Singapore. All that hype and glitter doesn't help in the end.

Ladies and Gentlemen,

Do you ever notice Singapore spends a great deal of time and effort promoting itself as a first rate country, best in everything, with all their skyscrapers and glass towers that skirt the shoreline.

I reckon, this this does fool some people from the West believing all that nonsense to be true, only to realize that it is so much Lee Kuan Yew hogwash making them leave as quickly as they came.

Only this time, they take with them the knowledge what the real Singapore is, nothing but a dictatorship police state resulting in Singapore hurting even more.

Take all this talk about Singapore being somehow good in Maths education.

This is only good only as long as this belief remains outside Singapore.

But when some American teacher comes to Singapore and learns about this Singapore miracle first hand, she is going to go away with a much worse impression than she first came in.

She would notice that Singapore teachers, unlike American teachers, deliberately instill fear in their children instead of spontaneity or independence and confidence.

Just look at Singapore students.

They are afraid even to speak publicly and so are their teachers, all afraid of Lee Kuan Yew and his son if anything unflattering was said about them.

In this climate of fear, how do you teach anything, let alone mathematics.

I tell you, the American mother is much better off with her American teacher.

If you need a Singapore style education, you would be doing even better by sending your child to North Korea.

Myself, Gopalan Nair would have ended up a far inferior specimen of a human being had I remained in Singapore.

I have managed to become Lee Kuan Yew's number one state enemy and a proud recipient of the status of a disbarred lawyer in Singapore because I have been educated and lived abroad.

If you want your child to grow up an independent thinking confident individual, then last place to educate him in the world is Singapore.

Both teachers and students in Singapore are so timid and insecure, they are afraid of their own shadows.

Singapore boasts of the rule of law and so does North Korea.

If it does have the rule of law, it is the type you see in North Korea.

For instance, in immigration, you really don't know what the law is.

Singapore states it invites immigrants who are encouraged to apply.

But nowhere except in broad terms, does anyone know the requirements for admission.

Assuming you do apply, if you are successful you are so advised.

If not, except for a single line replay, "Sorry you have not been successful" you have no idea why you were rejected.

What happens is they look at your history.

If you have had a history of active civic responsibility etc, they look at you as a trouble maker, which they do not want.

On the other hand if the only thing you have done is to pass your exams with no opinion one way or another, you probably would be accepted.

You would successfully blend into one of Lee's "digits", a derogatory term he has used to describe his hapless Singaporeans.

Even though they claim to be fair, Malays are never given immigration.

Indians are allowed if you happen to be one of those who have a college degree but nothing much more in your head, especially not someone who has been active in India's politics.

The fear is, you would turn your interest into Singaporean opposition politics.

As far as Chinese from Mainland China are concerned they are admitted in almost unlimited numbers.

Uncouth uncultured illmannered peasants who may have some skills in carpentry or cooking Chinese chop suey.

They are of no real benefit to Singapore but are seen as safe immigrants, who would come in and keep their mouths shut in politics as they do in Communist China.

As they pose no threat to the Lee Kuan Yew police state, they are preferred.

Also their increased numbers would keep the Malays and Indians in check as they are seen more likely to be irritants to Lee's police state.

Some people from the West do come under the mistaken belief that Singapore was something else, but when they find out that Singaporeans enjoy no human rights, the police can pick up anyone anytime they want, there is no free press and the judges spend more time punishing Lee's critics than dispensing justice, they make a turn about back to the democracies in the West from where they came.

Consider men and women in science research and technology who would have mistakenly come to Singapore.

They soon realise that in a sterilized society devoid of an independent spirit such as Singapore research and science cannot flourish.

They too turn around and return home the way they came.

Almost every single independently financed student who goes abroad never returns.

A few who are bonded with scholarships return but only reluctantly and when given a chance, they leave as soon as they can.

I understand 9 out of 10 scholarship students break their bonds and rather suffer financial penalties than return to Singapore.

Singapore appears to erroneously think that they can maintain their rule simply by increasing the hype and the false promotion of Singapore.

This is not possible.

In today's world of interconnectivity, people can find out that the grass is greener on the other side.

And when they do, the very ones that Singapore needs the most are the very ones that desire and have the capability to leave the most.

What Singapore needs is democracy, not dictatorship.

Singapore needs freedom not Confucianism.

This whole idea of a few select scholars being given the power to rule over a modern citizenry is just not a workable model.

What you need is to empower everyone to have a say about their lives.

This way everyone participates in government, everyone feels they have a stake, and everyone begins to have a sense of loyalty.

Singapore today continues to suffer from a massive brain drain.

Just yesterday, I tried to enquire about a former lawyer who was in Singapore when I was there, Venugopal Kurup.

I was told he is no longer there.

He is in Perth Western Australia.

He is just one of the many thousands who have left and continue to leave.

I suppose he has been replaced by a Chinese peasant from Chendu, the Interior Province, Communist China.

As we speak, in addition to the unstoppable brain drain which I understand is the highest in the world, the birth rate is the lowest well below replacement rate and the population except for recent immigrants from China is aging fast.

These recent immigrant peasants from China know nothing about Singapore and they are given preferential treatment by allowing them to retain their Chinese nationality; although outwardly it claims that dual nationality is disallowed.

This is another lie like the thousands of lies Singapore puts forward when it suits them.

So when things are no longer comfortable for them, or for any reason they change their minds about Singapore, they leave and perhaps replaced by others from their country.

Indians from India who become citizens also remain as long as they want since they too can return to India anytime under India's laws.

In the end it does not matter if anyone becomes a Singapore citizen.

Singapore citizenship is not only illusory, it is also transitory.

Frankly a worthless piece of paper for the moment and to be tossed when it's purpose is served.

Lee Kuan Yew has managed today to reduce Singapore to nothing better than a loose woman whom you use for the moment.

When you have had your pleasure and it is time to go, you simply discard her.

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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