Ladies and Gentlemen,
One really wonders what goes on in the minds of the Singapore government officials when they suggest that Singapore is capable of becoming an international legal hub like London and New York!
The Attorney General Mr. Chan Sek Kiong and the Deputy Prime Minister and Law Minister Jayakumar speaking at the International Bar Association Meeting in Singapore a few months ago, actually wanted Singapore to be a place where businesses and individuals from neighboring countries and afar used the Singapore courts to settle their disputes! They said this because, according to them, Singapore has a good legal system and the rule of law!
Wait a minute. Was it Singapore they were talking about?
Did they think even for a moment, with the present abysmal view that the world has on the type of justice being meted out there, would even one foreigner dream of coming within even a mile of the Singapore courts for dispute resolution!
If Mr. Chan Sek Kiong, the Attorney General wants to be told the stark reality of the disappointment of Singapore justice, I will do it. This is the sad state of affairs of the Singapore legal system.
Over the last 40 years, Singapore judges have been used by Lee Kuan Yew to subvert the law to silence JB Jeyaretnam, a prominent opposition politician who is now 82 and only recently reinstated to the Bar after being kept out of law practice nearly a decade!
Singapore courts has been repeatedly misused for the pleasure of Lee Kuan Yew to sue JB Jeyaretnam for defamation when no defamation existed even once. He was ordered to pay astronomical sums of money by the same Singapore courts at the behest of Lee, and being unable to pay, bankrupting him and disbarring him. This had gone on for the last 30 years. And the preferred tool of Lee Kuan Yew to finish of JB Jeyaretnam was the Singapore courts.
While the entire country knows this dirty practice of Lee using the courts; while the judges willingly comply to his despicable requests; to destroy and silence the opposition, does he expect foreigners to bring their cases to these same discredited Singapore courts?
Not only Jeyaretnam but almost all opposition politicians have been destroyed through the misuse of the Singapore courts to please Mr. Lee Kuan Yew. You will recall Mr. Tang Liang Hong, lawyer who was sued and ordered to pay several million dollars by Singapore courts at Lee's behest during the 1997 national elections. Unable to pay, he was bankrupted and driven into exile. He now lives in Melbourne Australia.
Francis Seow, another opposition politician, had been arrested and jailed under the Internal Security Act just because he wanted to contest the elections in 1988. At the orders of Lee Kuan Yew, the police and the Singapore courts have filed several charges against him for tax evasion. He managed to escape and now lives in Boston, Mass.
And of course there is the injustice that was and is being done to Dr. Chee Soon Juan who is presently being persecuted in Court No. 7, Subordinate Courts in yet another politically motivated trumped up charge; a travesty of justice.
There are others of course. M Jufrie; A. Balakrishnan; Wee Han Kim; late Dr. Lee Seow Cho; the falsely labeled Marxist conspirators, who were neither Marxist nor conspirators consisting of 22 or so of them; the list goes on. All this evil is done in Singapore by the Singapore Legal System because Lee Kun Yew wants them done. If there is one country in the world which does not have the rule of law, it has to be Singapore.
It is not that only I know this. Singaporeans know this. The world knows this. Yet the Attorney General of Singapore and the Deputy Prime Minister wants foreigners to come to Singapore to use the Singapore legal system for their disputes, because it has rule of law!
What did they think the foreigners were? Dummies!
The truth is this, which you already know. The Singapore legal system has been discredited by Lee's actions, and it is now beyond repair; beyond redemption. It is a country where the government uses the courts as a tool to stymie any criticism and to sue bankrupt and imprison any dissenters who are bold enough to speak up against Lee.
Even within Singapore, the courts systemically find in favor of the government even in civil cases where the opponent is a private individual.
The criminal law denies a person the right to counsel at the time of arrest but only after the prosecution has completed their investigation. This means by the time the defendant gets a lawyer, he has already confessed under torture. The Singapore code of evidence permits evidence regardless of how it is obtained and there are no laws against illegal searches and seizures and no protection against the use of coerced confessions under torture. What little safeguards there are to protect police excesses are routinely ignored.
I do not know what the legal system in North Korea or Burma is, but I believe that the degree of a lack of checks against police abuses between these countries and Singapore is only a matter of degree.
According to Mr. Philip Alston of the UN, Singapore has the highest rate of executions per capita in the world. It also has the totally unacceptable cruel and unusual punishment of caning (striking the bare buttocks of the prisoner with a stick or cane very hard calculated to cause extreme pain) which draws blood and leaves the poor victim's buttocks in a mass of blood and flesh, even for such minor transgressions as overstaying your visit!
As for executions, they hang people; even small time drug moles like the 22 year old Australian Ngyuen last year who was stupid enough to be caught with a small quantity of drugs at the Singapore Airport.
A barbaric, inhuman country whose judges permit themselves to be used to make favorable verdicts for their master, Lee Kuan Yew.
Yet the Singapore Attorney General and it's Deputy Prime Minister states at the International Bar Association meeting held this year in Singapore that the country is suited to be an international legal hub where international parties decide their legal cases using Singapore courts or arbitrators. What? Are they mad?
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
Friday, November 30, 2007
Letter from Associate Profesor George Dutton, University of California, Los Angeles.
Dear Mr. Nair,
Thanks for writing your blog to get the word out about what is going on in Singapore and the farce of a trial awaiting Chee Soon Juan. I am currently teaching an intro course on Southeast Asian Studies at UCLA (125 students enrolled), and will be lecturing tomorrow on censorship and political restrictions across the region, in which Singapore will feature prominently. Last week the class saw an excerpt from "Singapore Rebel" and so I appreciated your update on Mr. Chee so that I could share it with my class. I spent a year at NUS from 1987-1988, and so saw the ISA being applied at first hand, so to speak, and have tried to follow the situation in S'pore closely since then. Keep up the good work and I'll be following your blog with interest.
Best wishes,
George Dutton
________________________________________
George Dutton
Chair, Southeast Asian Studies IDP
Associate Professor, UCLA Dept. of Asian Languages and Cultures 290 Royce Hall Los Angeles, CA 90095
Thanks for writing your blog to get the word out about what is going on in Singapore and the farce of a trial awaiting Chee Soon Juan. I am currently teaching an intro course on Southeast Asian Studies at UCLA (125 students enrolled), and will be lecturing tomorrow on censorship and political restrictions across the region, in which Singapore will feature prominently. Last week the class saw an excerpt from "Singapore Rebel" and so I appreciated your update on Mr. Chee so that I could share it with my class. I spent a year at NUS from 1987-1988, and so saw the ISA being applied at first hand, so to speak, and have tried to follow the situation in S'pore closely since then. Keep up the good work and I'll be following your blog with interest.
Best wishes,
George Dutton
________________________________________
George Dutton
Chair, Southeast Asian Studies IDP
Associate Professor, UCLA Dept. of Asian Languages and Cultures 290 Royce Hall Los Angeles, CA 90095
Wednesday, November 28, 2007
Singapore's Political Judges
Ladies and Gentlemen,
The Singapore state owned and controlled newspapers report that Dr. Chee Soon Juan, Secretary General of the Singapore Democratic Party, an opposition political party and Mr. Yap Keng Ho, an opposition political activist are being tried in Court No. 7, Subordinate Courts Singapore.
This is the second of a series of 8 related charges against them, on having violated an inappropriately worded legislation, Public Entertainments Act, which requires a permit for anyone who wishes to speak in public in Singapore. The charges relate to Dr. Chee and Mr. Yap asking passers by in Woodlands MRT to buy a copy of the newspaper “The Singapore Democrat” which is the official newspaper of Dr. Chee's political party.
The Judge is Jusvender Kaur.
But even though the Singapore state owned and controlled newspapers say this, what is happening in Court No. 7 is not a trial at all. It is a complete farce, a mockery of justice, a theatrical performance. Court No. 7 is actually a classroom. A classroom in which the teacher, Mr. Lee Kuan Yew is teaching Dr. Chee and Mr. Yap a lesson.
That lesson is that Singaporeans should not ever criticize him or his government. And since these 2 individuals had the temerity and gall to do it, they must be punished. And they will be punished. And the punishment will be meted out by his agent, Judge Jusvender Kaur who is presiding in Court No. 7, who has been commissioned to carry out the dirty work.
And Mr. Lee Kuan Yew wants this lesson to be learnt not only by these 2 individuals who were, in his opinion, stupid enough to challenge him; but by all of Singapore. The moral of the drama which will conclude soon with both Dr. Chee and Mr. Yap going to jail, is for all Singaporeans to fully understand that if any of you are so silly as to go about criticizing Mr. Lee Kuan Yew, he will release his attack dog, Judge Jusvender Kaur upon you. So beware.
I am going to tell you this. Judge Jusvender Kaur has already made up her mind to convict these 2 men even before she had ever stepped into the courtroom the first day. It does not matter what the evidence is, these 2 men will be convicted anyway. They are the 2 sacrificial lambs going to the slaughter because they have offended Mr. Lee Kuan Yew.
Judge Jusvender Kaur in this perversion is not a judge at all. She has now adopted the role of a PAP politician. And as an enforcer for Lee Kuan Yew, it is her duty to polish off these 2 men because that is what Mr. Lee Kuan Yew wants. She will do anything that he wants, since the whole exercise here is not to seek justice. It is political work. The purpose is to demolish Lee's political opponents.
This is what is happening in the courts of Lee Kuan Yew's self proclaimed first world country.
I had earlier written a post on the movie Judgment at Nuremburg about Nazi judges being tried at the Nuremburg war crimes trials in 1948 after the war. Please refer to the post: Judgement at Nuremburg and the trials in Singapore Courts. The reader will see the similarities. As in the Feldenstein case in Judgment at Nuremburg, it really did not matter whether the old Jew had defiled the 16 year old German girl. No, that did not matter at all. What mattered was that Feldenstien must be punished not for anything he did but simply because he was a Jew.
Just as in Dr. Chee's case, it does not matter if in fact the evidence was in his favor. No, that does not form part of the equation at all. What matters is that Dr. Chee was bold enough to publicly criticize none other that Mr. Lee Kuan Yew. That alone, in Singapore of today, demands punishment. And Jusvender Kaur has been commissioned to carry that out.
I am of course speaking as if the trial is over and the Judge had delivered her verdict, even though the trial is still going on. But you see, in the entire history of Singapore, there has not even been one case where the government has proceeded against a political opponent and lost. Therefore I am prepared to bet a million to one that both Dr. Chee and Mr. Yap will be convicted of the crime; as sure as the sun will rise tomorrow. Similarly for Feldenstein before the Nazi judges, the Messiah would himself have to come from Heaven to save Feldentstein from the gallows.
But if Jusvender Kaur had been a real judge, you can see there are several reasons why the charge should be thrown out.
First look at the title of the Statute! Public Entertainments Act! Anyone can see that it was never the intention of Dr. Chee and his colleague to provide entertainment to anyone. This was serious business. They were selling their newspaper which contained important news that Singaporeans would want to know. A real judge can say that as it was not "entertainment", and since the statute was about entertainers and since neither was one, the defendants should be released.
Second, the Judge should say that since Lee Kuan Yew claims that Singapore is a first world country and even a wrote a book about it; first world countries all allow their people freedom of speech, and therefore, since prosecuting these 2 men goes against the very definition of the country being “first world”, they should be acquitted.
Third, since the Constitution is the supreme law of the land, and since it permits freedom of speech, these prosecutions are without basis.
Four, since the Public Entertainments Act requiring permits for public speaking is a direct violation of the Constitutional provision of the right to free speech; the Act itself is illegal and should be struck.
Five, what the men did, did not amount to making speeches at all. They were selling their newspaper. Look at the dictionary for the meaning of “speech”.
Six, since throughout the entire history of Singapore, the police have never even once given the opposition any permits to do anything in public, the defendants are absolved from requiring permits. This law is a political law to demolish opponents.
Seven, the equal protection clause in the constitution is violated. If the fishmonger can ask passers by to buy his fish, Dr. Chee should be able to ask passers by to purchase his newspaper, keeping in mind that the fishmonger had not written to Central Police Station for a permit, before he committed his act.
But of course, this line of reasoning would only be in the mind of a real judge. Jusvender Kaur as you know is not now in that role. Her job is to finish off both these men and send the correct signals to all Singaporeans in the island. Behave yourself, or else.
But is Dr. Chee, after all, learning any lesson from all this? Has Mr. Yap learned anything? It appears entirely the contrary. It appears that Dr. Chee and Mr. Yap are determined not to learn anything from their teacher Mr. Lee Kuan Yew. Instead they have both told me personally that they will criticize this Lee Kuan Yew as many times and as and when they like, if criticism is warranted. This is where the problem for Lee Kuan Yew lies.
Lee Kuan Yew has himself admitted in his Machiavellian way that unless his subjects fear him, he is nothing. This is the problem. These 2 men are not prepared to be afraid of him. So in the end, Lee Kuan Yew's actions become counterproductive. I write this blog in criticism of him. Others the world over read it. Others become emboldened. There begins to sprout more and more Dr. Chee Soon Juans and Mr. Yaps. Others begin to see the injustice in this case. They see the injustices of Lee Kuan Yew. As a result in disgust Singaporeans emigrate. European countries begin to shun Singapore as a dictatorship which they can easily avoid. Foreign businesses begin to leave.
On the whole, Lee Kuan Yew should understand that it is not in his interest to prosecute these 2 men, since in the end, justice always triumphs and justice is on the side of Dr. Chee and Mr. Yap.
And so is common sense.
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
The Singapore state owned and controlled newspapers report that Dr. Chee Soon Juan, Secretary General of the Singapore Democratic Party, an opposition political party and Mr. Yap Keng Ho, an opposition political activist are being tried in Court No. 7, Subordinate Courts Singapore.
This is the second of a series of 8 related charges against them, on having violated an inappropriately worded legislation, Public Entertainments Act, which requires a permit for anyone who wishes to speak in public in Singapore. The charges relate to Dr. Chee and Mr. Yap asking passers by in Woodlands MRT to buy a copy of the newspaper “The Singapore Democrat” which is the official newspaper of Dr. Chee's political party.
The Judge is Jusvender Kaur.
But even though the Singapore state owned and controlled newspapers say this, what is happening in Court No. 7 is not a trial at all. It is a complete farce, a mockery of justice, a theatrical performance. Court No. 7 is actually a classroom. A classroom in which the teacher, Mr. Lee Kuan Yew is teaching Dr. Chee and Mr. Yap a lesson.
That lesson is that Singaporeans should not ever criticize him or his government. And since these 2 individuals had the temerity and gall to do it, they must be punished. And they will be punished. And the punishment will be meted out by his agent, Judge Jusvender Kaur who is presiding in Court No. 7, who has been commissioned to carry out the dirty work.
And Mr. Lee Kuan Yew wants this lesson to be learnt not only by these 2 individuals who were, in his opinion, stupid enough to challenge him; but by all of Singapore. The moral of the drama which will conclude soon with both Dr. Chee and Mr. Yap going to jail, is for all Singaporeans to fully understand that if any of you are so silly as to go about criticizing Mr. Lee Kuan Yew, he will release his attack dog, Judge Jusvender Kaur upon you. So beware.
I am going to tell you this. Judge Jusvender Kaur has already made up her mind to convict these 2 men even before she had ever stepped into the courtroom the first day. It does not matter what the evidence is, these 2 men will be convicted anyway. They are the 2 sacrificial lambs going to the slaughter because they have offended Mr. Lee Kuan Yew.
Judge Jusvender Kaur in this perversion is not a judge at all. She has now adopted the role of a PAP politician. And as an enforcer for Lee Kuan Yew, it is her duty to polish off these 2 men because that is what Mr. Lee Kuan Yew wants. She will do anything that he wants, since the whole exercise here is not to seek justice. It is political work. The purpose is to demolish Lee's political opponents.
This is what is happening in the courts of Lee Kuan Yew's self proclaimed first world country.
I had earlier written a post on the movie Judgment at Nuremburg about Nazi judges being tried at the Nuremburg war crimes trials in 1948 after the war. Please refer to the post: Judgement at Nuremburg and the trials in Singapore Courts. The reader will see the similarities. As in the Feldenstein case in Judgment at Nuremburg, it really did not matter whether the old Jew had defiled the 16 year old German girl. No, that did not matter at all. What mattered was that Feldenstien must be punished not for anything he did but simply because he was a Jew.
Just as in Dr. Chee's case, it does not matter if in fact the evidence was in his favor. No, that does not form part of the equation at all. What matters is that Dr. Chee was bold enough to publicly criticize none other that Mr. Lee Kuan Yew. That alone, in Singapore of today, demands punishment. And Jusvender Kaur has been commissioned to carry that out.
I am of course speaking as if the trial is over and the Judge had delivered her verdict, even though the trial is still going on. But you see, in the entire history of Singapore, there has not even been one case where the government has proceeded against a political opponent and lost. Therefore I am prepared to bet a million to one that both Dr. Chee and Mr. Yap will be convicted of the crime; as sure as the sun will rise tomorrow. Similarly for Feldenstein before the Nazi judges, the Messiah would himself have to come from Heaven to save Feldentstein from the gallows.
But if Jusvender Kaur had been a real judge, you can see there are several reasons why the charge should be thrown out.
First look at the title of the Statute! Public Entertainments Act! Anyone can see that it was never the intention of Dr. Chee and his colleague to provide entertainment to anyone. This was serious business. They were selling their newspaper which contained important news that Singaporeans would want to know. A real judge can say that as it was not "entertainment", and since the statute was about entertainers and since neither was one, the defendants should be released.
Second, the Judge should say that since Lee Kuan Yew claims that Singapore is a first world country and even a wrote a book about it; first world countries all allow their people freedom of speech, and therefore, since prosecuting these 2 men goes against the very definition of the country being “first world”, they should be acquitted.
Third, since the Constitution is the supreme law of the land, and since it permits freedom of speech, these prosecutions are without basis.
Four, since the Public Entertainments Act requiring permits for public speaking is a direct violation of the Constitutional provision of the right to free speech; the Act itself is illegal and should be struck.
Five, what the men did, did not amount to making speeches at all. They were selling their newspaper. Look at the dictionary for the meaning of “speech”.
Six, since throughout the entire history of Singapore, the police have never even once given the opposition any permits to do anything in public, the defendants are absolved from requiring permits. This law is a political law to demolish opponents.
Seven, the equal protection clause in the constitution is violated. If the fishmonger can ask passers by to buy his fish, Dr. Chee should be able to ask passers by to purchase his newspaper, keeping in mind that the fishmonger had not written to Central Police Station for a permit, before he committed his act.
But of course, this line of reasoning would only be in the mind of a real judge. Jusvender Kaur as you know is not now in that role. Her job is to finish off both these men and send the correct signals to all Singaporeans in the island. Behave yourself, or else.
But is Dr. Chee, after all, learning any lesson from all this? Has Mr. Yap learned anything? It appears entirely the contrary. It appears that Dr. Chee and Mr. Yap are determined not to learn anything from their teacher Mr. Lee Kuan Yew. Instead they have both told me personally that they will criticize this Lee Kuan Yew as many times and as and when they like, if criticism is warranted. This is where the problem for Lee Kuan Yew lies.
Lee Kuan Yew has himself admitted in his Machiavellian way that unless his subjects fear him, he is nothing. This is the problem. These 2 men are not prepared to be afraid of him. So in the end, Lee Kuan Yew's actions become counterproductive. I write this blog in criticism of him. Others the world over read it. Others become emboldened. There begins to sprout more and more Dr. Chee Soon Juans and Mr. Yaps. Others begin to see the injustice in this case. They see the injustices of Lee Kuan Yew. As a result in disgust Singaporeans emigrate. European countries begin to shun Singapore as a dictatorship which they can easily avoid. Foreign businesses begin to leave.
On the whole, Lee Kuan Yew should understand that it is not in his interest to prosecute these 2 men, since in the end, justice always triumphs and justice is on the side of Dr. Chee and Mr. Yap.
And so is common sense.
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
Monday, November 26, 2007
The law being abused to punish Dr. Chee
Ladies and Gentlemen,
Please read the SDP website extract below on Dr. Chee's persecution yet again.
This is another instance of the dictatorial Singapore Government blatantly misusing the law to silence dissent. In cases where there are multiple charges which are related and similar, the court should hear all cases at a single trial, not hear one charge at a time and try the person over and over again after lengthy intervals in between.
This way of trying the first charge, sending the defendants to jail; then after the defendants have served sentence and several months or years later, try them on another charge, send them to jail again; then wait several months or years for the next trial, consecutively for 8 charges is unjust and deliberately cruel. It is against normal criminal procedure. When the charges are similar in nature, the proper, decent and fair procedure is to try all cases at one time, and deliver a fair verdict for all at once, so the defendants can serve their sentences and be free. With what the government is doing, these 2 defendants are going have to have these impending trials hovering over their heads for a very long period of time! This is neither just nor legal. It is plain and simple illegal!
I hope the free world is watching and reading my blog to see the depths to which this administration will go, unashamedly to silence dissent by misusing the law.
Sylvia Lim of the Workers Party and Nominated MP. You are a lawyer. What are you doing about this blatant misuse of the law before your very eyes.
People of Singapore and the free world. Do not let this government get away with this misuse of the law before your very eyes. Stand up now. State your protest.
The free world if you are watching. Please help these Singaporeans whose rights are being trampled on.
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
Singapore Democratic Party
BACK TO HOME PAGE
Chee's trial for speaking in public begins tomorrowSingapore Democrats26 Nov 07. Dr Chee Soon Juan will be back in court tomorrow to face charges for speaking in public with a permit. Mr Yap Keng Ho is the other defendant.
The two men are charged for speaking at the Woodlands MRT Station on 8 Apr 06 during the elections period. This is the second of a total of eight charges.
In Nov last year Dr Chee, Mr Yap and Mr Gandhi Ambalam were convicted of a similar charge for speaking at the Yishun town centre, also during the election period. The three served prison sentences of five weeks, ten days and three weeks respectively.
In all the eight incidents Dr Chee was selling the SDP's newspaper, The New Democrat, with party members and supporters in the run up to the general elections held in May 06. The defendants will make the case, as they did in the previous trial, that the charges are politically motivated and that the police, as with cases involving political issues, are acting at the behest of the PAP Government.
The courts did not want to consider this argument even though the defendants have evidence that the police allow PAP and its affiliated organisations to conduct political activities in public while prohibiting opposition and NGO groups to do likewise. Also street vendors often verbally advertise their wares to potential buyers.
And yet when the SDP does the same, it is prosecuted. The only difference is that Dr Chee is advertising and selling The New Democrat which focuses on political issues. But the rule of law and the Constitution categorically states that every citizen must be treated equally under the law. To prosecute the Dr Chee and Mr Yap for acts that other citizens widely and openly conduct is discrimination Worse, the discrimination is against the PAP's opponents – and during the elections to boot where parties are trying to reach out to the electorate.
Without the ability to effectively communicate with supporters during election time especially when the media is owned and run by the PAP Government, how are opposition parties going to succeed at the polls? The courts have, however, repeatedly ignored such arguments.
The hearing will take place at Subordinate Court No. 15 at 9:30 am tomorrow.
Please read the SDP website extract below on Dr. Chee's persecution yet again.
This is another instance of the dictatorial Singapore Government blatantly misusing the law to silence dissent. In cases where there are multiple charges which are related and similar, the court should hear all cases at a single trial, not hear one charge at a time and try the person over and over again after lengthy intervals in between.
This way of trying the first charge, sending the defendants to jail; then after the defendants have served sentence and several months or years later, try them on another charge, send them to jail again; then wait several months or years for the next trial, consecutively for 8 charges is unjust and deliberately cruel. It is against normal criminal procedure. When the charges are similar in nature, the proper, decent and fair procedure is to try all cases at one time, and deliver a fair verdict for all at once, so the defendants can serve their sentences and be free. With what the government is doing, these 2 defendants are going have to have these impending trials hovering over their heads for a very long period of time! This is neither just nor legal. It is plain and simple illegal!
I hope the free world is watching and reading my blog to see the depths to which this administration will go, unashamedly to silence dissent by misusing the law.
Sylvia Lim of the Workers Party and Nominated MP. You are a lawyer. What are you doing about this blatant misuse of the law before your very eyes.
People of Singapore and the free world. Do not let this government get away with this misuse of the law before your very eyes. Stand up now. State your protest.
The free world if you are watching. Please help these Singaporeans whose rights are being trampled on.
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
Singapore Democratic Party
BACK TO HOME PAGE
Chee's trial for speaking in public begins tomorrowSingapore Democrats26 Nov 07. Dr Chee Soon Juan will be back in court tomorrow to face charges for speaking in public with a permit. Mr Yap Keng Ho is the other defendant.
The two men are charged for speaking at the Woodlands MRT Station on 8 Apr 06 during the elections period. This is the second of a total of eight charges.
In Nov last year Dr Chee, Mr Yap and Mr Gandhi Ambalam were convicted of a similar charge for speaking at the Yishun town centre, also during the election period. The three served prison sentences of five weeks, ten days and three weeks respectively.
In all the eight incidents Dr Chee was selling the SDP's newspaper, The New Democrat, with party members and supporters in the run up to the general elections held in May 06. The defendants will make the case, as they did in the previous trial, that the charges are politically motivated and that the police, as with cases involving political issues, are acting at the behest of the PAP Government.
The courts did not want to consider this argument even though the defendants have evidence that the police allow PAP and its affiliated organisations to conduct political activities in public while prohibiting opposition and NGO groups to do likewise. Also street vendors often verbally advertise their wares to potential buyers.
And yet when the SDP does the same, it is prosecuted. The only difference is that Dr Chee is advertising and selling The New Democrat which focuses on political issues. But the rule of law and the Constitution categorically states that every citizen must be treated equally under the law. To prosecute the Dr Chee and Mr Yap for acts that other citizens widely and openly conduct is discrimination Worse, the discrimination is against the PAP's opponents – and during the elections to boot where parties are trying to reach out to the electorate.
Without the ability to effectively communicate with supporters during election time especially when the media is owned and run by the PAP Government, how are opposition parties going to succeed at the polls? The courts have, however, repeatedly ignored such arguments.
The hearing will take place at Subordinate Court No. 15 at 9:30 am tomorrow.
Sunday, November 25, 2007
Without protests Singapore will not change.
Ladies and Gentlemen,
In countries where there is a vibrant democracy, civil society, free press, independent judiciary and a representative parliament, protests are less important or necessary for change. The organs of civil society, it's pillars of a representative parliament can effectively bring about change. Singapore does not have such a society. Singapore is a dictatorship with Lee Kuan Yew as its dictator. It does not have any of the safeguards that a democratic society has; no independent judiciary, a rubber stamp parliament, a state owned and controlled press. In these circumstances, you cannot expect parliament to speak for you. If you want change, you have no choice but to take to the streets and protest. You have to make Lee Kuan Yew listen, whether he likes it or not.
Just as the Filipinos made Marcos listen whether he liked it or not. Just as the Poles did in Poland bringing down communism. Just as the Ukrainians did. Just as the Romanians did in Bucharesti. Just as the Serbs did in Sarajavo. Just as Mandela did in Pretoria.
At this moment, Lee Kuan Yew has neither respect nor regard for his people. Somehow he has begun to believe that he alone is God's choice to rule over you. That he will decide, the rubber stamp parliament will promptly place their seals of approval, the the law is passed. He alone will do the thinking and he alone will execute. You are living in a classic directorship with him as the dictator.
Over the years, you have seen that nothing you said mattered. He has increased his salary to $3 million over the objection of the entire population. He has decided to introduce casinos, regardless of what you thought about gamblers. As for the Malays and Indians, he has decided that they are only entitled to live in selected areas of Singapore and not necessarily their choice, re: HDB policy of racial segregation. He has decided that Singapore should have 75% Chinese regardless of how fertile the 3 races each are (overwhelming Chinese human imports to counteract the increasing number of Malays being born).
In the history of countries, the most effective way of making governments listen has been through protests. South Africa would have retained apartheid had it not for Mandela and the ANC taking to the streets. India would not have been free had it not for Gandhi adopting Satyagraha. And let us not forget Burma. Burma is going to be free. And it will be because of Burmese protests.
Other than the more abstract issues such as freedom of the press and so on, you can see there are burning issues, blatant outrages being committed by this government. First take the CPF issue. A large section of the population including many friends of mine are suffering because the government is unjustly refusing to pay their rightful retirement money, causing them pain and hardship in having to continue to work. It is not that they do not have savings because they have a lot of savings in the CPF. The problem is, the government is refusing to pay. The government is reneging on the promise they made when the CPF scheme had first started. They promised that it was our retirement money. They promised to give to us at 55. Now they betray their promise. This is not just. This alone should make your blood boil. This calls for a protest. This is so, because without a protest, this rubber stamp parliament under this dictator will never listen.
This is not the only burning grievance. The poor are crying out. They are being handed cooking oil and bags of rice and a few hundred dollars and are told to fend for themselves. They cannot possibly survive. They are suffering untold misery in their one room HDB cubicles. And while they suffer, these old folks who were the pioneers who built Singapore, Lee Kuan Yew and his ministers dance in public and pay themselves $3 million per year. This too should make your blood boil.
Furthermore there is discrimination even in this. Did you know that unlike you, Lee Kuan Yew and company will be paid pensions. You only get CPF, that is if you ever get it! Why the special treatment for Lee Kuan Yew, his son and cronies? Is this not corruption. If not what is it?
Citizens of Signapore, what are you waiting for. Have the courage. The country is yours as well as Lee Kuan Yew.
And lastly, protest is your right, not a privilege. The Universal Declaration of Human Rights guarantees you that right. It is a right that humans proudly possess. And it is honorable for you to exercise that right. There is no shame in it. If you have any doubts, you can confirm this by asking SDP's former Indian lawyer who claims to be a human rights lawyer. I understand he is returning to practice after a year's suspension. Congratulations to him.
If I sounded like Mark Anthony in Shakepear's Julius Ceaser, it wasn't intentional.
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
In countries where there is a vibrant democracy, civil society, free press, independent judiciary and a representative parliament, protests are less important or necessary for change. The organs of civil society, it's pillars of a representative parliament can effectively bring about change. Singapore does not have such a society. Singapore is a dictatorship with Lee Kuan Yew as its dictator. It does not have any of the safeguards that a democratic society has; no independent judiciary, a rubber stamp parliament, a state owned and controlled press. In these circumstances, you cannot expect parliament to speak for you. If you want change, you have no choice but to take to the streets and protest. You have to make Lee Kuan Yew listen, whether he likes it or not.
Just as the Filipinos made Marcos listen whether he liked it or not. Just as the Poles did in Poland bringing down communism. Just as the Ukrainians did. Just as the Romanians did in Bucharesti. Just as the Serbs did in Sarajavo. Just as Mandela did in Pretoria.
At this moment, Lee Kuan Yew has neither respect nor regard for his people. Somehow he has begun to believe that he alone is God's choice to rule over you. That he will decide, the rubber stamp parliament will promptly place their seals of approval, the the law is passed. He alone will do the thinking and he alone will execute. You are living in a classic directorship with him as the dictator.
Over the years, you have seen that nothing you said mattered. He has increased his salary to $3 million over the objection of the entire population. He has decided to introduce casinos, regardless of what you thought about gamblers. As for the Malays and Indians, he has decided that they are only entitled to live in selected areas of Singapore and not necessarily their choice, re: HDB policy of racial segregation. He has decided that Singapore should have 75% Chinese regardless of how fertile the 3 races each are (overwhelming Chinese human imports to counteract the increasing number of Malays being born).
In the history of countries, the most effective way of making governments listen has been through protests. South Africa would have retained apartheid had it not for Mandela and the ANC taking to the streets. India would not have been free had it not for Gandhi adopting Satyagraha. And let us not forget Burma. Burma is going to be free. And it will be because of Burmese protests.
Other than the more abstract issues such as freedom of the press and so on, you can see there are burning issues, blatant outrages being committed by this government. First take the CPF issue. A large section of the population including many friends of mine are suffering because the government is unjustly refusing to pay their rightful retirement money, causing them pain and hardship in having to continue to work. It is not that they do not have savings because they have a lot of savings in the CPF. The problem is, the government is refusing to pay. The government is reneging on the promise they made when the CPF scheme had first started. They promised that it was our retirement money. They promised to give to us at 55. Now they betray their promise. This is not just. This alone should make your blood boil. This calls for a protest. This is so, because without a protest, this rubber stamp parliament under this dictator will never listen.
This is not the only burning grievance. The poor are crying out. They are being handed cooking oil and bags of rice and a few hundred dollars and are told to fend for themselves. They cannot possibly survive. They are suffering untold misery in their one room HDB cubicles. And while they suffer, these old folks who were the pioneers who built Singapore, Lee Kuan Yew and his ministers dance in public and pay themselves $3 million per year. This too should make your blood boil.
Furthermore there is discrimination even in this. Did you know that unlike you, Lee Kuan Yew and company will be paid pensions. You only get CPF, that is if you ever get it! Why the special treatment for Lee Kuan Yew, his son and cronies? Is this not corruption. If not what is it?
Citizens of Signapore, what are you waiting for. Have the courage. The country is yours as well as Lee Kuan Yew.
And lastly, protest is your right, not a privilege. The Universal Declaration of Human Rights guarantees you that right. It is a right that humans proudly possess. And it is honorable for you to exercise that right. There is no shame in it. If you have any doubts, you can confirm this by asking SDP's former Indian lawyer who claims to be a human rights lawyer. I understand he is returning to practice after a year's suspension. Congratulations to him.
If I sounded like Mark Anthony in Shakepear's Julius Ceaser, it wasn't intentional.
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
Saturday, November 24, 2007
Singapore. The plight of the poor.
Ladies and Gentlemen,
I had in my post "The shameful 2 faced lives that Singaporeans lead" of Nov 15, 2007 I had narrated some observations on the aged, elderly and infirm having to work to survive because they get no help from the government.
No this is not entirely true. They get some help. Help in the form of cooking oil, rice etc. They may get also a few hundred dollars. But this is no help at all. No one with any human self dignity and self respect can live on this. So we come back to reality. Which is what I saw. People having to work despite having medical problems, despite being over 55 and so on.
And what is worse is that companies routinely terminated the employment of people who reach the age of 50 or so despite being perfectly healthy! As they are terminated from skilled jobs where the worker has the skill and experience; these skilled workers are forced to take on unskilled work such as security guard at lower pay! A friend of mine was a highly skilled and experienced storekeeper, a trade he learned in the army. When he reached 50 years, his company retrenched him. He tried to find work as a storeman for 2 years but was always rejected because of his age. For the last few years he has had no choice but to find work as a security guard at much lower pay. And while all this injustice is happening; the government has no care or concern whatever. The answer of the million dollar ministers is that Singapore is run on the principle of "free market" which means in this case that Singaporeans can go to Hell for all they care!
The situation in Singapore is like this. And it is bad. Multiple forces work against the poor and unskilled which will make life for them a living Hell.
First it is the heartless attitude, the complete and utter lack of social responsibility on the part of Lee Kuan Yew. His policy, which we have repeatedly heard is this. According to him, Singapore should not become a welfare state like Western Europeans are. Government, he says, should make sure not to provide too much assistance to the needy, because he says this will make them lazy, and when they become lazy, they will lose the competitive edge etc etc. Therefore he is not prepared to help. The only help he will give the needy is such things like cooking oil and a couple of hundred dollars which is really not enough. This means in essence, no help at all.
Second, the foreigners bring wages down. There is no law that restricts unskilled or skilled labor entering Singapore. Immigrant workers from China and India are prepared to work for much less. Therefore either the Singaporean worker accepts a pay cut to compete with the migrant worker or he goes hungry. Rather than go hungry, he takes a pay cut. Less food on the table.
Third, government fines fees and expenses go up, not down. With $100.00 US a barrel of crude oil, the government has no choice but to up the cost of everything. I read that the fine for not having a dog licence in Singapore is $5,000.00. As a result pet owners are abandoning their dogs and cats at malls, and even worse, at freeways. I hope it is not because they want their dogs run over by a car and killed!
And while all this hardship goes on, the Ministers have not too long ago raised their salaries in spite of the objections of the entire population to $3 million dollars a year. They have not told us, as to how much unofficially they siphon off corruptly, which we can be sure they do.
Tourists and visitors having a fleeting holiday in Singapore see only the crystal towers at Raffles Place and Collyer Quay and they think people are fat and eating. They do not know and have not been to the one room flats with a common corridor, one flat facing the other, with humans in those cubicles suffering untold misery, poverty in silence.
But Lee Kuan Yew is riding comfortably. He is not afraid of what his people can do. He knows they can do nothing, as for the last 40 years, they have suffered in silence. Not even a whimper. He has a rubber stamp Parliament which will jump and dance the jig whenever he wants them. He has a police force which will arrest anyone he wants arrested for no rhyme or reason. A media which he will order to say and write anything he wants.
So Singaporeans should know that this injustice to a large segment of citizens of the country goes on unabated. It is time you took up the cudgels, your spanners, your tools and said this will go on no more.
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
I had in my post "The shameful 2 faced lives that Singaporeans lead" of Nov 15, 2007 I had narrated some observations on the aged, elderly and infirm having to work to survive because they get no help from the government.
No this is not entirely true. They get some help. Help in the form of cooking oil, rice etc. They may get also a few hundred dollars. But this is no help at all. No one with any human self dignity and self respect can live on this. So we come back to reality. Which is what I saw. People having to work despite having medical problems, despite being over 55 and so on.
And what is worse is that companies routinely terminated the employment of people who reach the age of 50 or so despite being perfectly healthy! As they are terminated from skilled jobs where the worker has the skill and experience; these skilled workers are forced to take on unskilled work such as security guard at lower pay! A friend of mine was a highly skilled and experienced storekeeper, a trade he learned in the army. When he reached 50 years, his company retrenched him. He tried to find work as a storeman for 2 years but was always rejected because of his age. For the last few years he has had no choice but to find work as a security guard at much lower pay. And while all this injustice is happening; the government has no care or concern whatever. The answer of the million dollar ministers is that Singapore is run on the principle of "free market" which means in this case that Singaporeans can go to Hell for all they care!
The situation in Singapore is like this. And it is bad. Multiple forces work against the poor and unskilled which will make life for them a living Hell.
First it is the heartless attitude, the complete and utter lack of social responsibility on the part of Lee Kuan Yew. His policy, which we have repeatedly heard is this. According to him, Singapore should not become a welfare state like Western Europeans are. Government, he says, should make sure not to provide too much assistance to the needy, because he says this will make them lazy, and when they become lazy, they will lose the competitive edge etc etc. Therefore he is not prepared to help. The only help he will give the needy is such things like cooking oil and a couple of hundred dollars which is really not enough. This means in essence, no help at all.
Second, the foreigners bring wages down. There is no law that restricts unskilled or skilled labor entering Singapore. Immigrant workers from China and India are prepared to work for much less. Therefore either the Singaporean worker accepts a pay cut to compete with the migrant worker or he goes hungry. Rather than go hungry, he takes a pay cut. Less food on the table.
Third, government fines fees and expenses go up, not down. With $100.00 US a barrel of crude oil, the government has no choice but to up the cost of everything. I read that the fine for not having a dog licence in Singapore is $5,000.00. As a result pet owners are abandoning their dogs and cats at malls, and even worse, at freeways. I hope it is not because they want their dogs run over by a car and killed!
And while all this hardship goes on, the Ministers have not too long ago raised their salaries in spite of the objections of the entire population to $3 million dollars a year. They have not told us, as to how much unofficially they siphon off corruptly, which we can be sure they do.
Tourists and visitors having a fleeting holiday in Singapore see only the crystal towers at Raffles Place and Collyer Quay and they think people are fat and eating. They do not know and have not been to the one room flats with a common corridor, one flat facing the other, with humans in those cubicles suffering untold misery, poverty in silence.
But Lee Kuan Yew is riding comfortably. He is not afraid of what his people can do. He knows they can do nothing, as for the last 40 years, they have suffered in silence. Not even a whimper. He has a rubber stamp Parliament which will jump and dance the jig whenever he wants them. He has a police force which will arrest anyone he wants arrested for no rhyme or reason. A media which he will order to say and write anything he wants.
So Singaporeans should know that this injustice to a large segment of citizens of the country goes on unabated. It is time you took up the cudgels, your spanners, your tools and said this will go on no more.
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
Friday, November 23, 2007
Aldous Huxley on Lee Kuan Yew
Ladies and Gentlemen,
I came across an article where Aldous Huxley congratulated George Orwell on his book 1984 in which he gave the following prediction.
"On 21 October 1949 Huxley wrote to George Orwell, author of Nineteen Eighty-Four, congratulating Orwell on "how fine and how profoundly important the book is". His letter to Orwell contained the prediction that: "Within the next generation I believe that the world's leaders will discover that infant conditioning and narco-hypnosis are more efficient, as instruments of government, than clubs and prisons, and that the lust for power can be just as completely satisfied by suggesting people into loving their servitude as by flogging them and kicking them into obedience".[5](p. 605:quotes Aldous Huxley re Huxley's opinions in 1949 about the technologies to be employed by governments)"
In looking at Singapore today, Huxley is entirely correct. With high salaries corruption and perks, Lee Kuan Yew has managed to make his Singapore establishment elite "love their servitude" and do anything for him. He has managed to buy them with money. No need to use "clubs and prisons" on them to make them submit.
As for the school children in Singapore, Huxley was again spot on right. Children are encouraged to obey their teachers, Confucianism and a whole load of bull, shoved down their throats during their impressionable years. After which, you get the Singapore population of today, obedient, fearful and submissive.
The type that willingly arrested Chee Siok Chin and John Tan for no rhyme or reason at Shangri La Hotel on Nov 20, 2007.
Huxley's prediction was entirely right. Look at Singapore of 2007.
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
I came across an article where Aldous Huxley congratulated George Orwell on his book 1984 in which he gave the following prediction.
"On 21 October 1949 Huxley wrote to George Orwell, author of Nineteen Eighty-Four, congratulating Orwell on "how fine and how profoundly important the book is". His letter to Orwell contained the prediction that: "Within the next generation I believe that the world's leaders will discover that infant conditioning and narco-hypnosis are more efficient, as instruments of government, than clubs and prisons, and that the lust for power can be just as completely satisfied by suggesting people into loving their servitude as by flogging them and kicking them into obedience".[5](p. 605:quotes Aldous Huxley re Huxley's opinions in 1949 about the technologies to be employed by governments)"
In looking at Singapore today, Huxley is entirely correct. With high salaries corruption and perks, Lee Kuan Yew has managed to make his Singapore establishment elite "love their servitude" and do anything for him. He has managed to buy them with money. No need to use "clubs and prisons" on them to make them submit.
As for the school children in Singapore, Huxley was again spot on right. Children are encouraged to obey their teachers, Confucianism and a whole load of bull, shoved down their throats during their impressionable years. After which, you get the Singapore population of today, obedient, fearful and submissive.
The type that willingly arrested Chee Siok Chin and John Tan for no rhyme or reason at Shangri La Hotel on Nov 20, 2007.
Huxley's prediction was entirely right. Look at Singapore of 2007.
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
Thursday, November 22, 2007
Singapore. The fight for democracy.
Ladies and Gentlemen,
The war is on in Singapore. The war between Lee Kuan Yew and his dictatorship and the forces demanding democracy in the island; Dr. Chee Soon Juan and company. The front lines have been drawn. The issues are joined. When and what will the outcome be?
The circumstances appear unfavorable to the dictator Lee Kuan Yew. The winner is going to be the forces for freedom and liberty. These are the facts.
Singapore is an international city. It's livelihood depends on international banking, global trading, international commerce, high value added manufacturing, tourism. All areas where Singapore’s reputation as a free and democratic nation with the rule of law is important. It is easy for Laos to remain a totalitarian country since it's economic base is domestic faming. It is not so easy for Singapore to be this way. Singapore's population is not comprised of peasants as it is in Laos.
What Singapore is trying to do is impossible. It wants to remain an international city depending on international commerce and banking; yet at the same time it wants to maintain it's authoritarian rule over them. These are 2 opposites that cannot exist together. Whether Lee likes it or not, the very nature of Singapore will require that it become a freer more democratic society and the continuing attempts by the Lee Administration to keep Singaporeans subservient is bound to fail.
Singaporean political activists too are aware of this. They have taken to the streets. They have deliberately defied unjust laws designed to keep them quiet. They have deliberately broken the 5 person protest law that requires an assembly of 5 or more people to require a permit. They have protested without a permit even though there were more than 5. The government had earlier prosecuted them and sent them to jail. As they appear to be willing to go to jail, the government is at a loss. They now seem reluctant to continue with the prosecutions.
These illegal prosecutions have been exposed to the rest of the world. European countries, Scandinavian countries have been outraged by the repression of the Singapore government against its citizens. This knowledge, that Singapore denies its citizens their democratic rights is beginning to hurt Singapore’s trade with the rest of the world. Many European countries have begun to stop investing in Singapore. Since Singapore is not China, being a very small country, European countries can easily relocate their investments to other neighboring countries without any great loss.
The number of protests is beginning to increase. More Singaporeans are beginning to use the Internet. They are reading blogs such as Singapore Democrat. They can see with their own eyes, the arrogance of the Singapore government. They can see the police arbitrarily harassing and arresting peaceful protesters. The police brutality. At Hong Lim Park last year for IMF/ World Bank meeting. At the SDP Freedom walk. At the peaceful protest in front of the Istana. Each and every time, we see armed policemen harassing intimidating and apprehending peaceful unarmed citizens who are doing nothing more than peacefully standing or walking.
Watching this, the people are indignant. They are upset. They disrespect their government. They look at Lee Kuan Yew as nothing more than a big bully. He uses his armed police. The citizens have no arms. Yet they stand courageously facing these bullies.
In this on going standoff between the peaceful protestors and these armed government bullies there can be only one victor. That victor is the truth. And the truth is on the side of the weak unarmed peaceful protestors.
As I write. As Singaporeans watch with horror Chee Siok Chin and John Tan being bundled away in unmarked police cars (see videos in Singapore Democrat) they become angry. Angry at their government which instead of protecting them is hurting them. Who are these policemen anyway, they ask. They are public servants paid salaries from Singaporean earnings. And these people, after taking our money are abusing us!
As the Singaporeans watch in horror, their supporters numbers swell. More and more become protestors. And with more and more protestors, the police begin to take more and more harsh measures. I expect this. And the Internet will show more and more police brutality.
And what is most important is the truth. The truth always triumphs. And the truth is on the side of Singaporean peaceful protestors. And the Singaporeans will ultimately triumph. And the despots will fall. There can be no other way. That is the law. The law of truth.
In 1954, the truth was on the side of Viet Minh forces when they overran the French Garrison at Dien Bien Phu. The French were overcome and defeated. In 1975 the truth was on the side of the Viet Cong. The Americans were overcome. In 1962 the truth was on the side of Ahmad Ben Bella in Algeria. The French were overcome. In 1947 the truth was on the side of the Indians in India. The British were overcome.
It was reported that in 1953, a year before the Viet Minh overran the French Garrison at Dien Bien Phu in Northern French Indo China which resulted in the French defeat, Ho Chih Minh had told a French Army Officer that for every French soldier who died, ten Viet Minh will die. But in the end, the Viet Minh will win and the French will lose.
Similarly the political activists and the opposition political supporters should tell Lee Kuan Yew and his cronies in power that it may take some time for the opposition to win, but as sure as the sun will rise tomorrow, in the end, democracy will triumph and the dictatorship will fall. This is the truth.
My hope is that Lee Kuan Yew will not, in his desperation when the time for democracy is near, use harsh measures like his good friends, the Burmese Generals did recently in Burma by shooting at Singaporeans. Doing this will only precipitate his fall, which is a certainty.
Lee Kuan Yew and his cronies actually find themselves now in a desperate situation. Whether they like it or not, they have to cling on to power. They fear what will happen to them if they step down from power. They have a lot to fear and a great deal to explain as to what has happened to millions of dollars of public money which remains unexplained and unaccounted for.
They fear Dr. Chee Soon Juan’s dreaded question to Goh Chock Tong “Where is my money” (Or where is Tumasek’s money?)
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
The war is on in Singapore. The war between Lee Kuan Yew and his dictatorship and the forces demanding democracy in the island; Dr. Chee Soon Juan and company. The front lines have been drawn. The issues are joined. When and what will the outcome be?
The circumstances appear unfavorable to the dictator Lee Kuan Yew. The winner is going to be the forces for freedom and liberty. These are the facts.
Singapore is an international city. It's livelihood depends on international banking, global trading, international commerce, high value added manufacturing, tourism. All areas where Singapore’s reputation as a free and democratic nation with the rule of law is important. It is easy for Laos to remain a totalitarian country since it's economic base is domestic faming. It is not so easy for Singapore to be this way. Singapore's population is not comprised of peasants as it is in Laos.
What Singapore is trying to do is impossible. It wants to remain an international city depending on international commerce and banking; yet at the same time it wants to maintain it's authoritarian rule over them. These are 2 opposites that cannot exist together. Whether Lee likes it or not, the very nature of Singapore will require that it become a freer more democratic society and the continuing attempts by the Lee Administration to keep Singaporeans subservient is bound to fail.
Singaporean political activists too are aware of this. They have taken to the streets. They have deliberately defied unjust laws designed to keep them quiet. They have deliberately broken the 5 person protest law that requires an assembly of 5 or more people to require a permit. They have protested without a permit even though there were more than 5. The government had earlier prosecuted them and sent them to jail. As they appear to be willing to go to jail, the government is at a loss. They now seem reluctant to continue with the prosecutions.
These illegal prosecutions have been exposed to the rest of the world. European countries, Scandinavian countries have been outraged by the repression of the Singapore government against its citizens. This knowledge, that Singapore denies its citizens their democratic rights is beginning to hurt Singapore’s trade with the rest of the world. Many European countries have begun to stop investing in Singapore. Since Singapore is not China, being a very small country, European countries can easily relocate their investments to other neighboring countries without any great loss.
The number of protests is beginning to increase. More Singaporeans are beginning to use the Internet. They are reading blogs such as Singapore Democrat. They can see with their own eyes, the arrogance of the Singapore government. They can see the police arbitrarily harassing and arresting peaceful protesters. The police brutality. At Hong Lim Park last year for IMF/ World Bank meeting. At the SDP Freedom walk. At the peaceful protest in front of the Istana. Each and every time, we see armed policemen harassing intimidating and apprehending peaceful unarmed citizens who are doing nothing more than peacefully standing or walking.
Watching this, the people are indignant. They are upset. They disrespect their government. They look at Lee Kuan Yew as nothing more than a big bully. He uses his armed police. The citizens have no arms. Yet they stand courageously facing these bullies.
In this on going standoff between the peaceful protestors and these armed government bullies there can be only one victor. That victor is the truth. And the truth is on the side of the weak unarmed peaceful protestors.
As I write. As Singaporeans watch with horror Chee Siok Chin and John Tan being bundled away in unmarked police cars (see videos in Singapore Democrat) they become angry. Angry at their government which instead of protecting them is hurting them. Who are these policemen anyway, they ask. They are public servants paid salaries from Singaporean earnings. And these people, after taking our money are abusing us!
As the Singaporeans watch in horror, their supporters numbers swell. More and more become protestors. And with more and more protestors, the police begin to take more and more harsh measures. I expect this. And the Internet will show more and more police brutality.
And what is most important is the truth. The truth always triumphs. And the truth is on the side of Singaporean peaceful protestors. And the Singaporeans will ultimately triumph. And the despots will fall. There can be no other way. That is the law. The law of truth.
In 1954, the truth was on the side of Viet Minh forces when they overran the French Garrison at Dien Bien Phu. The French were overcome and defeated. In 1975 the truth was on the side of the Viet Cong. The Americans were overcome. In 1962 the truth was on the side of Ahmad Ben Bella in Algeria. The French were overcome. In 1947 the truth was on the side of the Indians in India. The British were overcome.
It was reported that in 1953, a year before the Viet Minh overran the French Garrison at Dien Bien Phu in Northern French Indo China which resulted in the French defeat, Ho Chih Minh had told a French Army Officer that for every French soldier who died, ten Viet Minh will die. But in the end, the Viet Minh will win and the French will lose.
Similarly the political activists and the opposition political supporters should tell Lee Kuan Yew and his cronies in power that it may take some time for the opposition to win, but as sure as the sun will rise tomorrow, in the end, democracy will triumph and the dictatorship will fall. This is the truth.
My hope is that Lee Kuan Yew will not, in his desperation when the time for democracy is near, use harsh measures like his good friends, the Burmese Generals did recently in Burma by shooting at Singaporeans. Doing this will only precipitate his fall, which is a certainty.
Lee Kuan Yew and his cronies actually find themselves now in a desperate situation. Whether they like it or not, they have to cling on to power. They fear what will happen to them if they step down from power. They have a lot to fear and a great deal to explain as to what has happened to millions of dollars of public money which remains unexplained and unaccounted for.
They fear Dr. Chee Soon Juan’s dreaded question to Goh Chock Tong “Where is my money” (Or where is Tumasek’s money?)
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
Letter from Johnson
"As we all know Singapore is a socialist state and being one, the government or rather PAP is supreme. Their words alone are the law; when they suggested the minister's pay rise, despite the public's assertions, it was implanted. Moreover with the government being emphatically about competition to improve quality, yet doesn't this apply for the civil service?
Yes to some extend i do agree that Singapore can pave its way to being an exemplary city by taken bold moves such as the pay rise, fact is we are already one as comparative to our ASEAN neighbors, we are much better off economically in terms of land ratio. And the inauguration of better salaries to our ministers to better compete with the private sector in terms of talent is a bold and dynamic move which the British have tried but failed.
But "competition" as per se, if we boost our minister's salaries don't we need to make sure they are the best? Think about this. In Philippines their leaders are constantly "fried" figuratively, yet in Singapore do we do the same? Our PAP have ensured a multitude of facets of propaganda in regard to the salary rise yet have they taken the appropriate steps to ensure that our tax money is not in vain by appointing the creme de la creme to be our ministers?
Today I overheard a conversation between two individuals who described the Lee family to be "saints" as if they were the martyrs of Singapore. However I implore to those who feel the same as the former, Think again. Then again do our government have the right to adjust their own paychecks? Why is there not a referendum in regard to it? In 1962, there was a referendum in regard to merging with Malaya, does this mean that the PAP has fully adopted an authoritarian rule?
By the way for the record they command a whooping two million salary annually now which is the same or even higher then CEOs of international companies such as GAP inc.
"Hmm I wrote this essay to an educational forum but had critical and not so critical views, I was wondering what went wrong as I am in the mist of brushing my argumentative essays for my GCE A Levels. Any comments would be appreciated.
Johnson
Yes to some extend i do agree that Singapore can pave its way to being an exemplary city by taken bold moves such as the pay rise, fact is we are already one as comparative to our ASEAN neighbors, we are much better off economically in terms of land ratio. And the inauguration of better salaries to our ministers to better compete with the private sector in terms of talent is a bold and dynamic move which the British have tried but failed.
But "competition" as per se, if we boost our minister's salaries don't we need to make sure they are the best? Think about this. In Philippines their leaders are constantly "fried" figuratively, yet in Singapore do we do the same? Our PAP have ensured a multitude of facets of propaganda in regard to the salary rise yet have they taken the appropriate steps to ensure that our tax money is not in vain by appointing the creme de la creme to be our ministers?
Today I overheard a conversation between two individuals who described the Lee family to be "saints" as if they were the martyrs of Singapore. However I implore to those who feel the same as the former, Think again. Then again do our government have the right to adjust their own paychecks? Why is there not a referendum in regard to it? In 1962, there was a referendum in regard to merging with Malaya, does this mean that the PAP has fully adopted an authoritarian rule?
By the way for the record they command a whooping two million salary annually now which is the same or even higher then CEOs of international companies such as GAP inc.
"Hmm I wrote this essay to an educational forum but had critical and not so critical views, I was wondering what went wrong as I am in the mist of brushing my argumentative essays for my GCE A Levels. Any comments would be appreciated.
Johnson
Wednesday, November 21, 2007
Singapore Nov 20, 2007. Lee Kuan Yew's government falsely imprison Singapore citizens.
Ladies and Gentlemen,
The reader is directed to watch 2 videos on the Singapore Democrat Website where the Singapore police blatantly and shamelessly abuse their powers to falsely imprison detain and abduct 2 Singapore citizens, Miss Chee Siok Chin and Mr. John Tan outside Shangri La Hotel, Singapore on Nov 20, 2007. They do this with total impunity, answerable to none. Yet again they show what sort of cowards they are.
Yet again, the Lee Kuan Yew Singapore administration has shown that they and their police force are nothing more than that expected in any third rate dictatorial lawless banana republic. Yet again we see that Singapore is a country run according to nothing more than Lee's dictates. There is no rule of law at all. When the Singapore government goes around claiming that it is a first world country with the rule of law, it would be like saying that North Korea is the bedrock of democracy in East Asia.
On the 20th of November 2007, sometime during midday, 2 citizens of Singapore, Miss Chee Siok Chin and Mr. John Tan were walking just like any other ordinary pedestrian along Orchard Road, heading towards Shangri La Hotel in Orange Grove Road to have lunch. Nothing wrong with that at all. The hotel was open for business to the public as usual that day. There was nothing extraordinary at the Hotel that day at all, except that it so happens that the ASEAN conference of South East Asian Countries was having their annual meeting there and the Burmese Generals who were guilty of the murder rape and brutal suppression of thousands of Burmese protesters recently in Burma were also present.
The only difference to these facts are that these 2 pedestrians heading for lunch to Shangri La Hotel happen to be members of a Singapore opposition party, the Singapore Democratic Party. In any other country, the fact of these 2 people being opposition political party members, would have made no difference at all since these 2 were just walking and there was no evidence that they had with them bombs, bazookas and weapons of mass destruction. No, none at all. These 2 people were peacefully just going for lunch. But you see, things are different in this self proclaimed first world country. Joining an opposition political party alone is sufficient without more to be targeted for harassment, intimidation, and in this case, false imprisonment. As you will see below.
In order to stop any protest peaceful or otherwise, at or near the Asean Conference, presumably not to embarrass the Burmese generals of that military junta with blood on their hands, who were attending; the Singapore government, passed the Protected Areas Act to include the Shangri La Hotel. This is, as you can see, a clear violation of the Singapore Constitution which guarantees right of assembly.
This Act permits the police to remove anyone from the vicinity of the Hotel whom they deem to be trouble makers.
Regardless of what the wording of the law, any law to be legal must have at least a rational purpose on the face of it and secondly, it has to be exercised fairly and without discrimination. Therefore since the Constitution guarantees the Freedom of Assembly to Singaporeans, any attempt to remove anyone from the protected area must be based on a reasonable finding that the person is about to engage in illegal activity. Secondly, as is said, it must be exercised without singling out any particular individual for unfair treatment.
As can be seen to the permanent shame of Singapore and it's police force that day, the police surrounded these 2 pedestrians without any lawful reason, letting everyone else pass without let or hindrance. Just these 2 persons were waylaid, manhandled, surrounded and prevented from going along their way to lunch. When asked by Chee Siok Chin on what charge were they being detained, the police had no answer. When asked why others were permitted to pass except for them, the police had no answer. The police could only say like a stupid parrot, over and over again that 1) that it was a protected area 2) that they were ordered to leave 3) that they were advising them to leave and this was protected area, again and again ad nausem.
As a Singaporean I was ashamed to see, yet again, the Singapore Police Force permitting themselves to be used as Lee Kuan Yew's political agents to crush political opponents; ashamed to see the lack of any courage on the part of these police officers to do the right thing and refuse their orders to intimidate peaceful Singaporeans; ashamed to see that these police officers had so little if any, knowledge of the law they are asked to enforce.
The actions of the police were clearly illegal. Illegal because these 2 pedestrians were not seen to be engaged in any criminal activity and therefore should have been treated like any other pedestrian and permitted to go the Shangri La Hotel just like anyone else.
It is quite clear that these police officers have no shame. None at all. This event will bring Singapore one further notch down the scale of countries lacking freedom and bring it now, on the level of their strong trading partner Burma and North Korea.
In this case, the police had committed the offense of false imprisonment, kidnapping, assault and battery. Had this outrageous events happened in any other democracy, the Minister for Home Affairs would have had to resign and the victims of these crimes, Chee Siok Chin and John Tan would have been paid several million dollars in compensation by the government. Not in Singapore or Zimbabwe. The Singapore courts after all have openly said that they are agents of the Singapore government.
Congratulations Lee Kuan Yew's Singapore in succeeding in becoming another Zimbabwe in South East Asia. With the world watching and the Godsend Internet, your time is running out.
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
The reader is directed to watch 2 videos on the Singapore Democrat Website where the Singapore police blatantly and shamelessly abuse their powers to falsely imprison detain and abduct 2 Singapore citizens, Miss Chee Siok Chin and Mr. John Tan outside Shangri La Hotel, Singapore on Nov 20, 2007. They do this with total impunity, answerable to none. Yet again they show what sort of cowards they are.
Yet again, the Lee Kuan Yew Singapore administration has shown that they and their police force are nothing more than that expected in any third rate dictatorial lawless banana republic. Yet again we see that Singapore is a country run according to nothing more than Lee's dictates. There is no rule of law at all. When the Singapore government goes around claiming that it is a first world country with the rule of law, it would be like saying that North Korea is the bedrock of democracy in East Asia.
On the 20th of November 2007, sometime during midday, 2 citizens of Singapore, Miss Chee Siok Chin and Mr. John Tan were walking just like any other ordinary pedestrian along Orchard Road, heading towards Shangri La Hotel in Orange Grove Road to have lunch. Nothing wrong with that at all. The hotel was open for business to the public as usual that day. There was nothing extraordinary at the Hotel that day at all, except that it so happens that the ASEAN conference of South East Asian Countries was having their annual meeting there and the Burmese Generals who were guilty of the murder rape and brutal suppression of thousands of Burmese protesters recently in Burma were also present.
The only difference to these facts are that these 2 pedestrians heading for lunch to Shangri La Hotel happen to be members of a Singapore opposition party, the Singapore Democratic Party. In any other country, the fact of these 2 people being opposition political party members, would have made no difference at all since these 2 were just walking and there was no evidence that they had with them bombs, bazookas and weapons of mass destruction. No, none at all. These 2 people were peacefully just going for lunch. But you see, things are different in this self proclaimed first world country. Joining an opposition political party alone is sufficient without more to be targeted for harassment, intimidation, and in this case, false imprisonment. As you will see below.
In order to stop any protest peaceful or otherwise, at or near the Asean Conference, presumably not to embarrass the Burmese generals of that military junta with blood on their hands, who were attending; the Singapore government, passed the Protected Areas Act to include the Shangri La Hotel. This is, as you can see, a clear violation of the Singapore Constitution which guarantees right of assembly.
This Act permits the police to remove anyone from the vicinity of the Hotel whom they deem to be trouble makers.
Regardless of what the wording of the law, any law to be legal must have at least a rational purpose on the face of it and secondly, it has to be exercised fairly and without discrimination. Therefore since the Constitution guarantees the Freedom of Assembly to Singaporeans, any attempt to remove anyone from the protected area must be based on a reasonable finding that the person is about to engage in illegal activity. Secondly, as is said, it must be exercised without singling out any particular individual for unfair treatment.
As can be seen to the permanent shame of Singapore and it's police force that day, the police surrounded these 2 pedestrians without any lawful reason, letting everyone else pass without let or hindrance. Just these 2 persons were waylaid, manhandled, surrounded and prevented from going along their way to lunch. When asked by Chee Siok Chin on what charge were they being detained, the police had no answer. When asked why others were permitted to pass except for them, the police had no answer. The police could only say like a stupid parrot, over and over again that 1) that it was a protected area 2) that they were ordered to leave 3) that they were advising them to leave and this was protected area, again and again ad nausem.
As a Singaporean I was ashamed to see, yet again, the Singapore Police Force permitting themselves to be used as Lee Kuan Yew's political agents to crush political opponents; ashamed to see the lack of any courage on the part of these police officers to do the right thing and refuse their orders to intimidate peaceful Singaporeans; ashamed to see that these police officers had so little if any, knowledge of the law they are asked to enforce.
The actions of the police were clearly illegal. Illegal because these 2 pedestrians were not seen to be engaged in any criminal activity and therefore should have been treated like any other pedestrian and permitted to go the Shangri La Hotel just like anyone else.
It is quite clear that these police officers have no shame. None at all. This event will bring Singapore one further notch down the scale of countries lacking freedom and bring it now, on the level of their strong trading partner Burma and North Korea.
In this case, the police had committed the offense of false imprisonment, kidnapping, assault and battery. Had this outrageous events happened in any other democracy, the Minister for Home Affairs would have had to resign and the victims of these crimes, Chee Siok Chin and John Tan would have been paid several million dollars in compensation by the government. Not in Singapore or Zimbabwe. The Singapore courts after all have openly said that they are agents of the Singapore government.
Congratulations Lee Kuan Yew's Singapore in succeeding in becoming another Zimbabwe in South East Asia. With the world watching and the Godsend Internet, your time is running out.
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
Patrick Vierra wrote
Patrick Vierra wrote
Title: Uphill Battle Buddy
aloha,
i've written a few time in your comments section under anonymous. i applaud what you are doing but i am in disgust at the typical singaporean sentiments when anyone tries to turn the lightbulb on in their heads. anyways, go the singapore democrat website and look at the latest posts and clips...unbelieveable. if people do not get it after watching this, then they deserve a full on dictatorship unlike anyone has ever seen.
you see, you and i both know this is not about politics, this is about human rights, something for everyone. to argue this is as stupid as the argument in america about if there is or isn't global warming. WHO CARES if there is or is not global warming, the simple fact is that we should take care of our planet.
Likewise, WHO CARES if you like the singapore democratic party or not, it is about human rights and that is for every singaporean...
Title: Uphill Battle Buddy
aloha,
i've written a few time in your comments section under anonymous. i applaud what you are doing but i am in disgust at the typical singaporean sentiments when anyone tries to turn the lightbulb on in their heads. anyways, go the singapore democrat website and look at the latest posts and clips...unbelieveable. if people do not get it after watching this, then they deserve a full on dictatorship unlike anyone has ever seen.
you see, you and i both know this is not about politics, this is about human rights, something for everyone. to argue this is as stupid as the argument in america about if there is or isn't global warming. WHO CARES if there is or is not global warming, the simple fact is that we should take care of our planet.
Likewise, WHO CARES if you like the singapore democratic party or not, it is about human rights and that is for every singaporean...
Monday, November 19, 2007
The one big mistake Lee Kuan Yew made.
Ladies and Gentlemen,
For all Lee Kuan Yew's talk of how smart he is, and how he has "a radar in his head that can see over the horizon" and all that bombast, one thing is very clear. He could not see that his greatest error was appointing his son Prime Minister.
Lee should know that Singapore has for the last 40 years been not only a one party state but more importantly a pure and classic dictatorship. Every order, every policy, every law, every program is decided by one man alone, Mr. Lee Kuan Yew.
You have ministers, that is true. But we all know that every Minister takes his decision only after having received the nod of the supremo, Mr. Lee Kuan Yew. Comical Vivian (Dr. Vivian Balakrishnan) as I like to call him can make as many speeches as he likes. The moment he speaks beyond Mr. Lee Kuan Yew's liking, comical Vivian becomes history. Same with every other Minister. I only mentioned Comical Vivian especially since he has provided amusement in the past, like when he told schoolchildren to speak up and not be afraid. That they should speak until either "they turn into jars" or their "mouths become ajar" I do not know which but equally ridiculous as we can see! You see, none of these Ministers are permitted to have a mind of their own. They can exist as nothing more than the mere mouthpieces of one man, or else they become history.
In these circumstances let us look at the long awaited demise of this man, Lee Kuan Yew. Now please keep in mind that the entire Singapore knows only one type of government, that is, taking orders from one man. With his demise; can we expect that suddenly every one will begin to take orders and comply to the dictates of Lee Kuan Yew's son? We have read various reports that his son does not appear to instill confidence even among his own political party! Will he be able to gain the confidence of the Singaporean public?
This is where Lee Kuan Yew went terribly wrong. In his mistake in appointing his son, Prime Minister. He could have done much better in appointing someone more senior and with more experience in that position; that way perhaps, I say perhaps, the fear that they had for him would also transcend to his successor. But his son was the worst possible choice of appointment for Prime Minister. That is quite clear, in this system where all orders emanate from one man at the top.
This is what I see, if I can humbly predict the scene after his impending certain demise. The news is good. There will be crisis in the political scene. With the crisis, those Ministers would be the first to cash out the Singapore dollars into better positioned hard currencies. I think the first man to pack and leave would probably be Comical Vivian himself. With a small country, small population like Singapore, it is enough that one dishonest Comical Vivian cashes out. There will be a run on the currency. There will be a run on the people. There will be a run on the banks. There will be exodus. There will be another perestroika and instability.
But the good news is, out of the chaos will rise a phoenix of democracy free speech and expression and betterment for all.
Lee Kuan Yew will unwittingly be the cause of the fall of his son and the fall of his party which has held an illegal stranglehold on power over his people for 40 years.
To that extent, we have to thank Mr. Lee Kuan Yew.
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
For all Lee Kuan Yew's talk of how smart he is, and how he has "a radar in his head that can see over the horizon" and all that bombast, one thing is very clear. He could not see that his greatest error was appointing his son Prime Minister.
Lee should know that Singapore has for the last 40 years been not only a one party state but more importantly a pure and classic dictatorship. Every order, every policy, every law, every program is decided by one man alone, Mr. Lee Kuan Yew.
You have ministers, that is true. But we all know that every Minister takes his decision only after having received the nod of the supremo, Mr. Lee Kuan Yew. Comical Vivian (Dr. Vivian Balakrishnan) as I like to call him can make as many speeches as he likes. The moment he speaks beyond Mr. Lee Kuan Yew's liking, comical Vivian becomes history. Same with every other Minister. I only mentioned Comical Vivian especially since he has provided amusement in the past, like when he told schoolchildren to speak up and not be afraid. That they should speak until either "they turn into jars" or their "mouths become ajar" I do not know which but equally ridiculous as we can see! You see, none of these Ministers are permitted to have a mind of their own. They can exist as nothing more than the mere mouthpieces of one man, or else they become history.
In these circumstances let us look at the long awaited demise of this man, Lee Kuan Yew. Now please keep in mind that the entire Singapore knows only one type of government, that is, taking orders from one man. With his demise; can we expect that suddenly every one will begin to take orders and comply to the dictates of Lee Kuan Yew's son? We have read various reports that his son does not appear to instill confidence even among his own political party! Will he be able to gain the confidence of the Singaporean public?
This is where Lee Kuan Yew went terribly wrong. In his mistake in appointing his son, Prime Minister. He could have done much better in appointing someone more senior and with more experience in that position; that way perhaps, I say perhaps, the fear that they had for him would also transcend to his successor. But his son was the worst possible choice of appointment for Prime Minister. That is quite clear, in this system where all orders emanate from one man at the top.
This is what I see, if I can humbly predict the scene after his impending certain demise. The news is good. There will be crisis in the political scene. With the crisis, those Ministers would be the first to cash out the Singapore dollars into better positioned hard currencies. I think the first man to pack and leave would probably be Comical Vivian himself. With a small country, small population like Singapore, it is enough that one dishonest Comical Vivian cashes out. There will be a run on the currency. There will be a run on the people. There will be a run on the banks. There will be exodus. There will be another perestroika and instability.
But the good news is, out of the chaos will rise a phoenix of democracy free speech and expression and betterment for all.
Lee Kuan Yew will unwittingly be the cause of the fall of his son and the fall of his party which has held an illegal stranglehold on power over his people for 40 years.
To that extent, we have to thank Mr. Lee Kuan Yew.
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
A letter from Sean Ashley
just to let you know that i enjoy reading your site immensely, and make a point of bringing it to the attention of as many people as i can here in sillypore. Your observations are spot on every time.
all the best,
Sean Ashley
all the best,
Sean Ashley
Friday, November 16, 2007
Singapore. It is impossible to change the government through national elections.
Ladies and Gentlemen,
Anyone with a pair of eyes, ears and a functioning head on his shoulders should have realized this much in Singapore Island. That it is impossible to change the government through conventional channel of elections. And as proof of the utter corruption of the Singapore administration responsible for this unacceptable state of affairs is the glaring and obvious Dr. Chee Soon Juan and Mr. JB Jeyaretnam. One need not go further than that. But I will anyway, starting with Dr. Chee Soon Juan and Mr. JB Jeyaretnam.
Each and every honest Singaporean will agree; honest ones that is; that the bankrupting of Dr. Chee and Mr. Jeyaretnam by Lee Kuan Yew, defaming them at will in the state controlled papers, the Straits Times, repeatedly calling them liars and cheats and dishonest persons, was entirely without justification. Anyone with any honesty will agree with this statement. We all know that neither of them was guilty of any defamation of any sort against anyone; that the defamation actions against them were politically motivated and carried out by a corrupt judiciary; their being made bankrupt was totally unjustified and calculated for one purpose and one purpose alone, that is, to disqualify them from standing for elections.
We also know that both of them, Dr. Chee and JB Jeyaretnam; are the 2 most eminent and capable of politicians; responsible honest loyal sincere and intelligent among Singaporeans; who most deserve to be in Parliament; who are best suited to protect Singaporeans interests. Yet without any shame; knowing full well that each and every Singaporean considers their disqualification totally unacceptable, indeed ridiculous; yet the Lee Kuan Yew Administration goes ahead and does what everyone can see is nothing short of outrageous. Lee makes them bankrupt and disqualified from Parliamentary elections.
This alone shows that this Administration will not stop short of taking even the most unacceptable action to remain in power. With this fact well known, any Singaporean should know that it is impossible to remove this Lee Kuan Yew Administration from power, as they are capable of any and all illegality to remain in power.
Although not necessary, I will point out even more reasons why the opposition should forget here and now, winning Parliamentary elections and forming the government.
In order for free and fair elections, one has to have an independent media, totally lacking in Singapore. All media in Singapore is owned and controlled by the Singapore government. It is furthermore an offence to print and distribute newsprint without a permit; and just in case you are minded to apply for it, the advice should be to forget it, since it will not be granted.
The state owned and controlled media will repeatedly and with heightened intensity just before any general election, defame all opposition politicians, even threatening them with defamation suits. This will frighten off any possible opposition political candidate from running; and every citizen from voting for any opposition candidate.
Electioneering system is weighted against the opposition. The few days that is permitted for electioneering is too short favoring the Lee Kuan Yew party since they can plan it years ahead.
It is impossible for opposition politicians to speak freely at rallies since there is the constant fear of defamation actions; as what happened to Tang Lian Hong in 1997 elections.
The judiciary is corrupt and beholden to the Lee Government. This prevents any honest and capable politician from standing at elections since he knows that he may, the very next minute, be bankrupted by Lee Kuan Yew's judges who willingly do his bidding.
And I can go on but it is not necessary. As for Hougang and Potong Pasir, these wards will continue to remain under the opposition or pseudo opposition to be more correct. Lee Kuan Yew prefers these 2 politicians to continue in Parliament as they serve to paint a good face on the PAP for the rest of the world to see; since they can say that it is not true to call Singapore a one party state. At the same time Lee is confident, by the past actions of these 2 politicians, that they are really not interested in challenging the PAP. Hougang and Potong Pasir are therefore really not examples for anyone to use in arguing that Singapore has a fair election system.
What I say is this. First the people of Hougang and Potong Pasir should stop relying on these opposition political parties and do what is right. They should not follow laws that they know to be unjust. These laws such as the 5 person protest law should be broken. If you do it in numbers, Lee Kuan Yew is powerless to do anything. The newspapers licensing law should be broken as being without any rational basis. The societies act should be broken because of the same. The people should break the house to house street collections act and the political donations act and solicit for moneys locally and worldwide for the same. When defamation suits are filed, they should be just ignored and not given any co-operation, leaving the despot to do whatever he wants.
By doing these things and getting away with them, Singaporeans empower themselves. And when you empower yourselves, Lee will have to take you seriously. And when he does that, is when Singaporeans will ever manage to succeed through the ballot box.
Until and unless these things happen, Lee Kuan Yew will continue to treat each one of Singapore citizens, nothing more than a nuisance. Your views will continue to be ignored and you will forever remain in Singapore, nothing more than slaves.
There are a few free men and women in Singapore. The most notable of them are Mr. JB Jeyaretnam and Dr. Chee Soon Juan. I too am a free man living in California, Gopalan Nair of Fremont California, USA.
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
Anyone with a pair of eyes, ears and a functioning head on his shoulders should have realized this much in Singapore Island. That it is impossible to change the government through conventional channel of elections. And as proof of the utter corruption of the Singapore administration responsible for this unacceptable state of affairs is the glaring and obvious Dr. Chee Soon Juan and Mr. JB Jeyaretnam. One need not go further than that. But I will anyway, starting with Dr. Chee Soon Juan and Mr. JB Jeyaretnam.
Each and every honest Singaporean will agree; honest ones that is; that the bankrupting of Dr. Chee and Mr. Jeyaretnam by Lee Kuan Yew, defaming them at will in the state controlled papers, the Straits Times, repeatedly calling them liars and cheats and dishonest persons, was entirely without justification. Anyone with any honesty will agree with this statement. We all know that neither of them was guilty of any defamation of any sort against anyone; that the defamation actions against them were politically motivated and carried out by a corrupt judiciary; their being made bankrupt was totally unjustified and calculated for one purpose and one purpose alone, that is, to disqualify them from standing for elections.
We also know that both of them, Dr. Chee and JB Jeyaretnam; are the 2 most eminent and capable of politicians; responsible honest loyal sincere and intelligent among Singaporeans; who most deserve to be in Parliament; who are best suited to protect Singaporeans interests. Yet without any shame; knowing full well that each and every Singaporean considers their disqualification totally unacceptable, indeed ridiculous; yet the Lee Kuan Yew Administration goes ahead and does what everyone can see is nothing short of outrageous. Lee makes them bankrupt and disqualified from Parliamentary elections.
This alone shows that this Administration will not stop short of taking even the most unacceptable action to remain in power. With this fact well known, any Singaporean should know that it is impossible to remove this Lee Kuan Yew Administration from power, as they are capable of any and all illegality to remain in power.
Although not necessary, I will point out even more reasons why the opposition should forget here and now, winning Parliamentary elections and forming the government.
In order for free and fair elections, one has to have an independent media, totally lacking in Singapore. All media in Singapore is owned and controlled by the Singapore government. It is furthermore an offence to print and distribute newsprint without a permit; and just in case you are minded to apply for it, the advice should be to forget it, since it will not be granted.
The state owned and controlled media will repeatedly and with heightened intensity just before any general election, defame all opposition politicians, even threatening them with defamation suits. This will frighten off any possible opposition political candidate from running; and every citizen from voting for any opposition candidate.
Electioneering system is weighted against the opposition. The few days that is permitted for electioneering is too short favoring the Lee Kuan Yew party since they can plan it years ahead.
It is impossible for opposition politicians to speak freely at rallies since there is the constant fear of defamation actions; as what happened to Tang Lian Hong in 1997 elections.
The judiciary is corrupt and beholden to the Lee Government. This prevents any honest and capable politician from standing at elections since he knows that he may, the very next minute, be bankrupted by Lee Kuan Yew's judges who willingly do his bidding.
And I can go on but it is not necessary. As for Hougang and Potong Pasir, these wards will continue to remain under the opposition or pseudo opposition to be more correct. Lee Kuan Yew prefers these 2 politicians to continue in Parliament as they serve to paint a good face on the PAP for the rest of the world to see; since they can say that it is not true to call Singapore a one party state. At the same time Lee is confident, by the past actions of these 2 politicians, that they are really not interested in challenging the PAP. Hougang and Potong Pasir are therefore really not examples for anyone to use in arguing that Singapore has a fair election system.
What I say is this. First the people of Hougang and Potong Pasir should stop relying on these opposition political parties and do what is right. They should not follow laws that they know to be unjust. These laws such as the 5 person protest law should be broken. If you do it in numbers, Lee Kuan Yew is powerless to do anything. The newspapers licensing law should be broken as being without any rational basis. The societies act should be broken because of the same. The people should break the house to house street collections act and the political donations act and solicit for moneys locally and worldwide for the same. When defamation suits are filed, they should be just ignored and not given any co-operation, leaving the despot to do whatever he wants.
By doing these things and getting away with them, Singaporeans empower themselves. And when you empower yourselves, Lee will have to take you seriously. And when he does that, is when Singaporeans will ever manage to succeed through the ballot box.
Until and unless these things happen, Lee Kuan Yew will continue to treat each one of Singapore citizens, nothing more than a nuisance. Your views will continue to be ignored and you will forever remain in Singapore, nothing more than slaves.
There are a few free men and women in Singapore. The most notable of them are Mr. JB Jeyaretnam and Dr. Chee Soon Juan. I too am a free man living in California, Gopalan Nair of Fremont California, USA.
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
Thursday, November 15, 2007
The shameful 2 faced lives that Singaporeans lead.
Ladies and Gentlemen,
I was in Singapore from Nov 1 to Nov 9. East coast Malaya from Nov 9 to 12. Nov 12 travel from Wakaf Bahru/ Tumpat Thai border to Singapore on Malayan Railway Eastern Line. Departed Singapore 5.40 pm Changi, SQ2 Nov 13. The following my observations.
Every morning Singapore I wake up and turn on TV Channel News Asia. Steven Chia and a diminutive woman who keeps nodding her head at regular intervals, almost to outdo TV's "noddy the horse" read the news followed by Jennifer Alejandro to read the business news. Alejandro on her part introduces herself phonetically as Olihandro for some reason when it should be pronounced Alejandro as spelt (J being pronounced as H in Spanish, unlike in Portuguese were it is the same as in English). Alejandro is simply Alexander in English.
The point is this. These TV newsreaders unlike their other Singaporean citizens, do actually speak English and not Singlish. Second they appear to have an education commensurate to their reading the news. Third they appear to be very westernized with westernized mannerisms, effusing confidence replete with the jokes and the small talk which is expected of any newsreader in any western country.
But one thing makes them very different from any western newsreader. The fact that they are quite prepared to surrender their destinies to the whims of a despot. Any western newsreader being unwilling to do.
It strikes me as odd, very odd, that such apparently educated self confident young men and women, such as these western style newsreaders would be quite prepared to act their parts in a so called first world country, yet are prepared to live, presumably out of fear, in circumstances where they have no rights at all, and all rights belong only to the Lee family.
It is not only them. The greatly experienced SIA pilots on all the legs to Singapore and back only spoke an atrocious form of English, as we know Singlish, which is in fact English with a Hokkien accent. I am quite sure that listening to them, any English speaker from any part of the English speaking world, hearing it for the first time, would be hard-pressed in being convinced that it is actually English. But what was even more astonishing was the fact that all of them had an English name before their Chinese name, like Robert Chong and so forth. One will wonder why these people are so determined to have English names when they have so much difficulty in speaking it. Why are they so desperately trying to hide their Asian identity? And if they are so ashamed to be Chinese, should they not try a little harder in trying to speak English for a change.
The taxi driver from Changi Airport to my hotel had many complaints. Not enough money. Taxi company charging too much. Difficult to survive. To my question why he did not do anything about it, his answer was that it was useless. He did not wish to openly protest as the government will retaliate and cause him and his family harm. He was afraid. He cannot do anything to change his bleak prospects. He is resigned to the fate the government has for him. A pathetic case, just as the sad cases of each and every Singaporeans that we meet. A country consumed in fear.
Dying for good Indian food, I head for Tekka Market. There I meet an Indian foreign talent, a civil engineer. He is a Singapore Permanent Resident. He lives alone in Singapore. His wife and children live in India. He has been in Singapore for 6 years. He is not interested in being a Singapore citizen. As too many Indian students are going into software engineering, there is a shortage of civil engineers in India, he claims. He claims he can make as much money now in India as in Singapore. He told me he cares 2 hoots for Singapore. He will go anywhere in the world where he can make money. Then he will go home to India. He is Indian, he reminded me.
At the market I meet up with Uncle Yap. He paints an even grimmer picture of Singapore. He says the government does not pay CPF because they have run out of money. This is evident in their laying off many workers in government departments. And these, even the highly educated ones, according to Uncle Yap, end up as security guards and taxi drivers. He even said that there was a PhD driving a taxi around. The foreign talent policy, according to him is deliberately carried on by the government to suppress the wages of Singaporeans to remain competitive. If true, very distressing news for all Singaporeans.
A friend of mine, Jagir Singh Towana. Ex police officer. Spent entire career in the Singapore Police Force. After retirement, one would have expected him to live in comfort and leisure. No not so. Despite ailing health, he has had a heart bypass operation, he has no choice but to drive a Mercedes Benz taxi as a relief driver to the licensee. This is another example of the dark side of the Lee Kuan Yew's first world country.
Another old friend Gurunathan is busy running around as a real estate broker. He claims he has no time to see me as before. He has to run around making money to pay for his HDB flat. According to him, the HDB did not care whether you had food. Their flat must be paid for first! So even though he retired from Telecoms many years ago, despite every muscle and limb hurting, if indeed it did, the man has to still run around the length and breath of the island, hoping to make a deal to pay for his flat and food on the table.
We have Bala and Thanabal, the former in his 60th year, and the latter 57. Both have all sorts of ailments. Bala has severe diabetics, suffered a stroke and now has a liver condition. Thanabal a lifetime smoker has had a "balloon" medical procedure in his heart. Both are ailing. Yet both, with all their strength have to work. This Lee Kuan Yew's first world country is not prepared to lend them a hand.
Yet neither Bala, Thanabal nor Gurunathan would dare to even mention the word "protest". They are terrified to even mention the word. Terrified at what Lee Kuan Yew would do to them if they even so much so as raised a whimper. This is the example of Lee Kuan Yew's first world citizens in his first world country.
I spoke to my friend Nazir Mohammed Khan. He is the grandson of carpet dealer Amir and Sons along Orchard Road. This man had a lot to say in complaints. He had stories like how Lee Kuan Yew and his family forced the then owners of Goodwood Hotel to sell it to them and other interesting pieces of information; whether true or not only God knows. But in the end, he will refuse to do anything even remotely of registering his complaints in the open. On a fear register of 1 to 10, you could consider him nine. Now since he knows that I write this blog, he has refused to meet me at all!
I saw my friend Sambasivam of MediaCorps Tamil Section. He was my old friend. Same complaints as usual of the government censoring the media. But as expected he is not prepared to do anything about it. Again, the all encompassing fear.
I sometimes find it hard to accept the fact that in a country with such an educated population, why do they not realize, as everyone can see, that if sufficient numbers show their dissatisfaction, the magic words being sufficient numbers, the government is powerless to punish everyone. And it is not too hard to galvanize sufficient numbers. Surely this is possible.
But as to why they do not see what I can see, is a problem that beats me. Especially why Mr. Steven Chia, the Channel NewsAsia TV newsreader, that outspoken, classy, sophisticated Western educated confident young man wishes to live his life in submission beats me.
And on the whole, the average Singaporean appeared to be classic Kaisu characters. Greedy, selfish, money driven, generally angry and impatient. A vast contrast to the people of Kota Bahru.
The men and women of Kota Bahru were very different. First, I have never seen so beautiful women, Malay women, anywhere in the world, not even in England Germany or California. They were beautiful, gentle, gracious and generous. Truly so. Not the forced type of gentleness seen on airhostesses on Singapore Airlines Flight No. SQ2. Not only the women but everyone I met in Kota Bahru had this class and style about them. A true humanness lacking among Singaporeans.
Not too long ago, I read Joseph Conrad's Lord Jim. Conrad too has the same good impression of the people of Kota Bahru that I have.
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
I was in Singapore from Nov 1 to Nov 9. East coast Malaya from Nov 9 to 12. Nov 12 travel from Wakaf Bahru/ Tumpat Thai border to Singapore on Malayan Railway Eastern Line. Departed Singapore 5.40 pm Changi, SQ2 Nov 13. The following my observations.
Every morning Singapore I wake up and turn on TV Channel News Asia. Steven Chia and a diminutive woman who keeps nodding her head at regular intervals, almost to outdo TV's "noddy the horse" read the news followed by Jennifer Alejandro to read the business news. Alejandro on her part introduces herself phonetically as Olihandro for some reason when it should be pronounced Alejandro as spelt (J being pronounced as H in Spanish, unlike in Portuguese were it is the same as in English). Alejandro is simply Alexander in English.
The point is this. These TV newsreaders unlike their other Singaporean citizens, do actually speak English and not Singlish. Second they appear to have an education commensurate to their reading the news. Third they appear to be very westernized with westernized mannerisms, effusing confidence replete with the jokes and the small talk which is expected of any newsreader in any western country.
But one thing makes them very different from any western newsreader. The fact that they are quite prepared to surrender their destinies to the whims of a despot. Any western newsreader being unwilling to do.
It strikes me as odd, very odd, that such apparently educated self confident young men and women, such as these western style newsreaders would be quite prepared to act their parts in a so called first world country, yet are prepared to live, presumably out of fear, in circumstances where they have no rights at all, and all rights belong only to the Lee family.
It is not only them. The greatly experienced SIA pilots on all the legs to Singapore and back only spoke an atrocious form of English, as we know Singlish, which is in fact English with a Hokkien accent. I am quite sure that listening to them, any English speaker from any part of the English speaking world, hearing it for the first time, would be hard-pressed in being convinced that it is actually English. But what was even more astonishing was the fact that all of them had an English name before their Chinese name, like Robert Chong and so forth. One will wonder why these people are so determined to have English names when they have so much difficulty in speaking it. Why are they so desperately trying to hide their Asian identity? And if they are so ashamed to be Chinese, should they not try a little harder in trying to speak English for a change.
The taxi driver from Changi Airport to my hotel had many complaints. Not enough money. Taxi company charging too much. Difficult to survive. To my question why he did not do anything about it, his answer was that it was useless. He did not wish to openly protest as the government will retaliate and cause him and his family harm. He was afraid. He cannot do anything to change his bleak prospects. He is resigned to the fate the government has for him. A pathetic case, just as the sad cases of each and every Singaporeans that we meet. A country consumed in fear.
Dying for good Indian food, I head for Tekka Market. There I meet an Indian foreign talent, a civil engineer. He is a Singapore Permanent Resident. He lives alone in Singapore. His wife and children live in India. He has been in Singapore for 6 years. He is not interested in being a Singapore citizen. As too many Indian students are going into software engineering, there is a shortage of civil engineers in India, he claims. He claims he can make as much money now in India as in Singapore. He told me he cares 2 hoots for Singapore. He will go anywhere in the world where he can make money. Then he will go home to India. He is Indian, he reminded me.
At the market I meet up with Uncle Yap. He paints an even grimmer picture of Singapore. He says the government does not pay CPF because they have run out of money. This is evident in their laying off many workers in government departments. And these, even the highly educated ones, according to Uncle Yap, end up as security guards and taxi drivers. He even said that there was a PhD driving a taxi around. The foreign talent policy, according to him is deliberately carried on by the government to suppress the wages of Singaporeans to remain competitive. If true, very distressing news for all Singaporeans.
A friend of mine, Jagir Singh Towana. Ex police officer. Spent entire career in the Singapore Police Force. After retirement, one would have expected him to live in comfort and leisure. No not so. Despite ailing health, he has had a heart bypass operation, he has no choice but to drive a Mercedes Benz taxi as a relief driver to the licensee. This is another example of the dark side of the Lee Kuan Yew's first world country.
Another old friend Gurunathan is busy running around as a real estate broker. He claims he has no time to see me as before. He has to run around making money to pay for his HDB flat. According to him, the HDB did not care whether you had food. Their flat must be paid for first! So even though he retired from Telecoms many years ago, despite every muscle and limb hurting, if indeed it did, the man has to still run around the length and breath of the island, hoping to make a deal to pay for his flat and food on the table.
We have Bala and Thanabal, the former in his 60th year, and the latter 57. Both have all sorts of ailments. Bala has severe diabetics, suffered a stroke and now has a liver condition. Thanabal a lifetime smoker has had a "balloon" medical procedure in his heart. Both are ailing. Yet both, with all their strength have to work. This Lee Kuan Yew's first world country is not prepared to lend them a hand.
Yet neither Bala, Thanabal nor Gurunathan would dare to even mention the word "protest". They are terrified to even mention the word. Terrified at what Lee Kuan Yew would do to them if they even so much so as raised a whimper. This is the example of Lee Kuan Yew's first world citizens in his first world country.
I spoke to my friend Nazir Mohammed Khan. He is the grandson of carpet dealer Amir and Sons along Orchard Road. This man had a lot to say in complaints. He had stories like how Lee Kuan Yew and his family forced the then owners of Goodwood Hotel to sell it to them and other interesting pieces of information; whether true or not only God knows. But in the end, he will refuse to do anything even remotely of registering his complaints in the open. On a fear register of 1 to 10, you could consider him nine. Now since he knows that I write this blog, he has refused to meet me at all!
I saw my friend Sambasivam of MediaCorps Tamil Section. He was my old friend. Same complaints as usual of the government censoring the media. But as expected he is not prepared to do anything about it. Again, the all encompassing fear.
I sometimes find it hard to accept the fact that in a country with such an educated population, why do they not realize, as everyone can see, that if sufficient numbers show their dissatisfaction, the magic words being sufficient numbers, the government is powerless to punish everyone. And it is not too hard to galvanize sufficient numbers. Surely this is possible.
But as to why they do not see what I can see, is a problem that beats me. Especially why Mr. Steven Chia, the Channel NewsAsia TV newsreader, that outspoken, classy, sophisticated Western educated confident young man wishes to live his life in submission beats me.
And on the whole, the average Singaporean appeared to be classic Kaisu characters. Greedy, selfish, money driven, generally angry and impatient. A vast contrast to the people of Kota Bahru.
The men and women of Kota Bahru were very different. First, I have never seen so beautiful women, Malay women, anywhere in the world, not even in England Germany or California. They were beautiful, gentle, gracious and generous. Truly so. Not the forced type of gentleness seen on airhostesses on Singapore Airlines Flight No. SQ2. Not only the women but everyone I met in Kota Bahru had this class and style about them. A true humanness lacking among Singaporeans.
Not too long ago, I read Joseph Conrad's Lord Jim. Conrad too has the same good impression of the people of Kota Bahru that I have.
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
Tuesday, November 13, 2007
A letter from E-Jay
This is such a good article. Your rebuttal to Low Thia Kiang's chicanery, obfuscation, and gerrymandering is direct and accurate. This is what I call political critique at its best.
This is the kind of talent we need at the political helm of Singapore, not the half-baked puerile self-serving attitudes espoused by Low Thia Kiang. I don't have to mince my words in calling a spade a spade.
E-Jay
This is the kind of talent we need at the political helm of Singapore, not the half-baked puerile self-serving attitudes espoused by Low Thia Kiang. I don't have to mince my words in calling a spade a spade.
E-Jay
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