Singapore's alarming loss of local talent

Ladies and Gentlemen,

Any Singaporean who has spent any time in the Western democracies would find living there far more attractive than Singapore. Australia, New Zealand, Canada, USA and West European countries have the rule of law applied equally to all regardless of ethnicity. Education is universal and provided equally to all regardless of race or color. Employment opportunities are required by law not to discriminate based on race, religion or color. Governments guarantee social welfare which is based on laws and rules, not on the sympathy of any government.

In every single case above, life in Singapore fails miserably. Singapore shorn of all the glitter and shine on the surface is nothing but a one party state dictatorship. Firstly, Singapore does not have any Constitution although a piece of a paper does exist which has that name. There is no rule of law as the Lee ruling family can engineer verdicts which they want. They can also order their judges to destroy political opponents as they have regularly done to the late JB Jeyaretnam. Living in Singapore gives you no guarantee of legal protection unless you are connected to the Lee ruling family.

Education is not equally provided to all. Chinese Singaporeans are given priority for education over other races. The island's universities will not enroll any student who does not possess a suitability certificate issued by the government. If you happen to be seen as a political threat, you will not be allowed a tertiary education.

The government does not have laws to punish racial discrimination. Chinese businesses as well as the government are free to deny employment to those whom they do not like or to non Chinese.

There is no minimum wage law allowing employers to pay anything they want or deny jobs to those who do not support the Lee ruling family government. Unemployed people are not given social security. Sometimes they distribute a few bags of rice which they splash across their newspapers as a sign of their generosity; when we all know that this does not provide any assistance whatsoever.

The government controls thought process through controlling the entire media. The state controlled newspapers publish a large amount of propaganda which the people have to accept as there is no independent source allowed.

This leaves any person the only option of quietly accepting the government in whatever they do so as not to attract the wrath of Lee Kuan Yew government and what they can do to you.

A few days ago, the opposition Workers Party won a seat in a by election but this does not really reflect the peoples intentions. The party itself immediately after their victory,  had made great efforts to placate the government by reminding the voters that they are not to read too much into this victory reminding them once again that Lee Kuan Yew rules and their position is merely to play second fiddle.

Coming to overseas Singaporeans, San Francisco Bay Area where I live, has thousands of Singaporeans scattered over the various cities that comprise this geographical sector. Among them are many US Citizens who were from Singapore, many who had come as students and others who had come either through their relatives visa petitions or investment. By and large, they love the place, since unlike Singapore, for the first time they are free and have equal opportunity without having to proclaim support to any dictator as they have to do in Lee's Singapore. And having discovered the USA, they apply for their wives, children, siblings and relatives to join them.

As the numbers of Singaporeans here multiply, they in turn become citizens and apply for their families and so on and so forth and like the domino accelerated by a multiplier effect, they are slowly emptying Singapore of it's skilled educated professionals and wealthy; while the Singaporean population in the USA continues to grow, albeit at a faster rate with each passing day.

This sucking effect, sucking the Singaporean talent out of Lee Kuan Yew's island goes on unabated at an ever increasing speed throughout the USA, in the New York area, Texas, Southern California and everywhere else there are Singaporeans.

I find living in the USA far more preferable than in Singapore. I am not beholden to any dictator and I can purse my dreams to the fullest. I, just like anyone else has the American dream and whether I grasp it is entirely dependent on my labor, not on any dictator's patronage.

And the same sucking phenomenon, sucking the talent out of Singapore happens in every Western country there are Singaporeans, in Canada, Australia, New Zealand and Europe.

In the past Singapore and it's dictator Lee Kuan Yew have gone to great lengths to try to persuade Singaporeans to remain behind, even calling them "quitters" and unpatriotic. But they fail to realize that as long as Lee Kuan Yew and his government treat Singaporeans as nothing but sheep, they will leave if they see opportunity elsewhere to live as men.

With a miniscule population in the island of no more than 2.5 million local born, and at the rate they are emigrating to the West. There is simply no stopping the entire educated population of Singapore of being emptied out. Those remaining behind are either the uneducated or unskilled that are not accepted in the West. The others who remain are those who feel that their only path to success is to support a dictatorship; who don't consider being free very important, such as Lee’s minions, the Deputy Prime Minister Teo Chee Hean and others like him.

In the meantime, to replace those leaving, Singapore brings in hordes of migrant workers who spend some time in the island with no intention of ever sinking roots. Some do, but they usually ignorant of what Singapore really is. They are not of a caliber which would be desirable to any country.

As we speak, new immigrants from Singapore continue to land at the airports at San Francisco, Los Angeles, London, Sydney and Auckland. In the game of trying to retain their educated people, I am afraid Singapore has definitely lost.

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