and do anything as long as it benefits them. These are Lees handpicked members of Parliament to act as rubber stamp for whatever Lee wants to be done and enacted. Shameful lot. A self respecting person would find achieving success by stooping so low abhorrent.

For those who remain in Singapore, life is boring and uneventful. All they have to do is to continue working and living. All the rest, Lee and Company will take care of. I cannot see how, such a country can ever aspire to greatness. But according to the state controlled press, Singaporeans have already achieved greatness. You better accept that this is true. You will not get any contrary information. The Straits Times and Lee have spoken.

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

7 comments:

Anonymous said...

Interesting. I think that democracy is far overrated. I am from Mexico, a country that lived under an authoritarian regime between 1930-2000 and only recently had democratic elections. Things have gone worse. Democratically elected authorities are abusing power and systematically dismantling institutions such as healthcare, education, and security. Criminality is at its highest and GNP is at its lowest. But we have democracy, we can elect our "representatives" who will sell us for peanuts. I do not think democracy is the solution. It is more of a paradigm sponsored by the USA in order to allow them carry out all sorts of excesses. Someone had to speak out.

Andi Kang said...

I have to agree with you. What you've descrieb IS singapore.
We rely singapore to just one family. Lees..
If the Lees were to make a wrong decision in politics or investment of singapore's future. We'll all be fucked.
But tons of singaporean don't care.
They just want to be the little people staying in their little safe shell, living their little life. As long as the govt gives us some pay out from time to time they are happy. AS long as we on'thave war and we don't get deprive for food they don't worry.
But the fact is that we are part of singapore.
Why do we allow singapore to be decided by just one family?
I am living in singapore, and will continue to stay here unless my parents are gone.
Singapore life is very boring and totally uneventful for me. I would love to be staying somewhere else.
But being asian & a chinese, I have my commitments to my parents.

Anonymous said...

I just want to highlight all the words I've been looking for to describe my life in singapore, and I found them all here: Orchestrated, boring, and uneventful. May I add mundane. Where is "life" in this country? Maybe it's true, the people have actually gone the extra mile to improve a country that is otherwise a little bereft of natural resources, but still, something "lively" is missing...no, this is not living at all. You do everything as programmed first thing when you get up in the morning, like an automaton. Not much choices for real, live fun here. The only assurance is, you're safe, everything's clean and structured, and orderly. But spontaneity in life? I don't think so.

Anonymous said...

You're right. And it is terribly sad. A tremendous effort the people, THE PEOPLE, of Singapore, have made to make the country they live in. Yet, YET, the gahmen remains afraid. Afraid of the people who have worked so hard to build everything the gehman claims to represent. Singapore could be so much more. Yet here it is. Dull, boring, unthinking.

Sad, sad, sad.

Anonymous said...

Your totally right,singapore is boring....

DreamsAndReality said...

I agree. Democracy in Singapore is no longer democratic. I think we as the younger generation need a breakthrough. I mean, what's the point of pretending to be all grown up if it means the thing I want to say never get said? How am I supposed to change anything?

Navin (from Sri Lanka) said...

Amazing!!! I am from Sri Lanka and over here, Singapore is our ROLE MODEL. Every politician and self-proclaimed intellectual here always site Singapore as THE country we should emulate. So I have decided to read about Singapore. The more I read the more disappointed I get.

My BIG question is this: How does Singapore, with only 4+ million people and little over 700Km2 land have GDP per capita (current US$ WORLD Bank data) of a whopping $41,120 for 2010. The US GDP per capita (current US$) is $47,153. Japan is $42,831.

How does the Singapore's 4+ million people create a GDP of whopping $208,765,019,308 (for 2010).i.e. $209 Billion. That is just amazing and mind boggling.

Some say Sg makes it money through the Sg port and financial and banking. Sg does not have space for large scale manufacturing plants (like Japan). So my guess is Sg must be making money though the port and finance and banking.

If somebody can explain exactly how the port and finance and banking make money to Singapore?? I mean, how does it really work??
How many international financial institutions are there in Sg? How does doing international Business make a country rich??