tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8081742307252789733.post16931286936526252..comments2024-02-14T04:53:18.295-08:00Comments on Singapore Dissident: Singapore's Lee Kuan Yew's childrenGopalan Nairhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/15399145588654603667noreply@blogger.comBlogger4125tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8081742307252789733.post-64142027162535407402010-06-13T01:44:24.951-07:002010-06-13T01:44:24.951-07:00It has been half a century of one-party government...It has been half a century of one-party government now and today a tiny fraction of Singaporean society has all the champagne and oysters for itself in our very own meritocratic Animal Farm. Isn't it nice that Orwell proved correct? Years have passed, and the pigs have learned to walk upright, carry whips, and wear clothes. Indeed,<i> "All animals are equal, but some animals are far, far, more equal than others."</i> <br /><br />As you eloquently point out the rest of Lee's children have lost their rights as human beings without quite realising the extent of their loss, bedazzled and blinded by the flashy concrete and glass facade and always the promise of jam tomorrow. They act like beggars marvelling at their good fortune at living in a futuristic city (paid for with their own money) ruled by a benevolent leader - whilst grovelling in the dustbins for sustenance. <br /><br />Today the elderly and infirm must be smiling with weary bitterness as they man toilets, clear tables, scavenge the streets for scrap..... enjoying what Lee's lawyer, Davinder Singh, smugly called <i>'the dignity of labour'</i> in the twilight of their years, thanks to the excellent governance of the <b>People's</b> Action Party. Even that meagre survival lifeline has been snatched away from them and increasingly now, middle class professionals, by the Cheaper! Better! Faster! dogma that floods the labour market with hungry foreign mercenaries willing to slave for less. There, but for the grace of God, go you and I.<br /><br />And what of the hapless citizen's final line of defence - the supposedly supreme law of the Singapore Constitution? In the words of an acerbic French critic, <i>"I am sitting in the smallest room in my house. I have your document before me. Now it is behind me".</i> Battered and violated by the Cambridge-trained lawyer and his servile disgrace of a judiciary, it is hardly recognisable any longer as a Pledge of any sort against the wanton abuse of power, as the SDP has learned to its cost. It serves as a useful figleaf to cover the hypocritical shouts of the country being a first world democracy. We allowed it to come to this?<br /><br />In the face of such untrammelled power, what can people do? Really, the choices boil down to only two: fight or flee. Apart from the brave few (you know who you are), it appears that Singaporeans have tacitly chosen the latter.<br /><br />In his preface Orwell also described what gave him the idea of setting the book on a farm:<br /><br /><i>...I saw a little boy, perhaps ten years old, driving a huge carthorse along a narrow path, whipping it whenever it tried to turn. It struck me that if only such animals became aware of their strength we should have no power over them, and that men exploit animals in much the same way as the rich exploit the proletariat.</i><br /><br />He concluded, <b><i>"How easily totalitarian propaganda can control the opinion of enlightened people in democratic countries."</i></b> <br /><br />George Orwell, the children of Lee Kuan Yew salute your prescience.mycroftnoreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8081742307252789733.post-47239215057064846282010-06-12T13:03:14.705-07:002010-06-12T13:03:14.705-07:00Dear Mr Nair,
Many thanks for your posting. Hope y...Dear Mr Nair,<br />Many thanks for your posting. Hope you are all well. <br /><br />A quote by a Greek Historian:<br />"The secret of happiness is freedom. The secret of freedom is courage."<br /><br />For those singaporeans who left their country for the pursue of happiness and a better life, I salute to all of you for having the courage. I too have left my birth place. Singapore is no longer my home.Anonymousnoreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8081742307252789733.post-13073038978581304402010-06-12T06:06:17.178-07:002010-06-12T06:06:17.178-07:00Singapore has reached a point in "advancement...Singapore has reached a point in "advancement" that it needs more independent minds and thinkers to bring itself into the REAL FIRST WORLD.<br /><br />But with the official FOUNDER of Singapore still alive, he will not have such thing, because of that SOCIAL CONTRACT with the islanders. Thus, retarding Singapore's future growth.<br /><br />I expect RETARDED Singapore will now need to reduce itself to a CASINO of CHINA to survive as China move up the technology ladder to do Singaporeans' jobs.<br /><br />Have you heard of the new record attempt to put a 16yo Singaporean girl in a boat to sail solo around the world? Well, I have not. They are still headhunting for a suitable candidate from America. Ha Ha (Humour)Roaring Fortiesnoreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8081742307252789733.post-81489478333686136312010-06-12T01:24:35.777-07:002010-06-12T01:24:35.777-07:00The atheists in Singapore could question the infal...The atheists in Singapore could question the infallible God why can't they question the fallible Harry Lee?!!<br /><br /><br />RenaldiAnonymousnoreply@blogger.com