Singaporeans and their leaders fail their country miserably

Ladies and Gentlemen,

Singaporeans and the opposition political parties, the Workers Party and the Singapore Democratic Party should be ashamed of themselves. They have let down their people and their country miserably. Until and unless they start doing something to correct the blatant open abuse of power by their rulers, they should resign and do something else worthwhile. They don't deserve being called leaders because leaders are supposed to get up from their backsides and do something, not just write blog articles on the Internet year in an year out.

This is what is happening in Singapore. First you have the worst sort of corruption in the government unimaginable anywhere else. You have government leaders paying themselves $3.7 million a year which is five times that paid to the President of the most powerful country in the world, Obama. And we have a possibly bedridden old man of 91 yeas of age who has self styled himself Minister Mentor who has done nothing for the past decades still drawing that salary. He is Lee Kuan Yew. Not since Mobutu of Congo who stole his countries diamonds, have we seen a more corrupt ruler.

As if this was not bad enough, they probably steal even more money on the side, perhaps even more than $3.7 million a year.

Then you have the absence of the rule of law, with corrupt judges who bend the law for political ends, you have the total absence of a free press due to state censorship, you have a denial of fundamental rights of free speech and expression and assembly, and you have racial discrimination and apartheid with Malays and Indians denied the right to live in areas of their choice.

Singaporeans who are aware of these injustices should act, but no one dares to do anything except to write blogs anonymously in the Internet. In effect you have an island peopled by sheep. The Workers Party headed by Low Thia Khiang who has some minor presence in the Parliament has reminded us repeatedly that his job does not extend beyond playing second fiddle to Lee Kuan Yew's PAP by asking inane questions. As for the Singapore Democratic Party headed by Chee Soon Juan, for several years now, he has said that because his supporters are not appreciative of him engaging in peaceful demonstrations and civil disobedience, he is going to stop doing any of that.

As a result, he now confines himself to writing articles in his Singapore Democrat his party's blog. He and his party members make several trips to the capitals of the world attending human rights conferences and coming back to write about their experiences on his party blog.

Other than merely criticizing the government through his writings, and travelling to human rights meetings around the globe and meeting world leaders, he does little more. Aung San Su Kyi on the other hand not only travels around the world but acted on the ground. Lee Kuan Yew government on their side totally ignores him, and the people ignore him too.

In the last elections in 2011, he didn't manage to gain even a single seat and this time in 2013, he did not contest the by elections so as to avoid a three cornered fight, conceding to the Workers Party. I dare say, even if he had contested, he probably would have lost.

Both the Workers Party and the Singapore Democratic Party should realize that you don't leave matters of this nature to parliamentary elections many years away, you have to act now. The theft of $3.7 million a year by corrupt leaders is not something you leave to be corrected in 2016 elections, you act upon it now. Similarly you don't leave the violation of the people's fundamental human rights to future elections, you act on it now.

Chee Soon Juan is not doing anything for either his people or his party by merely writing blog posts and leaves it to the heavens to come down to save Singapore. His argument that he does not hold public protests because his party members are against it, is like saying that the government is entitled to carry on murdering children because the people do not want you to carry out peaceful protests to stop that practice.

Chee Soon Juan, the way he is carrying on will do no good for anyone. If I were to choose between two equally bad choices, at least the Workers Party has managed to win elections, he has not. Second, his party is merely a duplication of the Workers Party because unlike in the past when he was noted for daring to engage in protests, the Singapore Democratic Party now is not materially different from the Workers Party. And if he will place his actions where his mouth is when he says he is acting for the interests of Singaporeans, he should disband his party and urge his members to join the Workers Party. That way at least in the next elections they would manage to gain more seats, since with his track record, he hasn't managed any and perhaps never will.

And as for the several doctors both medical and otherwise, some with UK accents and some with not, who write learned articles on his blog, I would advice them to spend their time in a more worthwhile manner perhaps by joining the Workers Party and entering Parliament next time around or simply clearing out now because the citizens are tired of reading about the wisdom but not seeing any difference in their lives under a dictator who lies in bed drawing $3.7 million a year.

And as for the Indians and Malays, some doctors some medical and otherwise in his party, I would suggest that they immediately embark on studying both Mandarin and Hokkien Chinese and be proficient enough to sing Chinese folk songs at a packed coffee shop at Singapore’s Bedok North Avenue 1, at lunchtime, the way they would in the far reaches of Communist China. Singapore has irretrievably become a Chinese speaking society thanks to Lee Kuan Yew’s very successful ethnic cleansing and UK accents are as good in that society as would be preaching the wisdom of the English philosopher John Stuart Mill in impeccable English to the Bushmen of the Kalahari!

We have seen what happens when you speak like that in the recent Singapore by elections a few days ago. Kenneth Jeyaretnam, the Cambridge educated candidate got 353 votes in a constituency of 30,000! He lost his deposit. There is a lesson to be learnt from that.

Gopalan Nair
Attorney at Law
A Singaporean in Exile
Fremont, California, USA
Tel: 510 491 4375