For recently dead Lee Kuan Yew's authoritarian government now under the sole grip of his son minus his father, the unthinkable may have happened.
2 young Singaporean protestors between the ages of 24 and 25 have been arrested for peacefully protesting outside Singapore's Istana, ( Lee Kuan Yew's son's palace) holding signs reading "Injustice" and "You can't silence the people".
According to the Hong Kong newspaper, Asian Correspondent, of April 05, 2015, "Police arrested 2 men aged between 24 and 25 on Saturday afternoon (April 4) as they held up placards outside the Istana in a peaceful protest against the government. They were apparently protesting the government's repression of free speech. The placards read "Injustice" and "You can't silence the people". Please see article here http://asiancorrespondent.com/131901/arrest-two-peaceful-protesters-questions-freedom-of-assembly-singapore/. See pictures below.
Had this been told to foreigners not accustomed to Lee Kuan Yew's Alice in Wonderland island, they may be wondering what was all the fuss about anyway? After all they were only peaceful protesters and they never hurt anyone. There wasn't any mass murder. Why arrest them, or even report it?
But we are not talking about any other country. We are talking about Lee Kuan Yew's Singapore were all Constitutional rights have been abrogated. There is no longer freedom of speech, no freedom of expression, no right to peaceful protests, no independent newspapers and no rule of law. It is another North Korea.
In addition, Lee Kuan Yew's son, like his father is one of the most corrupt political leaders in the world. They pay themselves, all their relatives both near and distant $3.7 million a year each and much more besides and if anyone called them corrupt, they would sue in their Kangaroo courts and bankrupt them. They are the most highly paid political leaders in the world running their tiny island which gets even tinier at high tide or flood.
Under these circumstances, naturally, given the right to peacefully protest, with more than enough cloth to protest about, every single Singaporean would protest and the Lees, their relatives and cronies would certainly be overthrown the next day.
And this is the main reason why they can never allow protests, one thing they are literally terrified about, because if they do, they would be history.
For selfish self preservation reasons, the Lees have disallowed all forms of protests anywhere in the island.
The only place this is allowed in the island is a small patch of grass which they conveniently call Speakers Corner at a secluded part of downtown Singapore.
To demand that all protests regardless of their nature be held at this one tiny spot of grass is not only illegal, it also insults your intelligence.
For instance, what good is protesting for freedom at Speakers Corner where no one can see or hear you and where it makes no sense to hold it.
Naturally you would want to hold it at the Istana, or Parliament House or downtown Raffles Place during busy lunch hour where you can be seen and heard. But this is exactly what they don't want you to do.
These 2 young men who have protested in front of the Istana are very courageous men in the Singaporean sense.
Most Singaporeans are innately afraid to the bone and their courage so far has extended only to complaining anonymously on the Internet where they cannot be identified, to avoid being in any trouble.
These 2 young men have shown that they are by no means the average subjugated Singaporean. They have shown they have some ball. And a great deal of ball.
They have not only defied the government by not holding the protest at Speakers Corner where the government wants you to do, they have also protested knowing they are deliberately and knowingly breaking Lee Kuan Yew's protest laws.
These 2 young men are clearly telling Lee Kuan Yew's son that they are not afraid of him, that he is simply a thug, that his laws against peaceful protests are simply illegal, that they are going to openly defy and disobey him and telling him in no uncertain terms to come and get them if he wants.
Unfortunately for Lee Kuan Yew's son, in recent times, these so far isolated incidents of protest are becoming increasingly more frequent. And this latest protest could not have come at a more unfortunate moment for him.
Only a few months ago Roy Ngerng was sued for defamation when he questioned Lee Kuan Yew's son as to where the state retirement funds are going, as monies were missing. Not knowing what to do with young Roy Ngerng, the government is keeping postponing the case but they know it is not going to go away, and they will have to deal with it. They have stirred a hornets nest. Roy has garnered such universal state wide support that any attempt to come down hard on him may even trigger a rebellion. Roy Ngernag has unwittingly turned into a hot potato for the clueless Lee Kuan Yew's son.
As if that was not bad enough, last week a 16 year old boy called Amos Yee posted an expletive laden video calling recently deceased Lee Kuan Yew "a horrible person" and no better that the dictator Josef Stalin with a drawing of him having sex with another equally horrible woman Margaret Thatcher, the iron lady of England.
Having no other choice and pushed to a corner, the poor clueless son of Lee Kuan Yew has had him arrested too but once again Yee has managed to cultivate not only island wide support but also international support with cries of foul getting louder all over the world. He has, for Lee Kuan Yew's son, become an even more of a hot potato and they are at a loss what to do with him as well.
If all this was not bad enough for the Lee dictatorship, now this. 2 protesters outside the Istana demanding their freedom in open defiance to Lee's laws.
The way I look at it, the game is lost for the government of Lee Kuan Yew's descendants. They are in a fix. They are in a quandary. They are in a bog, a quagmire from which they don't know how to get out.
If they come down hard on Roy Ngerng, Amos Yee and these 2 latest protesters and send them to prison, it would only cause more outrage among the young Singaporeans who are now increasing demanding their freedom and cannot be stopped.
On the other hand, if they simply ignored them, the public will think they have gone soft and will protest even more. The government has no favorable option because either way they lose and freedom wins.
I have all along written in this blog that with Lee Kuan Yew's demise, this administration, the way it is run, simply cannot survive. You simply cannot suppress the aspirations of an educated young population the way they do. If their answer to this is force and even more force, it will result in the collapse of the economy and the island. There will be instability and an immediate economic collapse.
As for this government, they simply are not in a position to allow democracy, because they have too many skeletons in their cupboard. Democracy would result in demands for the audit of Lee Kuan Yew's accounts, his son's accounts, that of his wife and every other relative of his and their conies, all paid millions, which is going to reveal corruption on a massive scale.
Other than the politicians we have the corruption of the judges, the abuse of the law and the preferential treatment of PAP supporters. These descendants of Lee Kuan Yew simply cannot allow protests which leaves them the only option of repression and more repression followed by a cycle of more and more democratic demands.
I congratulate these 2 young men who have protested. I urge even more young men and women who love Singapore to come out and break these unjust laws. Remember, this is the only honorable thing to do. And also you become famous overnight the moment you get arrested the way Roy Ngerng and Amos Yee have become. Remember there are laws and there are unjust laws. Unjust laws need not be obeyed and any attempt to punish you would bring disgrace not to you but to this government not only locally and internationally. As for you, you become heroes.
Citizens of Singapore should consider each law and ask the question whether the law is just or rational. Peaceful protestors holding a placard anywhere are not harming anyone, they are not obstructing anyone and they are no threat to security. And any law making such actions illegal are themselves illegal. Any Singaporean judge who simply punishes you by saying this is illegal under the law is an ass, not a judge. He is in fact a Kangaroo judge.
I am overjoyed of the news of these 2 brave protesters. Once again my congratulations. I would ask you not to plead guilty in court and demand a trial in which you should proudly argue that these laws under which you are arrested are simply illegal. If the government goes ahead to punish you, the Internet in Singapore and worldwide would give you even more support and encourage even more protesters to appear.
I think this protest has opened the proverbial floodgates and is the precursor to even more and more public peaceful protests throughout the island. I think what these 2 young men did is right. Don't accommodate this government by protesting at Speakers Corner. Defy them by protesting at the Istana, Parliament House, Raffles Place, Orchard Road and busy areas where your protests will be given the widest publicity, seen and heard. Let's see if the government is going to jail all of you.
These protests would undoubtedly cause a little instability to the island, but this is a price worth paying because it will lead to a more democratic, stable and enduring political system. What you are doing is good for Singapore island, even though it is not good for the Lee Kuan Yew family.
Gopalan Nair
Attorney at Law
A Singaporean In Exile
Fremont, California USA
Tel: 510 491 8525
Email: nair.gopalan@yahoo.com
Facebook: www.facebook.com/singapore.dissident
1 comment:
You may be mistaken about most Singaporeans, sir. From what we've seen in the Amos Lee case, it would seem that many Singaporeans have blind faith in the dead Dictator.
Still, props to the protesters. We need more men like that, as you say.
Post a Comment