Ladies and Gentlemen,
Singapore's state controlled newspaper the Straits Times in its online edition of March 23, 2009 has the article "More Powers to Police". It says Wong Kan Seng, the Minister for Home Affairs of Singapore has tabled a motion in Parliament to enact a law called the Public Order Act. It will make any protest however small and however peaceful illegal unless one obtains a permit from the government. But Lee Kuan Yew's oligarchy has never granted even a single permit in the country's entire history, unless of course the protest is to praise Lee and his government. What this means of course is there is no hope for anyone to protest publicly about anything. And not only that, the law will also make the filming of police brutality, which always occurs in the rare instances of protests.
One can see why this government is resorting to such a universal grip on power. They are afraid. Singapore economy is doing badly. People are being thrown out of jobs with no support from the government. With no one to turn to in this concrete jungle, Lee Kuan Yew fears there may be protests when the people have no other recourse. He realizes that more and more people are beginning to hate, yes hate, this government, when the ministers pay themselves the highest salaries in the world, when the poor can hardly manage to feed their children. And protests in a situation like this makes the position of this government extremely tenuous.
Many activists have been successful in exposing police brutality and the misuse of police powers by filming the arrests and posting the pictures of the police officers on the Internet. Pictures of DSP Hasssan who arrested Dr. Chee Soon Juan for peacefully protesting at the World Bank meeting, pictures of ASP Abdul Razak Zakaria who arrested me and those who wore T shirts with kangaroo pictures; these men have been identified and exposed. These officers must have begun to have the jitters as to what will happen to them if there was a change in government? Will they be held to account? So the law to keep their identities secret in the dirty work they do.
This law not only makes protesting illegal, the police are given wide powers to do anything they want. Literally anything. They can question you on mere suspicion regardless of whether there was any basis for it, they can prevent you going about your business on the pretext that you were going to a protest meeting, they can tap your phones, they can search you for no rime or reason.
Singapore today is a one party state with Lee Kuan Yew in absolute control. It's media is owned and controlled by the state. Even though the Constitution guarantees freedom of speech and expression, you have no such rights. The judiciary is corrupt and beholden to Lee Kuan Yew and his government. And finally this. Whereas previously you were allowed to peacefully protest if you were not more than four, now even if you wanted to stand alone holding up a placard, you will be running foul of the law.
And that is why I say it is a complete concentration camp with one exception. You could not have escaped from Auswitch or Dachau. But you can from Singapore if you want. This is the only difference between Hitler's concentration camps and Singapore.
Just as a guard at Auswitch can ask you to move along, Singapore police can do the same. The guards at Auswitch can pass any law they want; Lee Kuan Yew can do the same. In Auswitch you are allowed only to read Hitler's propaganda; same in Singapore where you get to read only the state controlled news papers. In Auswitch, the guards can punish you in any way they want; same in Singapore with Lee Kuan Yew's judges, such as Judge Belinda Ang Saw Ean, who are dying to do anything for him. In Auswitch you may be able to get by and live out your life, by keeping your mouth shut and dutifully obeying your orders; same in Singapore, you can live a quiet life by being an obedient dog.
Lee Kuan Yew has got it all wrong this time. This sort of control is not going to work. People are escaping from the island, or rather they are emigrating in droves, yes droves. They are going to Australia and other democracies not wanting to live in a concentration camp. Children are not being born in sufficient numbers and without the relentless import of foreign migrants from the neighbouring impoverished countries, Singaporean population would have shrunk.
No educated man or woman in his right mind would want to tolerate this. This law has finally broken the camel's back. I do not believe that Singaporeans will take this nonsense anymore from this 86 year old tyrant.
Any human has a tolerance threshold beyond which he will not endure. I believe, that threshold has been reached with this law. I expect things to begin to change with the people taking the law into their own hands since they cannot get any justice from this government.
Singapore may have modern skyscrapers and manicured lawns. But these things does not in any way make Singapore anything other than a true concentration camp with the prison guards (Singapore police) free to do anything they want to you. Your only choice is to obey anything you are told to do. I am not sure, even with Singaporeans being the most tolerant and obedient people on this planet would be willing to accept a life such as this.
Gopalan Nair
39737 Paseo Padre Parkway, Suite A1
Fremont, CA 94538, USA
Tel: 510 657 6107
Fax: 510 657 6914
Email: nair.gopalan@yahoo.com
Blog: http://singaporedissident.blogspot.com/
Your letters are welcome. We reserve the right to publish your letters. Please Email your letters to nair.gopalan@yahoo.com And if you like what I write, please tell your friends. You will be helping democracy by distributing this widely. This blog not only gives information, it dispels government propaganda put out by this dictatorial regime.
Sunday, March 29, 2009
Sunday, March 22, 2009
Singapore. The unintended consequences of abusing state authority
Ladies and Gentlemen,
George W Bush went to war in Iraq in 2003 under false pretences, claiming it had weapons of mass destruction which turned out to be completely untrue. Not only that he deliberately side stepped the UN which specifically forbade military action. Beside the great loss of life and destruction resulting from his abuse of power, the US military suddenly found that their efforts at recruitment for the Army began to decline drastically. At one point, the Generals were so alarmed at the falling numbers of new recruits that they feared the security of United States itself may be threatened. Americans who all along took pride in serving in their armed forces were suddenly not wanting to have anything to do with it. George W Bush managed at one stroke to discredit the US Armed Forces by his subterfuge. The result was a discredited military shunned by his own people.
Take Lee Kuan Yew. Since the 1970s, he systematically and routinely abused the legal system by appointing corrupt judges to eliminate his political opposition. Over the years we have had a series of politically motivated cases where the opposition has been disgraced, imprisoned and bankrupted for nothing more than criticizing him and his government. His victims were as you know, JB Jeyaretnam and a series of others including myself and Dr. Chee Soon Juan who as we speak is being subjected to the same punishment now.
What this is done is to thoroughly discredit the legal system in Singapore. To the last man, every Singaporean has completely lost faith in the administration of justice in their country. And we see the same consequence in Singapore as America finds itself in. From my last communication with the Law Society in Singapore a couple of months ago, I understand there are no more than 3,000 lawyers in active practice in Singapore with a population of 4.5 million!
Imagine that. Singapore has a population of 4.5 million but it has only 3,000 lawyers! I had written about this in an earlier post. It is something like 1 lawyer for a about 1700 people! If indeed Singapore is a financial hub and various other hubs it claims to be, it has to have 10 times that number of lawyers.
The reason for the lack of lawyers is this. Lee Kuan Yew has managed single handedly to thoroughly disgrace and discredit the judiciary and Singapore police by openly using it as an instrument for suppressing dissent. Each time a political dissident is hauled to court on trumped up legal charges, the state controlled media gives it full publicity, thereby sending a signal to everyone the dire consequences of exercising one's civil rights.
Singaporeans I believe also have human values. And having values, they dislike having anything to do with the legal profession, let alone being a lawyer. So lawyers already practicing there are leaving the profession and there are no takers to join it.
What is worse, it is not just that the present lawyer population is small, in fact it is actually shrinking. In fact 10 years ago, there were more lawyers in Singapore than there are now.
Lee Kuan Yew may or may not have learnt his lesson which is this. Abusing the law has it's consequences. And one of which is this. You are not going to get young people to become lawyers. And without lawyers, any ideas of greatness is nothing more than a pipe dream.
Gopalan Nair
39737 Paseo Padre Parkway, Suite A1
Fremont, CA 94538, USA
Tel: 510 657 6107
Fax: 510 657 6914
Email: nair.gopalan@yahoo.com
Blog: http://singaporedissident.blogspot.com/
Your letters are welcome. We reserve the right to publish your letters. Please Email your letters to nair.gopalan@yahoo.com And if you like what I write, please tell your friends. You will be helping democracy by distributing this widely. This blog not only gives information, it dispels government propaganda put out by this dictatorial regime.
George W Bush went to war in Iraq in 2003 under false pretences, claiming it had weapons of mass destruction which turned out to be completely untrue. Not only that he deliberately side stepped the UN which specifically forbade military action. Beside the great loss of life and destruction resulting from his abuse of power, the US military suddenly found that their efforts at recruitment for the Army began to decline drastically. At one point, the Generals were so alarmed at the falling numbers of new recruits that they feared the security of United States itself may be threatened. Americans who all along took pride in serving in their armed forces were suddenly not wanting to have anything to do with it. George W Bush managed at one stroke to discredit the US Armed Forces by his subterfuge. The result was a discredited military shunned by his own people.
Take Lee Kuan Yew. Since the 1970s, he systematically and routinely abused the legal system by appointing corrupt judges to eliminate his political opposition. Over the years we have had a series of politically motivated cases where the opposition has been disgraced, imprisoned and bankrupted for nothing more than criticizing him and his government. His victims were as you know, JB Jeyaretnam and a series of others including myself and Dr. Chee Soon Juan who as we speak is being subjected to the same punishment now.
What this is done is to thoroughly discredit the legal system in Singapore. To the last man, every Singaporean has completely lost faith in the administration of justice in their country. And we see the same consequence in Singapore as America finds itself in. From my last communication with the Law Society in Singapore a couple of months ago, I understand there are no more than 3,000 lawyers in active practice in Singapore with a population of 4.5 million!
Imagine that. Singapore has a population of 4.5 million but it has only 3,000 lawyers! I had written about this in an earlier post. It is something like 1 lawyer for a about 1700 people! If indeed Singapore is a financial hub and various other hubs it claims to be, it has to have 10 times that number of lawyers.
The reason for the lack of lawyers is this. Lee Kuan Yew has managed single handedly to thoroughly disgrace and discredit the judiciary and Singapore police by openly using it as an instrument for suppressing dissent. Each time a political dissident is hauled to court on trumped up legal charges, the state controlled media gives it full publicity, thereby sending a signal to everyone the dire consequences of exercising one's civil rights.
Singaporeans I believe also have human values. And having values, they dislike having anything to do with the legal profession, let alone being a lawyer. So lawyers already practicing there are leaving the profession and there are no takers to join it.
What is worse, it is not just that the present lawyer population is small, in fact it is actually shrinking. In fact 10 years ago, there were more lawyers in Singapore than there are now.
Lee Kuan Yew may or may not have learnt his lesson which is this. Abusing the law has it's consequences. And one of which is this. You are not going to get young people to become lawyers. And without lawyers, any ideas of greatness is nothing more than a pipe dream.
Gopalan Nair
39737 Paseo Padre Parkway, Suite A1
Fremont, CA 94538, USA
Tel: 510 657 6107
Fax: 510 657 6914
Email: nair.gopalan@yahoo.com
Blog: http://singaporedissident.blogspot.com/
Your letters are welcome. We reserve the right to publish your letters. Please Email your letters to nair.gopalan@yahoo.com And if you like what I write, please tell your friends. You will be helping democracy by distributing this widely. This blog not only gives information, it dispels government propaganda put out by this dictatorial regime.
Saturday, March 21, 2009
Singapore is "Grooming youth leaders"
Ladies and Gentlemen,
By now you must know Singapore is a weird country with some weird practices. For instance unlike any other country, bringing chewing gum to Singapore is illegal! Unlike any other country, peaceful protests and public speaking is not allowed! Judges have 2 roles to play, one as a judge and the other as a government politician. This is what they do, when they are periodically called upon to abuse the law to punish critics of the government!
Although it claims to be a first world country, it brutally whips criminals like in Iran and hangs petty drug mules even if they had with them as little as 14.9 grams of heroin for personal consumption! And while they beat and they hang people (I understand it has the highest rates of execution in the world), they allow murderers to escape the noose if they could come up with some silly excuse, such as depression! All Singapore newspapers need a government licence to operate. And you guessed it, all Singapore newspapers are owned and controlled by them. And yes, you guessed it again. What you read in them is propaganda, since what else could you expect from a state controlled press!
You can read all these weird goings on in the newspapers of this Alice in Wonderland of a country, Singapore.
Take this for instance. Singapore's state controlled press, the online edition of the Straits Times of March 22, 2009 has this story "Grooming youth leaders". In it is described another weird practice, that of the government going around the island looking for leaders! In the story, Goh Chock Tong, the senior minister (another weird name for a politician since he has no particular duties and yet is paid a salary of not less than $3.7 million a year, for basically doing nothing) has officially announced that he and his friends have begun going around the island to look for political leaders for his government!
I had written about this unusual activity in my earlier post some time ago. Think of it. In any other country, politicians become politicians because that is what they chose to do and there is no need to persuade them to do it. But by their own admission, Singapore is incapable of producing any leaders so much so that the government has to deliberately go around the country to persuade people into becoming leaders, PAP leaders, that is! According to Goh chock Tong, once he locates such leadership potential, the shortlisted candidates would be promptly sent off for leadership training and thereafter appointed ministers in his cabinet!
Surely if they have to do this, there must be something seriously wrong with that country. It is quite obvious from this that Singaporeans by and large have completely shut off their minds to any form of political activity, unless it is political activity which is approved by Lee Kuan Yew and his minions. What you do get in the end is not true leaders who are prepared to speak their minds fearlessly, but opportunists who see advantage in being second fiddle to Lee Kuan Yew and his ideas of government.
40 years of state persecution against dissenting views by Lee Kuan Yew has successfully shut out any semblance of independent thinking in the island. Take for instance the case of the Judge Belinda Ang Saw Ean who so flagrantly abused legal process during the 3 day defamation trial of Lee Kuan Yew against Dr. Chee Soon Juan, May 26, 2008 to May 28, 2008. I was there in her Singapore courtroom to see that shameful spectacle where she acted as if her job was to permit Lee Kuan Yew to get away with anything he wanted with a resultant fine of $410,000.00 against Dr. Chee. I was not the only one in that courtroom who saw the abuse of legal process. Yet not a single Singaporean present had the courage to write about it, as it is, except of course for Dr. Chee himself. I did write about it, and as a result, you know what happened. I was sent to prison for 3 months for my efforts. Anyone else who had any leadership in him, would have done exactly what I did, which is to say it as it is. But not in Singapore where the people have been terrified beyond their wits even to show the slightest of courage.
The only other country which practices this form of selected succession of a leader is Tibet. There the high priests scour the country looking for a child who shows the makings of a Dalai Lama, who is then taken from his parents and ensconced in the monastery to be groomed into a Dalai Lama. It might be all right for a theocracy of the middle ages but if this is the practice to be adopted for a so called first world country, let me tell you this. Singapore is in more trouble than you think it is.
Gopalan Nair
39737 Paseo Padre Parkway, Suite A1
Fremont, CA 94538, USA
Tel: 510 657 6107
Fax: 510 657 6914
Email: nair.gopalan@yahoo.com
Blog: http://singaporedissident.blogspot.com/
Your letters are welcome. We reserve the right to publish your letters. Please Email your letters to nair.gopalan@yahoo.com And if you like what I write, please tell your friends. You will be helping democracy by distributing this widely. This blog not only gives information, it dispels government propaganda put out by this dictatorial regime.
By now you must know Singapore is a weird country with some weird practices. For instance unlike any other country, bringing chewing gum to Singapore is illegal! Unlike any other country, peaceful protests and public speaking is not allowed! Judges have 2 roles to play, one as a judge and the other as a government politician. This is what they do, when they are periodically called upon to abuse the law to punish critics of the government!
Although it claims to be a first world country, it brutally whips criminals like in Iran and hangs petty drug mules even if they had with them as little as 14.9 grams of heroin for personal consumption! And while they beat and they hang people (I understand it has the highest rates of execution in the world), they allow murderers to escape the noose if they could come up with some silly excuse, such as depression! All Singapore newspapers need a government licence to operate. And you guessed it, all Singapore newspapers are owned and controlled by them. And yes, you guessed it again. What you read in them is propaganda, since what else could you expect from a state controlled press!
You can read all these weird goings on in the newspapers of this Alice in Wonderland of a country, Singapore.
Take this for instance. Singapore's state controlled press, the online edition of the Straits Times of March 22, 2009 has this story "Grooming youth leaders". In it is described another weird practice, that of the government going around the island looking for leaders! In the story, Goh Chock Tong, the senior minister (another weird name for a politician since he has no particular duties and yet is paid a salary of not less than $3.7 million a year, for basically doing nothing) has officially announced that he and his friends have begun going around the island to look for political leaders for his government!
I had written about this unusual activity in my earlier post some time ago. Think of it. In any other country, politicians become politicians because that is what they chose to do and there is no need to persuade them to do it. But by their own admission, Singapore is incapable of producing any leaders so much so that the government has to deliberately go around the country to persuade people into becoming leaders, PAP leaders, that is! According to Goh chock Tong, once he locates such leadership potential, the shortlisted candidates would be promptly sent off for leadership training and thereafter appointed ministers in his cabinet!
Surely if they have to do this, there must be something seriously wrong with that country. It is quite obvious from this that Singaporeans by and large have completely shut off their minds to any form of political activity, unless it is political activity which is approved by Lee Kuan Yew and his minions. What you do get in the end is not true leaders who are prepared to speak their minds fearlessly, but opportunists who see advantage in being second fiddle to Lee Kuan Yew and his ideas of government.
40 years of state persecution against dissenting views by Lee Kuan Yew has successfully shut out any semblance of independent thinking in the island. Take for instance the case of the Judge Belinda Ang Saw Ean who so flagrantly abused legal process during the 3 day defamation trial of Lee Kuan Yew against Dr. Chee Soon Juan, May 26, 2008 to May 28, 2008. I was there in her Singapore courtroom to see that shameful spectacle where she acted as if her job was to permit Lee Kuan Yew to get away with anything he wanted with a resultant fine of $410,000.00 against Dr. Chee. I was not the only one in that courtroom who saw the abuse of legal process. Yet not a single Singaporean present had the courage to write about it, as it is, except of course for Dr. Chee himself. I did write about it, and as a result, you know what happened. I was sent to prison for 3 months for my efforts. Anyone else who had any leadership in him, would have done exactly what I did, which is to say it as it is. But not in Singapore where the people have been terrified beyond their wits even to show the slightest of courage.
The only other country which practices this form of selected succession of a leader is Tibet. There the high priests scour the country looking for a child who shows the makings of a Dalai Lama, who is then taken from his parents and ensconced in the monastery to be groomed into a Dalai Lama. It might be all right for a theocracy of the middle ages but if this is the practice to be adopted for a so called first world country, let me tell you this. Singapore is in more trouble than you think it is.
Gopalan Nair
39737 Paseo Padre Parkway, Suite A1
Fremont, CA 94538, USA
Tel: 510 657 6107
Fax: 510 657 6914
Email: nair.gopalan@yahoo.com
Blog: http://singaporedissident.blogspot.com/
Your letters are welcome. We reserve the right to publish your letters. Please Email your letters to nair.gopalan@yahoo.com And if you like what I write, please tell your friends. You will be helping democracy by distributing this widely. This blog not only gives information, it dispels government propaganda put out by this dictatorial regime.
Sunday, March 15, 2009
Singapore. Minds destroyed
Ladies and Gentlemen,
The worst thing a government can do is to change the thought process of it's people, by making them, over a period of time alternating between punishment and reward coupled with constant propaganda to think the way the government desires.
In Singapore, people are compelled under pain of punishment to live their lives, not the way they want dictated by their reason, but to calibrate their minds and actions to comply with government directive's and thinking. And they do this with excuses totally nonsensical which the people are forced to accept, contrary to their rational thought process. One of which is the mantra that we are Asians, and therefore we are different.
Tell me, why is being Asian or European matter, for one to hold a placard outside the Parliament House to protest price increases. Why is that man being sent to jail for doing something that anyone whether European Asian or African should be free to do? But in Lee Kuan Yew's Singapore, you are not allowed to do that, and according to government thinking, only bad people would hold a placard outside Parliament House. And that is why, through coercion, people are forced to think in a warped and contorted way, just because Lee Kuan Yew demands it. And this is the worst form of punishment that a government can do to it's people, by destroying their normal thought process.
In order to survive, Singaporeans deliberately change their thought process to become individuals who gain the acceptance of the rulers. Singapore has one party rule. It has no free press. The unions are not free. History is re-written and the truth buried. The law is abused to silence critics. There is no free speech or expression. All these things are wrong and if I can see it, anyone else can regardless whether he is Asian American or Eskimo. Yet in Singapore, you are not allowed to publicly articulate any of these grievances. If you did, you stand to be found out, targeted and victimised, with a resulting loss of job, loss of seniority or even worse, being sent to prison.
Not wanting to attract the ire of Lee Kuan Yew and his minions in authority, the Singaporean puts on a public face which is not his own, suppressing his true feelings. He one person in public and another in private. He becomes the classic Dr. Jekyll and Mr. Hyde.
When he goes home in private he curses the whole system to high Heaven, but in public he usually has no opinion. But if confronted to state his stand, he will probably say the following; there is nothing wrong with a one party sate, a free press is bad, unions should not be free and people should not be given the right free speech or expression! I am not a psychologist and cannot say whether such dual thinking will cause any permanent damage to a person's thought process and whether he will eventually begin to believe what he says publicly!
In Singapore today, you have an entire population that have been brainwashed this way, and who go about their lives accepting government dictates even though even though completely irrational.
Take for instance the Judge Belinda Ang Saw Ean who recently ordered Lee Kuan Yew's critic Dr. Chee Soon Juan to pay $410,000.00 in damages. I am sure she knows she abused the law, but because Lee Kuan Yew says he is a thief, she too accepts it and acts accordingly. In this way, she manages to keep her job as a judge and live a comfortable life. It is the same for every other Singaporean. They lives their lives and adjust their thought process to the tune of the latest thinking of the Singapore government to secure their careers and their pay checks.
This sort of mind coercion goes on in every fascist dictatorship around the world. In Iran, the Islamic regime forces upon its people an extreme form of the religion, forcing people to accept the stoning women to death and whipping them for crimes as a perfectly normal thing to do. Just as in Singapore, the government tells us that it is perfectly all right in this day and age to cane a man or imprison him indefinitely without trial. It is not that Singaporeans accept this brutal barbaric form of punishment or the denial of a right to a fair trial. But there is nothing they can do, because criticism results inevitably in retribution. So they deliberately make themselves think there in nothing wrong in sending a man to jail without trial or to whip a human being.
In 2003, I was in Amman airport waiting for a flight to Amsterdam, where I met a Iraqi Kurd who was leaving for Canada. I asked him if all the terrible things that was said about Saddam Hussein was true. This is what he said. If you were watching TV and Mr. Hussein's picture appeared on the screen, you had better have a smiling face. If anyone of Mr. Hussein's informers saw you cringing or showing distaste, you will be arrested. That was how much the Iraqi people were required to comply. Even your facial expression can result in your arrest! Imagine that.
In Singapore, it is no different. If you are found to be openly criticising Lee Kuan Yew or his government, your actions will pass through the grapevine to the authorities. You may find yourself warned, demoted in your job, fired or even prosecuted.
What this does is to create an entire generation of people who have abdicated their normal thought process and calibrated it to the government's standards. This results in the destruction of one's honor, one's principles and one's morality.
It turns them into a Russian who sang prises to Stalin despite knowing that he had just send a thousand people to their death. A people like this cannot aspire to greatness, just as Russia never realized it and never will.
Gopalan Nair
39737 Paseo Padre Parkway, Suite A1
Fremont, CA 94538, USA
Tel: 510 657 6107
Fax: 510 657 6914
Email: nair.gopalan@yahoo.com
Blog: http://singaporedissident.blogspot.com/
Your letters are welcome. We reserve the right to publish your letters. Please Email your letters to nair.gopalan@yahoo.com And if you like what I write, please tell your friends. You will be helping democracy by distributing this widely. This blog not only gives information, it dispels government propaganda put out by this dictatorial regime.
The worst thing a government can do is to change the thought process of it's people, by making them, over a period of time alternating between punishment and reward coupled with constant propaganda to think the way the government desires.
In Singapore, people are compelled under pain of punishment to live their lives, not the way they want dictated by their reason, but to calibrate their minds and actions to comply with government directive's and thinking. And they do this with excuses totally nonsensical which the people are forced to accept, contrary to their rational thought process. One of which is the mantra that we are Asians, and therefore we are different.
Tell me, why is being Asian or European matter, for one to hold a placard outside the Parliament House to protest price increases. Why is that man being sent to jail for doing something that anyone whether European Asian or African should be free to do? But in Lee Kuan Yew's Singapore, you are not allowed to do that, and according to government thinking, only bad people would hold a placard outside Parliament House. And that is why, through coercion, people are forced to think in a warped and contorted way, just because Lee Kuan Yew demands it. And this is the worst form of punishment that a government can do to it's people, by destroying their normal thought process.
In order to survive, Singaporeans deliberately change their thought process to become individuals who gain the acceptance of the rulers. Singapore has one party rule. It has no free press. The unions are not free. History is re-written and the truth buried. The law is abused to silence critics. There is no free speech or expression. All these things are wrong and if I can see it, anyone else can regardless whether he is Asian American or Eskimo. Yet in Singapore, you are not allowed to publicly articulate any of these grievances. If you did, you stand to be found out, targeted and victimised, with a resulting loss of job, loss of seniority or even worse, being sent to prison.
Not wanting to attract the ire of Lee Kuan Yew and his minions in authority, the Singaporean puts on a public face which is not his own, suppressing his true feelings. He one person in public and another in private. He becomes the classic Dr. Jekyll and Mr. Hyde.
When he goes home in private he curses the whole system to high Heaven, but in public he usually has no opinion. But if confronted to state his stand, he will probably say the following; there is nothing wrong with a one party sate, a free press is bad, unions should not be free and people should not be given the right free speech or expression! I am not a psychologist and cannot say whether such dual thinking will cause any permanent damage to a person's thought process and whether he will eventually begin to believe what he says publicly!
In Singapore today, you have an entire population that have been brainwashed this way, and who go about their lives accepting government dictates even though even though completely irrational.
Take for instance the Judge Belinda Ang Saw Ean who recently ordered Lee Kuan Yew's critic Dr. Chee Soon Juan to pay $410,000.00 in damages. I am sure she knows she abused the law, but because Lee Kuan Yew says he is a thief, she too accepts it and acts accordingly. In this way, she manages to keep her job as a judge and live a comfortable life. It is the same for every other Singaporean. They lives their lives and adjust their thought process to the tune of the latest thinking of the Singapore government to secure their careers and their pay checks.
This sort of mind coercion goes on in every fascist dictatorship around the world. In Iran, the Islamic regime forces upon its people an extreme form of the religion, forcing people to accept the stoning women to death and whipping them for crimes as a perfectly normal thing to do. Just as in Singapore, the government tells us that it is perfectly all right in this day and age to cane a man or imprison him indefinitely without trial. It is not that Singaporeans accept this brutal barbaric form of punishment or the denial of a right to a fair trial. But there is nothing they can do, because criticism results inevitably in retribution. So they deliberately make themselves think there in nothing wrong in sending a man to jail without trial or to whip a human being.
In 2003, I was in Amman airport waiting for a flight to Amsterdam, where I met a Iraqi Kurd who was leaving for Canada. I asked him if all the terrible things that was said about Saddam Hussein was true. This is what he said. If you were watching TV and Mr. Hussein's picture appeared on the screen, you had better have a smiling face. If anyone of Mr. Hussein's informers saw you cringing or showing distaste, you will be arrested. That was how much the Iraqi people were required to comply. Even your facial expression can result in your arrest! Imagine that.
In Singapore, it is no different. If you are found to be openly criticising Lee Kuan Yew or his government, your actions will pass through the grapevine to the authorities. You may find yourself warned, demoted in your job, fired or even prosecuted.
What this does is to create an entire generation of people who have abdicated their normal thought process and calibrated it to the government's standards. This results in the destruction of one's honor, one's principles and one's morality.
It turns them into a Russian who sang prises to Stalin despite knowing that he had just send a thousand people to their death. A people like this cannot aspire to greatness, just as Russia never realized it and never will.
Gopalan Nair
39737 Paseo Padre Parkway, Suite A1
Fremont, CA 94538, USA
Tel: 510 657 6107
Fax: 510 657 6914
Email: nair.gopalan@yahoo.com
Blog: http://singaporedissident.blogspot.com/
Your letters are welcome. We reserve the right to publish your letters. Please Email your letters to nair.gopalan@yahoo.com And if you like what I write, please tell your friends. You will be helping democracy by distributing this widely. This blog not only gives information, it dispels government propaganda put out by this dictatorial regime.
Saturday, March 14, 2009
Singapore. Singapore charges another journalist
Ladies and Gentlemen,
Singapore's state controlled newspaper the Straits Time's online edition of March 13, 2008 has the story "WSJ editor faces contempt".
I wonder whether the Guinness Book of Records has a section for the largest number of lawsuits filed against newspapers by any government. If it has Lee Kuan Yew of Singapore would be the winner by a mile, hands down!
This time it is the Wall Street Journal Asia, a highly respected newspaper. It's editor Melanie Kirkpatrick is charged with having committed contempt of court in 3 articles published in it last year. Really there is no need even to examine the articles. There is nothing incendiary in any of them since no one expects a responsible newspaper such as this to have "scandalized" anyone, Singapore's favorite phrase used, whenever they want to go against any critic.
Which brings me to the question, why. Why do they repeatedly do this, when no possible advantage can be gained, except to frighten the local population even further from any dissent.
Are they trying to silence foreign newspapers. It can't be since foreign newspapers are not like Singaporeans who would be cowed and silenced by some dictator of a South East Asian country like Singapore.
The only possible reason would be to send a message, not to the foreign press, but to local Singaporeans who have already been silenced long ago, to remind them one more time that criticism is not tolerated in the island. And if this is so, it is quite unnecessary. So many people have been sued, charged and bankrupted in that country that the message has been roundly driven home a long time ago. Singaporeans are not going to criticise. Any further actions such as this is merely cumulative without any tangible effect.
In fact, if Lee Kuan Yew thought about it, it is entirely counter productive. This repeated abuse of the legal process there only drives home what Singaporeans and foreigners already know, that Singapore does not have the rule of law; that the law courts are routinely used to punish critics of the system and the country slips a few notches down to the level of lawless countries the likes of Burma and North Korea.
But it serves no point in my saying it. Lee Kuan Yew, it seems, is determined to make a mockery of Singapore. He, it appears, is determined to make a fool of himself. And if he determined to do it, we might as well step aside and let him.
Gopalan Nair
39737 Paseo Padre Parkway, Suite A1
Fremont, CA 94538, USA
Tel: 510 657 6107
Fax: 510 657 6914
Email: nair.gopalan@yahoo.com
Blog: http://singaporedissident.blogspot.com/
Your letters are welcome. We reserve the right to publish your letters. Please Email your letters to nair.gopalan@yahoo.com And if you like what I write, please tell your friends. You will be helping democracy by distributing this widely. This blog not only gives information, it dispels government propaganda put out by this dictatorial regime.
Singapore's state controlled newspaper the Straits Time's online edition of March 13, 2008 has the story "WSJ editor faces contempt".
I wonder whether the Guinness Book of Records has a section for the largest number of lawsuits filed against newspapers by any government. If it has Lee Kuan Yew of Singapore would be the winner by a mile, hands down!
This time it is the Wall Street Journal Asia, a highly respected newspaper. It's editor Melanie Kirkpatrick is charged with having committed contempt of court in 3 articles published in it last year. Really there is no need even to examine the articles. There is nothing incendiary in any of them since no one expects a responsible newspaper such as this to have "scandalized" anyone, Singapore's favorite phrase used, whenever they want to go against any critic.
Which brings me to the question, why. Why do they repeatedly do this, when no possible advantage can be gained, except to frighten the local population even further from any dissent.
Are they trying to silence foreign newspapers. It can't be since foreign newspapers are not like Singaporeans who would be cowed and silenced by some dictator of a South East Asian country like Singapore.
The only possible reason would be to send a message, not to the foreign press, but to local Singaporeans who have already been silenced long ago, to remind them one more time that criticism is not tolerated in the island. And if this is so, it is quite unnecessary. So many people have been sued, charged and bankrupted in that country that the message has been roundly driven home a long time ago. Singaporeans are not going to criticise. Any further actions such as this is merely cumulative without any tangible effect.
In fact, if Lee Kuan Yew thought about it, it is entirely counter productive. This repeated abuse of the legal process there only drives home what Singaporeans and foreigners already know, that Singapore does not have the rule of law; that the law courts are routinely used to punish critics of the system and the country slips a few notches down to the level of lawless countries the likes of Burma and North Korea.
But it serves no point in my saying it. Lee Kuan Yew, it seems, is determined to make a mockery of Singapore. He, it appears, is determined to make a fool of himself. And if he determined to do it, we might as well step aside and let him.
Gopalan Nair
39737 Paseo Padre Parkway, Suite A1
Fremont, CA 94538, USA
Tel: 510 657 6107
Fax: 510 657 6914
Email: nair.gopalan@yahoo.com
Blog: http://singaporedissident.blogspot.com/
Your letters are welcome. We reserve the right to publish your letters. Please Email your letters to nair.gopalan@yahoo.com And if you like what I write, please tell your friends. You will be helping democracy by distributing this widely. This blog not only gives information, it dispels government propaganda put out by this dictatorial regime.
Thursday, March 12, 2009
The dirty tricks of the government of Singapore.
Ladies and Gentlemen,
If there is one thing that Lee Kuan Yew is afraid of is the prospect of mass protests as was the case in Philippines that brought down Ferdinand Marcos. If only that happened in Singapore even if it was on a scale of just one tenth of it, it would be goodbye to Lee Kuan Yew's government. That is why whatever they do, they must stop protests at any cost, never mind the Constitution of Singapore expressly guaranteeing that right.
The days when even a segment of Singapore was supportive of the regime are long over. Today there is just one thing that keeps the people from the necks of the Singapore government, and that is fear. Fear of arrest and certain prosecution and conviction before Lee's corrupt judges. I had given one example of such a judge in this blog; Judge Belinda Ang Saw Ean who recently ordered Dr. Chee Soon Juan, Lee's arch political opponent to pay $410,000.00 in damages to him.
With the worrying prospect of protests in Singapore Lee does everything he can to stop it any any cost. That is why throughout the history of Singapore, there have never been protests, except in the 1960s, something that is common in every democratic country in the world.
On March 15, 2008 in front of Singapore Parliament, the unthinkable happened. 17 young men and women, an unprecedented number throughout the history of Singapore, stood peacefully with placards and signs protesting against the steep rises in food prices. They were harming no one. They were in the way of no one. They were a danger to no one. Yet Lee Kuan Yew ordered his police to come down hard on them and arresting everyone of them and charging them with criminal offenses, when no offense was committed. The point was not that no offense was committed. The point was that Lee Kuan Yew cannot tolerate even the slightest sign of public dissatisfaction because it may gain in strength which will result in his having to say goodbye.
The trial of these 17 started as early as September of 2008. It has been dragging on even till today and we do not know how long it will go. This means of course that the defendants will be burdened with hardships in more ways than one. They will have to take time off work for this extended period, which may mean loss of jobs, which means financial hardship not only for them but for their entire family. This small minded and heartless government deliberately does this, punishing them indirectly, so as to force these citizens to give up their just cause.
At the same time, while they hurt these defendants by deliberately prolonging these trials, it serves no purpose for them to let the general public know their dirty tricks. So they order the state controlled press not to report anything about this important ongoing trial so that others will not know the pain they cause their own citizens, and the dirty tricks they use.
With 2 of the 17 having pled guilty for personal reasons, the remaining 15 refuse to give up despite being tied down with this trial over several months and continue to put up a valiant fight against these unjust laws. And as this trial drags on, if the remaining 15 stand their ground till the end, which we know will be jail terms for sure, they would have won this fight against this dictatorship. They would have shown that there are some people that you just cannot take for granted.
It was the same in my case. When I wrote the blog post in this blog on May 29, 2008, I was arrested on May 31, 2008. The first thing Lee Kuan Yew's goons did was to take my passport. They then made sure that the trial date was way off, in fact 6 months away on Sept 08, 2008, meaning that I had to stay in Singapore for this entire duration, neglecting my office and business in California. The idea was of course that hopefully I will be financially ruined and would be at a loss to criticise this government in this blog thereafter. But luckily for me, this turned out not to be the case. After all I live in America. And I happen to be a lawyer by training. In America, one can always bounce back from adversity. It is not for nothing they call America the Land of the Brave.
Reading the Singapore Democratic Party Website, Dr. Chee Soon Juan and his brave activists are deliberately being kept away from their work by these never ending trials, which has been going on since September last year. My view is this. It does not do much good fighting these trumped up false criminal charges for which no one cares. Nothing is lost and everything is gained by spending as little time in these corrupt courts before these corrupt judges.
Therefore I feel the best course of action in fighting these unjust laws is plead guilty at the first opportunity. This will deny Lee Kuan Yew his dirty trick by prolonging the trials over months and years, and giving you more time to do real political work. Of course Lee Kuan Yew's newspapers will have a field day trumpeting the fact that you succumbed and admitted guilt. So what? You could write a blog post the next day denying you were guilty of anything and did so only to save time. Singaporeans already know the satire and charade which is these kangaroo courts and you would come out of it fine. But immediately after that, you must do it again and go through a second round of arrests and show trials. This way, instead of they wearing you out, you will they.
Keep this in mind. Lee Kuan Yew is now very weak in the eyes of the world. He cannot behave the way Burma does whether he likes it or not. All that is going to happen is a few days in Queenstown Prison, that's all. The reason why Lee Kuan Yew is a toothless tiger is because if he acted tough, there will be no one left in Singapore except for bicycle messengers and hawkers. The rest would have moved to Australia.
That is why, peaceful protesters in Singapore get 7 days in jail. Not like Nay Phone Latt, the Burmese blogger who was recently sent to jail for 20 years! Not that Lee Kuan Yew does not like sending you in for 20 years! It is because he just cannot!
Gopalan Nair
39737 Paseo Padre Parkway, Suite A1
Fremont, CA 94538, USA
Tel: 510 657 6107
Fax: 510 657 6914
Email: nair.gopalan@yahoo.com
Blog: http://singaporedissident.blogspot.com/
Your letters are welcome. We reserve the right to publish your letters. Please Email your letters to nair.gopalan@yahoo.com And if you like what I write, please tell your friends. You will be helping democracy by distributing this widely. This blog not only gives information, it dispels government propaganda put out by this dictatorial regime.
If there is one thing that Lee Kuan Yew is afraid of is the prospect of mass protests as was the case in Philippines that brought down Ferdinand Marcos. If only that happened in Singapore even if it was on a scale of just one tenth of it, it would be goodbye to Lee Kuan Yew's government. That is why whatever they do, they must stop protests at any cost, never mind the Constitution of Singapore expressly guaranteeing that right.
The days when even a segment of Singapore was supportive of the regime are long over. Today there is just one thing that keeps the people from the necks of the Singapore government, and that is fear. Fear of arrest and certain prosecution and conviction before Lee's corrupt judges. I had given one example of such a judge in this blog; Judge Belinda Ang Saw Ean who recently ordered Dr. Chee Soon Juan, Lee's arch political opponent to pay $410,000.00 in damages to him.
With the worrying prospect of protests in Singapore Lee does everything he can to stop it any any cost. That is why throughout the history of Singapore, there have never been protests, except in the 1960s, something that is common in every democratic country in the world.
On March 15, 2008 in front of Singapore Parliament, the unthinkable happened. 17 young men and women, an unprecedented number throughout the history of Singapore, stood peacefully with placards and signs protesting against the steep rises in food prices. They were harming no one. They were in the way of no one. They were a danger to no one. Yet Lee Kuan Yew ordered his police to come down hard on them and arresting everyone of them and charging them with criminal offenses, when no offense was committed. The point was not that no offense was committed. The point was that Lee Kuan Yew cannot tolerate even the slightest sign of public dissatisfaction because it may gain in strength which will result in his having to say goodbye.
The trial of these 17 started as early as September of 2008. It has been dragging on even till today and we do not know how long it will go. This means of course that the defendants will be burdened with hardships in more ways than one. They will have to take time off work for this extended period, which may mean loss of jobs, which means financial hardship not only for them but for their entire family. This small minded and heartless government deliberately does this, punishing them indirectly, so as to force these citizens to give up their just cause.
At the same time, while they hurt these defendants by deliberately prolonging these trials, it serves no purpose for them to let the general public know their dirty tricks. So they order the state controlled press not to report anything about this important ongoing trial so that others will not know the pain they cause their own citizens, and the dirty tricks they use.
With 2 of the 17 having pled guilty for personal reasons, the remaining 15 refuse to give up despite being tied down with this trial over several months and continue to put up a valiant fight against these unjust laws. And as this trial drags on, if the remaining 15 stand their ground till the end, which we know will be jail terms for sure, they would have won this fight against this dictatorship. They would have shown that there are some people that you just cannot take for granted.
It was the same in my case. When I wrote the blog post in this blog on May 29, 2008, I was arrested on May 31, 2008. The first thing Lee Kuan Yew's goons did was to take my passport. They then made sure that the trial date was way off, in fact 6 months away on Sept 08, 2008, meaning that I had to stay in Singapore for this entire duration, neglecting my office and business in California. The idea was of course that hopefully I will be financially ruined and would be at a loss to criticise this government in this blog thereafter. But luckily for me, this turned out not to be the case. After all I live in America. And I happen to be a lawyer by training. In America, one can always bounce back from adversity. It is not for nothing they call America the Land of the Brave.
Reading the Singapore Democratic Party Website, Dr. Chee Soon Juan and his brave activists are deliberately being kept away from their work by these never ending trials, which has been going on since September last year. My view is this. It does not do much good fighting these trumped up false criminal charges for which no one cares. Nothing is lost and everything is gained by spending as little time in these corrupt courts before these corrupt judges.
Therefore I feel the best course of action in fighting these unjust laws is plead guilty at the first opportunity. This will deny Lee Kuan Yew his dirty trick by prolonging the trials over months and years, and giving you more time to do real political work. Of course Lee Kuan Yew's newspapers will have a field day trumpeting the fact that you succumbed and admitted guilt. So what? You could write a blog post the next day denying you were guilty of anything and did so only to save time. Singaporeans already know the satire and charade which is these kangaroo courts and you would come out of it fine. But immediately after that, you must do it again and go through a second round of arrests and show trials. This way, instead of they wearing you out, you will they.
Keep this in mind. Lee Kuan Yew is now very weak in the eyes of the world. He cannot behave the way Burma does whether he likes it or not. All that is going to happen is a few days in Queenstown Prison, that's all. The reason why Lee Kuan Yew is a toothless tiger is because if he acted tough, there will be no one left in Singapore except for bicycle messengers and hawkers. The rest would have moved to Australia.
That is why, peaceful protesters in Singapore get 7 days in jail. Not like Nay Phone Latt, the Burmese blogger who was recently sent to jail for 20 years! Not that Lee Kuan Yew does not like sending you in for 20 years! It is because he just cannot!
Gopalan Nair
39737 Paseo Padre Parkway, Suite A1
Fremont, CA 94538, USA
Tel: 510 657 6107
Fax: 510 657 6914
Email: nair.gopalan@yahoo.com
Blog: http://singaporedissident.blogspot.com/
Your letters are welcome. We reserve the right to publish your letters. Please Email your letters to nair.gopalan@yahoo.com And if you like what I write, please tell your friends. You will be helping democracy by distributing this widely. This blog not only gives information, it dispels government propaganda put out by this dictatorial regime.
Wednesday, March 11, 2009
Singapore. The effectiveness of activism for democratic change
Ladies and Gentlemen,
Lee Kuan Yew's Singapore does not allow its citizens the right of free speech or expression. Although the Constitution specifically guarantees free speech or expression, there are laws enacted that deny this right. These laws are illegal as being in violation of the Constitution.
There also is no rule of law. Judges misuse the law at will to punish and intimidate political opponents such as Judge Belinda Ang Saw Ean whose dishonesty I had described in this blog.
The state owns and controls the media which means it is used daily to both distort and brainwash the citizens.
In fact every other element of civil society is hijacked to ensure absolute obedience and no dissent.
In these appalling circumstances, one thing must be clear, that is, there is no way you could possibly challenge Lee Kuan Yew's dictates one way or another.
The question therefore is this. If you are quite happy with a life such as this, you need do nothing. Simply carry on with your life and keep your opinions to yourself. At the same time, tell your children not to question authority and eternally submit. On the other hand, if this is not want you want life to be, then you must agitate for change. It cannot come about through elections since they have been and will be rigged. The only option left to you is through peaceful agitation. Protests, demonstrations, writing blogs, distributing leaflets or anything else you can think of short of violence.
And this is a very powerful weapon. Don't underestimate the effectiveness of it. It is a powerful weapon. The actions of each person spreads from him to another throughout the island, which will inevitably bring about change in the country. I am absolutely certain about it.
You may be aware that as we speak, 16 protesters who mounted a peaceful protest against the unbearable costs of living outside the Parliament House on March 15, 2008are now undergoing trial in the Subordinate Courts, Court No 5, before Judge Chia Wee Kiat. Even though they were entirely within their right under the Constitution, they are being charged under an illegal law which requires permits even for peaceful protests. The case had commenced as early as September 2008 but is even now only half way through the case. Numerous police witnesses have to to testify and be cross examined by the peaceful protesters. The government is being made to spend great expense, time, effort and resources to go though the trial. The protesters on their part are refusing to give in. They feel justice is on their side, and rightfully so, and they will not budge.
This is not a case the government can win at all. They may be able to win by abusing the law but in reality they would be losing terribly. Imagine the effect of jailing these citizens which they would have to do. The government itself realises the danger of prosecuting these individuals and the effect it will have on Singaporeans, the possibility being that not only these individuals will turn hostile against them, but also their friends their relatives and everyone else who understands what is happening. You must keep in mind, Singapore is a small island with a small population. But this government has no choice to proceed with these pointless prosecutions. They realize the opposition to their dictatorial policies on the ground is mounting, spreading and gaining momentum. Their only option is to prosecute these individuals and give it as much publicity as possible in the state controlled press, in the hope that this will somehow frighten others from doing what they did. In this contest, which I consider one of justice against injustice, the result can be only this. Justice will triumph and injustice will fall.
Every citizen's actions however small does contribute to the overall message to this government that you demand your rights. That you demand a free and democratic society. That you are not satisfied to live each day blindly complying to the dictates of Lee Kuan Yew and his minions in government.
Every action that one takes has a multiplier effect. Even if you stood at a street corner distributing leaflets to publicise the injustices that you see, or if you wrote blog posts exposing the injustices there, or if you protested outside the CPF building or other government office demanding justice; all these actions even though small spreads through the island. If you keep spreading awareness, you are building up the muscle that is needed for change.
In my case, I write this blog. Singaporeans and people elsewhere read this blog. And they spread the word to others and as each day passes more and more hear about it. This has a cumulative effect upon the whole purpose of toppling a dictatorship.
Keep in mind that your cause is just. You are entitled to be live free and democratic lives. The attempt by this government to deny you that right is fundamentally wrong. And when truth confronts injustice, truth always wins. Have no doubt, you will triumph.
I get daily insults and abuse from anonymous persons advising me to stop writing this blog even to the extent of threatening my life. There can be no doubt as to who sends these letters; none other than Lee Kuan Yew's agents. The very fact they spend time, money and such resources to dissuade me from doing what I do, is proof that this blog is hurting. To what extent I do not know but it is undoubtedly hurting them, because I know the message spreads. Slowly but surely, more and more will read what I write which slowly but surely discredits their government, their judiciary, their institutions of governance.
I am only one among the many who are agitating for change in Singapore. Dr. Chee Soon Juan and political activists are also contributing to the cause of justice. As time passes more and more realize that they cannot just sit idle and let things pass. That action no matter in what form is necessary.
My message to the reader is this. Do your part. protest. Distribute leaflets. Blog. Tell your friends what they need to know. Sell T political T Shirts in public. Wear them yourself in public with pride. Form political discussion groups. Distribute leaflets in HDB flats. And if you cannot do any of this, at least tell one other friend or colleague about the injustice that goes on.
And always remember this. The men who are now on trial for peaceful protests are not ordinary men. They are extraordinary men. They are patriots. What they have done gives themselves no benefit. They have done it for you. They have done it for Singapore. And for Singapore, they are prepared to pay a price.
Do your part my friends. It will give you a great feeling. Like I feel each day I write this blog.
Gopalan Nair
39737 Paseo Padre Parkway, Suite A1
Fremont, CA 94538, USA
Tel: 510 657 6107
Fax: 510 657 6914
Email: nair.gopalan@yahoo.com
Blog: http://singaporedissident.blogspot.com/
Your letters are welcome. We reserve the right to publish your letters. Please Email your letters to nair.gopalan@yahoo.com And if you like what I write, please tell your friends. You will be helping democracy by distributing this widely. This blog not only gives information, it dispels government propaganda put out by this dictatorial regime.
Lee Kuan Yew's Singapore does not allow its citizens the right of free speech or expression. Although the Constitution specifically guarantees free speech or expression, there are laws enacted that deny this right. These laws are illegal as being in violation of the Constitution.
There also is no rule of law. Judges misuse the law at will to punish and intimidate political opponents such as Judge Belinda Ang Saw Ean whose dishonesty I had described in this blog.
The state owns and controls the media which means it is used daily to both distort and brainwash the citizens.
In fact every other element of civil society is hijacked to ensure absolute obedience and no dissent.
In these appalling circumstances, one thing must be clear, that is, there is no way you could possibly challenge Lee Kuan Yew's dictates one way or another.
The question therefore is this. If you are quite happy with a life such as this, you need do nothing. Simply carry on with your life and keep your opinions to yourself. At the same time, tell your children not to question authority and eternally submit. On the other hand, if this is not want you want life to be, then you must agitate for change. It cannot come about through elections since they have been and will be rigged. The only option left to you is through peaceful agitation. Protests, demonstrations, writing blogs, distributing leaflets or anything else you can think of short of violence.
And this is a very powerful weapon. Don't underestimate the effectiveness of it. It is a powerful weapon. The actions of each person spreads from him to another throughout the island, which will inevitably bring about change in the country. I am absolutely certain about it.
You may be aware that as we speak, 16 protesters who mounted a peaceful protest against the unbearable costs of living outside the Parliament House on March 15, 2008are now undergoing trial in the Subordinate Courts, Court No 5, before Judge Chia Wee Kiat. Even though they were entirely within their right under the Constitution, they are being charged under an illegal law which requires permits even for peaceful protests. The case had commenced as early as September 2008 but is even now only half way through the case. Numerous police witnesses have to to testify and be cross examined by the peaceful protesters. The government is being made to spend great expense, time, effort and resources to go though the trial. The protesters on their part are refusing to give in. They feel justice is on their side, and rightfully so, and they will not budge.
This is not a case the government can win at all. They may be able to win by abusing the law but in reality they would be losing terribly. Imagine the effect of jailing these citizens which they would have to do. The government itself realises the danger of prosecuting these individuals and the effect it will have on Singaporeans, the possibility being that not only these individuals will turn hostile against them, but also their friends their relatives and everyone else who understands what is happening. You must keep in mind, Singapore is a small island with a small population. But this government has no choice to proceed with these pointless prosecutions. They realize the opposition to their dictatorial policies on the ground is mounting, spreading and gaining momentum. Their only option is to prosecute these individuals and give it as much publicity as possible in the state controlled press, in the hope that this will somehow frighten others from doing what they did. In this contest, which I consider one of justice against injustice, the result can be only this. Justice will triumph and injustice will fall.
Every citizen's actions however small does contribute to the overall message to this government that you demand your rights. That you demand a free and democratic society. That you are not satisfied to live each day blindly complying to the dictates of Lee Kuan Yew and his minions in government.
Every action that one takes has a multiplier effect. Even if you stood at a street corner distributing leaflets to publicise the injustices that you see, or if you wrote blog posts exposing the injustices there, or if you protested outside the CPF building or other government office demanding justice; all these actions even though small spreads through the island. If you keep spreading awareness, you are building up the muscle that is needed for change.
In my case, I write this blog. Singaporeans and people elsewhere read this blog. And they spread the word to others and as each day passes more and more hear about it. This has a cumulative effect upon the whole purpose of toppling a dictatorship.
Keep in mind that your cause is just. You are entitled to be live free and democratic lives. The attempt by this government to deny you that right is fundamentally wrong. And when truth confronts injustice, truth always wins. Have no doubt, you will triumph.
I get daily insults and abuse from anonymous persons advising me to stop writing this blog even to the extent of threatening my life. There can be no doubt as to who sends these letters; none other than Lee Kuan Yew's agents. The very fact they spend time, money and such resources to dissuade me from doing what I do, is proof that this blog is hurting. To what extent I do not know but it is undoubtedly hurting them, because I know the message spreads. Slowly but surely, more and more will read what I write which slowly but surely discredits their government, their judiciary, their institutions of governance.
I am only one among the many who are agitating for change in Singapore. Dr. Chee Soon Juan and political activists are also contributing to the cause of justice. As time passes more and more realize that they cannot just sit idle and let things pass. That action no matter in what form is necessary.
My message to the reader is this. Do your part. protest. Distribute leaflets. Blog. Tell your friends what they need to know. Sell T political T Shirts in public. Wear them yourself in public with pride. Form political discussion groups. Distribute leaflets in HDB flats. And if you cannot do any of this, at least tell one other friend or colleague about the injustice that goes on.
And always remember this. The men who are now on trial for peaceful protests are not ordinary men. They are extraordinary men. They are patriots. What they have done gives themselves no benefit. They have done it for you. They have done it for Singapore. And for Singapore, they are prepared to pay a price.
Do your part my friends. It will give you a great feeling. Like I feel each day I write this blog.
Gopalan Nair
39737 Paseo Padre Parkway, Suite A1
Fremont, CA 94538, USA
Tel: 510 657 6107
Fax: 510 657 6914
Email: nair.gopalan@yahoo.com
Blog: http://singaporedissident.blogspot.com/
Your letters are welcome. We reserve the right to publish your letters. Please Email your letters to nair.gopalan@yahoo.com And if you like what I write, please tell your friends. You will be helping democracy by distributing this widely. This blog not only gives information, it dispels government propaganda put out by this dictatorial regime.
Tuesday, March 10, 2009
"Stability is priority", Lee Kuan Yew's Singapore style of government
Readers of this blog who are unfamiliar with the goings on in Lee Kuan Yew's Singapore, may think reading the comments that there are many who think Singapore is a democracy based on the rule of law. The reader is warned that they may be Singapore government employees whose job is to discredit those who criticize Lee Kuan Yew's authoritarian rule. Please use your discretion as to how much weight you will give these comments.
Ladies and Gentlemen,
Singapore's state controlled newspaper the Straits Times, online edition and presumably the print edition as well, of March 10, 2009 has this article "Stability is priority". This report refers to a speech made by Wang Shengjun, President of the Supreme People's Court of Communist China were he said "Maintaining stability would help China in it's effort to rejuvenate it's economy".
Among other things, he referred to crime having gone up, especially white collar crime, more protests, and the fact that they had tried and concluded 770,000 criminals, they had convicted a million criminals, and 160,000 criminals were sentenced to terms from 5 years to death. The tone of the article appeared to indicate that Mr. Wang took great satisfaction from so many people having been sent to jail and executed and had it been that twice this number had suffered the fate, he would be overjoyed. There is a picture of his beaming face in the article confirming his pleasure. Sadism pure and simple.
We already know with punishments as cruel as this that goes on in Communist China, of course there is stability. In fact there has been stability in Communist China since 1949. What else did you expect with a one party state, ruthless suppression of protests,the lack of rule of law and the prospect of being shot on the spot if you are unlucky.
Communist China is not the only country that has remained so stable. So has North Korea, the military junta of Burma and the one party state Cuba.
Of course there is one other country that has also achieved this infamous distinction; which has been absolutely and completely stable since independence in 1965; which is none other than Singapore. The similarities are striking. Communist China, North Korea, Burma, Cuba and Singapore all share the same characteristics, no rule of law, one party state, has a state controlled press and the denial of human rights.
Countries such as these, with a state controlled press, can push forward any agenda they please. In this case, prominently heading the article "Stability is priority" Lee Kuan Yew is clearly trying to tell Singaporeans this. For him stability is more important than anything else. More important than the rule of law or democracy. The reason being of course that stability means he can continue to rule without question.
Lee is clearly telling us that not only will he continue to abuse human rights and deny the rule of law, he is going to tighten the screws. He is going to heighten punishments, and silence you completely and entirely. Although he already does it now, he is reminding you to be aware!
He is going to going to give Singapore so much peace and quiet, it will be even better than the cemetery at Bidadari, a cemetery in Singapore.
And that is why his state contolled newpaper, the Straits Times has carefully thought out the title of this article "Stability is Priority".
Gopalan Nair
39737 Paseo Padre Parkway, Suite A1
Fremont, CA 94538, USA
Tel: 510 657 6107
Fax: 510 657 6914
Email: nair.gopalan@yahoo.com
Blog: http://singaporedissident.blogspot.com/
Your letters are welcome. We reserve the right to publish your letters. Please Email your letters to nair.gopalan@yahoo.com And if you like what I write, please tell your friends. You will be helping democracy by distributing this widely. This blog not only gives information, it dispels government propaganda put out by this dictatorial regime.
Ladies and Gentlemen,
Singapore's state controlled newspaper the Straits Times, online edition and presumably the print edition as well, of March 10, 2009 has this article "Stability is priority". This report refers to a speech made by Wang Shengjun, President of the Supreme People's Court of Communist China were he said "Maintaining stability would help China in it's effort to rejuvenate it's economy".
Among other things, he referred to crime having gone up, especially white collar crime, more protests, and the fact that they had tried and concluded 770,000 criminals, they had convicted a million criminals, and 160,000 criminals were sentenced to terms from 5 years to death. The tone of the article appeared to indicate that Mr. Wang took great satisfaction from so many people having been sent to jail and executed and had it been that twice this number had suffered the fate, he would be overjoyed. There is a picture of his beaming face in the article confirming his pleasure. Sadism pure and simple.
We already know with punishments as cruel as this that goes on in Communist China, of course there is stability. In fact there has been stability in Communist China since 1949. What else did you expect with a one party state, ruthless suppression of protests,the lack of rule of law and the prospect of being shot on the spot if you are unlucky.
Communist China is not the only country that has remained so stable. So has North Korea, the military junta of Burma and the one party state Cuba.
Of course there is one other country that has also achieved this infamous distinction; which has been absolutely and completely stable since independence in 1965; which is none other than Singapore. The similarities are striking. Communist China, North Korea, Burma, Cuba and Singapore all share the same characteristics, no rule of law, one party state, has a state controlled press and the denial of human rights.
Countries such as these, with a state controlled press, can push forward any agenda they please. In this case, prominently heading the article "Stability is priority" Lee Kuan Yew is clearly trying to tell Singaporeans this. For him stability is more important than anything else. More important than the rule of law or democracy. The reason being of course that stability means he can continue to rule without question.
Lee is clearly telling us that not only will he continue to abuse human rights and deny the rule of law, he is going to tighten the screws. He is going to heighten punishments, and silence you completely and entirely. Although he already does it now, he is reminding you to be aware!
He is going to going to give Singapore so much peace and quiet, it will be even better than the cemetery at Bidadari, a cemetery in Singapore.
And that is why his state contolled newpaper, the Straits Times has carefully thought out the title of this article "Stability is Priority".
Gopalan Nair
39737 Paseo Padre Parkway, Suite A1
Fremont, CA 94538, USA
Tel: 510 657 6107
Fax: 510 657 6914
Email: nair.gopalan@yahoo.com
Blog: http://singaporedissident.blogspot.com/
Your letters are welcome. We reserve the right to publish your letters. Please Email your letters to nair.gopalan@yahoo.com And if you like what I write, please tell your friends. You will be helping democracy by distributing this widely. This blog not only gives information, it dispels government propaganda put out by this dictatorial regime.
Saturday, March 7, 2009
Lee Kuan Yew, the Singapore strongman welcomes new Chinese citizens
Readers of this blog who are unfamiliar with the goings on in Lee Kuan Yew's Singapore, may think reading the comments that there are many who think Singapore is a democracy based on the rule of law. The reader is warned that they may be Singapore government employees whose job is to discredit those who criticize Lee Kuan Yew's authoritarian rule. Please use your discretion as to how much weight you will give these comments.
Ladies and Gentlemen,
The State Controlled newspaper of Singapore the Straits Times reports on March 8, 2009, "Integration a 2 way street". It reports that Lee Kuan Yew, the Singapore strongman had given certificates of citizenship and some advice to a Chinese woman and her 10 year old son,presumably from the People's Republic of China, on the need to integrate with local Singaporeans and the usual advice to work hard.
Looking at the happy faces of both mother and son in the picture, there can be no doubt they will enjoy their stay in Singapore. And looking at the equally beaming face of the Singapore dictator, he too will not be disappointed with them. You will recall he had some time ago referred to Singaporeans as his "digits". These 2, mother and son, will be classic digits, not doubt.
People such as these are the very people Lee Kuan Yew is after. Docile obedient and completely ignorant of any human rights, since Communist china, their recent home has none. For people like these, the only thing that matters is a job, an income and food on the table, if they are lucky. They are not aware of human rights, free speech and such things. So what they do not know, they cannot want. I am sure Lee Kuan Yew hopes, and very probably proven right, that such people would continue to live and work in Singapore, following and accepting whatever is told them. Which means Lee Kuan Yew and his son and their family can continue their long standing oligarchy over the citizens with no complaints whatsoever.
Dr. Chee Soon Juan, and his merry men in the opposition are not the types Lee is looking for. They are troublesome, argumentative and totally undesirable. Why, because they are not just satisfied with a job and food on the table. They are western educated and such things as freedom are equally important, things that Lee Kuan Yew is unwilling to give.
What is important in this report is the fact that these 2 new citizens are Chinese. Which brings me to raise a very important injustice that goes on there.
The Constitution of Singapore declares unequivocally that all men are equal. The original native population of Singapore is made up of Singaporean Chinese, Singaporean Malay, Singaporean Indians and Singaporean other races such as Singaporean Eurasians.
But this totalitarian government who are free to do anything they want, have decided, although there is no provision in the Constitution that Singapore has to be perpetually 75% Chinese, 15% Malay and 10% or so Indian. The Malays as you know reproduce faster than the Chinese. So according to Lee's own plan, which has no no constitutional basis, he brings in disproportionally large numbers of Chinese from China and Malaysia to maintain this Chinese majority. This denies the rights of local Malays and Indians, who would have much larger numbers had it not been for this deliberate disproportionately large importation of Chinese people into the country.
We should never forget that the Malays stand in a a position of Primus Inter Pares, or first among equals. They were the original people of Singapore before anyone else there. Singapore is a South East Asian country. It is not an island next to China. And Lee Kuan Yew has no right to transform Singapore into a Chinese city, which is what he is doing.
The Malays and the Indians should take bitter objection to this discrimination against them by Lee Kuan Yew and demand a stop this illegal deliberate attempt to change the natural evolution of the Singapore population by their insistence that it has to be a Chinese city.
The discrimination against the Malays and Indians is spread across every facet of life. This is a form of apartheid not dissimilar to what was practiced in South Africa of earlier times. The Housing and Development Board, a government organization, responsible for providing 90% of Singaporeans housing needs denies the right of Malays and Indians to live anywhere they want. Although nowhere provided in the Constitution, Lee Kuan Yew has decided that each housing block should have a mix of this same ratio of people, that is 75% of Chinese, 15% Malay and 10% Indian. This means if more Malays want to live in a particular block of flats, they will be disallowed. They would have to live elsewhere where the block has 75% Chinese. They are not allowed to live together among their own people. This is a clear violation of their fundamental right to live wherever they want.
Anecdotal intelligence clearly shows discrimination against the Malays. Companies, which by and large are Chinese refuse to give jobs to Malays, even though they are as qualified as anyone else through the excuse that they do not know Mandarin. This is just one of the various excuses given by Chinese companies to deny the Malays of Singapore, which country was theirs in the first place, their rightful opportunity.
And it is not just this. This massive importation of Chinese from China changes the very character of Singapore. Singapore was meant to be a unique country with a fusion of Malay Indian and Chinese cultures. But with this disproportionately large influx of Chinese from China, who do not know any Malay, let alone any English, it is completely transforming the very character of Singapore.
Malays by and large do not emigrate. They also have larger families. In time, it is hoped with their greater reproductive propensity, their numbers will grow. But for the moment the Malays have to put their foot down on this. They have to say no to this disproportionate increase in Chinese numbers.
I am sure in my saying this, I am on the side of the Chinese Singaporeans too, that is the native born Chinese Singaporeans. I have no doubt they too are against this massive importation of Chinese nationals who have nothing in common with them.
Native born Chinese Singaporeans who are my friends, should join with their Malay and Indian brothers and cry foul against this injustice being perpetrated against them. Malay Imams in mosques should refuse to be bound by government directives and preach against this injustice in their Friday prayers. Chinese Singaporeans, Malay Singaporeans and Indian Singaporeans should jointly protest publicly against this injustice. If you do not, Lee Kuan Yew will walk all over you at will, as he does now.
And in this regard, Malaysia and Indonesia should be concerned about the situation. It is not in their interest to have a Chinese Singapore, a satellite of the peoples Republic of China in their midst. It was not intended to be so.
Gopalan Nair
39737 Paseo Padre Parkway, Suite A1
Fremont, CA 94538, USA
Tel: 510 657 6107
Fax: 510 657 6914
Email: nair.gopalan@yahoo.com
Blog: http://singaporedissident.blogspot.com/
Your letters are welcome. We reserve the right to publish your letters. Please Email your letters to nair.gopalan@yahoo.com And if you like what I write, please tell your friends. You will be helping democracy by distributing this widely. This blog not only gives information, it dispels government propaganda put out by this dictatorial regime.
Ladies and Gentlemen,
The State Controlled newspaper of Singapore the Straits Times reports on March 8, 2009, "Integration a 2 way street". It reports that Lee Kuan Yew, the Singapore strongman had given certificates of citizenship and some advice to a Chinese woman and her 10 year old son,presumably from the People's Republic of China, on the need to integrate with local Singaporeans and the usual advice to work hard.
Looking at the happy faces of both mother and son in the picture, there can be no doubt they will enjoy their stay in Singapore. And looking at the equally beaming face of the Singapore dictator, he too will not be disappointed with them. You will recall he had some time ago referred to Singaporeans as his "digits". These 2, mother and son, will be classic digits, not doubt.
People such as these are the very people Lee Kuan Yew is after. Docile obedient and completely ignorant of any human rights, since Communist china, their recent home has none. For people like these, the only thing that matters is a job, an income and food on the table, if they are lucky. They are not aware of human rights, free speech and such things. So what they do not know, they cannot want. I am sure Lee Kuan Yew hopes, and very probably proven right, that such people would continue to live and work in Singapore, following and accepting whatever is told them. Which means Lee Kuan Yew and his son and their family can continue their long standing oligarchy over the citizens with no complaints whatsoever.
Dr. Chee Soon Juan, and his merry men in the opposition are not the types Lee is looking for. They are troublesome, argumentative and totally undesirable. Why, because they are not just satisfied with a job and food on the table. They are western educated and such things as freedom are equally important, things that Lee Kuan Yew is unwilling to give.
What is important in this report is the fact that these 2 new citizens are Chinese. Which brings me to raise a very important injustice that goes on there.
The Constitution of Singapore declares unequivocally that all men are equal. The original native population of Singapore is made up of Singaporean Chinese, Singaporean Malay, Singaporean Indians and Singaporean other races such as Singaporean Eurasians.
But this totalitarian government who are free to do anything they want, have decided, although there is no provision in the Constitution that Singapore has to be perpetually 75% Chinese, 15% Malay and 10% or so Indian. The Malays as you know reproduce faster than the Chinese. So according to Lee's own plan, which has no no constitutional basis, he brings in disproportionally large numbers of Chinese from China and Malaysia to maintain this Chinese majority. This denies the rights of local Malays and Indians, who would have much larger numbers had it not been for this deliberate disproportionately large importation of Chinese people into the country.
We should never forget that the Malays stand in a a position of Primus Inter Pares, or first among equals. They were the original people of Singapore before anyone else there. Singapore is a South East Asian country. It is not an island next to China. And Lee Kuan Yew has no right to transform Singapore into a Chinese city, which is what he is doing.
The Malays and the Indians should take bitter objection to this discrimination against them by Lee Kuan Yew and demand a stop this illegal deliberate attempt to change the natural evolution of the Singapore population by their insistence that it has to be a Chinese city.
The discrimination against the Malays and Indians is spread across every facet of life. This is a form of apartheid not dissimilar to what was practiced in South Africa of earlier times. The Housing and Development Board, a government organization, responsible for providing 90% of Singaporeans housing needs denies the right of Malays and Indians to live anywhere they want. Although nowhere provided in the Constitution, Lee Kuan Yew has decided that each housing block should have a mix of this same ratio of people, that is 75% of Chinese, 15% Malay and 10% Indian. This means if more Malays want to live in a particular block of flats, they will be disallowed. They would have to live elsewhere where the block has 75% Chinese. They are not allowed to live together among their own people. This is a clear violation of their fundamental right to live wherever they want.
Anecdotal intelligence clearly shows discrimination against the Malays. Companies, which by and large are Chinese refuse to give jobs to Malays, even though they are as qualified as anyone else through the excuse that they do not know Mandarin. This is just one of the various excuses given by Chinese companies to deny the Malays of Singapore, which country was theirs in the first place, their rightful opportunity.
And it is not just this. This massive importation of Chinese from China changes the very character of Singapore. Singapore was meant to be a unique country with a fusion of Malay Indian and Chinese cultures. But with this disproportionately large influx of Chinese from China, who do not know any Malay, let alone any English, it is completely transforming the very character of Singapore.
Malays by and large do not emigrate. They also have larger families. In time, it is hoped with their greater reproductive propensity, their numbers will grow. But for the moment the Malays have to put their foot down on this. They have to say no to this disproportionate increase in Chinese numbers.
I am sure in my saying this, I am on the side of the Chinese Singaporeans too, that is the native born Chinese Singaporeans. I have no doubt they too are against this massive importation of Chinese nationals who have nothing in common with them.
Native born Chinese Singaporeans who are my friends, should join with their Malay and Indian brothers and cry foul against this injustice being perpetrated against them. Malay Imams in mosques should refuse to be bound by government directives and preach against this injustice in their Friday prayers. Chinese Singaporeans, Malay Singaporeans and Indian Singaporeans should jointly protest publicly against this injustice. If you do not, Lee Kuan Yew will walk all over you at will, as he does now.
And in this regard, Malaysia and Indonesia should be concerned about the situation. It is not in their interest to have a Chinese Singapore, a satellite of the peoples Republic of China in their midst. It was not intended to be so.
Gopalan Nair
39737 Paseo Padre Parkway, Suite A1
Fremont, CA 94538, USA
Tel: 510 657 6107
Fax: 510 657 6914
Email: nair.gopalan@yahoo.com
Blog: http://singaporedissident.blogspot.com/
Your letters are welcome. We reserve the right to publish your letters. Please Email your letters to nair.gopalan@yahoo.com And if you like what I write, please tell your friends. You will be helping democracy by distributing this widely. This blog not only gives information, it dispels government propaganda put out by this dictatorial regime.
Friday, March 6, 2009
Singapore is giving up the business of money laundering. So it says.
Readers of this blog who are unfamiliar with the goings on in Lee Kuan Yew's Singapore, may think reading the comments that there are many who think Singapore is a democracy based on the rule of law. The reader is warned that they may be Singapore government employees whose job is to discredit those who criticize Lee Kuan Yew's authoritarian rule. Please use your discretion as to how much weight you will give these comments.
Ladies and Gentlemen,
Singapore's state controlled newspaper the Straits Times of March 7, 2009 has this article "S'pore backs anti tax-evasion". Again as with all the other state controlled newspapers such as in North Korea, we must take this with a boulder of salt.
Singapore it says has agreed to endorse the OECD standard for exchange of information through avoidance of double taxation agreements. This must come as a relief to all the other countries that practice democracy and the rule of law, if only what they say is true.
Anyone who has followed Singaporean news must have heard that the favorite country for Burmese drug lords to launder and hide their loot is Singapore. Burmese military general Than Swe, its ruthless dictator has recently been to Singapore for medical treatment because no western country will give him a visa. My Singapore friends tell me that you find scores of Burmese families shopping for luxury items and driving around Singapore roads in Ferraris and Lamborghinis. These millionaires live with their families in luxury condominiums in Orchard Road, Singapore. Are we to believe that Singapore now will investigate this illegal money in Singapore from which it profits, and disclose and deport these criminals?
The most disgusting statement in the article is this. "The decision to endorse the OECD standards is in keeping with Singapore’s role as a trusted center for finance and a responsible jurisdiction, with strong and consistent regulatory policies and a firm commitment to the rule of Law". Hearing this, for anyone who knows the real Singapore, will be forgiven if he had a sudden impulse to puke!
Singapore, a trusted center for finance? Is not a respect for the rule of law a mandatory requirement for a trusted center for finance? Singapore, a responsible jurisdiction? Does a responsible jurisdiction put a Singapore citizen Dr. Chee Soon Juan and others repeatedly in jail merely for peacefully protesting unjust laws, such as Singapore’s laws against free speech? Singapore has a firm commitment to the rule of law? How does Singapore define the rule of law, or its peculiar version of it? Is sending young men to jail for merely wearing T shirts with pictures of kangaroos in judicial clothes, the exercise of the rule of law? How do they claim rule of law when only recently the International Bar Association in their detailed 72 page report in Singapore stated very clearly that Singapore has no rule of law at all!
Singapore it says is trying to develop its financial sector because it is losing manufacturing. What it says about losing its manufacturing is true. The mismanagement of the PAP all these years thinking they know best at the exclusion of the entire Singapore population has shown results. Singapore has out priced itself to the extent that it is no longer competitive. If Western countries had to pay wages to workers as high as what they pay at home, why should they come to Singapore?
For Singapore to develop its financial sector is simply impossible. The cat is out of the bag. Singapore is a one party state, with a state controlled press, without the rule of law that denies its people the basic human rights. This is not a system conducive to international banking. The bedrock of any banking system is a trusted and respected legal system, respecting and complying with the rule of law. Without it, no banking system can flourish. That is why; you do not see Pyongyang as an international banking center.
The article admits that the Obama Administration in the US is targeting Singapore in their quest to punish tax havens and money laundering centers. President Obama particularly is personally interested to go after countries such as Singapore which shelters Americans who avoid tax in the US. Let’s hope that he does go after countries run by dictators such as Lee Kuan Yew's Singapore and take them to task. It can be easily done by going after credit card companies and American banks who deal with these offenders to bring them to their knees.
As I have said, if you have a state controlled press, they can be made to say anything however preposterous, and that is what is being done here, when the article says "Singapore does not shelter criminals". Tell me, if they are not criminals what are they? The Indonesian government has been trying very hard for decades to make Singapore sign an extradition treaty with Singapore for the return of Indonesian white collar criminals who are parking their loot in Singapore banks. If Singapore is not sheltering these criminals, why is Singapore refusing to sign an extradition treaty for their return? And if they are not criminals, why are they driving around in Rolls Royce’s along Orchard Road and buying luxury Rolexes and Gucci handbags? And why is Singapore teeming with these multi millionaires? Did they all earn their wealth by working in the Jakarta Post Office as government employees?
Countries like those in the former Soviet Union which were run by state planning have all come to the same fate. And Singapore is one of them. They simply run out of ideas in the end. The lack of civil liberties chases educated and the best out of the country, leaving compliant spineless souls such as the Minster for Law K Shanmugam to parrot whatever Lee wants him to say. No country with such mediocre politicians can hope to succeed.
Someone just told me that the Singapore dollar has sunk even further against the US dollar. With manufacturing gone and the legal system a laughing stock of the world, how much more can Lee Kuan Yew's Singapore go? We watch with interest as even more educated Singaporeans make a bee line to Changi Airport for Sydney or Melbourne never to return.
Gopalan Nair
39737 Paseo Padre Parkway, Suite A1
Fremont, CA 94538, USA
Tel: 510 657 6107
Fax: 510 657 6914
Email: nair.gopalan@yahoo.com
Blog: http://singaporedissident.blogspot.com/
Your letters are welcome. We reserve the right to publish your letters. Please Email your letters to nair.gopalan@yahoo.com And if you like what I write, please tell your friends. You will be helping democracy by distributing this widely. This blog not only gives information, it dispels government propaganda put out by this dictatorial regime.
Ladies and Gentlemen,
Singapore's state controlled newspaper the Straits Times of March 7, 2009 has this article "S'pore backs anti tax-evasion". Again as with all the other state controlled newspapers such as in North Korea, we must take this with a boulder of salt.
Singapore it says has agreed to endorse the OECD standard for exchange of information through avoidance of double taxation agreements. This must come as a relief to all the other countries that practice democracy and the rule of law, if only what they say is true.
Anyone who has followed Singaporean news must have heard that the favorite country for Burmese drug lords to launder and hide their loot is Singapore. Burmese military general Than Swe, its ruthless dictator has recently been to Singapore for medical treatment because no western country will give him a visa. My Singapore friends tell me that you find scores of Burmese families shopping for luxury items and driving around Singapore roads in Ferraris and Lamborghinis. These millionaires live with their families in luxury condominiums in Orchard Road, Singapore. Are we to believe that Singapore now will investigate this illegal money in Singapore from which it profits, and disclose and deport these criminals?
The most disgusting statement in the article is this. "The decision to endorse the OECD standards is in keeping with Singapore’s role as a trusted center for finance and a responsible jurisdiction, with strong and consistent regulatory policies and a firm commitment to the rule of Law". Hearing this, for anyone who knows the real Singapore, will be forgiven if he had a sudden impulse to puke!
Singapore, a trusted center for finance? Is not a respect for the rule of law a mandatory requirement for a trusted center for finance? Singapore, a responsible jurisdiction? Does a responsible jurisdiction put a Singapore citizen Dr. Chee Soon Juan and others repeatedly in jail merely for peacefully protesting unjust laws, such as Singapore’s laws against free speech? Singapore has a firm commitment to the rule of law? How does Singapore define the rule of law, or its peculiar version of it? Is sending young men to jail for merely wearing T shirts with pictures of kangaroos in judicial clothes, the exercise of the rule of law? How do they claim rule of law when only recently the International Bar Association in their detailed 72 page report in Singapore stated very clearly that Singapore has no rule of law at all!
Singapore it says is trying to develop its financial sector because it is losing manufacturing. What it says about losing its manufacturing is true. The mismanagement of the PAP all these years thinking they know best at the exclusion of the entire Singapore population has shown results. Singapore has out priced itself to the extent that it is no longer competitive. If Western countries had to pay wages to workers as high as what they pay at home, why should they come to Singapore?
For Singapore to develop its financial sector is simply impossible. The cat is out of the bag. Singapore is a one party state, with a state controlled press, without the rule of law that denies its people the basic human rights. This is not a system conducive to international banking. The bedrock of any banking system is a trusted and respected legal system, respecting and complying with the rule of law. Without it, no banking system can flourish. That is why; you do not see Pyongyang as an international banking center.
The article admits that the Obama Administration in the US is targeting Singapore in their quest to punish tax havens and money laundering centers. President Obama particularly is personally interested to go after countries such as Singapore which shelters Americans who avoid tax in the US. Let’s hope that he does go after countries run by dictators such as Lee Kuan Yew's Singapore and take them to task. It can be easily done by going after credit card companies and American banks who deal with these offenders to bring them to their knees.
As I have said, if you have a state controlled press, they can be made to say anything however preposterous, and that is what is being done here, when the article says "Singapore does not shelter criminals". Tell me, if they are not criminals what are they? The Indonesian government has been trying very hard for decades to make Singapore sign an extradition treaty with Singapore for the return of Indonesian white collar criminals who are parking their loot in Singapore banks. If Singapore is not sheltering these criminals, why is Singapore refusing to sign an extradition treaty for their return? And if they are not criminals, why are they driving around in Rolls Royce’s along Orchard Road and buying luxury Rolexes and Gucci handbags? And why is Singapore teeming with these multi millionaires? Did they all earn their wealth by working in the Jakarta Post Office as government employees?
Countries like those in the former Soviet Union which were run by state planning have all come to the same fate. And Singapore is one of them. They simply run out of ideas in the end. The lack of civil liberties chases educated and the best out of the country, leaving compliant spineless souls such as the Minster for Law K Shanmugam to parrot whatever Lee wants him to say. No country with such mediocre politicians can hope to succeed.
Someone just told me that the Singapore dollar has sunk even further against the US dollar. With manufacturing gone and the legal system a laughing stock of the world, how much more can Lee Kuan Yew's Singapore go? We watch with interest as even more educated Singaporeans make a bee line to Changi Airport for Sydney or Melbourne never to return.
Gopalan Nair
39737 Paseo Padre Parkway, Suite A1
Fremont, CA 94538, USA
Tel: 510 657 6107
Fax: 510 657 6914
Email: nair.gopalan@yahoo.com
Blog: http://singaporedissident.blogspot.com/
Your letters are welcome. We reserve the right to publish your letters. Please Email your letters to nair.gopalan@yahoo.com And if you like what I write, please tell your friends. You will be helping democracy by distributing this widely. This blog not only gives information, it dispels government propaganda put out by this dictatorial regime.
Tuesday, March 3, 2009
A worrying time for the one party state Singapore's oligarchy
Ladies and Gentlemen,
All signs show danger lurking in the horizon for Lee Kuan Yew and his Singaporean dictatorship.
Increasing number of anti PAP activists are braving jail terms and breaking Singapore's protest laws. Sending them to jail just doesn't seem to stopping them. When you have an unjust law which people defy, you have a problem. Then there is the multiplied effect. Each time you send another young man to jail because he challenged Lee Kuan Yew's laws to stifle dissent, a hundred other of his friends and relatives hear about it, making them mad as well. Slowly but surely, these men are causing increasing numbers to be antagonistic towards lee and his family in power.
Then you have the burgeoning internet and the dissension in them. And then they have to suffer with people like myself who write from outside without any fear at all, writing directly for Singaporeans who read it regularly. The Internet places the Singapore dictatorship in a quandary. There is nothing they can do to stop it from being read in Singapore, short of banning the entire blogspot.com, which they cannot do. This criticism on the Internet is another flank which they find impossible to handle.
Then you have the Singaporean ministers almost afraid to make a speech, which they know the detractors like me will take them to task. You recall the recently appointed Lee Kuan Yew's stooge, Minister for Law, K Shanmugam who spoke of the rule of law in Singapore and the constitution, after which he was made to look very silly for uttering the nonsense. In the past, without the Internet and a people consumed in fear, he could have got away with anything. But now, making silly speeches can be dangerous. It comes with a price of being exposed as a clown.
Then you have men like Dr. Chee Soon Juan who simply refuses to roll over and lie down. Every time they charge him sue him, and do all sorts of bad things to him, he refuses to give up. In fact when he was asked by a foreign journalist as to how he was going to pay Lee Kuan Yew $410,000.00 damages which Singapore court awarded against him, he had the cheek to say "just add it to my tab". And Lee Kuan Yew himself has realized the futility of pursuing him any further. Any government would only pursue a person if they knew the person will submit. If not, there is no point of going after him again and again, if he is not afraid of you. That is why I am quite sure that no matter what Dr. Chee Soon Juan does or says now, Lee Kuan Yew has given up on him. He has in fact won and Lee Kuan Yew has lost.
And the same thing is going to happen with others. Recently I was sent to jail, John Tan of the SDP was sent to jail, Gandhi Ambalam was sent to jail, so was Isrizal, Shafi and many others. None of us are rolling over. They remain defiant and are going to do it again. These protest laws are unjust and they must be broken. I have not stopped writing and doing whatever else I want, and Mr. Lee Kuan Yew can sit there and do nothing.
And when these protesters increase in number, which they must, since logic dictates; Lee Kuan Yew has to either shoot all of them or just eat humble pie, and that is exactly what he is beginning to do.
Now is the time my friends. If you can pick up your courage and show this tyrant that Singapore is also yours, he will tumble. And when he tumbles, his entire edifice of his corrupt judges, corrupt policemen, corrupt civil servers and his corrupt cronies will equally tumble. They know presently they are thin ice, because an 86 year old man cannot last much longer.
And all these corrupt judges can do to you is to send you to jail for a few days. But by going to jail, you would have shown your heroism to all Singaporeans who will admire you. And jail in Singapore is nothing. I spent exactly 2 months in jail, in circumstances where the jailers themselves were ashamed of themselves to see me there. They know I did not deserve to be there. They knew that the law was being abused once again to thwart political opposition.
All it takes is for the protest movement to grow. If that happens these corrupt judges, civil servants and Lee Kuan Yew's cronies will be the first to leave Singapore. With that everything will be lost for this dictator and you will get the democracy which is rightfully yours.
I am not allowed to return to Singapore without express permission. In other words I am banned. So I cannot protest with you in Singapore. But you can. So grab your chance for change in Singapore.
All signs show danger lurking in the horizon for Lee Kuan Yew and his Singaporean dictatorship.
Increasing number of anti PAP activists are braving jail terms and breaking Singapore's protest laws. Sending them to jail just doesn't seem to stopping them. When you have an unjust law which people defy, you have a problem. Then there is the multiplied effect. Each time you send another young man to jail because he challenged Lee Kuan Yew's laws to stifle dissent, a hundred other of his friends and relatives hear about it, making them mad as well. Slowly but surely, these men are causing increasing numbers to be antagonistic towards lee and his family in power.
Then you have the burgeoning internet and the dissension in them. And then they have to suffer with people like myself who write from outside without any fear at all, writing directly for Singaporeans who read it regularly. The Internet places the Singapore dictatorship in a quandary. There is nothing they can do to stop it from being read in Singapore, short of banning the entire blogspot.com, which they cannot do. This criticism on the Internet is another flank which they find impossible to handle.
Then you have the Singaporean ministers almost afraid to make a speech, which they know the detractors like me will take them to task. You recall the recently appointed Lee Kuan Yew's stooge, Minister for Law, K Shanmugam who spoke of the rule of law in Singapore and the constitution, after which he was made to look very silly for uttering the nonsense. In the past, without the Internet and a people consumed in fear, he could have got away with anything. But now, making silly speeches can be dangerous. It comes with a price of being exposed as a clown.
Then you have men like Dr. Chee Soon Juan who simply refuses to roll over and lie down. Every time they charge him sue him, and do all sorts of bad things to him, he refuses to give up. In fact when he was asked by a foreign journalist as to how he was going to pay Lee Kuan Yew $410,000.00 damages which Singapore court awarded against him, he had the cheek to say "just add it to my tab". And Lee Kuan Yew himself has realized the futility of pursuing him any further. Any government would only pursue a person if they knew the person will submit. If not, there is no point of going after him again and again, if he is not afraid of you. That is why I am quite sure that no matter what Dr. Chee Soon Juan does or says now, Lee Kuan Yew has given up on him. He has in fact won and Lee Kuan Yew has lost.
And the same thing is going to happen with others. Recently I was sent to jail, John Tan of the SDP was sent to jail, Gandhi Ambalam was sent to jail, so was Isrizal, Shafi and many others. None of us are rolling over. They remain defiant and are going to do it again. These protest laws are unjust and they must be broken. I have not stopped writing and doing whatever else I want, and Mr. Lee Kuan Yew can sit there and do nothing.
And when these protesters increase in number, which they must, since logic dictates; Lee Kuan Yew has to either shoot all of them or just eat humble pie, and that is exactly what he is beginning to do.
Now is the time my friends. If you can pick up your courage and show this tyrant that Singapore is also yours, he will tumble. And when he tumbles, his entire edifice of his corrupt judges, corrupt policemen, corrupt civil servers and his corrupt cronies will equally tumble. They know presently they are thin ice, because an 86 year old man cannot last much longer.
And all these corrupt judges can do to you is to send you to jail for a few days. But by going to jail, you would have shown your heroism to all Singaporeans who will admire you. And jail in Singapore is nothing. I spent exactly 2 months in jail, in circumstances where the jailers themselves were ashamed of themselves to see me there. They know I did not deserve to be there. They knew that the law was being abused once again to thwart political opposition.
All it takes is for the protest movement to grow. If that happens these corrupt judges, civil servants and Lee Kuan Yew's cronies will be the first to leave Singapore. With that everything will be lost for this dictator and you will get the democracy which is rightfully yours.
I am not allowed to return to Singapore without express permission. In other words I am banned. So I cannot protest with you in Singapore. But you can. So grab your chance for change in Singapore.
Subscribe to:
Posts (Atom)
