Sunday, October 4, 2009

Singapore's periodical reports of grandeur in their State controlled press.

Ladies and Gentlemen,

Is it time for reckoning? Let's look at all the grandiose plans of Lee Kuan Yew, son and their side kicks.

Recently K Shanmugam, Lee Kuan Yew's handpicked Law Minister had hoped for it to be a world class legal hub, as are London and New York. To accommodate it, they had built world class offices and courtrooms to rival the most modern in the world. But with the International Bar Association recently calling Singapore's legal system a third class corruption riddled system, all the hopes of K Shanmugam appear dashed.

Also on the same topic, in order to alleviate the extreme shortage of lawyers, he was reported to have come up with various novel ideas, one of which was to shorten the training period of foreign lawyers to practice in Singapore. Apart from the fact that it was hardly novel, being nothing more than allowing under qualified lawyers in, can we ask him if any lawyers have come and if so, how many? Knowing how Singapore's state controlled newspapers would splash headlines of any news that was even remotely positive, not having read anything recently in it, confirms my belief that no one has come.

So much for K Shanmugam, Lee Kuan Yew's handpicked Minister of Law and his visions of grandeur for the Singapore legal profession. Could we also ask him how many lawyers actually practice in the island of his with 5 million people now? 3,000?

Then we have heard the government asking Singaporeans to have more babies, as the reproduction rate is below replacement level meaning, without the huge influx of non English speaking foreigners from the Communist People's Republic of China, Singapore's population would have declined and there would be no one left! So Lee Kuan Yew, has the reproduction rate increased? Has the generous tax incentives for children helped? I guess not.

And then there was the language problem with Singaporeans speaking an unintelligible form of language called Singlish, a cross between Hokkien Chinese and English. Very painful to the ear for anyone from elsewhere. Lee Kuan Yew held one of his various periodical campaigns to correct the problem, this time "Speak Good English". Do they now speak any English? Or is it still horrible sounding Singlish?

And then the problem with people not getting married with Iswaran and Vivian, Lee Kuan Yew's million dollar ministers standing at train stations matchmaking, or attempting to match make I don't know which. Well are they getting married? I guess not.

And then you had the emigration problem with 2 out of 3 overseas Singapore students not returning and families emigrating enmasse to Australia and Canada. Well has the exodus stopped and are they all coming back? Once again, I guess not.

And then you had the troublemaker Gopalan Nair coming to Singapore and criticizing his (Lee Kuan Yew's) judge Belinda Ang Saw Ean for "prostituting herself as a judge into becoming nothing more than an employee of Lee Kuan Yew and son, in court". Well, he was put in jail in the hope that he will stop criticizing. But has he? It appears not.

And now Lee Kuan Yew has threatened to commence a "2 man tribunal" (odd choice of words indeed) to discipline him and to disbar him. Well, I suppose it was hoped that he would go away quietly. But no, he refuses to roll over.

But we must admit success when we see it. Lee Kuan Yew has successfully managed to attract hundreds and thousands of Chinese non-English speakers to replace the lost Singaporeans. Well, success indeed. If in fact you are trying to transform Singapore into Hubei. Sorry for the Ramasamys of Serangoon Road and Ahamd Dauds of Lorong 2 Geylang Serai. As for them, they can just disappear. Here comes the new Chinese city with the new Mandarin speakers.

With the Tamil, K Shanmugam, Lee Kuan Yew's student, the Minister for Law running the Singapore law ministry. What an island!

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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6 comments:

Anonymous said...

Singapore herself will become an obstacle for advancement and progression. The mindset of the people and particularly government has to change. If this is achieved then only should they embark on making Singapore a hub for something.

The only difference between Singapore and countries under dictatorships is that; we are given a so called "CHANCE" to vote, and to some extent,the election is rigged.

Now you know why Singapore and China are good allies. We seem to have many things in common with them.

Leave Singapore while you can, don't waste time. Time is precious.

Anonymous said...

Very well written and clearly expressed ideas.
Your commetary is as usual an eye opener.
Keep it up.

JamesTan said...

SingHUBpore have Great ideas hub! from a Great Leader hub! to the Talented leaders hub! everyone agree that so long as the idea has a hub! It will rock! hub! hub! hub!
Examples....
Superb Hub @ Bugis City
Archipelago Craft Beer Hub
Conversion Hub
Singapore Children's Society (Student Service Hub)
Interactive Hub
AMK Hub
Singapore Education Hub
Sacred Space Holistic Hub
The Singapore Sports Hub /Malay: Hub Sukan Singapura
Changi Motorsports Hub,
Singapore's plans for a new hub called Singapore LINK
Singapore a Global Hub in Oil and Gas Equipment
Singapore Urban Hub
Singapore IT hub
Integrated Cultural, Retail and Entertainment Hub
Talentpreneur Hub
Crucial” Logistics Hub
Healthcare Hub of Asia
Festival Hub @ Suntec
Singapore Urban Hub
ECOsphere - Singapore's First Socially Responsible Youth Enterprise Hub
Singapore: A hub for everything connected with oil
drive service hub
Singapore Marine Hub
Life-Sciences Hub
Singapore as a world-class RFID hub
Fusionopolis, its second major R&D hub ...
Legal Hub
BioMedical Hub
... and more ...
not forgetting, a global think tank hub but according to a survey by Foreign Policy magazine. Kuala Lumpur, Sydney and Tokyo are the regional think tank hubs of Asia, not Singapore. hub!

http://journalism.sg/2009/02/15/international-survey-says-singapores-not-yet-a-think-tank-hub/

hub! hub!
You get the idea. Excuse my hicHUB!cup

Anonymous said...

Singapore Court Rules Against Magazine


The appeals-court panel on Wednesday agreed with a ruling last year that a 2006 Far Eastern Economic Review story improperly tied Prime Minister Lee Hsien Loong and his father, the former prime minister, to corruption. The court also found the Review improperly suggested the Lees used libel lawsuits to cover up misdeeds.

http://online.wsj.com/article/SB10001424052748704252004574459592648733438.html?mod=googlenews_wsj#articleTabs%3Darticle

Anonymous said...

I enjoyed reading this very much. The one thing that has been mentioned a lot in recent postings by socio-political sites is the coming election. That many factors will play their parts. The in flux of foreigners, the cost of housing etc. Yet the one factor that has been mentioned very often is that the old man will soon be meeting his maker. It is somewhat ironical that people keep saying it. Almost not wanting to wait enough for it. Wonder hoe he would be feeling if he were to be reading these sites. "Damn this people can't wait for me to die. I thought I am or was a great leader and yet these people can't wait for me to go!"

That in itself speaks volumes of his 'legacy'. I know, for sure, the dynamics of this country will definitely change once he is gone, but he will not be remembered as a truly great leader. Will he feel missed? I don't think so. He is NOT in the caliber of Mahatma Gandhi or M.L King. Or any other truly great leaders of the free world whom we all wish were still around.

Anonymous said...

yeap... i'm so totally sick of hearing the word "hub" in singapore. oh. and the supreme court threw out FEER's appeal against the verdict for the defamation suit. not that it's any surprise