Ladies and Gentlemen,
Politically things appear to be moving fast in Singapore. Yesterday, Singapore dictator Lee Kuan Yew's wife died. The Singapore Democratic Party chief Dr. Chee Soon Juan sent a one liner message of condolence to Lee Kuan Yew, in his Singapore Democrat blog, which is not surprising since he and presumably his deceased wife in the background have been his principal tormentors for decades. Had it been myself, I would not have sent any condolence, but then after all I am not Dr. Chee. It is like a Jew who has been tortured by Hitler sending condolences to him on his wife's death!
Apart form this, we had only a few days ago seen a picture of Lee Kuan Yew, age 88, presently resident of General Hospital Singapore undergoing chest infection treatment. Given that only a few days earlier the old man had a fall in Europe and was administered physiotherapy, it is any one's guess how long the incumbent will remain in this world. Looking at his picture in the state controlled press a few days ago, which did not appear promising, it appeared to me more likely that he had already left this world entirely! A walking corpse you may say. But I must confess, he did appear to be standing.
And that is why, since it is any body's guess whether it is today or tomorrow that Lee Kuan Yew himself is going to kick the bucket, regardless of whether or not anyone takes the trouble to put a bucket in his way, the best thing his son who is the Prime Minister can do now is to step down and hand over the premiership to someone else, who is stupid enough to take it under the present circumstances.
Why I say this should be obvious to anyone who knows Singapore. The island will not outlast the man. Lee Kuan Yew had made sure that every single person surrounding him is a mere lackey, a minion, picked out of thin air and given positions of authority. Such men only take their power vicariously through the support of Lee Kuan Yew. Upon Lee Kuan Yew's demise, they are nothing. Teo Chee Hean is nothing. Mah Bow Tan is nothing. George Yeo is nothing. And especially K Shanmugam is nothing. They are merely obedient dogs wagging their tails because their master has been good to them, that's all.
And as for the son himself, he too knows that he is nothing without his father. His father made him the Prime Minister. Had he any other father, he would probably be working as an Executive at Hong Kong Bank in downtown Battery Road, Singapore. And he too knows that Singaporeans are not prepared to prostrate themselves tomorrow at his feet once his father is gone.
And the ground in Singapore for them is not favourable either. By and large Singaporeans today are outraged by what is happening; massive immigration, massive emigration, no child birth, a mounting brain drain, foreigners taking good jobs from Singaporeans and suppressing wages and so on ad infinitum.
And the Internet is not helping other. Today other than myself, Singaporeans openly criticize the father and son but the government appears helpless to do anything. In the past, we would not have the courage to say even a tenth of what is being said now, as arrests and defamation actions were swift and certain. Today Dr. Chee Soon Juan criticizes Lee Kuan Yew and the PAP with impunity daily in his blog, yesterday Vincent Cheng, Lee Kuan Yew's victim who was wrongly arrested and tortured as a Marxist, spoke publicly against it at Hong Lim Park and condemned his arrest, but remains unmolested.
The signs are clear. With the Internet and the multiplying voices of dissent across the board, the ground is hostile and Lee's son should know this. Upon Lee Kuan Yew's death, I am sure there is going to be civil unrest and disorder. During Lee Kuan Yew's time he would have responded with martial law, curfews and arresting scores of people. The question is whether Lee Kuan Yew's son is going to resort to such violence and more importantly whether he is in fact capable of such action.
I don't think so. I don't think anyone of his friends are capable of that either. And in the remote event that he did in fact do it, the result will be an exodus of the century, with almost everyone from Singapore leaving especially the foreigners upon whom Singapore has become so reliant.
In fact it will be the end for them and for Singapore. That is why I advice Lee Kuan Yew's son to step down now and hand the office over to someone else, provided someone else will even take it. Then, if there is going to be large scale disorder, he can quietly try to slip out of the country, taking his money with him.
I think USA might give him protection, like they gave it to the late Ferdinand Marcos, the dictator of Philippines. The US has a history of protecting their supporters except when it is politically difficult as with the case of the overthrown Shah of Iran who died in Egypt. In his case they perhaps they did not want to anger Israel by accepting him. Lee Kuan Yew's son should face no such difficulty.
Unless of course he wants to be another General Gordon (Chinese Gordon), metaphorically speaking, who was beheaded by the Mahdi in Omdurman, January 26,1885.
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 government propaganda put out by this dictatorial regime.
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29 comments:
If LHL goes into exile in the US, he will no longer have the protection of Singapore's courts.
He knows that.
The only place he will be safe will be in the PRC.
Two way immigration - we in Singapore take PRC's peasants, and in return, you provide a home for the little boy, who without his mummy and daddy is nothing.
To Anonymous,
In USA, Lee's son does not need the protection of the Singapore courts anyway. And as for the multitudinous PRC migrants in Singapore, it was my impression that Singaporeans have had enough of them.
Frankly I did not understand your point but posted it anyway.
I think Anon is trying to say that the fat cats who flee to democratic countries which enforce the rule of law become vulnerable without the protective arm of the kangaroo courts of Singapore about their shoulders. They will be obliged to defend lawsuits in open court and this time there won't be any summary judgements rendered in cosy backrooms with a pliant judge. The Marcos family has been hounded for decades in the US with suit after suit alleging corrupt activity and demanding the return of assets.
Only totalitarian states with a dictator in charge would be safe for awhile and that narrows the field of choice down considerably to China, Cambodia, Burma, Zimbabwe and the like. That is probably why you may rest assured that they will defend their ill-gotten gains to the bitter end. For LKY & Son the prospect of losing office is the kind of nightmare that doesn't bear thinking about.
To Mycroft,
From what you say, father and son are what we would say, between a rock and a hard place. Not a pleasant one.
To Mycroft,
And neither was Chinese Gordon at Omdurman Jan 25, 1885, figuratively speaking of course, when his head was gone.
I think the huge sums of money accumulated by her husband and offspring at the expense of the people is 'tribute' enough.
The Shah of Iran was a stalwart ally of Israel and ruled/oppressed a country that was the one of the few in the Middle East with an Israeli embassy in its lands. Even if you want to make spurious parallels, at least get your facts right.
-robs
To Robs,
Correction. If my memory serves me right, the reasion why US did not accept the Shah was becasue the Islamic revolutionaries had taken American hostages and their lives would be at risk if Shah was given refuge in US. This was the reason given in Kinzer's book "All the Shah's Men".
No offense, i respect your depth of thoughts and your ability to think critically.
However, i feel that your lack of sympathy towards lee's family due to kwa geok choo's death is appalling and very disappointing.
It is without doubt that over the years, lee had taken some very drastic actions to take down his political rivals and sometimes it is right to criticise such actions. However, i believe in times like this we ought to show some sympathy to Lee,just like how we will to an old man who had just lost his wife. After all,they are no adolf hitlers and in fact, far from him.
From a bird's eye view, your no-mercy approach of rejoicing over Kwa's death can be likened to Lky's no mercy approach in dealing with his detractors. In a way and ironically, you and lky are similar isnt it?
My point is that people should learn to forgive. This will definitely make singapore a better place to live in.
With sincerity,
your average toa payoh Singaporean.
we know that lky and his DOG ministers are extremely greedy and are suppressing political dissidents cruely and ruthlessly.In fact,my grandparents are one of them. But look, singapore had progressed better than our neighbouring countries such as malaysia and indonesia where racial discrimination happens frequently.We had clean water to drink and our country is cleaner and modern compared to theirs. I do hate lky and the PAP absolutely because of his atrocious and merciless actions against political dissidents but does it mean that he had not done his job in improving singapore?
To anti PAP,
I am sorry but you appear to be someone who is only concerned with material gain, but even for this, your ideas are false.
If this is the way you think, you would be very happy in Hitler's Germany. He too provided clean water and there was absolute calm and peace. The only violent person was Hitler himself.
I am sorry but I would much prefer a life in Malaysia or the neighbouring countries that you mention. At least there I could be a human being, not a robot.
As as for your idea of prosperity in Singapore, it appears that you are a foreigner and do not know Singapore. Ask any Singaporean who lives in the one room flat in Toa Payoh whether they are any better off from their Malaysian neighbours. And while Lee Kuan Yew and his family take several millions dollars as salary!
You have a lot to learn about humanity and Singapore.
To Anonymous Oct 05, 1229,
I do not know what you are referring to when you say my "no mercy" approach and such references. I have only mentioned the facts, regardless of whether Lee Kuan Yew is an old man.
The documented facts are that his dead wife was a collaborator with him in all the atrocities cruelties and hardship meted out to innocent Singpaoreans throughtout Signapore's history. If that information is correct, then this dead is as evil as evil can be. And I am not preared to call her Florence Nightingale or Mother Theresa merely becasue she is dead.
And Singaporeans should know that and condemn where condemnation is due. On the other hand, if all the literature so far on Singapore which specifically points a finger at her as the principal collaborator of evil is wrong, then I am preapred to withdraw my words and eat them. But until then, what I have said in this blog stands and is a testiment to history.
To Anonymous Oct 05, 1229,
You have nothing better to sympathize?
Now let me give you an example to sympathize with.
http://www.straitstimes.com/BreakingNews/Singapore/Story/STIStory_586778.html
TAN Tock Seng Hospital is seeking a court order to remove a bedridden, comatose patient who has been in its care for over three years.
It is also asking his family to pay the medical bill - of at least $330,000 - run up since the patient was admitted in May 2007.
gopalan nair appears to me as someone who is very sore about not having a place in singapore. renounced his citizenship in singapore and took up being an american citizen. i've never ever seen anyone who is a citizen of another country but yet being so involved about what is happening in singapore. Or rather, you have blind yourself to see only the bad sight but failed to neglect the good.
you don't really see the fact that singapore is that small and therefore people have to live in HDB flats? and come on, even condominiums these days are getting smaller in size. HDB are affordable enough for people to stay and it is not a fair statement to compare the general HDB's to circuit road and pipit road. Why not try comparing it to Duxton? compare it to marine parade? The interior of the house is managed by the people staying inside and not the government. so, it really is up to the people to tidy up the place.
Just bear in mind that no matter what is in place or what happens, there are always two sides of the coins. It depends where you want to focus on.
It is no secret that any country in the world, no matter big or small, first world or 3rd world, is prone to corruption. what matters most is the extent to which it goes to.
To even suggest that alot of things are being covered up in one of the most transparent country is absoulutely rubbish.
The constitution of singapore can be found easily just by googling it and therefore, is absurb to even suggest the MM LKY is trying to hide it.
What is more disturbing then what has already happened, eg: operation coldstore or whatever "cover ups" that you may think of is that you, yes you!! that you are trying to bring dissent to us.
I am a singaporean and i agree that there are many things which i don't like about. but as i said, there are always two sides of the coin. A country can never be a "free" country because if that happens, the peace would be disrupted!
Singapore is just nice where is not like N.korea where its ruled with an iron fist, nor is it like US where people have too much freedom.
i feel sorry for whatever that have happened to you. but you can only be blamed for not seeing the other side of the coin.
pls for your sake, instead of spending so much of your time commenting on Singapore's inadequate, you make full use of your ability to focus on what you can do for your country. It really is far from perfect.
or alternatively, if you would like to improve things in singapore(since i can tell you still love it) ranting on your blog doesnt help at all.
if your point is to let singaporeans turn agst the government, i think you may have failed badly.
We have education which is heavily subsidised, we get subsidized medical bills, our government save for us rather then let the banks give eat up our money through inflation. HDBs are generally much cheaper than pte housing.
yeah argue that 500K for a HDB can get you a house elsewhere. comeon, we are an island. land price appreaciates much faster!! simple economics due to supply and demand!! besides, 500k is overated. we get 90% loan, 10% can be from cpf. we effectively pay 10K in cash for a house and its installment is being covered by CPF contribution.
Our reserves are adequate and our debt ratio is a minority of our GDP. if i'm not wrong, your country's debt ratio as compared to GDP is much higher.
So you think you can do a better job then our goverment? prove it in your country 1st.
GN, were you tortured when in prison in Singapore?
As a US citizen, you can seek redress in US courts and sue the little boy, LHL.
Please, please say that you were tortured in Singapore.
For all those asking for compassion for Empress LKY, where were you when her husband jailed people with trial.
Of course, LKY put food on the table and gave you clean water. What else do you care about!
I have come to the conclusion that you *uckers deserve LKY and the problems that his ilk are inflicting on future generations of Singaporeans.
GN,
Show Mrs. Despot the same sympathy Mr. Despot showered on his real and perceived opponents.
Don't listen to the Confucian department store dummies, and fall for their pleas for sympathy.
They suck!
To Anonymous of Oct 15, 1109,
Obvioulsy you are talking about some other place, not Singapore. In any case, even if what you say is true, what good is it to live under a dictatorship. I think most of the readers of this blog prefer to live in democracies under the rule of law, not rule of Lee Kuan Yew.
Either you are a fascist defending fascism, or you are ignorant of any form of political system. I think the former.
My above comment should read Oct 05, 1109. Thanks
To anon Tue Oct 05, 11:09:00 AM PDT
"i've never ever seen anyone who is a citizen of another country but yet being so involved about what is happening in .."
Wrong! There are several ex-PRC folks who have become US citizens but still continue the fight against the murderous communists in China.
Anon
"A country can never be a "free" country because if that happens, the peace would be disrupted! "
This guy has really been brainwashed.
" nor is it like US where people have too much freedom. "
Then why are so many Chinese willing to pay "snakes" to get smuggled to the USA in shipping containers.
(The 1st episode of the new Hawaii 5-0 shows illegal Chinese immigrants being held in a shipping container with toilets, etc.)
This is from the comments section of the Temasek Review
----
KJ:
October 5, 2010 at 6:09 pm
Please spare the deceased a break. Don’t discuss negative topic on her.
All Gods of all kind encourage that.
----
Explains why Singapore needs FTs. This product of LKY's system can barely write.
Anonymous Tue Oct 05, 11:09:00 AM PDT:
So how much money did your masters pay you for writing this?
as i said, there are faces on a coin. You choose to look at it in your way. i suppose that this blog of yours are filled with your supporters. since thats the case, pls insists on me being brainwashed while you just look at one side of the coin.
A country can never be a "free" country because if that happens, the peace would be disrupted! "
This guy has really been brainwashed. -----> so if its a free country, people will have their right to do whatever they want and not subjected to any governence of law. rape? robbery?
cursing and swearing?
" nor is it like US where people have too much freedom. "
Then why are so many Chinese willing to pay "snakes" to get smuggled to the USA in shipping containers. ----> different standard of living , getting paid more etc.... same reason as why do N.koreans going to china.
just look at the good being done and stop focusing on the bad. we are looking at things from a national perspective and not your own thinking and wishes. if its a truly democratic country, every single decision that the government make is subjected to voting. Do the general public have enough knowledge to make a decision that is in the best interest of the country? will they not be influence by any decision?
every country has its "conspiracy" singapore has only been around for that long. give it more time ahead, things will be improved. What about the assasination of Kennedy? it took US so long to finally get it "right" and even so, still many big hoo haas.
alot of crazy animals here..
how is it like living in norcal nair? especially when you are living in the ghettos. i am thankful you are now in the US so we dont have one less animal to deal with -phew-
that being said, we still have many of your wild animal friends who follow your blog so closely. urgghh why do we have so many dumb ass bitches in singapore!! cant you all just leave and go to seek asylum somewhere like nair. follow your master nair please!
this blog is a zoo!
Nair tell me which political system is the best for u?
I am a political science and history undergraduate at Columbia University. Please do enlighten me, perhaps I could write my thesis based on your stupid assertion :)
And all of you animals who concur with nair, go seek asylum somewhere else like he did. no one wants u in singapore because you animals are so counter productive.
Wed Oct 06, 12:30:00 AM PDT
"I am a political science and history undergraduate at Columbia University."
You poor thing! Your scholarship from the Emperor means that you will have to go back and serve him, while all your classmates can get exciting, and high paying jobs ($ is a key measure of success for you ?) in the US.
And, once you are back in Singapore, you are going to be a 2nd class citizen to the FTs.
Assuming you are a male, you are already two years+ older than your classmates, who will graduate when they are 22. Sucker!!
BTW, unlike the Emperor's other minions, your English is good.
Anon Tue Oct 05, 09:41:00 PM PDT
----> different standard of living , getting paid more etc.... same reason as why do N.koreans going to china.
North Korea! North Korea :):)
You truly have been BRAINWASHED if North Korea is the best example you can come up with.
gopalan
do you know much about sissy lee's family? heard that his son is at MIT.
i would like to see more opposition party members like you in parliament to keep the bastards honest
have always been a fan of you :)
Dear Mr Nair,
I may not agree 100% with you, however, i respect your opinions and your bravery in exercising freedom of speech.
You made a good choice by staying in the US of A...i always wanted to emigrate to australia but didn't have the required skill sets. *sigh*
What's the process of application for political asylum like in US? Tedious or rather straightforward?
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