Ladies and Gentlemen,
Singapore's Lee Kuan Yew got it all wrong when he thought all it takes to move a country is coercion, compulsion and abusing the law and state power to silence dissent and destroy his opponents.
Funny he never realized all these years that it is credibility and integrity that moves a country forward and without it, all is lost. And that is exactly the unenviable position that Singapore finds itself.
When Lee Kuan Yew ordered his Judge Belinda Ang Saw Ean to abuse the law and punish his political enemy Dr. Chee Soon Juan in May 2008, the knowledge of this dishonesty does not stop there. The news of it spreads to her friends and family, her court's staff would hear of it, in turn, their friends and family would know about it, and in this way by these corrupt actions taken by the state every single day, Singaporeans end up having nothing but contempt for their courts, their politicians and their government. And when it loses credibility and respect, all manner of problems will inevitably follow. This is a truism which even a ten year old boy would know.
On the other hand, the reason why Western European countries, America and Australia continue to succeed and attract the best talent from all over the world is because, unlike countries like Singapore, Philippines, Pakistan, their citizens respect their countries, they respect their organs of state, their judiciary is held in high regard and therefore their citizens continue to live and proudly serve and bring up families in them.
Take Australia for instance, the favorite destination for Singaporeans emigrating. People no matter who they are can rely and trust Australia, it's judiciary for it's rule of law and fairness to protect their rights in accordance to it's Constitution. Australia will never fail it's people and those aspiring to settle there know it too.
Take Singapore on the other hand. You have a Constitution where every single right is completely negated. It says you have a right to free speech but at the same time it doesn't. It says you have the rule of law but at the same time the laws are used as a political tool to destroy Lee Kuan Yew's opponents. Lee Kuan Yew says there is no corruption but he himself is the most corrupted person in the island, or even in the world, stealing $3.7 million every year for himself and each of his family members by calling it a salary.
What one finds in the end is an island which is run by a bunch of thugs who would bully you, take your money, and punish you by misusing the law if you stand up to them. Also because it is a one party state with a rubber stamp Parliament, you can never tell what the next law is going to be since these thugs who sit in their Parliament created by them can do anything they want to you. They are not answerable to the Constitution, not answerable to you, or anything for that matter.
In an completely uncertain political atmosphere such as this, no rational human being would want to marry, bring up children or even live there. That it why despite it's claimed successes, the legal profession is shrinking, people are refusing to marry, they are not having children and they are emigrating in droves. With the population continuing to shrink, with increasing foreigners settling there who have neither love or passion for the island, productivity declines, professionalism declines and it reaches a stage where it is left way behind from the respectable nations of the world.
The Philippines trudges along without any real progress and Pakistan is ether declining or just stagnant. It must be clear to anyone why it is so. Both countries have rampant corruption, the courts are amenable to anyone at the right price and crime can easily be excused for the right person. The people lost faith in the administration of justice and every single one of them is trying to go to the West.
Singapore is no different because the malaise in them is the same in Singapore because there is no confidence in it's legal system or the government. And just as the millions of Pakistanis try to flee their uncertain future, so do the Singaporeans. But even though it is bad for the Filipinos and the Pakistanis, the damage to Singapore is going to be much worse because unlike the 100 million or so people there, Singapore only has 5 million of which 2 million are already foreigners. Philippines and Pakistan with their populations may last a little longer but for Singapore, collapse and destruction in my mind is imminent and real.
Pakistan can be another Great Britain tomorrow if they eliminated corruption and instilled trust and respect in their citizens towards their government, just as Singapore can also achieve greatness if they did the same.
Let me give you some bad news from Singapore. It's state controlled newspaper the Straits Times online edition of Jan 11, 2011 has the story "Foreigners may practice Singapore commercial law". Resulting from the inexorably diminishing lawyer population in the island, which currently stands no more than 2,000 or so, the Lee government has had no choice but to allow foreign lawyers to represent Singaporeans in their money claims, the greatest disservice to Singaporeans. Law is unlike buying a pair of shoes. The lawyer needs to be one of you, understand your language, your customs and mannerisms and your way of like to fully represent you. Now a Singapore claimant would be going to a recently arrived Filipino, who knows nothing of the country or his client to represent him in court against another Singaporean! Ridiculous!
Many countries don't permit lawyers who are not citizens to practice, such as Philippines, and I know of no other country in the world which does not have their own lawyers, as it is always the other way round, too many lawyers.
Another story from the same paper this time Jan 14, 2011, "More couples saying no to having kids". It says even though some Singaporeans are getting married, they refuse to have any children. Surely in the present uncertain one party state where Lee controls everything, having children would be a very unwise thing to do.
Another piece of bad news from the same state controlled paper, this time Jan 13, 2011, "Overseas study grants to ease doc shortages". It tells us of Singapore dishing out large scholarships to Singaporeans studying in the UK to persuade them to return. Another desperate measure just as the numerous desperate measures that all failed. It is not true that there are no doctors, yes there are. Problem is, they are all leaving for the West.
And of course there is this blog Singapore Dissident, which continues to expose the stupidity that goes on there. My purpose which should be clear to anyone, is to hurt the present Lee Kuan Yew government and discredit them through this blog publishing their actions to persuade even more Singaporeans to leave and dissuade good talented migrants from coming and if they do, educate them soon enough so they would leave as quick as they came. It does look like I am succeeding very well indeed.
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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7 comments:
My professor, who earned his PhD from Germany, interviewed Jurgen Habermas about Singaporean politics. According to Habermas, the problem with a benevolent dictatorship is that the people are brainwashed into thinking that the path to democracy is through authoritarianism. It will take a long time to dismantle bureaucratic mechanisms that allow corruption or evil (of any form) to flourish, or institute democratic political and economic reforms.
Unwarranted secrecy is bound to self-destruct, because transparency should find representation in institutional channels if a nation wants to promote stability and long term success. This is old news. It is important for just information to be consistently enforced so that enlightenment values (pertaining to liberal democracy) be preserved. Look at what happened to Iceland with the secret dealings of Kaupthing bank.
I am a Filipino by the way, and I must say that you need to read more on my country's problems. Aside from being mired in debt, We have communist and muslim separatist groups, and most Filipinos don't have a sense of the common good because many consider the family stronger than the state.
Lee Kuan Yew should be disbarred for being an embarassment and disgrace to the legal profession, impugned credibility and a liar like former President Richard Nixon and former Vice President Spiro Agnew.
what is nonsense about "benevolent dictatorship" of LKY ?
It only benevolent when it benefit LKY to get billions, manipulaton and own Singapore, and do as he please and like, and you call this benevolent ?
Mr Nair, I just read something about the illegitimate gov of singapore taking away the rights of native tamils in respects to the way thaipusam is conducted. This is as racist as it gets. Your thoughts please?
Sad that its no longer government for the people by the people in Singapore.
A main principle of the traditional American philosophy is expressed in the phrase: fear of Government-over-Man.
This fear is due to the ever-present, never-changing weaknesses of human nature in government which are conducive to "love of power and proneness to abuse it," as Washington's Farewell Address warned. This means public officials' human weaknesses, especially as aggravated by the corresponding weaknesses among the self-governing people themselves. It is a truism that government's power needs only to exist to be feared--to be dominant, over the fear-ridden, without ever needing to be exercised aggressively.
This fear was of abuse by government of power granted to it by the people, as well as of usurpation by it of power denied or prohibited to it by them, through the Constitution, to the injury if not doom of their liberties--of the God-given, unalienable rights of The Individual. Jefferson merely voiced the lesson of history--well known to, and accepted by, his fellow Americans--when he stated, in the "Diffusion of Knowledge" Bill in 1779, in the Virginia legislature:
". . . experience hath shewn, that even under the best forms [of government], those entrusted with power have, in time, and by slow operations, perverted it into tyranny . . ."
This is exactly what Lee Kuan Yew has made out his government to be, nothing short of tyranny and a dictator.
Since when is Australia a favourite place singaporean wish to migrate to?
I seriously doubt so because australia is the most racist nation in the world and everyone knows that.
to anonymous 18th Jan 01:31:00 , go check the Aussie immigration. You like other dumbos do not realise that the main stream media is heavily censored. You will only read and see news that speaks ill of Australia. This has to be done by the mainstream media so people like you without critical thinking will truly believe that Aussie is a racist nation. Yes there are pockets of racism there, but they are isolated incidents which are made to appear massive in scale by the mainstream media. I have 5 friends who have left for Australia and they never wanted to come back. Go check on the data from Aussie immigration as to the number of Singaporeans who have left there for good if you are in doubt.
Aussie being the most racist country? Then what do you call a country which place restrictions on the worship practices of its minority Hindus?
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