Singapore's fast diminishing prospects.

Update: April 19, 2010

Ladies and Gentlemen,

The answer that Singapore Lee Kuan Yew's son, the Prime Minister of Singapore, whom his father appointed to that position, gave Charlie Rose, the American Talk Show host on April 14, 2010, see http://charlierose.com/view/interview/10963 to the question, “And what's the most important lesson he (Lee Kuan Yew) taught you” is telling of the gloomy future for the island. His answer was “Never say die. Never give up”.

No doubt very good advice from any father to son, but I am afraid, in this case the horse is dead and no amount of flogging will revive him.

Singapore is too late to be saved, and no amount of determination and tenacity from either father or son can help it.

And these are the red-light danger signs that will be the downfall of this Lee Kuan Yew Singapore dictatorship.

Number One Red-light: Lee Kuan Yew has managed to rule the island this long time from 1959 through nothing but force and intimidation.

So far it has worked. Those of my father’s generation who came from India and China had only one thing in their minds; to make a living. They did not care what sort of government it was or how it was run.

They had little education and their ambitions ran as far as being fed, at least most of them. With a population like that who are not demanding by any standards, any English educated lawyer like Lee Kuan Yew could have got away with murder.

It is not the same now. With the Internet and a younger population who are getting more and more emboldened to demand their rights, complimented by the Internet, they are no longer the ones content to have just the basics like their parents. And they are not going to be content with any propaganda thrown at them by the father and son team that run this government.

Number Two Red-light: Children are not being born in sufficient numbers even to replace the dying.

This is a clear sign that Singaporeans have lost faith in this administration and see no advantage in bringing up a family in an island in which they have lost all faith.

Number Three Red-light: Educated Singaporeans departing Singapore for permanent residence overseas has turned into a growing unstoppable flood. With a small population and a small island, such a massive brain drain is simply untenable for government. My friends within Singapore tell me that this flood of departing Singaporeans is spread across all the entire spectrum departments, not simply confined to any one.

The Civil Service is having a difficult time trying to replace the top echelon of public servants who are simply resigning their positions, withdrawing their savings and moving to Australia, Canada and New Zealand.

The same fate is being suffered by the Ministry of Education, the Singapore Police Force, the Singapore Legal Service and every other public sector in the island.

And even more hurting is the composition of those leaving. They are the best and highest educated Singaporeans in the island, the ones the government can least afford to lose. Simply the cream of the crop. The ones capable of thinking unlike those who are only capable of following.

Number Four Red-light: In fact for a country that is not undergoing a military conflict, a famine or a civil war, such a large section of Singaporeans leaving is unprecedented. The reason for this continuing massive brain drain is Lee Kuan Yew himself. For 50 years he has seen it fit to stay in power by abusing the law using corrupt judges to punish his political opponents causing the legal system in Singapore to be thoroughly discredited to the extent that today, no one in Singapore or even the rest of the world has any confidence in its impartiality.

Corruption is carried out by Lee Kuan Yew and his family and friends on a massive scale. First they pay themselves several million dollars a year each officially and call it a salary and secretly steal even more millions in a government with no monetary transparency at all. And with Lee Kuan Yew being able to successfully sue anyone who questions this theft, they continue to steal as much as they want.

It is this sort of abuse of government and mismanagement that drives good honest citizens from their home to seek a life elsewhere.

With Singaporeans in spite of being tax payers, yet realizing that they have no say in how the country is run and in fact run the risk of being sued and sent to jail if they question government authority naturally do not see Singapore as an attractive place to live in. Had they wanted this system, they could as well have gone to Cuba or North Korea.

This massive emigration is irremediably damaging Lee Kuan Yew's government.

Number five Red-light: Those Singaporeans leaving will surely pull other Singaporeans with them abroad. Once Singaporeans who have not had a life of freedom in Singapore see what living free really is, will no doubt persuade other Singaporeans to join them in Australia, New Zealand and Canada, not only continuing but aggravating the vicious cycle of emigration out of Singapore.

Number Six Red-light: Realizing the dangers of massive emigration, Lee Kuan Yew, his son and other ministers have travelled to the capitals of the world of London, New York (very recently), Melbourne and elsewhere putting out free shows, handing out free food and other extravagances at the Singapore taxpayers expense to lure those Singaporeans abroad who had left in disgust at Lee Kuan Yew's excesses to return. But no one is biting. Other than being a mere loss to the tax payer, no one wants to come back.

Number Seven Red-light: Singapore is nothing more than a one man show. Singapore strongman Lee Kuan Yew calls the shots to everything and everybody in Singapore.

It is nothing more than a classic dictatorship. Not his son, not anyone else in the government can replace Lee Kuan Yew.

I had proven this point myself not too long ago when I put out a hoax that Lee Kuan Yew had a massive heart attack and was warded in hospital. Immediately thereafter I had gotten countless enquiries and bloggers were jubilant that the dictator was dead.

I understand the Singapore stock market fell resulting in the Singapore state controlled press putting out a statement immediately thereafter that the stock market had risen and the Prime Minister's office put out a report that Lee Kuan Yew was in London. However there was no corroboration of any sort of Lee Kuan Yew being in London.

Therefore there can be no doubt that there will be massive civil and political unrest in Singapore when the 87 year old Lee Kuan Yew dies. I suspect also a massive drain of funds out of Singapore and the Singapore dollar and its economy collapsing.

Number Eight Red-light: As a remedial measure in desperation to the diminishing population, Lee Kuan Yew has begun to increase the population by indiscriminate large imports of immigrants from Communist China and other neighboring countries.

These human imports will simply not solve the problem of brain drain. Firstly, immigrants from Mandarin speaking Communist China will not help run the administration, commerce and tourism which rely on English, not Chinese Mandarin.

These Chinese imports cannot replace the civil servants that leave, the lawyers that leave, the hotel manager that leaves and the Singapore Airlines ramp foreman that leaves. They can perhaps help as dishwashers in the ubiquitous hawker food stalls or Chinese massage parlous in the Geylang District of the island which is the center for prostitution and vice establishments but they are useless in working in important managerial positions that are being lost at lightning speed.

Malaysian Chinese who are unhappy with their government and who speak English do also form a major sector of the immigrants recently brought into the island but they are not a reliable component of the immigrant pool.

Very often they are the ones who had wanted to go to Australia and the West but because they were not accepted in the countries of their choice, instead accept the Singapore invitation as a second choice.

The Malaysian Chinese being Singapore’s neighbors are of course aware that Lee Kuan Yew is Singapore’s dictator and the island is his dictatorship and they are uncomfortable with having to live without any voice at all. Given the chance for a better life elsewhere, they would be the first to leave.

Number Nine Red-light: Then there are those from countries such as India who are really not aware of what really goes on in the island, being misinformed by Lee Kuan Yew's propaganda abroad that Singapore is a democracy. Once they find out the truth, which they will in about a year if not more, they too will pack up and leave for the West or back home to India.

And as immigrants from India come to Singapore from a free and democratic background as India is, it is impossible to make them submit to any dictator anywhere; no matter how much they get paid for it.

Lee Kuan Yew managed to suppress Singaporeans through 50 years of intimidation and repression. The new immigrants to Singapore from India are not the same sort of submissive sheep that Lee Kuan Yew can even imagine to push around. They too will pack up and leave sooner than later.

Number Ten Red-light: Lee Kuan Yew will never get Australians and Europeans of any sort to come to Singapore and tow the Lee Kuan Yew line in any numbers. That must be quite obvious.

Number Eleven Red-light: Lee Kuan Yew has made certain that he has made a fool not only of himself but of all Singaporeans by repeatedly suing his opponents in his courts using corrupt judges and claiming that to be a victory. He has done the same by his corruption of stealing millions of dollars of state funds and calling it a salary.

Number Twelve Red-light: Lee Kuan Yew by appointing his son as Prime Minister and Ho Ching to run Tumasek has shown the world that Singapore is run by nepotism, not on the basis of merits. It discredits the government in the eyes not only of local Singaporeans but by people all over the world.

These unfortunate actions by him have alienated many European nations and people thereby damaging future business and commerce relations with them. This will continue to hurt the interests of Singapore abroad.

It is good to hear that Lee Kuan Yew has taught his son never to give up, but I am afraid no amount of tenacity and determination of the father or the son can save the island.

The father has made sure that Singapore is doomed to fail. Alas, Singapore will die with the father.

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/

Your letters are welcome. We reserve the right to publish your letters. Please Email your letters to nair.gopalan@yahoo.com And if you like what I write, please tell your friends. You will be helping democracy by distributing this widely. This blog not only gives information, it dispels