Singapore Prime Minister's (Lee Kuan Yew's son) national day fairy tale

Ladies and Gentlemen,

Every year, on the island's national day, August 9th, the Lee Ruling Family's subjects are given a speech, televised island wide at primetime, of how good it was so far, and how much rosier it is going to get, all due to the kindness and unbounded wisdom of this great family. This year was no different. I listened to it.

It is no different in North Korea. There too, every year without fail, depending on whether it was Kim Jong Il or his father or the new ruler Kim Jong An, the same line is given without fail.

But frankly, as to whether it has any worth, the answer is a simple zero. It is just simply words without any meaning at all. Like it is every year in North Korea and Singapore, with one difference; you cannot leave the country in North Korea, you can in Singapore. Which is why the island whose subjects have been so bored with this nonsense year after year that they can't take it anymore; which is why Singapore island has the highest rate of emigration in the world, the lowest fertility rate in the world and one of the largest populations of imported Chinese migrants from China who are now poised to overtake the local population.

Let's call Lee's son, the son. The son's speech has a large component which urges Singaporeans to sink their roots in Singapore, develop a sense of love for their country and strive to improve it. It is this part of his speech where he finds the greatest difficulty because his actions really do not persuade anyone to think this way at all.

Firstly you have a situation in the island where any foreigner can come to Singapore and take on a job and instantly thereafter obtain residency and citizenship in quick succession, with total disregard to the local’s interests. With this sort of stupid policy, how does he expect any native Singaporean to have any love or patriotism for his country, where in essence, a foreigner, who has done nothing for Singapore is in many respects treated better than him!

Second you have an island where not everyone is equal. Like in Orwell's Animal Farm, 4 legs are good but 2 legs are better. The ones with 2 legs of course are the Lee Ruling Family, their extended family and friends. All of them are above the law, are entitled to be as corrupted as they want and can take salaries unheard in any other place in the world, literally millions. I wonder whether the late Mobutu of the Congo took as much in diamonds but your guess is as good as mine.

And then you have Kangaroo courts which take orders from the Family who are in a position to turn any completely lawful activity into the most heinous crime or the slightest criticism into the libel of the century! The result, the next instant, at a nod of the son, you become bankrupted and removed from circulation so to speak. In other words, if you dare criticize, now you are here, the next instant you are history.  

In Singapore today you have a morally corrupt society. Even today in their state controlled newspapers, there is another story of adult men caught sleeping with young girls for large sums of money, and there appears a limitless supply of customers and girls for this crime. As for the government, this sort of activity is really not frowned upon. In most cases, they get either a fine or in worst cases a week’s jail. After that they do it again and, in the unlikely event they get caught, go to jail for perhaps 2 weeks this time. Of course, being pedophiles, and their numbers are increasing, they do it all the time but these reported cases only appear on the rare occasions when they get caught.

As for the Tamils in the island, although citizens, they are as good as extinct. With undisguised discrimination against Tamils and Malays, the Lee Ruling Family who are ethnic Chinese bring in plane loads of their own race from China to deliberately drive out the last remaining Tamil or Malay. From the once 50% of the population which they had, today the Tamils form only 8% and the Malays hardly 13%. Very soon both the races will disappear.

If Singaporeans had a say in their country, none of this would have happened. Casinos with their consequent crime and the ubiquitous dreaded loan sharks would not have existed; the government would not have been in a position to discriminate against their own people this way and people would have had more loyalty and respect for their country.

Today with the government in effect telling the people to switch off their minds and simply do as they are told, anyone with any ability feels insulted and neglected. So what do they do; they simply ignore and stop participating in any policy making process. In the end the only ones the government can rely on are the sycophants and bootlickers that you find in any other dictatorship in the world, simply opportunists who sing praises to the King for financial again. This is better described as corruption.

The end result is a government who continue doing whatever they want to do for a people who simply wait for orders. You don't find the active participation in government by the people that you see in any Western country. That is why in Western countries, their citizens feel a part of their society, are loyal to it, and feel a sense of pride and self respect.

In Singapore, people with independent minds and capable of earning a living anywhere, simply pack up and leave. What is left behind are trumpeters who trumpet the King (the Lee Ruling Family) hoping that they will be thrown some crumbs (better described as bribes) for their loyalty to the King (the Lee Family).

Gopalan Nair
Attorney at Law
Fremont, California, USA
Tel: 510 657 6107 or 510 491 4375