Lee Kuan Yew will do the thinking. You will do the working.

Ladies and Gentlemen,

The flood of bad news coming at us in Singapore simply refuses to let up. Yesterday the news was Singapore Airlines lost $80 million and counting. A few days ago, news that Tumasik, the government investment organ lost $40 billion, earlier the GIC a similar organ lost almost everything; yesterday it was Singaporeland a government owned real estate company in the red and ships are clogging up the waterway creating a danger to navigation, waiting for the ever elusive cargo. I can go on and on. Bad news upon bad news.

The government on the other hand continues to send us the icing on the cake by its constant parroting of assurances that this is only a passing phase. Everything will sort itself out, don’t worry. But are these assurances enough?

Should we be simply accepting these promises and assurances and go on as usual?

Look at reality. It is worse than you think. If there is one main yardstick of the Lee Kuan Yew government's financial well being, it has to be the CPF, the government run retirement scheme. And it is kaput. It refuses to pay your retirement pension dues by a series of creative but nevertheless hopeless excuses. For instance, outwardly appearing to be altruistic it claims it can only pay you small sums over the years for your own security, to avoid financial irresponsibility on your part. But is that really the reason? Or is it because the CPF is now simply bankrupt and they don't have any money left! This is sadly the truth, if you asked the ordinary man on the street. At least that is what they think.

More signs of impending financial collapse. No less than 1000 citizens every month, a staggering figure, acquire permanent residencies in Western countries? The same number gives up their Singapore citizenship for that of foreign countries every year.

Some more signs of impending doom. 2 out of 3 students who go abroad never return? Perhaps they refuse to live the quiet subservient boring lives Lee Kuan Yew has in store for them in his island when they return.

But it is not fair to blame just Singapore since almost every other place on earth is suffering a recession; only if this island had the means, like other countries to self correct and right itself again on a steady keel. Sadly unlike other normal countries, Singapore does not have that ability. In a society where Lee orders and others obey, it lacks the most important ingredient needed for any successful society, that is, citizen participation. And you will never have citizen participation in such a society run on fear, because Lee Kuan Yew only wants to hear what is pleasing to him, or else you might even end up in prison.

Another interesting aspect of the robot society is scholarships. The large numbers of government's scholarships to students which is in fact nothing but involuntary servitude. The government sends bright students, I mean children who have merely passed their school exams, to foreign universities at government expense. In return they promise upon graduation to serve the government, or rather Lee Kuan Yew or his son, for a decade or 2. When I mean serve, I mean just that; keeping the dictator in power. At the same time, to ensure these students do not run away, which they very often do despite the onerous and distasteful burdens on them and their families, the child's parents are required to sign agreements guaranteeing their compliance, or else pay Lee Kuan Yew a penalty of $100,000.00 or so.

I hope you see like I see, that in order to benefit from this one sided arrangement, both the child and the parents have to be persons whose moral fiber is not up to the mark; to put it plainly, unscrupulous; without principles. Both child and parent know what the child will be doing for a decade or 2 would be unpleasant dirty work, such as a civil servant denying assistance to Lee Kuan Yew's opponents; judges required to abuse the law to punish his detractors; and other similar dirty dishonorable work. The only attraction that both father and child have in these arrangements is the vast sums of money the child stands to gain. The good news is, that despite the initial lack of upright morals and conviction, once the child goes abroad, a sense of conviction and truth gets into their heads and they very often break their bonds and refuse to return. Today the Lee Kuan Yew government is resigned to the fact that 2 out of 3 scholarship students break their bonds. They never return. Which is turning the scholarship scheme for the government into a risky financial proposition. But they continue with it anyway. They are desperate, and have run out of ideas.

But it is these student mercenaries that Lee Kuan Yew relies on to govern his island. Men and women lacking any decent passion about anything, lacking ideals, good morals and conviction. They are unable to get the best among their people to work with them. Tell me which honest capable person with a good upbringing and values would want to be associated with a dictator who abuses the law and denies even the basic human rights to his people? As a result you end of with people such as the Minister of Law, K Shanmugam who has passed his recent Public Order Act denying his people every right to protest wahtsoever.

Other than these mercenary unprincipled scholars who are commissioned to do the thinking and formulate all policies, the Singapore government has all along told the ordinary people that government is none of their business. Their jobs are simply to do the work. These selected government scholars who will rule over them, will find work for them, provide homes for them, provide hospitals for them, provide everything for them. This caused an entire population to switch off their thought process. No need to worry about government matters. An entire nation of helpless robots, waiting for Lee Kuan Yew and the government scholars to provide all the answers.

This is not so in other western countries. There every man had his imagination intact. There was no need to fear a Hitler there. They could do what they want and when they want. They could speak their mind, as they think. The country and their industry moved and morphed in new directions helped by the input of their thinking, proud and responsible citizens. Every citizen there had their own ideas of politics, what the country should be and how it is run. Every one of them was able to stand on their own with new ideas for their survival. There is a constant, continuous interchange of ideas opinions and agendas where everyone felt a place for themselves in the running of their country. And from which the government and society benefited.

In Singapore on the other hand, you have an entire population unable to think for themselves and waiting for what the government has next in store for them. This makes life dull and unexciting. In Singapore there is no spontaneity in their people. There is no spark. There is no zest for life except conformity silence and obedience. Dull uneventful lives. Dull uneventful people. Like clockwork they labor and go to bed and work the next day.

And with the people having completely lost their ability to stand on their own, this government is frantically demanding their minions to come up with ideas, one of which is gambling dens. Otherwise what else is there? Tourism is now down, shipping is now down, manufacturing is now done, and everything is down. And not to forget offshore banking which is which is not just down, but finished.

If Lee Kuan Yew had shown some respect for his people and not treat them like "digits", they may still have some independence left about them. Being robots, waiting for the government to tell them what next, there is no hope at all.

The ordinary Singaporean is a dead man, dead in spirit, a robot. The only ones alive are Lee Kuan Yew and the minster scholars. Such a country is not conducive to advancement. There is no hope.

Gopalan Nair
39737 Paseo Padre Parkway, Suite A1
Fremont, CA 94538, USA
Tel: 510 657 6107
Fax: 510 657 6914
Email: nair.gopalan@yahoo.com
Blog: http://singaporedissident.blogspot.com/

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