Ladies and Gentlemen,
Singaporeans in this elections are in the unenviable position of being between a hard rock and a hard place, thanks to Lee's 52 years of successfully repressing their people.
Which leaves the people in the position they are today, between a heartless and uncaring dictatorship of the Lee Kaun Yew family on the one hand and a totally inept opposition except for a handful of good men such as Chee Soon Juan who sadly cannot run at all.
It is not true that Singapore does not have capable people to lead, yes they do. But the problem is that anyone who is discerning and able is overcome with fear of the consequences of taking a stand about anything, leaving them entirely unseen and unavailable; thanks to Lee Kuan Yew. Here we are of course talking about university professors, teachers, professionals and others, all refusing to come forward due to all pervasive fear that blankets that small island run by the Lee family.
As for the government political hopefuls, every one of them is an opportunist looking forward to the millions that they stand to gain, which is why even the government is finding their candidates much to be desired, which proves that many able people in Singapore also have a conscience and are refusing to step forward despite the unimaginably huge rewards.
The end result of this is the general decline in the quality of political candidates across the board, both government and opposition. And as long as the government continues their repressive measures against the people and use their corrupt judges as their principle tool to silence any contrarian opinions, the next election will further see the quality of politicians in the island even further compromised.
A look at the opposition candidates in this election does not instill confidence. The NSP and the other parties appear as if they are contesting elections for the sake of contesting; not with any confidence of ever winning, men and women with no qualites of leadership whatsoever, with whom you would not want to bother even with a passing conversation, let alone making them your leaders!
But the silliness of it all is the view that people could just come out of the blue, stand for elections, point out a litany of perceived wrongs committed by the PAP and then demand you vote for them. And the equally preposterous position of the government that you should vote for them even though it is they who have denied any chance whatsoever throughout the last preceding 5 years of the opposition being able to show themselves, through a state controlled press which shuts them out.
Which leaves the Singaporean voter with the Hobson's choice of bad leadership either by the government or the opposition.
I am not sure whether am I the only person in the world who can see this or is the mind of the Singaporean so successfully corrupted by the Lee Kuan Yew family that he can no longer see that which anyone else outside can see.
Which leaves me to congratulate myself once again of having left Singapore for the sake of my head and the contents therein safe and proportionate. At least it can still think logically which may not have been the case had I still been a resident of Lee Kuan Yew's Ang Mo Kio.
Gopalan Nair
Attorney at Law
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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20 comments:
Dear Gopalan,
You are able to think logically because you are looking into Singapore from outside. Pity the Singaporeans who are caught in the PAP grind.
At the end of the day, Singaporeans are just too timid to walk the talk. They are looking over the shoulder for someone to take the lead.
Who will bell the cat? No one.
The voters are looking for Saviours among the Opposition candidates who will make the PAP return to the easy wealth days of the past - they will be deeply disappointed.
Singapore cannot reach greater heights because independent thinking & creativity is overridden by fear for the dictator Lee "Con" Yew.
"The NSP and the other parties appear as if they are contesting elections for the sake of contesting; not with any confidence of ever winning, men and women with no qualites of leadership whatsoever, with whom you would not want to bother even with a passing conversation, let alone making them your leaders!"
I think that's far too much of a sweeping statement. They are working so hard and are paying hefty election deposits so that we can vote for an alternative voice. Because the PAP plays so dirty the odds are against them.
"I am not sure whether am I the only person in the world who can see this or is the mind of the Singaporean so successfully corrupted by the Lee Kuan Yew family that he can no longer see that which anyone else outside can see."
I don't think you're the only one. A lot of people in my family hates LKY because of his dirty tricks.
Mr Nair,
I think some of us living in the luxury of the "free" world (pluralistic democracies outside of S'pore) tend to judge the opposition too critically. Many of the opposition candidates left comfortable, high-paying jobs to run for office as newbies. I like to think they're doing it for S'poreans and for the country before PAP turns it into a corporation like Walmart over here and treat employees as serfs (and themselves as masters). And I see potential in several of them. Ever since LKY rounded his political opponents in the 1960's-1980's and quelled political dissent, we did not have any voice in parliament with 0-2 MPs (max of 4 MPs at one point, I think). At least I take comfort that the WP gained Aljunied GRC tonight, showing the opposition can win a GRC. That's a big step forward. The people have expressed their displeasure with the PAP (with a 10% vote swing) - I'd like to see how the PAP respond in the next 5 years.
Too timid to stand up? You mean to retarded to do so? Or maybe too contented to do so? The PAP won again, dirty rascals.
I think it is quite insulting to suggest that today's electorate is voting for the PAP because of fears of reprisals for voting the opposition.
That fear is largely non-existent today, especially among young voters. If anything, people don't want to vote for the opposition because they are afraid of THEM: the opposition (even the WP's dream team that recently won a GRC) has little to offer other than complaints. And everyone's good at that.
so what do think of your previous party's capture of the aljunied GRC?
PAP is playing an unfair election:
[1] Election dept reports to Lee Hsien Loong.
[2] Candidate for Tanjong Pagar was disqualified when they submitted the form before 12 noon. They were faulted for being late by 36 seconds, as ED wanted to see all candidates on the counter, while they were being held up by other ED officials.
[3] Nobody knows when is the election date
[4] The campaign period is only 9 days, with only one weekend. Due to cooling off day on the Friday.
[5] The election was held during primary school and secondary school examinations. Voting parents cannot catch up with the election issues
[6] Dr Vivian smeared Dr Vincent (SDP) using "gay slant". Dr Vivian is a "gay sympathizer too" because he said that he will not intervened AWARE saga. One of the issue of AWARE was that they used "homosexual inclined material" for school to be used as sex ed.
[7] Dr Vivian told lie that GIC loss was fabrication by opposition
[8] Tin Pei Ling started campaigning before nomination, and posted on her facebook during cooling day.
[9] Shamugam distorted the truth that Worker Party does not support upgrading.
[10] Lee Hsien Loong said "sorry" 2 days before polling days; while his other PAP MPs continue to attack oppositions
[11] What do think about "In George we trust"?. Do you think he wants to be God?
[12] Why AMK can build a $1.3 billion river in Bishan park when they old have to work for less than $500 per month?
... many more.
... Our children grow up thinking "foul play" is normal play.
... Our children grow up thinking "injustice" is normal play.
... Singaporeans must change such unjust and unfair practice, for the sake of our children and future generations
The United States told China on Monday that improvements in human rights and economic reforms would serve Beijing's own interests and promised it was not seeking to contain the Asian power's rise.
Why didn't the United States do the same to Singapore?
Dear Gopalan,
After this General Election, I am very happy to see old fear-mongering relic Lee Kuan Yew win again UNOPPOSED. I particularly love his threats and ego.
Eg ...
1. His racist comments about Malays,
2. His threats to Aljunied voters to repent, and
3. His sob drama about the 1960s.
There are so many evidence of Lee Kuan Yew becoming Singapore version of the late China strongman Mao. He also more like a certain Indonesia deposed mega-sultan President.
* Lee's fear-mongering days are over.
Fear creates obedient servants and also drive the same people away from the PAP club.
The world has changed and I think even reckess son, Loong, knows it. He is a cancer survivor and have Gen Y kids. I will be surprised if his apology to Singaporeans is just an election stunt. See what his PAP team have to say.
“We’re humans, we make mistakes.”
“We need to be more compassionate and less calculative”
* The question remains, will Singaporeans want more?
An analogy...
When he is a baby, he just need milk, and later solid food.
When he is a kid, he need toys, on top of food. As a human grows, he need more and more.
I think Singaporeans do not want to be stuck permanently at 15yo, just as 1960 Singapore does not want to remain an UK crown colony, or 2011 Egypt does not want martial laws.
You are right about these election is the biggest fraud.
Understand young voters better
WITH regard to Minister Mentor Lee Kuan Yew's remarks ("MM: Past struggles forgotten by young"; Monday), I would like to know if he has ever engaged the younger generation to know what the actual problem is.
The fact is, the young have not forgotten the struggles of the past. We simply feel that we have been forgotten by MM Lee and other People's Action Party ministers in their quest for GDP growth.
Despite us having served national service, we are living like second-class citizens in our own country. Giving us some goodies every year is not enough. We have sacrificed so much, whereas new citizens have it easy.
We know the struggles of the previous generation. We grew up watching our parents struggling to provide us with a decent living. But then, there are still many senior citizens from MM Lee's generation who are still struggling to survive, working in coffee shops, working as cleaners, collecting cardboard in Chinatown. What has he got to say about them?
They have also been forgotten by MM Lee and his team. These members of the older generation were the ones who voted the PAP to power in the past. Even they have been forgotten.
This is the issue concerning the young, besides cost of living and housing prices.
We feel that if we go at this rate, then when we grow old, we will also be struggling in life working as cleaners or collecting cardboard at the age of 60 and above.
With more foreigners taking away better jobs, we are already beginning to feel forgotten.
Muhammad Umar A. Kamaludin
"Relinquished Singapore citizenship 2005 because I was not prepared to permit Lee Kuan Yew to unjustly retain my CPF funds if I remained Singapore Citizen."
You left. What right do you have to say anything?
To Anonymous May 11, 0656,
And why should I not be able to comment on Singapore politics just because I left. I take credit in the opposition winnning a GRC as well as an SMC. I plan to continue doing it.
Dear Gopalan,
Your blog do help readers to break down their fear of Lee's Justice System, esp those indignant with your unjust imprisonment.
How do you explain the mentality of Singaporeans who think that Singapore quitters have no more rights to comment about their country of birth.
I know of many countries who adopt migrants and have no problems asking their migrants not to forget their roots and culture, and at the same time, embrace their newly adopted country.
When I called my Marine Parade cousin to ask what he thought of PAP winning, i was asked "Why do you want to know"
At that time, I felt pity for my cousin. He reminded me of my late grandfather who did not want girls to be educated. The world has changed, even Singapore has changed and embraced foreigners.
It is unfortunately still common for Singaporeans to ask their fellow ex-Singaporeans to get lost.
"I take credit in the opposition winnning a GRC as well as an SMC."
- I'm sorry, but I'm not too sure what you meant by this statement, as my command of the English language is not as strong as yours. Perhaps you'd like to clarify?
It is obvious from your last few posts that you consider Dr Chee Soon Juan as the only "true" opposition politician left in Singapore, and that the rest are either ineffectual or PAP-planted opposition (fulfilling their purpose to serve as a choice for Singaporeans). I'm interested in your thoughts on the Workers' Party and their leadership's performance in the 2011 elections, as well as how in contrast, the PAP ran a campaign that was frankly all over the place.
Truth be told, I've had similar suspicions since the mainstream media gave so much coverage to the Aljunied GRC contest and the Workers' Party's "dream team", plus the surprising number & quality of opposition candidates this time around. Miraculously, none of the opposition candidates were slapped with a lawsuit or charged for non-existent crimes..?
I also agree that without a free media, judiciary, civil service and military, MPs are of little use. However, frankly I doubt a peaceful protest will achieve anything either. The police and the army will get to the crowd before you can even hold your "peaceful protest". Riot police will lash out at the protestors first, while the state media will purport the protest turned violent necessitating action.
Anon Wed May 11, 06:56:00 PM PDT
You left. What right do you have to say anything?
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Hit a nerve, have we?
GN and netizens,
Keep using the power of the Internet, blogs, twitter, youtube, etc to point out the many flaws in LKY, his henchman, and their self-serving policies.
Non illigitamus carborundum
Finally, MM Lee and SM Goh are "kicked" out of the Cabinet.
I think they should have left long ago at their peak, rather than leave now to take responsibility for the current PAP malaise.
To lose a GRC to your former political party is a big deal for Lee who wants everyone to fear him.
Singaporeans have rewarded the Lee family enough.
Both SM Goh and MM Lee will depart from the Cabinet. I believe this blog have in one way or another gave a knee jerk to their decisions.
Now that SM Goh and MM Lee are out of the picture what will be your next issues to raise in this blog?
Now that SM Goh and MM Lee are out of the picture what will be your next issues to raise in this blog?
Sun May 15, 12:43:00 AM PDT
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1) Is LKY's son fit to be prime minister?
2) Is LKY's daughter-in-law the right person to run Temasek?
3) Should LKY, who was born in 1923, remain chairman of GIC?
4) Should the 88-year old LKY resign his seat?
5) Will LKY disclose the holdings of the Singapore people (as demanded by Ong Teng Cheong)?
See, there are lots of questions. I am sure others can add to this list.
As a Singaporean who left for another country to work and live there, and will continue to be away from that island state for the rest of my life as long as I breathe and eat and live, I applaud you for your honest assessment of that island's dire state. The island is basically held in a Stockholm Syndrome, feeling indebted to its government and nostalgic over a past which can never come back anymore, and yet wishing that a weak opposition or the few brave men or women will help them fight for their rights and justice instead of fighting for it themselves. A friend who entered opposition politics in Singapore had told me that Singaporeans totally lack initiative an entrepreneurship when it comes to politics and social justice, and that was why he got fed up with hearing complaints and joined politics. By the way, I believe that you have as much right to criticise Singapore although you have left it behind. I have had experiences with people who say, "Since you criticize it so much and tell us to do something [they do virtually nothing anyway...pathetic people], why don't you come back?" These people are simply uninformed and immature. The reason why we can criticize Singapore with such razor-sharp accuracy is because we left it.
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