Tuesday, June 25, 2013

Singapore's denial of democracy stunts progress


Ladies and Gentlemen,

A look at the advanced countries of the world, USA, Canada, Australia, or Finland has one common quality. They are all democracies. Their people are respected, they have free speech and they have the rule of law. For prosperity, it does not matter how much gold you have under the ground; what matters is whether the people are treated with respect and they are given full opportunity to participate in government. Nigeria has more oil than you can imagine. Yet Nigerians are poor because of corruption, mismanagement and disrespect for their citizens.

Singapore suffers because it is not a democracy. Despite government claims, the Lee family which has been in power since 1959 rig the elections. Capable opposition candidates are sued for defamation and removed from politics.

The only way to succeed is to support the Lee government, which any honest person would find hard to do. How do you support a government whose ministers pay themselves $3.7 million a year while the rest of the population have to make do with $2,000 a month or less? How do you support a government that has controlled all news media in the country. How do you respect a government where the judges are all Kangaroo judges who do just what the government wants? How do you support a government which openly discriminates their own Malay and Indian citizens and favors only the Chinese. And if you protest against any of this, they put you in jail.

What happens then is that a large section of the population is simply put off by this nonsense. Malays and Indians, although equal citizens feel the resentment for Chinese preference. Even educated Chinese with a conscience are put off by this sort of blatant injustice.

The end result, the island fails to advance.

Just as in the Soviet Union, the unscrupulous men like Minister K Shanmugam who has the broad grin on his face, standing beside his ethnic Chinese minister colleagues, while they deny jobs to his fellow Indians before his very eyes, and Teo Chee Hean who has only praise for all that his master does, will certainly result in the collapse of such an administration. A government such as this does not support men and women who will say what is good for society. It only supports yes-men just as the ones who surrounded Stalin and the Communist dictators resulting on the certain collapse of their country.

A small tiny island like Singapore, especially so, would need every single person to support and contribute to their country. But if contribution means only parrot like support of government policies and punishment for anyone who prefers to use his head, many capable Singaporeans would want no part of it. As a result the government is starved of real talent which prefers to take their money and their skills to clear out for the West.

Especially for young children, Singapore is a very bad society. Children have to grow up not only being able to do maths and science but more importantly, to be able to think independently without fear. This is not possible in Singapore. The teachers themselves are afraid of their government making sure their children don't get out of line. After their education, they end up capable of doing maths and science but are incapable of realizing that it is better to die a free man than to live like a coolie in Lee Kuan Yew's Singapore.

It is independent thinking that produces the great nations of the world. A brainwashed citizenry only produced the Soviet Unions and North Koreas. Today far too many Russians are trying to leave their country for the West, while far too many Singaporeans are leaving for settlement in the West. No smart person from anywhere, if he had something in his head would choose Singapore.

The real difference between the successful countries like those in Western Europe and the weaker ones like Singapore is this. the former realize that the more freedom and respect they give to their citizens, the better the countries perform, while corrupt nations such as Singapore which steal millions of their taxpayers money to enrich themselves and have courts which has no respect whatsoever for the law, decline.

All Singapore's claim to be one of the richest countries is plain nonsense. What they have is a bunch of embezzlers from China who have stolen millions from state owned companies and parked their money in the island, while the rest of Singaporeans earn no more than $2,000.00 per month. Of course the per capita GDP goes up because of these handful of millionaires but Singaporeans can be hardly called rich by what they get. This sort of deception backfires and hurts the island because the average citizen feels deep resentment at the poor life they lead while these foreign thieves are driving around in Ferraris. With deep bitterness and resentment across the island, it is hard to imagine how a small island such as this, with no more than perhaps 2.5 millions locals can head very far.

The people resent the hypocrisy of the ministers. While they ask Singaporeans to stay behind and not leave, they themselves almost to the last man, have all sent their children abroad for education, after which not a single one returns. I suppose they too know that Singapore education system is not conducive to educating anyone in the true sense.

Gopalan Nair
Attorney at Law
A Singaporean in Exile
Fremont, CA, USA
Tel: 510 491 4375
Email: nair.gopalan@yahoo.com

 

8 comments:

Anonymous said...

LEE KUAN YEW’S LEGACY COMPARED TO NELSON MANDELA’S

The latter has became a fashion icon and an inspiration to those who promote peace, equality and the fight against racism. Young people wear shirts with printouts of Nelson Mandela, products with the Nelson Mandela’s branding and nearly everyone has only but good words for the elderly statesman.

Nelson Mandela’s son did not become the President.
Neither did his daughter-in-law became the CEO of South Africa’s sovereign wealth fund company.

Nelson Mandela did not detain his political opponents without trail for 32 years, nor did he sue his critics into bankruptcy, forcing them to flee the country.
He withdrew from politics when he was 79 years even though Africa still needs his mentorship and trusted advice. Nelson Mandela deserved all the accolades and public tributes for building the foundations of the peaceful and flourishing emerging market.


http://therealsingapore.com/content/lee-kuan-yew%E2%80%99s-legacy-compared-nelson-mandela%E2%80%99s

Anonymous said...

Does anyone know why Lee Kuan Yew was conferred the "Order of The Rising Sun" in 1967 by the Japanese?

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Order_of_the_Rising_Sun

What did Lee Kuan Yew do to earn those "honors"?

Anonymous said...


Neither did his daughter-in-law became the CEO of South Africa’s sovereign wealth fund company.
-----------------
Temasek's numbers are fishy. And it requires using CPF money.

the so-called 580 billion (after netting off TH’s assets) is funded partly by CPF monies which is about 280 billion. about 110% of Sing’s gdp.

that explains why cpf rules have been amended so that people withdraw very little from cpf. coz the portion where cpf is attached to earns a very small return (if positive) in comparison to cpf’s 2.5%

http://www.baldingsworld.com/2013/06/27/what-if-temasek-actually-earned-17/

Anonymous said...

Singapore is about $750 billion short of what it should have if Temasek earned 17% and the remain money earned 5%!

So LKY, where is our money?

Anonymous said...

Singapore's Lee Family and Nepotism

Among other Lee family members who have held high positions in government are the elder Lee’s daughter, Lee Wee Ling, who is director of the National Neurological Institute

His other son, Lee Hsien Yang, was chief executive officer of Singapore Telecommunications from May 1995 until April 2007. He was appointed the chairman of the Civil Aviation Authority of Singapore in 2009.

Ho Ching, Hsien Loong’s wife, has run Temasek Holdings, the sovereign wealth fund controlled by the Singapore Ministry of Finance, since 2002 after serving as president and chief executive officer of the government-owned Singapore Technologies. Although she has been criticized for some disastrous investments, including one in former Thai Prime Minister Thaksin Shinawatra’s Shin Corp that Fortune Magazine called a "spectacular misjudgment" as well as several others in flagging western investment banks, she has never been asked to step down.


http://www.asiasentinel.com/index.php?option=com_content&task=view&id=4269&Itemid=396

Anonymous said...


Temasek, which by some measures has an interest in as much as 60 per cent of the Singaporean economy, has been run by PM Lee’s wife, Ho Ching, since 2003.

And her patchy investment record would likely have seen her removed, had she performed similarly in any Western company.

Anonymous said...

Out Of The Haze, A Singapore Spring?


Well worth reading. Won't be reported by the Straits Times.

http://www.theglobalmail.org/feature/out-of-the-haze-a-singapore-spring/646/

Anonymous said...

K Shanmugan, the Law Minister is going to sue anyone who shares this article.

So, we all know what we must do. SHARE IT!!!!

http://www.theglobalmail.org/feature/out-of-the-haze-a-singapore-spring/646/


http://spuddings.net/2013/06/27/midnight-phone-calls/