Singapore. Lee's sidekick Law Minister K Shanmugam clever attempt to hide unequal treatment in the courts

Ladies and Gentlemen,

Not too long ago, a well connected Singapore doctor, who funnily calls himself "Woffles" Wu, was caught twice cheating the Singapore Traffic Police by paying someone else to admit to driving over the speed limit for him.

Besides being a clown for choosing a name like that, Woffles of all things, this doctor is a downright crook who in any other place would not only be severely punished but would have his medical license struck off. You see, in any other place, which has an honest government and a judiciary that believes in the rule of law, a professional like a doctor is held at a higher standard of responsibility from others, for a very good reason; a highly educated man such as that is expected to know better.

But we see time and time again, that that sort of reasoning does not apply to Singapore, where the more money and influence you have, the better you are treated.

So in this case, where the offense was serious and egregious where especially in this case, committed by a doctor no less, he should have been sent to jail for a considerable period, his driving privileges removed and his medical license should be at least suspended.

Not in this Singapore case. Woffles Wu, not surprisingly, was given a small fine and let off without more.

Even in a place like Singapore where the people have been so intimidated by the Lee Kuan Yew family into accepting without complaint anything that happens, it was surprising that there were a number of bloggers who voiced their outcry against this judicial corruption; nothing short of Kangaroo courts.

Singapore’s Lee ruling family not only demand that they and their courts should be allowed to do anything, they also insist that no one should complain about it as well. When a blogger who calls himself Alex Au (he, an ethnic Chinese, has a real Chinese name which for some reason he rather not use) wrote of this shameless injustice, the Attorney General promptly demanded that he remove the offending material and forthwith apologize failing which he will be sued.

Now you know what happens when the Lee government sues you of course. As sure as the sun rises, you will lose, made to pay several hundreds of thousands in damages and bankrupted. You will be lucky if you are not jailed as well. So understandably this man immediately apologized, removed his blog post and timidly asked this almightily government if he could do anything more if it pleases them. Had Lee demanded that he do 3 somersaults and bend over backwards, I suppose he would have gladly done that too.

Quite clear that the Singapore population is not impressed by the government’s repeated claims that they have an independent judiciary, especially since innocent men such as Chee Soon Juan and JB Jeyaretnam have been sued bankrupted and jailed for just being law abiding citizens, K Shanmugam, Lee's sidekick decided to make a speech in parliament claiming there was no bias in the Woffles Case.

See Straits times Report of Aug 13, 2012 headed "Judgment in Woffles Wu case in line with previous cases: Shanmugam"

Shanmugam's speech was nothing but a clear attempt to mislead Parliament. What else can you expect when the judicial misuse is so glaring? The newspaper report says he had "presented six cases where drivers had committed the same offence and were fined".

But he very cleverly fails to mention who these 6 people are, and very cleverly again fails to mention the other innumerable cases of ordinary people who were jailed and disqualified from driving for the same offense.

Sure, if he were to tell you who these 6 drivers were, which he has conveniently failed to do, you would very probably find that they are all highly connected government cronies who as a matter of general understanding in Lee's Singapore enjoy preferential treatment in the law courts.

And I am sure, if he would have told you the details of the numerous other ordinary people who were jailed and disqualified from driving for doing the same thing, you would see the glaring shameless double standards in Lee's one party totalitarian police state, which is, one law for the well connected and another for the ordinary Singaporean ethnic Chinese, Ah Meng (the Singapore equivalent of the ordinary Englishman Joe Blokes).

Of course K Shanmugam can say anything he wants in his master's parliament about anything and everything with no consequence one way or another. After all if you own the island and it's people, you can do and say anything you want with them and about them with no consequence whatsoever. That is the privilege of running a one party totalitarian police state.  

So much for Lee Kuan Yew's justice in cases where one man pays another to pretend that he committed the driving offense instead of him. “Woffles” Wu I suppose is woffling with glee.

Gopalan Nair
Attorney at Law
Fremont, California, USA
Tel: 510 657 6107 or 510 491 4375

Singapore's Lee Kuan Yew orders his people to have sex

Ladies and Gentlemen,

Below is an article published a few days ago in the Wall Street Journal. In it, Singapore strongman Lee Kuan Yew, worried over Singapore's continuing record of the lowest birth rate in the world, 1.07, has descended into desperate measures; asking people to have more sex, because the island's native population will disappear completely at this rate within the next 20 years! http://online.wsj.com/article/SB10000872396390443545504577567052477900124.html

I don't think Lee gets it.

Merely asking people to have more sex will not achieve the objective of more babies. Raising a family needs more serious consideration.

The reason why Singaporeans simply refuse to have families and raise children should be obvious.

First you have a dictatorship, not a democracy. No freedom of speech, no freedom of expression, no rule of law and the slightest criticism can mean libel suits against you before his Kangaroo courts, bankruptcy and lifelong repression and victimization.

Take an obvious case. Dr. Chee Soon Juan, an open critic of the Lee Ruling Family and his dictatorship was thrown out of his job as professor at the National University of Singapore, sued for millions of dollars and bankrupted, and prohibited from leaving the island. Today he ekes a living by selling his own books. We can all see that Chee is no criminal. On the contrary, he is a highly educated Singapore patriot. Yet this is what happens if anyone dares criticize Lee or his family. This sort of thing discredits Singapore and reduces it to an Iraq under Saddam Hussain.

Take my own case. I was an opposition politician in Singapore. But when I openly said so, I was repeatedly punished through false lawyer disciplinary charges, sent to jail and recently disbarred from practicing law in Singapore. Yet not a single person could honestly say that I deserved any of this. Of course none of this really affects me, since I practice law in California and Lee Kuan Yew has been unwilling, understandably so, to demand that the California Bar take action against me as well.

But I continue to be a thorn on the side of the Lee Ruling Family through this blog, and it is anyone's guess how much it has contributed to his ongoing problems of an almost non existent birth rate and mounting and massive rates of emigration to the West.

Singapore is purely and simply a totalitarian police state and people do not want to raise families in such a police state. It should be as simple as that.  

If all this is not enough to discourage people from raising families, it deliberately and vigorously discriminates against Singaporeans in favor of foreigners in their own country. You may find this hard to believe but it is true. A foreigner can fly into Singapore’s Changi Airport, anytime, look for a job and get hired the next day, regardless of Singaporeans being unemployed. To justify this injustice, the government calls this "market forces" a completely unjustified and ridiculous explanation.

With Singapore’s birth rate so law, in fact the lowest in the world, Lee vigorously promotes immigration to Singapore from Communist China (noone else wants to come). As a result of the huge numbers of these foreigners, Singapore’s social values and ethos has now almost become that of these Communist Chinese, who have no understanding of what freedom means and their only purpose in life is to make money, in however disgraceful manner.

Singapore’s British heritage of the rule of law and fair play are replaced by the character of these Mainland Chinese who have no sense of any of this, since they bend for the Chinese emperor or rather, the Communist Party.

The last thing that I would want is to have to live in a society peopled by Chinese from China who live their lives in obedience to their Communist Party rulers. This is all they know.

If Lee wants to encourage people to have more babies, it is not enough merely to put out a video and ask people to have sex, as he has done. Any fool can tell you that. He has to create a society in which people feel safe; where a citizen knows that there is the rule of law; that he will not be discriminated against; where if he finds himself in bad times, the government would give a helping hand; a society which does not discriminate against the Malays and Indians who are equal citizens; a society in which it is safe to have diverse views about politics and a society which will not turn you into a JB Jeyaretnam or Chee Soon Juan just because you criticized.

Singapore has descended into Lee's banana republic. And that is the reason why people are not having children. This trend will continue and Singapore’s birth rate will decline even further. Telling people to have more sex is not going to do the trick.

Gopalan Nair
Attorney at Law
Fremont, California, USA
Tel 510 657 6107 or 510 491 4375

Singapore Prime Minister's (Lee Kuan Yew's son) national day fairy tale

Ladies and Gentlemen,

Every year, on the island's national day, August 9th, the Lee Ruling Family's subjects are given a speech, televised island wide at primetime, of how good it was so far, and how much rosier it is going to get, all due to the kindness and unbounded wisdom of this great family. This year was no different. I listened to it.

It is no different in North Korea. There too, every year without fail, depending on whether it was Kim Jong Il or his father or the new ruler Kim Jong An, the same line is given without fail.

But frankly, as to whether it has any worth, the answer is a simple zero. It is just simply words without any meaning at all. Like it is every year in North Korea and Singapore, with one difference; you cannot leave the country in North Korea, you can in Singapore. Which is why the island whose subjects have been so bored with this nonsense year after year that they can't take it anymore; which is why Singapore island has the highest rate of emigration in the world, the lowest fertility rate in the world and one of the largest populations of imported Chinese migrants from China who are now poised to overtake the local population.

Let's call Lee's son, the son. The son's speech has a large component which urges Singaporeans to sink their roots in Singapore, develop a sense of love for their country and strive to improve it. It is this part of his speech where he finds the greatest difficulty because his actions really do not persuade anyone to think this way at all.

Firstly you have a situation in the island where any foreigner can come to Singapore and take on a job and instantly thereafter obtain residency and citizenship in quick succession, with total disregard to the local’s interests. With this sort of stupid policy, how does he expect any native Singaporean to have any love or patriotism for his country, where in essence, a foreigner, who has done nothing for Singapore is in many respects treated better than him!

Second you have an island where not everyone is equal. Like in Orwell's Animal Farm, 4 legs are good but 2 legs are better. The ones with 2 legs of course are the Lee Ruling Family, their extended family and friends. All of them are above the law, are entitled to be as corrupted as they want and can take salaries unheard in any other place in the world, literally millions. I wonder whether the late Mobutu of the Congo took as much in diamonds but your guess is as good as mine.

And then you have Kangaroo courts which take orders from the Family who are in a position to turn any completely lawful activity into the most heinous crime or the slightest criticism into the libel of the century! The result, the next instant, at a nod of the son, you become bankrupted and removed from circulation so to speak. In other words, if you dare criticize, now you are here, the next instant you are history.  

In Singapore today you have a morally corrupt society. Even today in their state controlled newspapers, there is another story of adult men caught sleeping with young girls for large sums of money, and there appears a limitless supply of customers and girls for this crime. As for the government, this sort of activity is really not frowned upon. In most cases, they get either a fine or in worst cases a week’s jail. After that they do it again and, in the unlikely event they get caught, go to jail for perhaps 2 weeks this time. Of course, being pedophiles, and their numbers are increasing, they do it all the time but these reported cases only appear on the rare occasions when they get caught.

As for the Tamils in the island, although citizens, they are as good as extinct. With undisguised discrimination against Tamils and Malays, the Lee Ruling Family who are ethnic Chinese bring in plane loads of their own race from China to deliberately drive out the last remaining Tamil or Malay. From the once 50% of the population which they had, today the Tamils form only 8% and the Malays hardly 13%. Very soon both the races will disappear.

If Singaporeans had a say in their country, none of this would have happened. Casinos with their consequent crime and the ubiquitous dreaded loan sharks would not have existed; the government would not have been in a position to discriminate against their own people this way and people would have had more loyalty and respect for their country.

Today with the government in effect telling the people to switch off their minds and simply do as they are told, anyone with any ability feels insulted and neglected. So what do they do; they simply ignore and stop participating in any policy making process. In the end the only ones the government can rely on are the sycophants and bootlickers that you find in any other dictatorship in the world, simply opportunists who sing praises to the King for financial again. This is better described as corruption.

The end result is a government who continue doing whatever they want to do for a people who simply wait for orders. You don't find the active participation in government by the people that you see in any Western country. That is why in Western countries, their citizens feel a part of their society, are loyal to it, and feel a sense of pride and self respect.

In Singapore, people with independent minds and capable of earning a living anywhere, simply pack up and leave. What is left behind are trumpeters who trumpet the King (the Lee Ruling Family) hoping that they will be thrown some crumbs (better described as bribes) for their loyalty to the King (the Lee Family).

Gopalan Nair
Attorney at Law
Fremont, California, USA
Tel: 510 657 6107 or 510 491 4375

Singapore. Has anyone seen 90 year old Singapore dictator, Lee Kuan Yew

Ladies and Gentlemen,

I have written many blog posts on the danger of the 90 year old Lee Kuan Yew dying. Every single dictatorship in the world suffers from the same problem. In every single country with dictators, of which Singapore is surely one, the entire country revolves around one man, the dictator.

Although the sun does not rise every morning because of him, almost every thing else is. The business runs because of him, investments come in because of him, the stability of the country is because of him, and the buses run because of him, people live in the island because of him. It is he alone, the one man who has been in power continuously since 1959 (although he may want to deny it), even longer than Fidel Castro, is the very reason why Singapore exists.

Of course those in the establishment who are afraid of this truth would say that his son is now the boss, but nothing can be further from the truth. Everyone knows that Lee Kuan Yew's son is simply nothing. He is where he is because of his father and when the father goes he will be nothing. And so will every other bootlicking prostrators like dogs at the feet of Lee Kuan Yew today, such as the Tamil Minister K Shanmugam, the sidekick Teo Chee Hean and the blubbering Vivian Balakrishnan. All these characters are where they are because they are prepared to lick boots. And when the boots are gone, and there is nothing left to lick, they too will disappear, very probably abroad, leaving Singaporeans in the lurch.

We haven't seen the 90 year old Lee Kuan Yew for a bit. The last I heard he couldn’t walk. We don't know if he is dead, bed ridden, paralyzed or demented. If you are not worried about this, you should be. If Lee is gone, I predict the stock market to immediately take a plunge, the property prices to do the same, and the Singapore dollar to become worthless.

So you may want to do a couple of things now, before it is too late. Find out what has happened to the 90 year old dictator. And if the situation looks precarious, take your money, your bags and your families and get out now. Go to Australia, Canada or anywhere else where you could cut your losses. Singapore is not a place to be in without the dictator. I hate to say this, but unfortunately it is true.

Gopalan Nair
Attorney at Law
Fremont, California
Tel 510 657 6107 or 510 491 4375

Singapore. Increasing anger against foreigners.

Ladies and Gentlemen,

Singapore Lee Ruling Party's open door overly generous, harebrained policy of allowing huge numbers of foreigners to come to Singapore and take away jobs from Singaporeans is simply crazy. The present policy, believe it or not, allows any foreigner to simply come for a visit, while at his hotel look up the local newspapers for a job, get hired the next day, and become a Singapore resident instantly; as simple as that.

What did they think native Singaporeans would do when they end up unemployed in their own country because someone else from another country just walked in yesterday and took away his job? And that is exactly what is happening in these hare brained policies of the Lee Ruling Family whom it appears have their brains in their posterior.

For those who may find what is happening in Singapore simply incredulous, let me say this again. What I am saying here is true. Check it out yourself.

The Singapore government is not interested to know that that thousands of Singaporeans may be unemployed. As long as the employer prefers the foreigner, it is, according to Singapore’s Lee Ruling Family, entirely up to him. In order to justify this nonsense, the government line is "market forces". It may be a good idea for someone to tell the father and son Lee family team who run Singapore, that this is not what "market forces" mean, but who dares to do it, when they could sue you, win and bankrupt you any time they want in their Kangaroo Courts.

If that is bad enough, in fact it gets even worse. The companies themselves are owned by foreigners who are given instant licenses to do business. And after they had set up shop, a Chinese medicine shop, for instance, will almost always employ Chinese from China, especially if the job applicant had come from his local village in Guangdong! And while all this is going on, the Singaporean local native waits half starved because the foreigner had taken his job, in his own country! How about that!

You see how bad it is. In Lee Kuan Yew's Singapore there is completely no advantage in being Singaporean. In fact it is far better to be a foreigner in Singapore as far as jobs are concerned. You get a job anytime you want and leave for home country anytime you want.

You don't need to have rocket science brains to know that this sort of policy will anger the natives.

And to make matters worse, this mass migration of foreigners into Singapore to take Singaporeans jobs, in a small island jam packed like sardines with 5.2 million people living in close proximity in high rise apartments can cause tempers to rise when they meet.

The Straits Times, their state controlled local newspapers has several articles each day of a local beating up an old lady in a commuter bus for a seat, a foreigner hurling vulgarities and abuse at locals calling them no better than dogs, a Chinese recent arrival going around swearing at Malays and Indians and calling them “black boys” and so on.

These clashes which are turning increasingly violent between locals and foreigners are liable to escalate in no time in a full scale island wide racial riot.

No one wants to see something like this, and as I am a proponent of non violence in the philosophy of Mahatma Gandhi, I cannot in all honesty justify any violence against anyone, not even a fly, but that does not mean I cannot understand this sort of ugliness when it happens.

I can only predict that as time advances this sort of violent confrontations across the island can only increase.

And the cause of this degradation of Singaporean society and rampant racial hatred is the responsibility entirely of the Lee Ruling Family, father and son team, who thought that they alone know best about everything; no need for consultation, no need for dialogue, no need for advice; as after all they know everything that they need to know anyway. You can say, it is like the King Frog in his well.

It is this sort of arrogance on the part of the Lee Ruling Family that is the cause of all Singapore's problems. Today it has the highest migration rate with people leaving Singapore in record numbers. People are not having any babies. The old are dying and not being replaced except by even more immigrants. The law has degraded is discredited. No one respects the government. There is no sense of fair play and equality. The rich walk away with murder while the poor are sent to jail for extended periods. The rich are paid a hundred times what the poor are paid. The income gap in Singapore is one of the highest in the world.

For a good write up on the increasing violence against foreigner in the island please see "Anger against open door policy" dated July 28, 2012 and "Singaporeans teetering on short fuse" dated June 30, 2012, both by Seah Chiang Nee in the Malaysian, The Star newspaper.

Next time a stupid new immigrant from China tells you off, give him a real telling off, short of violence. I do not advocate violence. But I don't see anything wrong in reminding this recent arrival, in the strongest terms possible under the law, that he is not wanted in Singapore that he should keep his mouth shut and get out to wherever he came from this instant. He should be reminded that Singaporeans need the jobs and he is not welcome because he is taking them from the Singaporeans.

Gopalan Nair
Attorney at Law
Fremont, California, USA
Tel: 510 657 6107 or 510 491 4375

Singapore, a new Asian hub for pedophiles

Ladies and Gentlemen,

Almost daily, Singapore's state controlled newspapers report headlines of numerous people being arrested for having sex with children, mostly girls, as young as 10 years of age.

Most of these children are usually either children of recent Chinese immigrants, Vietnamese or other Asian countries who stand to make big money from prostitution. But the corrupting effect has brushed over local too and many native born Singaporean girls as young as 13 are entering the business.

Unlike other Western countries which have very harsh laws against this sort of thing, Singapore treats them very leniently indeed; usually a small fine and no more. And after having paid the fine, they suffer no other requirements. In fact it would be no surprise if after paying their small fines they continue abusing other children with almost impunity.

In California for instance, long jail terms are meted out to these monsters. In fact jail terms can extend to several years depending on the seriousness of the charges.

And after they have completed their sentences, they are always required to register as sex offenders in web sites, which would mean that their identity, photographs and particulars would be publicly exposed. Other penalties include the prohibition against residing in any location near schools or places where children frequent.

As you can see the consequences of a conviction for child sexual abuse are not only far reaching, they are permanent. In fact their lives would be changed permanently forever. It would be hard for them to find jobs, find a place to live and going on with their normal daily lives will involve shame and rejection from all quarters.

And that is how it should be.

As for Singapore, it is almost a pedophile's paradise. Just a slap on the wrist for sleeping with a 10 year old girl and being able to do it again and again with almost impunity.

Anyone engaged in pedophile tours should seriously consider Singapore as a favorite destination. As the Lee Ruling Family continues to boast of Singapore being numerous imaginary hubs, such as transport hub, money laundering hub, gambling hub and so on; perhaps it is time to add one more feather to their caps. Premier Asian child sexual abuse hub for pedophiles. How’s that.

Gopalan Nair
Attorney at Law
Fremont, California, USA
Tel: 510 657 6107 or 510 491 4375

Singapore. Why the Singapore judge was right on the Hougang case.

Ladies and Gentlemen,

Today’s state controlled newspapers carry headlines on the case of the Hougang woman suing the Government of Singapore for their delay in not holding by elections soon after that parliamentary seat because vacant when the incumbent was fired for extra marital affairs.

The case is well known and I need not go into the details.

The woman is represented by lawyer M Ravi.

The woman, as I understand it was in her law suit principally requesting that the court make a ruling that the Prime Minister "does not have unfettered discretion" on deciding when or if ever to call a by election in Hougang.

From the start the woman had no leg to stand on. It was a lost cause to begin with.

Firstly neither the Constitution nor the Parliamentary Elections Act makes any reference as to when a by election should be held. Since the law of Singapore, at least in theory (we know in practice Lee Ruling Family do whatever they want), is based on statute and furthermore, as there are no precedent case law on the issue under Singapore  law, no such requirement on the Prime Minister exists.

Second, even if the court relies on English law, since under the Civil Law Act of Singapore, the applicable law when in doubt is the law of England; no such requirement exists even in England. Although under customary law and tradition there, the House of Commons would normally hold by elections within 3 months, nowhere does it state even in England that the Prime Minister should hold elections.

Of course England being a multi party democracy, the English people would have been up in arms if no elections were held there, but going principally on the law, the Hougang woman has simply no case because even English law gives her no help.

And lastly, courts are required only to try triable issues, and not make policy or laws. Here as far as the grievance of the Hougang woman is concerned, on the facts, she has no case since there is no law or statute that supports her. As to her demand that the court make such a finding, about the “unfettered discretion” this is not the duty of any court, not even in Singapore or anywhere in the world.

Her only recourse in ensuring that the Singapore Prime Minister is required to hold elections within 3 months by law is to pressure Singapore Parliament and her politicians to change the law of the land to state this.

But she cannot go to court and compel a judge to declare that the Prime Minister is required to hold elections in vacant wards since Singapore law does not require this; and the judge is not a politician to make such a law.

This is one case which should never have been brought to court. I am sure the poor citizen of Hougang in whose name the action is brought hasn't the faintest clue about any of this. The responsible party in this case is her lawyer M Ravi. If he failed to inform his client that there is no merit whatsoever in this case, then he has failed in his duty. And he has also failed in his duty if he did not make the necessary basic research, which had he done so, he would have discovered to have no merit at all. And lastly if he knew that the case had no merit and went ahead nevertheless, he has once again failed.  

Under Singapore laws the costs are awarded to the successful party. In this case the costs should be ordered payable by her lawyer M Ravi and not by the litigant. The fault in commencing this action is totally that of the lawyer, who is expected to know better, which he would have, had he done basic research.

All this is stated very clearly in Erskine May, the established authority on English Parliamentary practice.

Goopalan Nair
Attorney at Law
Fremont, CA, USA
Tel 510 657 6107 or 510 491 4375