Tuesday, September 22, 2009

In terms of human qualities, Singapore is a total failure.

Ladies and Gentlemen,

With the modern skyscrapers dotting the Singapore skyline, fancy cars on the streets (mind you they all belong to foreign money launderers),and a transportation system Lee Kuan Yew and his cronies stomp around the world claiming a miracle. But how do you judge a miracle. Is it these modern fixtures or is there more to it?

If a man were to consider the people as the most important possession of the country; the litmus test for a great nation, Lee Kuan Yew's Singapore fails miserably. A look at Singaporeans will tell you this. They are a people who are insecure, unduly afraid of even the slightest provocation, a people who lack any burning passion or love for anything except how to earn a buck, a generally effete and weak people, a people who cannot run jump or swim compared to anyone else in the free world and who judge their acceptance by the Lee Kuan Yew clique as their passport to success. This is not saying much, I confess, for my fellow Singaporeans. Of course I now live in California and had lived lived in Europe before then. I am therefore not, thank God, altogether a Singaporean.

Let me give you 2 examples on the complete lack of any adventure in Lee Kuan Yew's Singapore "digits"; a term by which Lee Kuan Yew has called his citizens. Even though there are nearly 4.8 million Singaporeans, one third of them foreigners, there are no real sportsmen in the country. No Singaporean ran the mile in 2 minutes and never will.

But you recall only a few months ago, Singapore's state controlled press with great fanfare and drum beat announced that 2 Singaporeans were going to sail round the world! Imagine that! A feat indeed! But when you realise what happened, it wasn't like that at all. There were hardly any Singaporeans that knew how to sail, despite being surrounded by tropical waters, let alone around the world. In fact, Lee Kuan Yew's Singapore government went around and handpicked a couple of people, all expenses paid to crew on ocean going sailboats on a round the world itinerary! The skipper was a foreigner, the navigator was a foreigner and anyone who did any real sailing were all foreigners, not Singaporeans. The 2 miserable Singaporeans had to just stay on the boat, hopefully not getting sea sick, and pose for a few photos which were promptly printed on the front pages of the State Controlled Singapore Press, with the words, "Singaporeans sail the World". A desperate attempt to show a better side.

The same with Everest conquering Singapore housewives! The same nonsense yet again. Singapore housewives conquer Everest! My God, what a feat! But truly it was nothing like that. It was a publicity stunt. Lee Kun Yew and his Public Relations crew got around and persuaded a couple of housewives to climb the mountain all expenses paid. And climbing it from the North Face is not such a big deal anyway, supported by a gang of Sherpas who do everything possible for you, making it nothing more than a breeze. It would cost at least about $60,000.00 to do it, in Nepal permit fees and the salaries of more than a dozen Sherpas. Even Japanese housewives have done it but there is a difference. Those women really wanted to do it, and did it with their money. Not the stage managed , all expenses paid, Singapore version, involving hand picked reluctant housewives!

It would be entirely true to say, the average Singaporean lives in fear. And the fear stifles their development and their achievements. And this fear makes them less competitive, innovative and ultimately less happy. And not being happy it does not further the country's progress, and with a bunch like this, Singapore is a failure, not a success.

A country needs independent thinking citizens who follow their passion, not what Lee Kuan Yew says is good for them. It is the independent thinking people with novel ideas that propels any country to greatness. Not the I follow you in line type you find in Singapore.

Take the average Singapore parent. They live in fear of the Lee Kuan Yew government. They are afraid to protest the theft of government monies by the Ministers, several millions of dollars each year, for fear of being punished. They fear to criticize the lack of human rights that is denied them. They fear to speak against the lack of a free press. They fear everything. They fear their shadows.

And they make sure, for the safety of their children, lest Lee Kuan Yew is offended, that they too live in that fear. Their children are told not to say anything against the government with the proverbial "walls have ears" warning. So the children too grow up the fearful pathetic souls like their parents.

And the teachers too are no different. They tell their students to conform to remain politically correct at all times in accordance with the Singapore strongman's doctrine. Not to protest, to oppose or do anything for themselves that is out of the ordinary.

When I was a boy in a Singapore school I was no different. I was afraid to speak. Success meant passing exams and being as obscure and hidden as possible. And when you said anything, you said what was politically correct. The only reason why I am different today is because I managed to set myself free and leave the country altogether, thank God for it.

Children went to school and became lawyers doctors and engineers not because they wanted to help mankind, or even because they loved it. They went because it meant making money. It did not matter if it was the most boring thing in life. And once they qualified in their profession, the learning stopped completely. Not a single lawyer in that island has in his head, any literature, or anything else for that matter.

Compare an Australian boy. He grows up with an imagination. His teacher in school and parents support him with it. He looks up at the sky and wants to be pilot. And he does it. He hangs around flying clubs and helps around. He saves some money. He works 2 jobs saving up for his lessons. Eventually he gets a job as a crop duster but hangs in there for a lifetime. He achieves his dream and becomes a great aviator, or a professional cyclist or a world class entertainer or whatever. Or he might end up protesting outside the governor's house for his failure to protect the Kangaroos. The Australian boy is brave, he has courage and he is happy. Very happy. Such a boy loves his country and his country becomes great because it has great people behind it.

The Singapore boy is no match to the Aussie. The Aussie has what it takes. And he has it because he is not afraid.

It is the living in fear, that makes Singapore a very weak country and incapable of success. In this regard, Lee Kuan Yew has failed Singapore miserably. Instead of applause, he should be held to account. He has destroyed the most valuable asset the country needs, it's people.

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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9 comments:

mycroft said...

When he finally departs the scene of his crime, Lee Kuan Yew will leave behind a legacy of a nation of dependent people too timid to fight for their place in the sun without being explicitly told to from up above. The unspoken fear, that policeman inside, is his gift to the citizens of the Republic of Singapore.

Ironic that his boast of having saved the country from communism has in fact resulted in the very characteristics of that ideology becoming a part of the fabric of society, just as we saw in East Germany under the STASI. East Germans although now freed from the yoke of tyranny are still struggling today to shake off the deep damage done to their psyches by their previous communist rulers. The creativity, innovation and drive that thrives in Germans raised in the West has been crushed in their Eastern cousins. It will take a generation and more to undo the poison.

East Germany had its Checkpoint Charlie. Singapore unfortunately has its Checkpoint Lee. East Germany had West Germany to come to its rescue. Who does Singapore have?

Anonymous said...

Dear Gopalan,

Singaporeans want an easy life. A number of them boost about migrating to Australia, but a lot of them cannot survive in Australia.

Here's why.
If you happen to settle in a more remote city like Perth, you will find that we need to do a lot of DIY (do it yourself) and houses do need TLC (tender loving care)

The extreme weather also caused us not to take things for granted. We do battle the weather, and in the process, it make us stronger.

This country has one of the most expensive labour cost in the world, manual work is rewarded handsomely. The older generation craftmen will build a house with such skills that wow Singaporeans, unlike the foreign unskilled labour in Singapore.

Australia is one country where a housewife of a mesothelioma victim can take a building corporation, James Hardie, to court and succeed. What happened to asbesto victims (working for Humes, etc) in Singapore - a number of them died quietly without workmen compensation. And the Labour Dept in the Singapore govt do play down these cases to avoid publicity.

What hope is left for weaklings. All they do is complain in forums, but how many actually try to better Singapore by putting PAP under the microscope.

Anonymous said...

You know when I fell victim to Singapore fraud and studied there in NTU for four years which I refused to finish(but that is another story), there was one thing that bugged me.

I never ever heard laughter anywhere even in the campus full of young people. The only laughter that I heard was always coming from my fellow Indonesians or some other foreign students.

Young people in my country laugh a lot you can almost guaranteed to hear laughter in the campus' canteen or in the hallways. They are a HAPPY lot.

Renaldi

JohnL said...

Sometimes, i think what you are saying is absurd. For instance, Lee Kuan Yew made our economy a strong one, he gave a small island the opportunity to stretch and extend into the real world. Do YOU EVEN UNDERSTAND what will happen if too many oppositions are interfering with state affairs? This can delay efficiency. There are sometimes where you just keep on criticizing and criticizing with a myopic view. The singapore government does has its faults, but its not entirely all faults. There are merits too.

Anonymous said...

See any parallels?

Mao's Grandson (Major General at 39)

During interviews, General Mao provides reliable paeans to his grandfather, whom he describes as “the spine of the Chinese people,” or simply the Chairman. “Without the guidance of Mao Zedong thought and Marxist theory, our industrialization and modernization could not have been accomplished,” he said in an interview published last month by Southern People Weekly. “China will not produce anyone as great as Mao Zedong within the next one thousand years.”

http://www.nytimes.com/2009/09/25/world/asia/25mao.html?_r=1&hp

Anonymous said...

To JohnL

Quote
Do YOU EVEN UNDERSTAND what will happen if too many oppositions are interfering with state affairs? This can delay efficiency.
....
The singapore government does has its faults, but its not entirely all faults. There are merits too.

---------------
Yes I understand what will happen in the presence of respectable opposition in the government: ACCOUNTABLE & TRANSPARENT GOVERNMENT.

You know talking about efficiency do you know why most factories now use machinery and robots? Because they are much more efficient than man's labors. Without a mind of its own to question any order without conscience just total obedience. Yes these machines and robots are more efficient than man labor BY FAR.
But it's not the point at all. A country is about its people about developing its people MIND, BODY AND SOUL. And what kind of people could progress under fear and lack of freedom? The bottom line is LKY and his family is only concerned about themselves! How to stay in power at the cost of the rest of Singaporeans.

And talking about merits and faults,
Adolf Hitler had his merits and faults too yet people only seem to remember his faults since he lost WWII.

Stalin had his merits and faults too.

Saddam Hussein had his merits as well as faults.

Kim Il Sung and his son Kim Jong Il had and have their merits and their faults too

The only thing that doesn't have merits probably has never lived.

Renaldi

JamesTan said...

I am referring to comments, including JohnL's.

*Is efficiency really good for humankind?

*Does efficient decision making good for everyone?

*What if efficient decision making benefits only 70% of society and the 30% missed out. Is it acceptable for the 30% to be 'sacrificed' because it takes too long/cost too much to take care of them? Who decides to leave them out? When is Sacri-faction suitable?

*What if efficient decision making lead to abuse, eg no environmental consideration, corruption, nepotism and collusion.

The reason why Singapore lack a credible Opposition is to avoid public scrutiny, using EFFICIENCY as a cover.

Anonymous said...

Every Singaporean love to ask me, have I ecountered racism in Brisbane, this is after all anti-Asian Pauline Hanson state.

But do Singaporeans know that they are very racists themselves. Singaporeans have problem accepting themselves, esp the Chinese - and they play this racism card against its minority communities, as well as the foreign workers such as the maids.

But underneath the veneer of racism is something worse ...
Singaporeans are also very petty and nasty to each other. This kind of behaviours only exist in society where the people have limited access to power and freedom.

No difference from the actions of concubines in the Forbidden City or the Rang Mahal.

All their actions calculated to reward themselves a good life under a dictator.

Anonymous said...

This stunt after three Filipinas conquered Mt. Everest.

They can't even something concoct original, for goodness's sakes, Think!