Ladies and Gentlemen,
I was aghast to read the story about former British politician and government adviser, Baroness Shriti Vadera, joining one party state Singapore's Tumasek as advisor, Telegraph.co.uk, July 04, 2010, "Baroness Vadera advises Singaporean wealth fund Tumasek".
Surely this is a most unwise decision. The world knows Singapore as a one party state, run by Lee Kuan Yew and his family members who misuse the law for their political ends, routinely sending critics to jail for seemingly normal everyday actions like peaceful protests, controlling the press and in every which way denying democracy to the island to perpetuate their rule.
Lady Vadera, not just for being a prominent British citizen, which alone would demand that she defends her country's honor not to associate with tin pot dictatorships such as this; but particularly so because she was a former British politician and even though no longer one today, her actions internationally has a very real effect of tarnishing the good name of Britain.
Her willingness to work with a country such as Singapore well known as a island not far better than repressive Burma, hurts not only her reputation but also that of her country Britain. For instance if Adolf Hitler was around today, would she be willing to work for him and would that not be a terrible shame on Great Britain.
Lady Vadera should refuse to have anything to do with an island such as this, a one party state run by a tin pot dictator Lee Kuan Yew and his son. She should refuse, even if not for herself, at least for the honor of Great Britain, a country I am very proud of.
Gopalan Nair
39737 Paseo Padre Parkway, Suite A1
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6 comments:
Baroness Shriti Vadera will not last long in Temasek unless she is willing to cover her eyes, ears and mouth with Singapore dollars.
Singapore may have done well to portray itself as a "normal" country, a former British colony. But people like me know better.
Prepare for a Ho Ching Vs Baroness cat-fight.
To Shrieky Shriti,
You fail to see my point. I was not alluding to the possibility of her disagreements with Lee Kuan Yew's daughter in law. She should not have offered to join Tumasek at all, knowing what it is, a tin pot one party dictatorship, to save her's and her country's reputation.
To Shrieky Shriti,
That may well happen but my point was that she should not have associated with Singapore in the first place.
Gopalan,
I get your point. But humans do make mistakes. We do associate with people that we should not have.
Singapore is not as notorious as Zimbabwe or North Korea.
I am sure the good Baroness will learn the hard way that the paternalistic LKY way is just a facade for the complete dictatorship of Singapore. This will not be like her assignment with South Korea (for instance).
I have seen enough disillusioned Brit expats leaving their Singapore jobs!
Hopefully, she will have a good story to tell about Singapore. I hope for this silver lining in her bad decision. It may not be a bad outcome from this unfortunate association.
However, I will be deeply disappointed with the Baroness if my prediction is wrong.
Simon Jenkins of The Sunday Times, July 8, 2007, had this to say of the Baroness:
Cabinet secretary, Gus O'Donnell, flatly refused to allow Brown's closest but most abusive and overbearing aide, Shriti Vadera, architect of rail and Tube privatisation, to cross the threshold of No 10 as policy enforcer. No permanent secretary could stand her, so Brown had to fob her off with junior office and a peerage.
It would appear that Ho Ching and Temasek and the Baroness deserve, and were made for, each other. All Singaporeans have much to fear as they watch their pockets being emptied relentlessly by the privatisation and greed of the island's power generators and transportation providers. These are for-profit MONOPOLY services all, just like the government itself.
Thanks to privatisation, the UK has the most expensive rail fares in Europe under the system whereby private train operators put shareholders' interests ahead of passengers. For example, an annual season ticket to travel from Haywards Heath to London, a distance of about 38 miles, will now set you back an eye-watering £3,068 (US$4,663).
Already bus fares and ERP charges in Singapore are being cynically manipulated to introduce increases by stealth and obfuscation. Bus services are being cut back to drive commuters to the bursting sardine-cans of the privatised SMRT service where a fool can be neatly parted from his money. Unquestionably, Vadera will be charged with the task of recommending new privatisation schemes to fatten the coffers of the Lee regime. Water and Health would seem to be prime candidates so Singaporeans, prepare to dig deep - you're getting precisely what you voted for.
How is Lady Macbeth...sorry,Lady Vadera doing these days? Has she spotted any "green shoots" lately?As for enhancing Temasek's performance...well,i look forward to seeing that.
Adam Smith
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