Singapore has no sportsmen

Ladies and Gentlemen,

Have you ever noticed, Singapore has no sportsmen. None has ever become world class or even half way there when it comes to sports. Have you considered why?

This is why. To excel in sports you need passion, just as in any other undertaking in life. You have to love athletics, rugby, sailing, swimming or fencing to excel, just as you have to love medicine to be a good doctor or the law for a good lawyer. But Singapore is a unique place where just passion alone and dedication will not get you there. What you need the most is the recognition of Lee Kuna Yew and his politburo.

In Singapore today, the highest paid people are those connected to the Lee Kuan Yew administration. His ministers, judges, top civil servants are all paid millions of dollars and once selected, they are taken care of for life. George Yeo, the Lee Kuan Yew Minister recently lost his political office but that is no problem. Lee will give him another job which is equally remunerative if not more. He may be made the ambassador in some country, perhaps a job with a government linked company; the possibilities are immense. MH Rubin, a former judge who punished Lee Kuan Yew's critic Chee Soon Juan is now the High Commissioner to New Zealand. Yatiman Yousf the former minister is Ambassador to who knows where and the list goes on.

To put it plainly, every single PAP man is taken care of for life, with a pension and life long job security and a comfortable living. All he has to do is to make sure he remains loyal to the Lee Kuan Yew family.

In this case, is it any surprise that it is every young child's dream and that of his mother to be accepted and recognized by the Lee Kuan Yew ruling family of Singapore because that is the ultimate passport to success. Of course one has to be good in one's studies and get good grades but good grades without the recognition of the Lee Kuan Yew family will not get you very far.

So the characteristics that you see in Singapore young men today would be considered distasteful in any other place, such as sycophancy, fawning, crawling and licking the boots of the Lee Kuan Yew family.

You must have heard of the recent case of a 27 year old woman (in fact a girl if you looked at her) Tin Pei Ling becoming the youngest PAP Member of Parliament. It is quite obvious, her selection and appointment had nothing to do with her ability which no one else had, it has to do with the fact that she had spent 7 years working at the PAP offices in Singapore doing voluntary work and defending every single injustice her masters were meting out to the people of Singapore.

Naturally ever single mother in Singapore is looking up to Tin Pei Ling and encouraging their children to emulate her in the hope that they too would one day be another Tin Pei Ling, that they too would be blessed with Lee's recognition, and milk and honey would flow for them ever after, prostrate at the feet of Lee Kuan Yew and his son.

Singapore does not encourage independent thinking and the pursuit of a goal because one is passionate. Practicing and training long hours at any sport, researching and studying the law or any other science does not get anyone anywhere far in Singapore. But the recognition by Lee Kuan Yew will.

That is why you don't have great lawyers, scientists or sportsmen. But you do have successful men and women who live their lives obedient to Lee Kuan Yew and his government.

But when Lee Kuan Yew abuses the law for their political ends, when they jail and bankrupt innocent citizens because they are political threats to them, when the Lee family practically siphons off millions under the pretext that these are salaries, it becomes shameful for anyone with any honor to submit to them. But that is exactly what every single Singapore mother is prepared to do in the interests of her children.

Singapore produces opportunists, not honorable men and women. Strangely in sports, in addition to dedication and determination, honor is essential, which explains why Singaporeans fail miserably in it.

It is not possible for a Singaporean to be free. You need freedom to achieve greatness. New Zealanders are a free people. They have the world's greatest sportsmen.

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/

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