Ladies and Gentlemen,
Any foreigner being told that Malay Singaporean citizens and Indian Singapore citizens cannot live anywhere they please in Singapore would not have believed it. There is clearly apartheid imposed upon the Malay and Indian minorities even though the Constitution of the country clearly requires equality among the races.
Ethnic Chinese presently form the majority of the population in the small over crowded island city state making up about 75% of the population of 5 million, with Malays making up 15% and Indians about 10%. This ratio is not what it should have been. Let me enumerate below Singapore Lee Kuan Yew government's blatant racial discrimination.
1. The present ratios of majority Chinese with the Malays and Indians making small minorities only was not supposed to be. Lee Kuan Yew an ethnic Chinese favored the expansion of the Chinese race by importing far greater numbers of Chinese from China into Singapore while denying Indians from India or Malays from Malaysia. If this deliberate policy of expanding the Chinese population did not exist, the Malays today would have been the majority with the Indians and Chinese a close second, because generally Malays have larger families. This discrimination against Singapore Indians and Malays violates the Constitution of Singapore which mandates equal opportunity.
Lee Kuan Yew has come out saying he is determined to maintain this ratio among the races and if Chinese numbers decrease, he will bring in more and more from China, which is exactly what he has been doing for decades without any remonstrations from anyone. This is a clear violation of the Constitution as nowhere does it require this or any other ratio. If he wanted this to be part of Singapore law, a major development such as this would have required a plebiscite or referendum before it is implemented. But since Lee runs the island as if it belongs to him, which it is, he does anything he wants, anytime he wants.
2. Malays and Indians are permitted to live in only certain areas of Singapore and are not allowed to lease (90% of apartments in which 90% of Singaporeans live are owned by the Government) apartments anywhere in the island but only at designated places as directed by the Chinese dominated Singapore government. The idea is to spread out the minority population throughout the island so that they could never be able to form a real challenge to the majority Chinese government. This is a form of apartheid against non ethnic Chinese, a violation of the Singapore Constitution. The argument Lee uses for this is that he does not want racial enclaves. But then every apartment block is in fact a Chinese racial enclave. In other words, according to Lee, what is sauce for the goose is not for the gander.
3. The official business language although supposed to be English, Chinese Mandarin is freely used in government offices even when dealing with a minority Indian or Malay. For instance a Malay going for assistance at the Department of Motor Vehicles would be confronted by Chinese clerks discussing his case in Chinese among themselves in front of his face, knowing he does not know a word of it. This is demeaning and insulting to the Malay or Indian. The Singapore Chinese have no qualms doing this as there appears to be a perception about them that they are somehow superior to everyone else, like the pigs in George Orwell's Animal Farm who decided to walk on 2 legs instead of 4. Again a violation of the Constitution.
The government has to decide once and for all what the official language is going to be. If it is English, make sure everyone knows it including the large Chinese human imports thanks to the Chinese Singapore government. If it is going to be Mandarin then send every Malay and Indian to Mandarin language classes throwing in some ethics of what a good Confucian is supposed to be, obedient quiet and kowtowed.
4. Malays are not allowed to be elevated to higher ranks in the Armed Forces. There are no Malay fighter pilots or Generals, Lee's fear being that a Malay would bomb Lee Kuan Yew's house if given the chance instead of the enemy.
5. Malays and Indians should demonstrate and protest their second hand status in Lee Kuan Yew's Chinese Singapore as they are supposed to be equal citizens as anyone else. Lee's government cleverly labels anyone who complains of these blatant injustices as racist and this false proscription of any complaints against racial discrimination has permitted the Chinese Singaporeans to get away with bloody murder as far as discrimination goes. Singapore Malays and Indians should not be afraid of Lee Kuan Yew's false threats and should openly protest about this state sanctioned racial discrimination. After all the country is yours too and the Consitution is violated.
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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3 comments:
Hello Mr Nair;
You absolutely hit the nail on the head here. But don't expect the Chinese to line up acknowledging it! This is because they too had been playing LKY's racial segregation and discrimination game. Yes the Chinese populace is guilty too. Just see the number of responses for this particular blog!
I am Chinese but not afraid to admit that we Chinese Singaporeans have collectively discriminated against the Malays and Indians. I say this with utter shame. We expound that that we and the govt are playing a level playing field with regards to jobs and schools, but actually did not. We Chinese collectively have oppressed and marginalized the Malays and Indians that its a wonder they are still here.
We changed the road names, school names, area names to Chinese from their original Malay words, but still the Malay are so weakened that we actually do as we please. It may be because the Chinese are historically more materialistic that we regard are live and let live a weak trait.
The Malays and Indians focus more on relationships and respect, that I think the Chinese may have lost something here with the slowly but surely disappearing minorities.
I truly regret my Singaporean Kiasu Chinese heritage of such materialism that sometimes I say to foreigners that I'm from Malaysia.
This Kiasuism was bred by the govt of Lee Kuan Yew but most Chinese Singaporeans readily accept it as a way to excel in this world. But I say it is not! But I am a lone person crying in the wilderness.
To all my Malay and Indian countrymen Singaporeans...on behalf of the Chinese Singaporeans, I admit that the Chinese are guilty of racism and discrimination to you. But unfortunately, the oppressed minority usually cannot fight the system that is so entrenched. Please find a way out of Singapore so that your dignity is restored. And tell the world what is really happening in Singapore with regards to the racism, oppression and discrimination from the Chinese.
Only when the world knows of the Chinese Singaporeans dasterdly ways will karma come to them. As it is now, they cry foul when racism is inflicted to them in places like Austtralia. Yet they claim ignorance of the same thing they are doing in their own country.
To Anon Jun 18 0607pm;
Karma has come to the Chinese Singaporeans in the form of the "Foreign Talents"...from Mainland China! It takes a Chinaman to teach a Chinaman.
Now these FTs are discriminating against the Chinese Singaporeans! But don't expect the Chinese Singaporeans or even the govt of the PAP to realize or acknowledge this. As you say, they are too materialistic to notice. The Chinese Singaporeans are so fooled by the Lee Kuan Yew govt of systematic brainwashing that even when the people are labled digits and daft...they say "yes we are as you say...because you are Chinese too, so you must be right".
Yes, Karma is a bitch, ain't it?
Hi Mr Nair,
could you explain more on why
'Malays are not allowed to be elevated to higher ranks in the Armed Forces.'?
I just want to know as educate myself more on the racial discrimination in Singapore.
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