Wednesday, June 20, 2007

Singapore. Education hub? Biotechonology hub? Casino hub? But are we actually getting anywhere?

Ladies and Gentlemen,

It is interesting reading the Singapore state controlled newspaper. Today it may say, Singapore is turning into being an education hub. Next week, it will say biotechnology hub. Following week, it is medical services hub. Following week some other hub.

At the same time, the Singapore state controlled newspaper will tell you that so and so foreign conglomerate has set up shop in Singapore. Good news. That Singapore and India has signed an agreement for banking services. You know what I mean. The good news in the Singapore state controlled press keeps flowing non stop.

The Singapore dictatorship of the Lee Kuan Yew family would therefore want you to believe that life in Singapore could not have been any better.

Is it really?

But what are Singaporeans life experiences today. For one, I have heard that despite all this supposedly good news emanating from the State Controlled press, and despite receiving handsome salary increases, the Singapore Civil Service, the Police Force and ALL other government agencies are having recruitment problems. Singaporeans, it appears do not wish to serve the Singapore government! Has anyone asked why? If it is as rosy as all this, why do people refuse to work for the government?

The answer is one of integrity. One of credibility. You see, no matter which way you look at it, Singaporeans too have some dignity, some conscience, some decency. Take the law for instance. Singaporeans are aware that the judiciary is discredited because it is used to distort the law and eliminate the opposition. Both the parents and their children do not wish them to enter the Singapore legal service or the legal profession as they do not wish to become an instrument for Lee's repression.

So they refuse to join the legal service, the civil service and government positions. They refuse not because the pay is bad. They refuse because they do not wish to spend a career in doing evil to please Lee Kuan Yew.

Second, all these so called hubs have failed. But the State Controlled press makes no mention of these failures. Take the education hub for instance. You have heard that many foreign universities that had ideas to open branches in Singapore have all opted out. It comes as no surprise, since why should any institution of learning want to set up in Singapore where you are not permitted even to excercise your fundamental human rights, such as free speech! By the way, Chinese students are not coming to Singapore as they did in the past. They too realise that if studying in Singapore is no different from studying in China, since both are dictatorships, they might as well remain in China. In fact, now, Chinese students are heading in droves to UK colleges which is now their favorite destination. One can see why, of course. They have the money now, and can afford the best education.

Biotech hub, I understand is also dead. No need to come to Singapore to do their research since they can to it in Carnegie Mellon University in Pittsburgh. What is the need for Singapore. None. So the Singapore biopolis has also quietly died a natural death.

The Singapore disk drive industry has long ago died a natural death. If you can produce such equipment at 1/3 the price in Jakarta or Manila, what need is there for Singapore.

And then you look at Singaporeans. Not one, mind you, not one, Singaporean has any love for his country. They are emigrating in droves. Why, when according to the state controlled press, it cannot be any better? Well, it is simply because the state controlled press is nothing more than propaganda. It should be obvious to anyone that it is so, since it is, as the name suggests, a state controlled paper.

More bad news. Babies are not being born. The population is regressing, declining, shrinking, disappearing, going, going going, and gone! To overcome that the Singapore government brings in foreign workers whom they conveniently call foreign talent, despite the fact that many of them have no talent at all!

But the so called foreign talent, more correctly termed foreign mediocre, themselves have no interest in Singapore. These are people who have failed to emigrate to to their first choice destinations such as Australia and New Zealand. Having no other choice, they come to Singapore. And they come being fully aware that it is a dictatorship run under Lee's orders. No freedom of speech. Where chewing gum is banned and people are caned, whipped and strangled by hanging! Not a country to stay very long in! So they stay for a few years, and leave faster than when they came.

Since there is no local industry to speak of and since anyone able to leave Singapore have all gone, what is there in Singapore now? Well you have tourism. The island itself is nothing more than an amusement park. So you have people working in the service industries serving the tourists.

What else? You have the ubiquitous multi national companies with small offices in the city servicing their trading in the area. In these offices, the rest of Singaporeans, who are not working in the tourist industry, have their jobs. They are local Singapore females who serve as secretaries to European managers. Basically stenographers and secretaries. Nothing more than that.

And the rest work in the food industry. Food stalls. Where the European tourists go to eat.

What else? I don't see much more.

And why has Singapore fallen to these depths? The main reason is the arrogance of this dictator Lee Kuan Yew. Since he has decided on what sort of hubs Singapore is going to become, and no one else is permitted to think, what else do you expect? The thinkers have all gone to Australia. What is left are the "yes men", or those who have deliberately discarded their thinking caps, leaving Lee to decide what sort of hub is Singapore going to be next.

Gopalan Nair
39737 Paseo Padre Parkway, Suite A1
Fremont, CA 94538, USA
Tel: 510 657 6107
Fax: 510 657 6914
Email: gopalnair@us-immigrationlaw.com

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