Ladies and Gentlemen,
Since May of 2008, to say there has been a lot excitement in Gopalan Nair's clashes with Lee Kuan Yew's Singapore, has to be an understatement. And it continues non stop up till now, and there appears no end in sight. And what is even better, is the fact of it all being told to the world in this blog.
Which begs the question, has it been worthwhile for Singapore? I think not. Singapore's determination to continue pursuing me in this manner damages their reputation, if they had any; not mine.
In 2008 they arrested me and sent me to jail for 2 months in Singapore for criticizing judge Belinda Ang Saw Ean where the criticism was justly deserved. My arrest in May of that year, and my refusal to plead guilty which they thought I would, meant the case instead of being just a day, dragged on for 4 full months, which meant the international community being clearly shown the extent of the abuse of the law. Singapore's reputation suffered very badly as a result.
Had they just arrested me and packed me off at the airport, the damage to them would not have been so bad. Similarly if they had had just ignored me as if nothing happened, noone would have known. But no, they were determined to have me punished. But it turned out in the end, very little punishment for Gopalan Nair, much worse for Lee Kuan Yew's Singapore. It appears they completely misjudged me. What did they think I was, another of those Lee Kuan Yew's digits who would freeze with fear merely at the name Lee Kuan Yew?
Immediately after I returned to the US, as I had planned, I withdrew all apologies given to their judges and repeated what I thought of them; simply a bunch of thugs. Instead of just accepting the fact that there is nothing they could do, since I am in the US, they put my picture in their state controlled press and accused me of all sorts of wrongdoing, which by the way allowed me to counter their accusations with my blog, word for word. In the end anyone reading what they say and what I say can only come to one conclusion, that Singapore is a repressive society that uses the law to silence and punish those who criticize. Here again, they lose, I win.
And then I write a false blog to test the reaction of what would happen if Lee Kuan Yew, the man who owns Singapore and everyone in it, dies. True enough the island was shaken, stock market falling and people worrying whether to leave the island with their belongings.
Again out came the condemnation from their state controlled press, and numerous state controlled blogs accusing me of dishonesty. Well any independent reader with an independent mind cannot possibly see any harm in my action. It is what we call freedom of speech. In the end, the result was the same as expected. They did themselves in.
And then the disciplinary proceedings to have me disbarred in their legal system. In doing this they deliberately use their cunning and subterfuge with all sorts of sharp practices designed to deny me any opportunity of defending myself.
This they do by such silly childishness like, not giving me sufficient notice, not allowing me to enter Singapore, not providing my court transcripts and similar unsavoury practices. What does that show to an independent reader; nothing but a government afraid to face the world or face me in a fair tribunal.
By exposing their tomfoolery in this blog, the world can judge for themselves what nefarious activity goes on in that island. Again their loss, not mine.
Very soon, Singapore would publish their forgone conclusion; my disbarment in Singapore. And with it, whether they like it or not, they will have to provide reasons, which, by the way, will give me another cherished opportunity to tear it to shreds and once more expose the depths to which they descend.
It seems, they have no intention of stopping these dirty tricks. And let me tell them if they did not know, that Singapore Dissident is not prepared to accept it quietly either.
As I heard Amrytha Sen, the Nobel Laureate once say in Santa Clara, California, where he spoke, "if they want trouble, I am quite prepared for it". Trouble, you see, is not necessarily a bad thing always.
I will continue writing on the developments on my disbarment case. When that is over, these pages will continue exposing the shameful truth that lurks behind the glittering walls of the Singapore skyscrapers that skirt the shoreline; poverty, fear, repression and abuse of the law.
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
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11 comments:
Keep it up Gopal. Good work and well done. PAP is nothing but a paper tiger.
Dear Gopalan,
These words will be difficult for the average Singapore to understand whichout them trying to defend their god-Lee.
With cheap and obedient servants busy slaving away at your case, no wonder the government has no time & resources to catch Dr Silviu.
Looks like Harry Lee need to recruit even more foreigners to run Singapore. The natives can sit around and chew grass like horses.
The grim track record of Lee and his PAP (or FAP, for Foreigner's Action Party, as it's increasingly called nowadays in cyberspace) became a matter of public record with the release of the top-secret 1950-60 documents held by the British Government, now declassified. It put flesh on the bones of something everyone long suspected but could never quite prove - that Singapore has always been in the grip of a soft-focus communist-style system of governance in all but name, a one-party state whose merry gerrymandering incumbent will brook no regime change except by force.
The Little Red Dot isn't short of company as it hops into bed with its ASEAN brothers-in-repression, namely Laos, Cambodia, Vietnam, Burma, and of course there's Big Mama herself, China. Singaporeans enjoy the same sort of brutality and abuse of citizen's rights but under a cloak of mealy-mouthed protestations of 'we are a democratic nation', ' we have free and fair elections', and that hilarious showpiece Lee Kuan Yew fable - 'we have the rule of law'. Of course if citizens don't like Lee's version of paradise on earth they are entirely free to surrender their birthright and ...."get out of my elite face".
For a political party with as dark a history of intolerance as the PAP has, the blatant abuse of due process which you're documenting with such glee (good for you) seems almost akin to a reflex action they are no longer in control of and cannot prevent. Sort of like Pavlovian dogs salivating on cue. Strange that the nation is (allegedly) run by the finest brains money can buy but they seem helpless before the hubris and vindictiveness of one very old man.
Can you believe a first world nation (!) actually coming up with something as comical as, "We're charging you with an offence serious enough to cause you to lose your means of livelihood. You have 10 days to drop everything you're doing in your adopted homeland, absorb the data in thousands of pages of evidence we've sent you just this minute, then fly clear across the world to defend yourself before our Disciplinary Tribunal, at your own expense. However, take note that if you actually dare set foot in our country to do so, you will be immediately arrested and jailed as you are barred from entry! Oh and by the way, did we happen to mention that we don't entertain postponements?"!!! Hahaha, really, you'd be hard pressed to make this sort of farce up.
I can't believe that the Singapore authorities aren't squirming with rage and embarrassment at being held up to such ridicule internationally. SE Asia's legal hub? On this evidence you'd have to be joking.
Friday 30 April 2010
The long-running saga against Gopalan, from his arrest in Serangoon Singapore to the final nail in his disbarment, is coming to a close.
This will be archived as another skeleton in the Lee closet.
Meanwhile, we will certainly see another freak election result in Singapore where Singaporeans will vote for more self-inflicted suffering and continue bondage under PAP.
It is horrifying how Lee Kuan Yew is able to con the entire nation to think that the Opposition members are freaks. The official media certainly made Dr Chee out to be a freak and probably railroad the softie moderate Opposition into the PAP camp.
So what if police are watching anti-PAP flyers distribution. There is still the internet such as this blog that will help dig out Lee skeletons and uncover the real freaks running in the coming election campaign in Singapore.
In other news... LKY is featured in TIME magazine's top 100, under the category of "Thinkers".
Seems that the writing has been done in such as way so as to not make any indications towards the evolution of human rights on Singapore, but only on the economic sections.
I wonder why?
No bling, no buzz in Singapore
By Muhammad Cohen May 1, 2010
SINGAPORE - On announcing the controversial decision to build two huge new casinos just over five years ago, Prime Minister
Lee Hsien Loong said, "We seek to be a global city, attracting talent from around the world, lively, vibrant, and fun to live and work in. We want Singapore to have the X-factor - that buzz that you get in London, Paris or New York."
On Tuesday, the US$5.5 billion Marina Bay Sands (MBS), the costliest casino resort ever built, debuted on the edge of Singapore's financial center and has already become a Lion City icon. Designed by renowned architect Moshe Safdie, the three tapering hotel towers are connected 57 stories overhead by a 1.2 hectare SkyPark which is curved at the front like a ship's prow. MBS was developed by Las Vegas Sands (LVS), the US casino giant that, through its Sands China subsidiary, also owns the Venetian Macao and Sands Macao.
The MBS complex includes 2,560 hotel rooms, a 121,000 square meter convention center that can accommodate 45,000 delegates, a resident production of The Lion King, a lotus shaped museum, and a 74,400 square meter shopping center that blows away Singapore rivals in terms of offerings and its bright, airy design. And there's also a 15,000 square meter casino whose main gaming floor may be the most elegant on earth.
http://www.atimes.com/atimes/Southeast_Asia/LE01Ae01.html
I quote "shameful truth that lurks behind the glittering walls of the Singapore skyscrapers that skirt the shoreline; poverty, fear, repression and abuse of the law."
Your statements here are very far-fetched. I think that in your quest to clear your name, but have gone a tad too 'off track', Mr. Nair.
Excellent piece on the next Singapore General Election
http://singaporemind.blogspot.com/2010/04/what-next-general-election-is-about.html
Hi Gopalan,
Another good article
http://theonlinecitizen.com/2010/04/no-lack-of-sophistry-from-the-government-concerning-the-homeless/
No lack of sophistry from the government concerning the homeless
Posted by Ng E-Jay on April 29, 2010
It appears that there is absolutely no lack of sophistry and intellectual dishonesty on the part of the PAP government concerning the homeless in Singapore.
It is widely noted that every nation has its share of homeless folk. But our government leaders, who insist on paying themselves multi-million dollar salaries independent of the wishes of the electorate, have thus far taken a reactive, rather than proactive approach in dealing with the situation.
Worse still, the government has engaged in repeated acts of chicanery and sophistry with regards to the homeless.
It is therefore the height of ludicrousness that Dr Vivian Balakrishnan, Minister for Community Development, Youth and Sports, has recently slammed alternative media channels for selective reporting of the facts, when in reality it is the government’s abhorrent track record in addressing the social problems associated with the homeless in Singapore that should be put under intense scrutiny.
Is this a government that truly cares, or is this a government that merely wishes to save face and put up a show when the spotlight has been placed on it? My answer is unequivocally the latter.
The PAP government’s track record of taking a reactive rather than proactive approach regarding the homeless in Singapore
The PAP government has thus far taken a backseat, reactive approach to dealing with the homeless situation, as opposed to a proactive approach. It is both unfathomable and unconscionable, coming from a government that prides itself on being world-class.
Take for example the group of around 15 families who camped out in Sembawang Park for many months until January this year. No government department did anything to help them find appropriate shelter until The Online Citizen ran an article on them. (See here and here.)
A few days after the TOC article was run, officers from the Ministry of Community Development, Youth and Sports (MCYS) and NParks, together with some 10 policemen, evicted the campers from Sembawang Park, citing that they had broken “rules and regulations”, even though most of them still had valid camping permits. Dr Vivian Balakrishnan had himself visited the camping site earlier.
Two of the families were then escorted to Angsana Home, located at Buangkok Green, next to the Institute of Mental Health. The home is part of Pelangi Village, a purpose-built Social Welfare Complex that houses the elderly, destitute, and ex-drug addicts.
However, at the new facility, the families were not provided adequate food. A woman later lost her job because she was not permitted to leave the facility to go to work.
The homeless families were eventually relocated to Block 29 of Havelock Road, an HDB flat earmarked for demolition 7 years ago under the Selective En block Redevelopment Scheme (SERS). In the interim period, this block could have been used to provide shelter to homeless folk but had been used instead to generate income for the government by renting out to foreign students. (See here.)
read more ....
Survey finds that workers in Singapore put in longest hours
Tuesday, January 12, 2010
By Dickson Li, The Straits Times/Asia News Network
Singapore's workers continue to lead the pack when it comes to the number of hours they put in at work, according to a report by the International Labor Organization (ILO). The report puts them at the top of 13 economies in the group's Global Wages Report for 2008-09, surpassing even the notoriously hardworking Japanese and Taiwanese.
The report showed data for 2007 and compared it with that of 2008 and the first quarter of last year, when the global recession was at its worst. The ILO report did not specify the exact numbers but a check with the Ministry of Manpower (MOM) put working hours here at 45.9 hours a week for 2008 and the first quarter of last year. In 2007, the figure was 46.3 hours.
Under the Employment Act, the limit on working hours is 44 hours a week or eight hours a day. Beyond this, workers are entitled to 1.5 times their hourly rate of pay. The working hours do not include a tea break or lunchtime. This applies only to workmen earning less than S$4,500 (US$3,239), or other employees drawing less than S$2,000 a month.
The MOM said workers here did an average of about three hours of overtime a week in the beginning of last year. This increased progressively to 3.6 hours towards the end of September, as the economy began to pick up.
Dhirendra Shantilal, senior vice-president for the Asia-Pacific at Kelly Services, a human resource firm, attributes the long hours to Singapore's financial hub status.
"Many international organizations here are working beyond their official office hours and operate at different time zones ... Employees will clock in longer hours as they work with their business partners across the regions," he said.
Annabel Ang, senior consultant at recruitment firm Robert Walters, put it down to more traveling for business.
"Individuals have to spend longer hours in the office to catch up on their work upon returning from these business trips," she suggested.
Despite Singapore's higher figure, the downturn might have forced companies further afield to trim working hours.
Average working hours among the 13 economies surveyed dropped from 39 in 2007 to 38.2 hours a week in 2008 and the first quarter of last year, said the ILO. But it has not dampened the work ethic here.
A study by Kelly Services found that more than three in four Singapore workers surveyed in December 2008 take pride in their work, which raises their self-confidence both in and out of the workplace.
In other cultures, however, Ang said, there tends to be "more emphasis on elements of success in one's personal life, and perhaps an increasing focus on having more work-life balance."
Going by the ILO figures, the Taiwanese worker seems to have been hit hardest by the downturn. Their average working hours a week dropped below 40.
Some employees in Singapore admit that working longer or keeping up the appearance of being busy in these bad times is important to them given that bosses may be looking to cut head count.
"If you don't want to be made redundant, you should not look redundant," said a banking executive who wanted to be identified only as Lee. She officially finishes work at 6 p.m., but usually stays on 30 minutes to an hour longer.
Others, however, have become more occupied because of the downturn.
Legal executive Jerry Koh, who works for an international law firm, had to put in more hours after his colleagues were laid off in 2008. "I handled files that they would have handled. I think this held me back pretty late," he said.
Copyright © 1999 – 2010 The China Post.
http://www.chinapost.com.tw/business/asia/singapore/2010/01/12/240437/Survey-finds.htm
So the boastful govt said that we have no beggers, no homeless people, no poor people, no jobless people, nobody left behind are not true? And yet our citizens still believe what our govt said? So our citizens are responsible for what we are now today?
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