Singapore. After the elections, George Yeo, who?

Ladies and Gentlemen,

Just as they say Egypt is the Nile and the Nile is Egypt, you can say the same for Singapore.

Singapore is Lee Kuan Yew and Lee Kuan Yew is Singapore. He has made sure that everything is because of him, run by him and accountable to him. Without him, there is no one. In fact without him there is no Singapore. And that should be a frightful thought for any Singaporean, especially since the man is 91 of age, or so, unable to walk, hear, speak and just about to drop!

An example of this can be seen in George Yeo, actually George Yeo Yong Boon, until recently Lee Kuan Yew's foreign minister, bigwig, and local celebrity. All that understandably changed in 2011 when he lost the elections running for his master Lee Kuan Yew at the Aljunied elections. Today, if you turned around and said George Yeo, Singaporeans would have probably asked " George who?" The moment he lost the elections, he became nothing and will remain nothing, except of course if Lee Kuan Yew decides he should be politician again, at which time the same George Yeo will be somebody once again.

If George Yeo, the same bigwig were to walk down Singapore’s main street today, nobody would even care to take a second look!

What this shows us is this. There are no leaders in Singapore except one, which is the dictator, Lee himself. Everyone else takes authority from him and through him. Otherwise they have none and will simply be dust, no more.

It is the same with every other so called Singapore politician in power.  Once they are dropped by the Lee Ruling Family, they are nothing. It even applies to Lee's son himself. If for any reason he is toppled or resigns, no one will give him a second look either, as they know that he is where he is just because of his father. The same applies to every single Minister and person in authority including his Indian Minister for Law K Shanmugam and every other bootlicker you find with the dictator.

Every one of these characters are simply bureaucrats, who have just succeeded in passing exams, obtained scholarships and spent their entire life serving the interests of the Lee Ruling Family. Gorge Yeo for instance has no independent views on the lack of rule of law in Singapore, the lack of an independent press, the lack of free trade unions, the lack of freedom of speech and expression, simply nothing. All his views reflect exactly those of the Lee Ruling Family who pays themselves several millions a year through corruption and run the island as a dictatorship. 

I will take a guess that if George Yeo were to make a speech tomorrow, you will have to pay people handsomely to even listen to him. He has no supporters and he leads no one. After his election defeat, the same George Yeo is simply nothing in Singapore. 

I am raising this point to show the precarious life Singaporeans lead. If Lee, the dictator were to die tomorrow, the island would be without anyone with leadership to lead. Lee Kuan Yew made sure that there are none; because that is the only way he can cling on to power indefinitely. All very good for him, but sadly very bad for Singapore. 

In any other democracy there are thousands of leaders who have grassroots support with myriad different views and ideas who can step in to fill any power vacuum. In Singapore on the other hand, when Lee drops dead, that will be the end.

I don't see anyone rallying around George Yeo or any other of Lee’s bootlickers, to lead them, especially since George Yeo himself does not think very much of himself.  

Gopalan Nair
A Singaporean by birth in exile
Attorney at Law 
Fremont, California
Tel: 510 491 4375