Singapore. Subservient lives.

Ladies and Gentlemen,

As long as Singaporeans continue to accept the submissive lives you lead under the Lee Kuan Yew family, your lives will continue at the mercy of this man and his son. Your destiny is in your hands. It is up to you to exercise it. No one can do it for you.

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 model citizen

Ladies and Gentlemen,

If I was asked to write on Lee Kuan Yew's model citizen, this is what he would be.

For one, he would have passed his exams and perhaps works in Singapore Civil Service as a clerk. He would work hard, obey his orders and carry them out obediently. His job is only to consider what his orders are, not whether they are right or wrong.

His interests are limited. He would know his work duties but other than that his knowledge otherwise would be elementary. He is unlikely to have read much history, philosophy or anything much else.

He will dress conventionally with the usual haircut for men, clothes pressed and cleaned. He is unlikely to wear outlandish clothes or dye his hair green and sport dreadlocks.

He is a person of limited courage as to his abilities. He is unlikely to think himself capable of winning the Tour de France or circumnavigate the globe in a Westerly 35 sailboat. He believes that being Singaporean, such things are beyond him, more suitable for an Australian or Englishman.

In other words he is incapable of dreaming. Reaching for the stars is simply beyond him. Lee Kuan Yew's model citizen is a member of a pack and is unable to live outside it, conforming his actions and thoughts to the accepted norm of obedience and submission.

He cannot believe that like Gandhi he can single handedly topple Lee Kuan Yew. Dr. Chee Soon Juan may believe it, but Dr. Chee is not the conventional Singaporean and that is why he is not Lee's model citizen.

Lee's model citizen has in other words, a sense of limited ability. Before he even tries, he is resigned to the belief that he cannot possibly become a Usain Bolt or an Edmund Hilary.

He considers being unobtrusive a virtue. In other words, he would say what everyone else expects of him to say. For instance, if asked why are Singaporeans not demanding their political rights, his reply would probably be that it is impossible in Singapore. In fact almost every other Singapore model citizen will have the same answer.

If by chance he met Dr. Chee Soon Juan selling his books beside the street, his response would be that Dr. Chee is out of his mind, stupid or something to that effect. He would think Dr. Chee is not behaving as expected of the good people of Singapore, as criticizing the government is not seen as something acceptable in the island.

Among his friends, he would openly criticize Dr. Chee, Gopalan Nair or anyone else who behaved in an unconventional Singaporean sense, and such criticism would tend to bolster his credit as being one of the boys.

If by chance he was to meet any Singaporean minister or Lee Kuan Yew himself, his reaction would be that of respect. It would never occur to him to throw rotten eggs or even insults at them. For one, he would be arrested and two, his peers would look upon him badly. If asked why he would probably say that such behaviour is more appropriate in the West.

He may have heard that Singapore has no free press or right to free speech and expression, but since these rights do not impinge upon his daily life he is totally unconcerned about these things.

He is not concerned that Lee Kuan Yew pays himself $3.7 million a year and this is daylight robbery. Since criticizing Lee Kuan Yew can land him in trouble, he shuts off his mind from such questions.

Since he does not question these fundamentals such as the lack of free speech, free press, freedom to organize or freedom to criticize, his life becomes very simple and comfortable. He goes to work, works hard, gets promoted, has more food on the table, brings up his children in peaceful surroundings and hopes things carry on as they pleasantly and comfortably are.

His happiness and contentment is fortified by reading the state controlled newspapers that tell him about the poverty in Africa, the war in Afghanistan and trouble in Chechnya. He therefore reassures himself that his life is good the way it is in peaceful Singapore, with Lee Kuan Yew feeding him, taking care of him and loving him.

He considers people like Gopalan Nair who criticize Lee Kuan Yew who provides all these goodies as a bad person, out to make trouble and upset his present happy and peaceful existence.

Lee Kuan Yew's model citizen is an obedient hardworking law abiding quiet sober individual who does not concern himself with intangible things such as human rights since they do not directly impact upon his daily routine peaceful existence.

Such men achieve a high station in life in Lee Kuan Yew's Singapore, whereas those who question authority suffer a lifetime of harassment and victimization. This knowledge itself tends to keep the others in line and perpetuate the status quo of Lee Kuan Yew's Singapore.

Lee Kuan yew's model citizen hopes that Gopalan Nair would simply go away and leave him and his Singaporean paradise alone.

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.

Letter from Chaba Gryphon from Los Angeles

Question on Singapore

Tuesday, January 26, 2010 7:13 PM
From: This sender is DomainKeys verified"Chaba Gryphon" <...........@gmail.com>
Add sender to Contacts

To: nair.gopalan@yahoo.com

Dear Mr. Nair,

As you can see my name is Chaba Gryphon and I'm an entrepreneur living in Los Angeles. You can "google me" if you'd like.

I have to admit that I have been fascinated with Singapore for a long time and initially I was a big fan, until I found out what's really going on. I even bought Lee Kuan Yew's book mostly for the solutions he implemented, like the HDB, the CPF and others.

I'm German but I was born in Hungary and several years ago I was preparing to go back to run for office there. I did lots of research to find solutions for common things like taxation, health care, pensions, elections without money etc. Everything was great until I realized that Hungarians SAY they want change but they really don't. So, I gave up on that idea and focused on business instead. However, I still have this urge for nation building because I have a very wide field of interest.

I recently came across your blog and I'm reading it now but I wanted to ask you something, if I may.

In your opinion, are Singapore's laws and regulations and political system fundamentally sound but mismanaged and misused by Lee, his family and their cronies OR are the laws, regulations and political system of Singapore basically flawed and need major change?

I'm aware that certain aspects like suppression of free speech, free media and other heavy handed things would need to be done away with, but do most things in Singapore basically provide a solid foundation? A good foundation.

Having lived in a communist and socialist country and then having lived here in the U.S. I've seen and studied many systems and in my opinion Singapore is the most workable (with the above mentioned exceptions) and the least likely to be taken advantage of by large corporations and individuals with money and power. After all even here in the U.S. money talks and most lose out to the few on the top. And I'm a business man who is for capitalism. BUT after these past couple of years we now know that unbridled capitalism needs checks, or otherwise it can destroy a country.

What is your opinion on this? Please let me know.

Sincerely,

Chaba Gryphon

MY RESPONSE

Question on Singapore
Wednesday, January 27, 2010 12:44 AM
From: "Gopalan Nair"
Add sender to Contacts
To: "Chaba Gryphon" <.........@gmail.com>

Hello Chaba,

Thank you for your Email. Your Email can be best be answered by quoting George Orwell in 1984 "All you need is able to say 2 and 2 is 4. Then everything falls into place".

That is the problem with Singapore. In the US there is corruption, mismanagement and everything else. But you can complain publicly. In Singpaore you cannot. That is why Lee Kuan Yew can get away with anything he wants. That is what China is. That is what Singapore is.

Both Singapore and China have strong economic growth. So had Nazi Germany. But still they are very unpleasant places to live in.

There are several books you can read about the true side of Singapore.
Thanks for your interest.
Gopalan Nair

A letter from Bel Bel. "Singapore doesn’t have democracy"

Tuesday, January 26, 2010 1:25 PM
From: "bel bel" .............@gmail.com>
To: nair.gopalan@yahoo.com

Singapore doesn’t have democracy

Recently, Human Rights Watch called Singapore a “textbook example of a politically repressed state”. The Singapore government then responded by saying that Singapore is a democratic state. Which everyone, from Singaporeans themselves to foreigners know is a lie.

The Singapore government says that there are elections in Singapore and there is no rigging of votes. Which is true. But elections alone don’t make a democracy, if that was the case Zimbawe would be a democracy.

The Singapore government is not interested in rigging elections, it is interested in winning elections even before the elections themselves. It does this by suppressing opposition politicians and ruling with fear.

Suppressing opposition politicians

Opposition politicians like Chia Thye Poh, Lim Hock Siew, Said Zahari and many others have been jailed for decades without trial. The government claims that they were communists but we will never know if they are because there was never a trial to begin with. There was no due process.

Even if they are communists, do they deserve to be detained without trial for decades? In democracies all around the world (Japan, UK, USA, etc), there are communist parties which exist legally and run for elections. They just never win enough votes for obvious reasons.

Opposition politicians have also been sue for defamation and bankrupted, thereby, rendering them unable to run for parliament.

Opposition politicians in Singapore have no way of conducting a meaningful campaign because they are jailed for even gathering to give out flyers in public. The recent case of Dr Chee Soon Juan being jailed for merely gathering with his party members to give out flyers illustrates this.

Opposition politicians are also fined/jailed for speaking in public without a permit and for peaceful assemblies without a permit.

How can one expect opposition politicians to run a meaningful campaign? Should they shout from their houses? But even that would be illegal I guess. The police would be called in to prevent them from disturbing their neighbors.

Ruling with fear

When Singaporeans see what happens to opposition politicians, they fear. Singaporeans dare not join opposition parties because they don’t want to lose their jobs or be jailed without trial or be bankrupted through defamation lawsuits.

Singaporeans would rather leave their country in self-exile, never to return, then join opposition parties. Indeed, many Singaporeans are leaving Singapore these days for this very reason.

In autocratic societies like China or Burma, you would never see their citizens approaching their leaders to talk about democracy or human rights. It is quite obvious why that is the case isn’t it? If you were to do that in China, you would be pulled into a van while walking down the streets one day, never to appear again.

Similarly in Singapore, the average Singaporean doesn’t dare to approach his MP to talk about democracy or human rights. He doesn’t dare to mention the fact that opposition politicians are being prosecuted or that 82 out of 84 MPs in parliament are from the same party. The Singaporean will complain about the train system or the influx of immigrants but he will not complain about anything that challenges the government’s hold on power, for example, the suppression of democracy in Singapore.

Because Singaporeans fear their government to death. They shiver at the thought of opposing their government openly. They would go online to complain about the suppression of democracy in Singapore but they would never openly walk up to their MPs to complain. In front of their MPs, they would smile and say Singapore is paradise, while they make plans to leave for Australia or Canada.

In every democracies in the world, the UK, USA, Taiwan, South Korea, Japan and even non democracies like Hong Kong, you can see citizens walking up to their MPs to talk about human rights and democracy openly because they are democracies. But that will never be the case in Singapore.

Because Singaporeans fear their government to death, they dare not join opposition parties. Around 40% of electoral seats were uncontested in the past few elections, the government wins them unchallenged because no one dares to challenge the government.

82 out of 84 MPs in parliament are from the same party and they debate amongst themselves and pass whatever laws they deem fit. They raise their own salaries to amongst the highest in the world. There are no checks in parliament, made worse by the fact that the Singapore’s parliament is unicameral.

Why does Singapore bother to pretend to be a democracy when it is not?

The Singapore government pretends to be a democracy because it lends legitimacy to its rule. This is why Zimbawe carries out elections. To attempt to gain legitimacy.

The Singapore government is very smart. Indeed, they are made up of men and women who are educated in top universities of the world. They are no fools. They want to cling onto power for as long as they can. To do so, they know they have to be free of corruption and deliver a good material life for the citizens so that the citizens will overlook the fact that they do not really have a democracy or a say in things.

The autocratic Chinese government in China is doing the same thing. They are delivering economic progress in the hopes of clinging onto power for a longer time. They prosecute corrupt officials and have even started elections for local town governments where people can democratically elect their local government.

For all their gimmicks, we know the Chinese government in China would never relinquish its hold on power. It rules with fear and with heavy handedness. It amends the laws and constitution at will to suit its purpose and prosecutes any dissidents who challenge their rule. It justifies the lack of democracy by saying “Asians do not want democracy” and that “their system suits the Country”. All too familiar a story.

In the last elections in Singapore, 33% of the citizenry voted for the opposition parties. This is quite an amazing number given the extreme fear that permeates the Singapore society. Remember, around 40% of the seats were not even challenged.

The Singapore government knows that if the day comes where Singaporeans are not afraid, opposition politicians are not suppressed, every electoral seat is contested, basically if functioning democracy takes roots, a large number of opposition politicians would enter parliament. The government’s grip on power would weaken and their leaders might even be given the boot.

Therefore they are desperately trying to prevent this from happening.

Quite like China, they coin terms such as “Asian democracy”, “Unique Singapore system”, “Confucian values” etc to confuse people and defend their suppression of democracy.

Time for change

The state of democracy in Singapore is dire. It doesn’t take a genius to figure that out. The entire world including Singaporeans themselves know that Singapore’s democracy is in shambles.

It is not merely the Human Rights Watch who criticizes Singapore’s democracy and human rights situation. Every single organization in the world who is concerned with democracy and human rights have criticized Singapore.

The Economist ranks Singapore as a “Hybird Regime” in its Democracy Index.

Freedom House (which is funded by many democracies ranging from the EU to Australia) gives Singapore a 5 for political rights and 4 for civil liberties. 1 being the highest score and 7 being the lowest score.

Reporters without borders ranks the media in Singapore as 133rd in the world. A mere 3 spots above Zimbawe.

The Singapore government has to face up to the fact that Singapore is not a democracy and stop making excuses. They have to improve the situation as soon as possible instead of dragging their feet.

But of course, like all rulers who want to cling onto power, they will continue to make excuses and delay the democratization of Singapore as much as possible ; for democratization would mean the end of their grip on power.

Democracy does not create an utopia but it creates the best societies to live in. It is the best system that mankind has ever invented. It is not perfect by any means but it is the lesser of all evils.

Autocratic societies, no matter how rich they are, are unbearable places to live in.

Human rights in Singapore

We all find ourselves in a minority at one time or another in our lives. For example, we may require crutches to walk due to a recent accident or we may find that the majority of society disagrees with the way we view a certain issue.

Therefore, it is very important that we respect the basic rights of our fellow humans no matter what we think of them.

Sadly being homosexual is still illegal in Singapore. The government and AG have said that they will not prosecute homosexuality but the very fact that it remains in the statutes clearly shows homosexuality is illegal.

The government lacks the political courage to repeal the law.

In Taiwan, Taipei, gays openly march in public and are now accepted by the mainstream society. Singapore, despite being an English speaking country, is still light years behind the Taiwanese. The Taiwanese government has the political courage to take the lead while the Singapore government does not.

The Singapore government is extremely conservative. The policies they have in place are for the 1970s and not for 2010. Prominent members of parliament go around Singapore telling the citizens not to forget the past history of Singapore. It seems like they have gotten to the point where they are actually living in the past.

The mentally ill and prisoners form the next two groups of people who are most vulnerable in Singapore’s society. The conditions of our mental hospitals and prisons are also onerous.

The mental hospitals are overcrowded. Singapore still believes in locking up its mentally ill. The mentally ill are not able to exercise outdoors or walk in a park. They are locked up daily. Common sense dictates that the mentally ill needs greenery, outdoor walks and lots of personal space to calm down and reflect, but that is obviously not the case in Singapore.

Prisoners in Singapore sleep on hard concrete, leaving them with backaches and even bruises. The prison boasts of how they have created a multi story prison which saves space but they have forgotten that this means prisoners cannot exercise outdoors in the open air anymore, which obviously is very bad for their mental health.

Prisoners also have no access to TV and radio which prisoners from all other democracies with similar GDP per capita as Singapore have.

There is still death by hanging ad caning of the buttocks, both of which are barbaric punishments long forgone by first world countries today.

If the government truly loves their country, they should place respect for democracy before their lust for power. They should install a system of functioning democracy and stop prosecuting the opposition politicians. Play the game fairly. Stop instilling fear in the hearts of its very own citizens. Allow citizens their right to peaceful assemblies as dictated by the United Nation declaration of human rights. Improve the human rights situation in Singapore.

But I guess all the above won’t happen. Simple because it is Singapore we are talking about. Heavy-handed government, fake democracy and caning of the buttocks for mere visa overstayers is the story of Singapore.

Lee Kuan Yew's son wants to "update the system"!

Ladies and Gentlemen,

Singapore's official newspaper the state owned and controlled Straits Times on line edition of Jan 26, 2010 has this story "Updating the system takes time". The Straits Times is the principle propaganda department for Singapore's strongman Lee Kuan Yew.

Lee Kuan yew's son whom his father appointed Prime Minister some time ago said at a conference in Singapore recently " the most difficult challenge facing Singapore is finding a political system that works for generations to come"! Is he not being a little too presumptuous or can it instead be a case of total ignorance.

If we had to remind him where is he living, he has to be told that he is in Singapore, and not North Korea. And in Singapore the system of government has already been decided and which is found in a document called the Constitution. And this document it so happens tells us how Singapore is to be run; which by the way is through democracy.

And there is no need for his unsolicited plan for any change because we don't want any.

The arrogance of this father's son is simply outrageous. He talks as if the entire island of Singapore belongs to him! He has to be reminded that Singapore is not his to play with. It has a Constitution which has to be obeyed, which up till now both father and son totally disregard. And according to it, it is supposed to be a parliamentary democracy with a free press, with rights such as free speech and expression and with an independent judiciary with the rule of law.

The son in cohorts with his father has been denying the people each of these rights turning them into nothing more than slaves.

And not satisfied with the universal control over the people which he already has, he intends to control even more.

It is this arrogance on the part of father and son that chases away educated people from Singapore's shores, silences criticism or opinion entirely within the island turning the people into nothing better than robots.

No wonder father and son are struggling to keep going with every department of Singapore society steadily declining.

Thinking people are not going to help you if you treat them this way, which is something both father and son simply do not understand.

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 leaders appear unsure of their reputations

Ladies and Gentlemen,

Singapore's leaders are world famous for protecting their "reputations" as is evident by the numerous lawsuits and prosecutions against its critics both local and foreign. The slightest of criticism can land can result in court awarded damages of several hundred thousands; enough to impoverish you at one go. Or even to land you in jail for a long time.

JB Jeyaretnam was repeatedly sued bankrupted and jailed for criticism which would not have been actionable anywhere else. Dr. Chee Soon Juan another vocal critic of the superman was once sued just for telling Lee Kuan Yew's Minister Goh Chock Tong "you can run but you cannot hide". He had to pay, as you have rightly guessed unimaginable damages that bankrupted him at one stroke.

Even foreign newspapers were not spared. New York Times, Dow Jones, Time Magazine, the Wall Street Journal and you name another international newspaper, they have all been sued and damages extracted in the Singapore courts.

But one pattern appears very clear, that is, they only sue when they can get you. If not, no matter what you say, they leave you alone. The only ones they can get are those who live in Singapore or foreign newspapers who circulate in Singapore and therefore have a security deposit of money held by Singapore. So the plan is, if you are a local they abuse the law and finish you off. If you are a foreign paper, with a security deposit, they take your money which they hold.

But you notice they have not sued the Asia Sentinel a Hong Kong paper that has called the Singapore leaders a bunch of crooks and their judges a bunch of stooges. The International Bar Association has called the Singapore leaders no better, and so has the numerous respected international human rights organizations from Amnesty International to Freedom House. But none of them have been sued. You correctly guessed why, because none of them circulate within Singapore and have not put up any security deposits. Still every one of their articles can be read in Singapore through the Internet; therefore it makes no difference whether their papers actually circulate in the island.

I have called Belinda Ang Saw Ean, Lee Kuan Yew's judge a corrupt shameless women who abuses the law to please her master from the US in this blog, not once but repeatedly. I have pointed out the dishonesty and total lack of integrity on the part of Singapore’s highest legal officer, Chief Justice Chan Sek Seong. The Singapore Law Society has commenced proceedings to disbar me from practicing in Singapore about which I do not care. But the damage continues to be done with my continued criticism of this judge and others.

And this is where Lee Kuan Yew's claim that he sues and prosecutes his critics to protect his reputation sounds hollow and hypocritical. It appears that his reputation is only hurt when he can successfully sue and punish you through his compliant courts. His reputation will not be hurt no matter what you say, if you are beyond the jurisdiction of his corrupt courts.

And since he cannot get me, cannot victimize the International Bar Association or the various international human rights organizations worldwide who call him a tin pot dictator, he leaves us all alone.

And their hypocrisy is even more shameful when the result of the actions they wish to stop is no different if done from within or without Singapore. This blog Singapore Dissident is read within Singapore because they are either unable or unwilling to block it. So my criticisms of them continue to be read in Singapore but they take no action. However the same thing I did within Singapore in 2008 landed me in jail for 3 months. Where is the logic of this so called internationally respected island with the rule of law!

Same thing with international newspapers. Asia Sentinel and numerous other western newspapers from the world's capitals have said the same things. But no action whatsoever has been taken by the strongman.

And my question to him is this. Why is his reputation only hurt when someone whom he can victimize has said it and never so when said by someone aboard; even though the result is the same, because Singaporeans read it.

And Singapore’s refusal to sue in such cases appears even more cowardly because it is not that they have no recourse; they do. They can sue for defamation in a foreign court where the criticism was made, and if successful they will be awarded damages just like anywhere else. There are no legal impediments over forum or venue, as a foreigner has locus standi for a defamation action abroad just like anywhere else.

It is not that Lee Kuan Yew cannot sue abroad; it is simply because he will lose. And that is simply because Belinda Ang Saw Ean is indeed a corrupt and dishonest judge and he is none other than a tin pot tyrant.

And this double standards to misuse the legal system to silence criticism within Singapore continues to discredit the island resulting in increasing problems the dictatorship faces locally and abroad; massive emigration, declining investment, declining birthrate, insufficient entrants to civil service and the legal profession and a sizable section of Singapore’s educated population simply decoupling themselves from this discredited government.

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. Perhaps is time to bring out the 87 year old for a viewing.

Ladies and Gentlemen,

We have not seen the 87 year old Singaporean "hero" Lee Kuan Yew on the front page of Singapore's official newspapers recently. And that is worrying many in certain sections. What if he is to die tomorrow? Worse still, what if he is already dead!

For one, I think his judge Belinda Ang Saw Ean who uses her judge's job to eliminate his opposition is beginning to worry. What will happen to her without his protection! Will she have to escape to Chengdu Central China after all? Will her victim Dr. Chee soon Juan pursue her to China to seek justice? And the life in Chengdu is as you know not as much fun as in Singapore. A worrying prospect surely.

What is going to happen to TT Rajah's son, VK Rajah when he confessed to abusing the law to put away his master's critic Dr. Chee Soon Juan by saying "domestically as well as internationally, public governance in Singapore has been equated with integrity. To spuriously cast doubt on that would be to improperly undermine both a hard-won national dignity and a reputable international identity." Isn't this a blatant abuse of Singapore's constitution? Will he be held to account? If his master Lee does not appear in public very soon, will he have to go to the country of his father's homeland Sri Lanka? Will he be able to take with him the millions he got from his master?

And what about Lee's own son, whom nobody pays any attention to? Where will he have to go?

Is it not time therefore to show Lee Kuan Yew in public now to alleviate the justifiable fears of his friends? Can we expect the Singaporean state owned newspaper to show him off tomorrow, so these people can sleep peacefully at night, at least for another day?

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. Feeling the heat?

Ladies and Gentlemen,

Singapore's official state controlled newspaper the Straits Times online edition of Jan 22, 2010 has this story "Govt seeks to lead, connect", an increasingly difficult job for them as George Yeo, a Lee Kuan Yew Minister admits.

In fact their difficulty will worsen with time, not get better, as ever more Singaporeans connect to the Internet.

Yeo when speaking recently at the Fullerton SJI lectures says "the government is still experimenting on the best way to lead and interact with Singaporeans". Singapore "leaders" he says have to adapt to the changing information age, to "interact" with the people. He confesses to the world being different now with information freely available, there being a multitude of news sources and therefore traditional hierarchies are breaking down and becoming "messy networks".

In plain English, Yeo is simply saying it is becoming increasing difficult to continue hoodwinking Singaporeans through their official state owned and controlled newspapers, where you get nothing but lies half truths and downright dishonesty; that people are for once opening their eyes through the Internet; and until and unless the Singapore's bully boys find some other way to keep the people chained and shackled, the game for them is, simply put, lost.

The root cause for this government's dwindling support should be obvious to a 10 year old boy; no need to have a Cambridge degree for that.

If you want to lead, you must have support. In order to have support, you should be respected. For respect you should have integrity, treat others with justice under the rule of law. And if you have a constitution, you must obey it. If not you will not have respect. And without respect you cannot lead.

Surely, this is not rocket science.

Singapore today is a place that struggles to survive on appearances, not reality. There is a constitution but it is not obeyed with citizens denied their right to speech, expression and assembly. You claim to have rule of law but you openly abuse it for political ends. You say that there is freedom of speech but you control every newspaper. When I correctly criticized Judge Belinda Ang Saw Ean for judicial bias, you throw me in jail for 3 months.

You pay yourself several million dollars a year which you call a salary but which is in essence theft.

When you behave in this despicable way, you lose the moral high ground. You are seen as a bunch of thieves who milk the people of their rights and their freedoms for personal gain. You cannot expect anyone to respect you in these circumstances.

In the past you could shield them from the truth with your local propaganda newspapers. Now it is no longer possible because of the Internet.

Yeo should realize that his game is simply put lost. Recently there were a number of articles on the Internet about increasing numbers joining the opposition. Peaceful protests, something which never happened there for decades, has begun not only to take root but is steadily rising.

This is not a situation that Yeo and his oligarchy can salvage, not now or ever. The writing is on the wall. The sooner Yeo and his friends in high places realize this the better.

I have some advice for Yeo. It serves no purpose for you to hide under false pretences. Don't try to pretend to be a democracy when you are not. Best thing is to come out with the truth. Like Communist China who at least have the decency to be honest about who they are, tell the world the truth, that you are a repressive dictatorship. Demand that Western Internet providers filter their content for "objectionable" material in the Singaporean sense. Tell Google to block this blog, Singapore Dissident, from being read in Singapore.

If you did this, at least your honesty will be appreciated, since either way, Mr. Yeo, your game is lost. It is only a matter of time.

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 example of "rule of law".

Ladies and Gentlemen,

Singapore has indeed a unique "rule of law". From Lee Kuan Yew's Minister for Law to his Attorney General and the lowest ranking judge, you can hear the same song repeated ad nauseam about Singapore's admirable "rule of law".

But it is certainly not what we generally understand it to mean. It an "Alice in Wonderland type rule of law", one which has a very lenient regimen for Lee Kuan Yew and his friends, Singapore's doctors in high places, lawyers, rich businessmen, high ranking civil servants and such like.

It is a demonstrably harsher regimen for ordinary folks, truck drivers, bus conductors and security guards.

Singapore's state controlled press the Straits Times online edition of Jan 20, 2010 has the story "Doc's jail term cut to a fine".

A shocking background. Singapore's official newspaper the Straits Times on Oct 22, 2009 had reported the following "Sometime after 1.30 am her (Dr. Lim Kay Hian's) stationary car, with engine running, headlights turned on and hazard lights off, was spotted on the third lane of the Pan island Expressway in the direction of Tuas, near the Clementi Avenue 56 exit". When checked on by a policeman she smelt of alcohol and was arrested. She is a doctor, a senior consultant radiologist at KK Woman's and Children's Hospital.

Ordinarily anyone else who had been responsible such a serious life endangering act due to alcohol would have been sent off to jail for no less than 2 years. It was a deliberate life threatening act, a stationary car in the fast lane of an expressway!

And had it been a person in a position of authority, any other court would have added on a few more years because greater responsibility is expected from them.

In this case, it was bad enough that this woman was only sentenced to 2 weeks jail in October 2009, a thoroughly inadequate sentence.

But even that was not enough for the Singapore style "rule of law", where if you are the elite and privileged, you can do almost anything you want and get way with it. And that is exactly what happened here yesterday.

The same newspaper's online edition reports on Jan 20, 2010 "Doc's jail term cut to fine". The doctor naturally appealed, resulting in even the 2 weeks jail term, thoroughly inadequate as it was, is set aside. The Appeals Court decides she does not have to go to jail at all, reducing it to a mere fine of $5,000.00. Although she was banned for driving for 4 years as well, this would not cause her any real inconvenience in Singapore, a city flush with the ubiquitous ever present cheap taxis.

Coming to think of it, if you are not a Lee Kuan Yew critic like Dr. Chee Soon Juan, Singapore is indeed a very pleasant place to be in. You can do almost whatever you want and get away with it each time; get drunk and drive automobiles, kill motorcyclists while driving and talking on cell phones, get drunk and beat up taxi drivers whenever you want. Go have a party in Singapore, if you are lucky either to be rich and powerful or if you are a foreign businessman. (All these injustices can be gleaned in Singapore's official newspaper the Straits Times, some of which I have reported in this blog).

By the way it is interesting that I predicted this doctor's getting away with this crime with clockwork accuracy. See my blog post "Will Singapore's corrupt legal system send drunk driver Dr. Irene Lim Kay Hian to jail? I think not" of Wed October 21, 2009.

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 bright students, but with no soul.

Ladies and Gentlemen,

You often read of Singapore students excelling in eduction both in Singapore and abroad, such news immediately splashed across Singapore's state controlled newspapers as headlines in bold print, intended I presume to show how smart Singapore students are.

But are they really?

Sometimes you wonder what sort of students are these? Have they no opinions about anything else other than their school curriculum, no convictions, no value judgements, no knowledge of the difference between freedom and servitude, no nothing?

A Singapore student apparently gets all As in school; tops his studies at prestigious foreign universities under Lee Kuan Yew's scholarships.

But yet none of them appear to have any idea or opinion of the political system they live under! Having been able to get all As, have they never heard of the word democracy? Do they have any opinion on the Constitution of Singapore? Have they not realized even now that the Constitution of Singapore is deliberately violated by Singapore's Lee Kuan Yew who appears to have other ideas?

You don't have to have a PhD or even any qualification at all for that matter, to know that Singapore has a Constitution and under it, Singaporeans, including them, have certain rights; all you need is curiosity, which astonishingly none of these Singaporean top students, not a single one of them, appears to have!

Take the Singapore scholarship students at foreign universities. You realise of course they are bonded to serve Lee Kuan Yew's government upon return, a government that sends Dr. Chee Soon Juan to jail merely for distributing a leaflet in public. With their brilliant wisdom and high education, have they no opinions about this unimaginable injustice; do they still accept serving a dictator as a respectable career? Do they not find it distasteful? If they do, have they ever thought of refusing to serve and live under a dictatorship? Better still, have they ever thought of working to bring about political change in Singapore?

Apparently these high exam achievers of Singapore are a bunch of weaklings with no soul and no value judgements whatsoever.

I guess they pass their exams for a lucrative career waiting for them through the generosity of Lee Kuan Yew, the Singaporeans dictator.

These are not brilliant students. These are soulless spineless opportunists. And that is why Singapore continues to limp along always losing out to real brilliance seen in students from the West.

You could put it this way. They work hard at their exams with the view of returning to Singapore to lick Lee Kuan Yew's boots, violate the Constitution by throwing Lee Kuan Yew's detractors in jail and getting a comfortable pay check from the Singapore Treasury.

Having passed their exams, their abilities will lie in carrying out the orders of their master and doing anything their master needs to the best of their ability. Other than that they would have no opinion about anything else.

None of them would turn out to be another Dr. Chee Soon Juan, JB Jeyaretnam or Gopalan Nair. They probably would claim not to have even heard of any of us!

And they will live their lives happily ever after, Singapore style, as Lee Kuan Yew's obedient servants. This is, sadly, according to it's state controlled press, Singapore's brilliance!

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.

Letter from Dave D'Aranjo

Ladies and Gentlemen,

A letter from Dave D'Aranjo. His Email address garbled.
Gopalan Nair

Encouragement

Sunday, January 17, 2010 5:39 PM
From: "Dave D'aranjo"

To: nair.gopalan@yahoo.com

Dear Mr Nair,

Just writing a note of encouragement to you, and wishing you all the best in 2010 and for the next decade.
I check in on your blog from time to time. I applaud your efforts. I wish I could help.
I'm troubled by how eagerly people like to lambast and ridicule oppositional viewpoints in this town.

I myself am an ex-Singaporean who refused to serve National Service. I'm lucky, though - I am still able to come 'home' as a tourist.

My own story aside, all I really wish to say is thanks for keeping strong and continually writing.
At heart, I think you and I are motivated by a vision of a better state of affairs.
You catch hell for it now, but down the line I do hope Singaporeans will realize that a democracy is nothing without dissent.
The pledge aims to "build a democratic society, based on justice and equality", does it not? :)

All the best to you, keep up the good work, and great success to you in 2010.

Most sincerely,
Dave D'aranjo

News "Singapore style"

Ladies and Gentlemen,

I am not sure who it was who said "When you run out of good news, just put out propaganda". For totalitarian regimes such as Singapore, that is the established doctrine. Another country like Singapore, North Korea has an absolute prohibition on bad news in their state controlled press. And North Korea has lasted all these years despite this, despite this total control over the news.

But what Singapore’s dictator, Lee Kuan Yew whose intelligence is diminishing rapidly in my opinion, fails to understand that Singapore is not North Korea and will never be.

For one, a North Korean cannot leave his country, he is locked in. The borders are closed. They don't have any English, only Korean. No foreign information can enter the country. The people are effectively kept in the dark. Since the people know no better, they willingly accept the nonsense in their state controlled press.

But Lee Kuan Yew should know that Singapore is different. It has Internet access and people can go to Australia if they want. And if you treat them as if they were imbeciles, it is not they but you, who is one, Lee Kuan Yew being the biggest imbecile of all for not realizing this.

Take for instance the Singapore state controlled newspaper report "More S'poreans returning", Straits Times online edition Jan 12, 2010. It has a picture of a few Chinese looking people allegedly outside Camden Park, London; we don't know how far this is true, presumably at a Singapore organized function there.

It says "more overseas Singaporeans are also returning". According to it, there are 180,000 Singaporeans living abroad (presumably this does not count Singaporeans who have given up their citizenship and taken out their CPF) (parenthesis mine), and that “many of them are making inquiries to return”. But the report fails to mention the great many of them or who they are, except for 2 miserable individuals.

In one case, there is a Miss Teo Hui Sin, who had gone to Harvard but yet could not find any jobs in the US after trying. Finally having no prospects in the US, she gave up, returned and is now working at Singapore’s Ministry of Finance.

Miss Teo, as you can see, is a very bad example of the sorts that decide to return. First, if she cannot get a job in the US even with a Harvard qualification, she must be an imbecile of sorts.

Second, the very fact that she has tried very hard to get a job in the US, shows that she never had any interest in Lee Kuan Yew's Singapore in the first place.

And third, her return to Singapore is not because she is proud of the island, it is because she is probably incompetent and has no choice in the matter. She is apparently a spineless woman without ability or ideals. Her sort is after all best in Singapore, not the US.

Another lame example is Mr. Chia Wee Boon who, believe it or not, "returned home from the US to be Chief Operating Officer at NCS, as he wanted to help the company succeed in the global arena. Previously he was with Hewlett Packard". This man is one individual who has to have his head examined. His altruism, if you can call it that, appears completely misplaced!

I would have understood a man who returns from the US to help a Children’s Charity in Singapore to succeed. But this man has come all the way back to Singapore to help "NCS succeed in the global marketplace" (assuming NCS is a for profit company)!

If from all the so called numerous returnees to Singapore, according to this state controlled press, they can only find these 2 pathetic examples; of one individual who cannot get a job even with a Harvard degree and another who wants “NCS to succeed in the global marketplace”, Singapore is obviously having a hard time, getting anyone to return.

Mr. Gan Kim Yong, Lee Kuan Yew's Manpower Minister, whom one can routinely see in various poses in the state controlled press, with his hands gesturing, claims that the global downturn is causing many Singaporeans to return.

Obviously he does not understand that it is not the economy that has caused and is causing the massive brain drain from Singapore; it is the political repression and the lack of a free society.

The article claims that various organizations have been set us using tax payers’ money to entice Singaporeans to return like Overseas Singapore Unit to organize functions in Melbourne and London.

I can tell you that that is just a waste of tax payers’ money. No amount of parties and functions in San Francisco and London can make anyone return. The obstacle is simply Lee Kuan yew and his stupidity that is the obstacle.

Then Mr. Gan says that no matter where Singaporeans have relocated he has to keep them connected with Singapore. Has he ever thought that they don't want to be connected? That is why they left Singapore in the first place.

And then Gan says that "Singapore has established a great place to do business due their successful policy on talent". Frankly I don't know what he is talking about. Singapore’s talent is leaving the small island en masse and instead it gets the half qualified Mandarin speaking English deficient from mainland China. Is this Gan's idea of a “successful strategy on talent"?

And then he says that foreign capital is attracted to Singapore because they have a strong global talent. I suppose his definition of a strong global talent are Indians from India and Chinese from China who have decided on Singapore because they have been denied entry to Australia and Canada, their first choice for settlement. These are simply second rate rejects that you find in Singapore.

Singapore’s propaganda machine is working overtime here.

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.

Letter from Shermaine Chan

Ladies and Gentlemen,

Attached is a letter from Shermaine Chan. Her Email is hidden.
Gopalan Nair

My thoughts

Saturday, January 16, 2010 12:43 PM
From: Shermaine Chan
<..........com>

To: nair.gopalan@yahoo.com

Dear Mr Nair,

Thank you for your commitment to keep Singapore Dissent alive, even under persecution from the Singapore government.

I am writing to you because I feel encouraged by your courage and that I am not the only one feeling unhappy with the Singapore government.

My biggest gripe would be something close to my heart: How LKY continually clamps down on a person's culture and heritage.

I am a Chinese and I am proud of being a Chinese. My father is a Cantonese and my mother is a Hainanese. Sadly, I don't understand a single word of Hainanese because LKY made it so. He discouraged the learning of dialects and pushed for Singaporeans to only learn English and Mandarin/Malay/Tamil. Thankfully, I speak some Cantonese, which I picked up in Hong Kong during my childhood days. A language/dialect is one of the most important link that connects a person to his or her roots, and I do not understand which idiot told LKY that by knowing how to speak more than 2 languages, our command of the English and Chinese/Malay/Tamil languages would be inferior. Look at how it is now: Many Singaporeans speak broken English and we have become a laughingstock to the rest of the English-speaking world. The young Chinese here very often do not know how to speak their dialects at all and while Singapore continually boasts of being a place of racial harmony, it is often merely racial tolerance.

We have been brainwashed from young about how great and mighty Singapore is. What a lie! We are neither great nor mighty, only LKY and his croonies are rich, powerful and great. The average Singaporean feels like a third class citizen and foreigners from India and China are flocking to this land. Where is our identity? What are we? We should be a country, but we are run akin to a business corporation! When someone asks me where do I come from, I reply in a small voice with eyes downcast: "I am from Singapore."

Recently, I was extremely appalled when I saw on national television how LKY "mentored" President Obama on why America should stay involved in China - to serve as a balance for the rest of Asia. Yes, we all know Singapore is just a tiny dot on the world map. LKY knows that too. While he openly courts the government of China, he is at the same time telling the USA to keep China on track. By him doing this, he smacks of being disrespectful and highly self-centered! What on earth does he really want? He wants to be the best of friends with Communist China and he wants to be on rosy terms with the USA. He wants the whole cake and he even wants to eat it! He wants to roll with the big boys and he thinks that he is the most perfect person to dish out advice to the President of the United States.

Singaporeans are an apathetic bunch because we've been beaten down by the government all our lives - and do not think that we deserve to fight for what we want. I am also guilty of being apathetic. I know that inaction is also action, but what can we do? What can I do? I've thought long and hard about it and have decided that education will be my ticket out of this unhappy place. I have no intention of staying on once the opportunity for me to leave comes.

Until then, I think I would remain one of the apathetic Singaporean and continue plugging along day-by-day.

Thank you for reading this,

Kind Regards

Shermaine Chan

Singapore continues to lose the best.

Ladies and Gentlemen,

Lee Kuan Yew's attempts in trying to persuade skilled and educated Singaporeans to remain in Singapore, can be best described as trying to fit a square block into a round hole. It simply will not work.

As he continues to imprison innocent Singaporeans for merely peaceful protests, an activity lawful and guaranteed under the Constitution; when he controls the entire media and disallows a free press in violation of the Constitution; when he abuses the courts and the police to go around persecuting innocent Singaporeans; those with skills and the capacity to leave, need not accept such a life.

They find a life without freedom distasteful. This is only natural. They need not live this way. They have a choice, to leave the island for a better life elsewhere. So they do exactly that; leave Singapore in ever growing numbers while Lee Kuan Yew continues in the only way he knows; silencing dissent.

The brain drain is the only logical consequence in a society where the government fails to understand the consequence of repression.

Singapore is not Cuba or North Korea. It does not have closed borders, you can leave anytime you want. By denying the freedoms they can expect elsewhere, Lee fails to appreciate that people capable of leaving will leave if they can.

The ones who are educated with skills and able to emigrate but yet remain within Singapore are within these groups. One, they are those who have no personal self respect, principles or convictions and are quite prepared to live their lives under a dictator for the right price. In other words, they have no shame. In this category, you would find people like Lee's judge Belinda Ang Saw Ean who willingly misuses the law to destroy her master's opponents.

Second, there are those who don't have the skills that would allow them to emigrate. Third, they lack the courage that they would need to uproot themselves from their familiar surroundings for the hardships and challenges naturally expected in settlement abroad.

Four, they only know Mandarin, Malay or Tamil and although they would very much like to go, such a move would be almost impossible.

Every Singaporean who fits into any of these groups and remains in Singapore is surely, not the best. The ones with courage, or skills, personal values and principles would find it intolerable to remain.

Of course there are the handful who stay behind and live admirable lives, standing up to Lee Kuan Yew's bully boys and speaking out against Lee's corruption, tyranny and despotism. Men such as Dr. Chee Soon Juan, the very best among Singaporeans. It is very hard to live such a life, repeatedly being sued, charged, arrested and sent to jail as what Dr. Chee suffers.

But except for these handful of courageous men and women, the vast majority who stay behind are either lacking in skills, afraid or cowards.

In order to hide their inadequacy, some claim to be patriots for merely staying behind, calling those who left "quitters". But in truth, staying behind, doing nothing and willingly living under a repressive regime is not patriotism. It is simply cowardice.

Singapore therefore has today a mediocre workforce, with a mediocre people; fearful, lacking courage, skills, ability, principles and self respect.

It is a second rate citizenry and and a second rate work force; not one that can ever compete with peoples of the free world; of men and women with ability, courage and convictions.

And Singapore's destiny is to continue in its downward decline, with the quality of Singaporeans progressively declining, unless Lee Kuan Yew is prepared to think of his people for once instead of himself, or if Singaporeans are prepared to take the bull by the horns and stand up to the challenge.

An American can speak out against American laws and policies as a free man or woman. So can an Australian, a Canadian or a Finn. A Singaporean in Singapore cannot do any of this, if he does not want to go to prison or be persecuted. That is why, an Australian is a superior human being and worker to a Singaporean. He has qualities that a Singaporean in Singapore simply does not have.

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. The cause of freedom will overcome Lee Kuan Yew's dictatorship. That much is certain.

Ladies and Gentlemen,

In a contest between good and bad, the good will always prevail over the bad, truth over falsity and freedom over servitude. That much is certain.

And it should be no different in Singapore.

Take a few examples. Singapore's Lee Kuan Yew pays himself $3.7 million a year and perhaps many times more secretly; remember GIC and Tumasek state investment funds books are secret.

So whichever way you look at this, this is plain theft. In this, Lee Kuan Yew is dishonest while truth lies on the side of those who cry foul. Today Lee manages to resist the demands of the people to stop the theft through force, using his power to get away with this dishonesty.

But who do you think will come out victorious in the end? It has to be the truth which is on the side of the oppressed Singaporean.

It is the same with everything else. Lee may convict and imprison innocent citizens who were merely exercising their right of freedom of speech. He may unjustly silence and punish those who lawfully criticise him. He may get the help of dishonest people such as his judge Belinda Ang Saw Ean to misuse the law to punish political opponents. He may control the entire press and instead start publishing propaganda.

But in in every single dishonest act, his success is merely illusory, ephemeral and temporary. This is so because the truth is not on his side. It is on the side of citizens who are oppressed by him through violence and force.

And applying the time honored rule that truth will overcome falsity, one can be sure that in the end evil must falter and collapse.

That is the law. It has always been 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.

Singapore. More prosecutors needed.

Ladies and Gentlemen,

Singapore's state controlled newspaper the Straits Times online edition of Jan 09, 2010 has this story "More prosecutors needed". Should it be any surprise?

The island has only about 3,000 lawyers with nearly 5 million people! Perhaps the lowest lawyer to population ratio for a city state such as this. Just as a comparison, London, another city has about 20 times that number.

The Singapore legal system having been thoroughly discredited over the years by Lee Kuan Yew, the Singapore strongman repeatedly using compliant corrupt judges to destroy the opposition through stage managed criminal and defamation charges, the people have lost all respect for it entirely.

In fact you need to be a scallywag and an unscrupulous fellow to even remain in the profession, because it means showing a blind eye to the very essence of being a lawyer in not defending the people's fundamental human rights. No lawyer in Singapore today, not a single one, would be prepared to represent any political dissident fearing Lee Kuan Yew's reprisals.

The story in the state controlled newspaper narrates the pitiful state the State Prosecutor's office is in. It has only 123 prosecutors who have had to handle 4,000 criminal trials!

In any other country, one would expect many young people eagerly wanting to become lawyers. It is supposed to be an exciting and lucrative profession.

But not in Singapore. Good people shun the law because they realize how low you have to go as a lawyer, having to live in fear of Lee Kuan Yew and helpless to do your duty as a good lawyer, to serve the people.

You may have already heard that for decades now, Singapore's foremost political dissident Dr. Chee Soon Juan, who has been repeatedly charged and jailed in Singapore has not been able to find a single lawyer to represent him. This in itself speaks volumes on the state of the legal profession in Singapore.

Moreover, only last year, the International Bar Association during its annual meeting in Singapore reported in their Human Rights Report that Singapore politicians in government use the law as a tool to eliminate the opposition; there is no rule of law, and judges are not impartial in their judgements, siding with the government whenever possible. It was a damning report indeed.

Woon, Singapore's Attorney General whose principle duty appears to be charging and suing anyone who dared criticize his master, Lee Kuan Yew; confesses the inadequacy in the number of prosecutors and wants more Singaporeans to become prosecutors.

I doubt he is going to succeed as the law in Singapore has been completely discredited and it's numbers continue to decline, not increase.

Being a lawyer in Singapore is bad enough for one's reputation, being a prosecutor is the worst, because it is they who are required to do the basest of evil jobs one can think of; such as fabricating evidence and fixing innocent citizens accused of exercising their human rights, for instance, prosecuting Dr. Chee Soon Juan for merely making a public speech!

Being a prosecutor in Lee Kuan Yew's Singapore is dirty work and no self respecting Singaporean wants to do it. We might as well tell Woon that he is not going to get anymore. In fact the numbers are continuing to decrease with ever mounting resignations. Very soon he will be left with only 50, for a population of 5 million.

And one reason is because they read the Singapore Dissident.

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.

Is Lee Kuan Yew dead?

Ladies and Gentlemen,

We have not heard from the superman for some time. Is he dead?

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 Chief Justice, Chan Sek Keong disgracefully and shamefully abused the law.

Ladies and Gentlemen,

Judge Chan Sek Keong, Singapore's Chief justice and it's highest ranking legal official showed a complete lack of integrity, in 1997, when he abused his then office of Attorney General of Singapore.

In his doing so, he disgraced not only the office of Attorney General of Singapore but also completely discredited the administration of law in Singapore.

As you are already aware, I have already been charged for professional misconduct for accusing Singapore judges Belinda Ang Saw Ean and Judge Judith Prakash of judicial bias. The disciplinary proceedings against me for professional misconduct has commenced and is now before Disciplinary Tribunal of Singapore.

Now since I am publicly accusing Singapore's highest ranking legal officer, Singapore's Chief Justice Chan Sek Keong, in this blog, of having disgracefully abused his position of Attorney General of Singapore in 1997, I expect the Singapore Law Society to file an additional charge against me for this criticism.

Please do it.

This is why I say this.

In 1997 Singapore General Elections for the Constituency of Cheng San, the political parties contesting were the PAP, Lee Kuan Yew's party and the Workers Party, an opposition party. The Workers Party candidates were the late JB Jeyaretnam, Dr. Tan Bin Seng, Tang Liang Hong, Huang Seow Kuang and Abdul Rahim bin Osman.

During the elections when votes were being cast, Goh Chock Tong, Tony Tan and Lee Kuan Yew's son entered and remained within the voting center. This was illegal.

The laws made it illegal for anyone not involved in the elections to harass or intimidate the voters, as we would want citizens to be able to cast their votes without being pressured by one side or the other.

Section 82 (1)(d) of the Parliamentary Elections Act states "No person shall wait outside any polling station on polling day, except for the purpose of gaining entry to the polling station to cast his vote"

And (1)(e) states "No person shall loiter in any street or public place within a radius of 200 meters of any polling station on polling day".

The intent of this legislation should be very clear to anyone. It was designed to prevent candidates and politicians or their agents from exerting any undue influence on voters to favor themselves, by bothering the voters.

On the election day, in blatant violation of the law, Lee Kuan Yew's men, Goh Chock Tong, Tony Tan and Lee Kuan Yew's son the present Prime Minister (all Ministers of State) did not just loiter around the polling station which would have been bad enough; they actually entered the polling station and were watching citizens just before they cast their votes!

In an island where there is an all pervasive fear of Lee Kuan Yew and his men and what they would do to you if you challenged them, it must have been very clear to this PAP trio that their presence will cause extreme undue influence on the poor citizens.

And this must have been obvious to this man too, today's Chief Justice of Singapore and in 1997, the Attorney General.

Both the Workers Party and the Singapore Democratic Party rightfully complained to the police this flagrant and blatant violation of the law by the PAP and naturally expected them to take action and prosecute these men and also to declare null and void any election result for irregularity.

And that is why I say this man, Chan Sek Keong showed a complete lack of integrity when he was the Attorney General of Singapore in 1997. His official response to the complaint was that there was no impropriety on the part of the PAP trio; no action will be taken against them, and that they did not violate any law by entering and remaining within the Cheng San GRC polling station.

According to him, it was only wrong to "loiter outside" the polling station! Entering and remaining within it is perfectly all right!

It is like saying, it is only wrong to threaten to kill someone. Actually murdering someone, is perfectly fine!

Anyone can see what I see. The whole point of this legislation was to stop one party or other from harassing and bothering voters on the way to the polling station so that they can can cast their votes in secret. The worst possible violation would have been for them to be actually within the poling station and watching the citizens before they vote!

Let me tell this man again what I think of him. Chan Sek Keong, Singapore's Attorney General of 1997 shamefully disgraced himself and the office of Attorney General when he claimed that Goh Chock and company did no wrong; and he shamefully failed in his duty as the Attorney General when he took no action against them.

I expect the Singapore Law Society to file an additional charge against me that I have unjustly accused the Singapore Chief Justice to the present charges that I face in the ongoing Law Society of Singapore disciplinary proceedings against me.

If the Singapore Law Society does not do it, they will be making even greater fools of themselves, especially when I am already facing charges for criticizing judges junior to this Chief Justice.

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. Singapore's lame duck lawyer's president is now spreading his wings!

Ladies and Gentlemen,

President of Singapore's society of lame duck lawyers, Sydney Michael Hwang, himself completely intimidated by the Singapore strongman Lee Kuan Yew; now says he is going to help them "spread their wings abroad"!

As it is, Singapore with a population of 4.8 million which their state controlled newspapers claim to be an international business center has no more than about 3,000 lawyers!

Such a number would not be sufficient even for a small time peasant society in the middle of nowhere! Yet this number is all Singapore has, a city that claims to be in business all over the world!

Hwang was making this speech at the opening of the legal year in the island as reported in their state controlled press, the Straits Times on Jan 12, 2010 in it's article "Help for legal eagles spreading their wings abroad"

You can sense a touch of desperation in him, Lee Kuan Yew's handpicked lapdog president of the Singapore law society.

Just to show you how unattractive the legal profession has become in Singapore, with only 3,000 lawyers in a city of 4.8 million, London another city which also has an international character has no less than 10 times that number and so does New York and Paris.

Even Kuala Lumpur has much more lawyers relative to it's population.

Singapore's legal profession has been living with such an inadequacy in their numbers that they now realize there is nothing they can be do to increase it. Over the years the government in desperation began giving various perks and incentives to young students to enter the law, including the lowering of standards to even admit mediocre students but in spite of all, no one wants to be a lawyer!

The Singapore legal profession today is so thoroughly disgraced with their judges seen as no more than a political tool of Lee Kuan Yew to destroy his opposition.

Can anyone blame us for having such a view? After the International Bar Association had come out with their 72 page report, not mincing words, that the Singapore legal system was corrupt, the Singapore judiciary was corrupt and beholden to the government and that it is unlikely for one to expect Singaporean judges to mete out impartial justice, would any young man want to enter such a disgraced profession?

In so many words, in all 72 pages of it, the International Bar Association had made it clear that Singapore does not have an impartial judiciary, there is no rule of law and the Singapore courts are beholden to Lee Kuan Yew and his government.

What do you expect when Singaporeans see the repeated abuse of the law by Singapore judges to silence and destroy the late JB Jeyaretnam, Tang Liang Hong, Francis Seow, Chia Thye Poh and Dr. Chee Soon Juan? What do you expect Singaporeans to think of their judiciary in these circumstances? Surely respect is the last thing that will come to their minds.

What do you think Singaporeans opinion is of a judge like Belinda Ang Saw Ean who refuses even to give a trial to Dr. Chee Soon Juan, when sued by her master Lee Kuan Yew for defamation, instead deciding the case in private in her chambers to give the predictable judgement to her master, which predictably ran into several hundreds of thousands of dollars.

Tell me which self respecting Singaporean young man would want to appear as a lawyer before a woman such as this in court?

Now are you surprised why it is getting increasingly difficult to attract young students to the Singapore legal profession?

Yet in spite of this, without even enough lawyers to deal with local Singapore business, let alone international, Sydney Michael Hwang, is now arranging to turn his poor miserable intimidated colleagues, into international lawyers!

You know, it is true what was said about state controlled newspapers around the world. When you control the media, such as the local Singapore newspaper the Straits Times, you can get away with any nonsense you want, such as the internationalizing of the Singapore legal profession when you don't have enough even to do the local work!

What else are you going to tell us next, Hwang? That Singapore has the best legal system in the world! Go on, make our day!

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. Dr. Chee Soon Juan's article on Civil Disobedience

Ladies and Gentlemen,

I was happy to read a new article by Dr. Chee Soon Juan, Secretary General of the Singapore Democratic Party, "Civil Disobedience in Singapore Part 1" Monday Jan 11, 2010, in his party website.

He has of course not only talked and written about it before, he has been imprisoned several times for doing just that, civil disobedience.

May I say again, and readers of Singapore Dissident are well aware by now, that I too believe that this is the most potent weapon for democratic change in Singapore. Nothing else.

Let me remind the readers once again, that parliamentary elections will achieve nothing other than returning the usual faces into Parliament. Why, because Lee Kuan Yew has engineered it so. In fact he himself has admitted this more than once.

If it is not registered into your minds yet, let me say this again. Lee Kuan Yew has decided a long time ago that only he or his immediate family will government Singapore. It is a dictatorship. If the trappings show it to be a democracy, it is simply that, mere trappings.

If you simply sat back and did nothing, you will have nothing different.

Civil disobedience is the most powerful weapon that dissenters have, especially in a small built up, crowded island such as Singapore. The results will be surprisingly rewarding, I can promise you that.

Your cause for peaceful disobedience is just. There are far too many burning injustices: a) the indiscriminate foreign talent immigration b) racial discrimination c) jobs d) escalating prices. The list of grievances are endless.

Dr. Chee ended his article without telling us the best time for it. Let me politely tell him the answer.

The time is now. This very minute. It can't be better.

Do it now.

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. If these are the role models, why do we need villians.

Ladies and Gentlemen,

In Singapore if these are the role models, why do we need villains?

Lee Kuan Yew tries hard to hold himself out as the hero of Singapore.

According to him he single handedly brought Singapore from a "backwater fishing village" into a thriving "international first world country".

But did he really? And how did he do it if indeed he did?

We know that he imprisoned Chia Thye Poh for 31 years without trial, longer than Nelson Mandela, for no crime whatsoever; whereas Mandela at least was tried and lawfully convicted.

Who is worse, the apartheid regime of South Africa or Lee Kuan Yew?

Lee also has totally criminalized the free press, owning and controlling the entire media; criminalized the forming of societies which now need permits, criminalized free speech without permits, criminalized peaceful protests without permits, abused the administration of justice by abusing the law to destroy political dissidents, and banishing me from Singapore because I criticized his judge Belinda Ang Saw Ean.

And mind you, having done all this, Lee Kuan Yew is portrayed as Singapore’s greatest hero!

Then we have the judges. A judge who shamelessly abuses the law to punish political opponents, Belinda Ang Saw Ean is portrayed as a great and wise judge when in fact she is a corrupt dishonest woman who advances her career licking Lee's boots.

I recently wrote about a very successful Tamil Singapore lawyer, the 74 year old G.P. Panniselvam, who enjoys great success at the Singapore Bar for himself and his family members, his wife a Tamil Muslim who is his partner in his law firm, his daughter Priya Pannirselvam and her young Tamil lawyer husband who all work in his office.

While he was a judge, he shamelessly disgraced his judicial duty, misusing the law against Tang Liang Hong, a hapless political victim of Lee Kuan Yew, himself a lawyer by an unimaginably unjust verdict, seizing up to $8 million dollars ( Tang’s entire savings), and literally chasing him out of Singapore. Tang now lives in Australia having been dispossessed of everything he once had by this disgraceful judge.

Today this judge who has entered into private practice with his wife Arfat Selvam, in Afrat Selvam Alliance LLC, (www.asalliance.com.sg) and his daughter and son, all enjoying a very lucrative practice thanks to Lee Kuan Yew who continues as his sole generous client providing the constant flow of work from the Singapore government and government listed companies, Lee's cronies and friends.

G.P. Selvam's and his family’s success at the Bar is the reward of the dirty work he did over an entire career for Lee Kuan Yew to destroy his opponents through the law.

And mind you, G.P. Selvam, a thoroughly unscrupulous individual by any standards, is held out in Singapore as one of the leaders of the law.

Then we have K Shanmugam, another Tamil, recently appointed the Minister of Law by Lee.

According to the flowery accolades given to him in the state controlled local press which went on over several days, splashed over the newsprint in headlines, he is one of the greatest legal brains that ever lived within the confines of the island, who had bravely fought several difficult cases and defeating them all, hands down, and so on and so forth. So much drivel there for you.

But the true fact is, he is a card carrying member of the PAP, he was inducted into the inner circles of Lee’s confidence, he has shown a willingness to do anything to please his master, however grotesque, he was given a job in the establishment law firm of Allen and Gledhill, very quickly made a partner, given a few cases all of which he won of course before friendly judges and thereafter immediately made Minister. As to what greatness is in all this is still beyond me.

And recently, in order to show his greatness, in the Singaporean sense, he has illegalized any protest in Singapore unless there is a government permit, he has illegalized the taking of pictures of the police and posting them on the Internet, he has changed the law to permit the police to enter your homes without search warrants at his discretion, and he has made illegal any form of civil political activity.

In other words, he has completely denied all forms of political activity unless it is in support of his master, Lee Kuan Yew. And this man is portrayed as a great hero of Singapore.

Every one of the leaders of this weird hare brained society of Singapore who is called a hero is in fact a crook of the basest kind.

All of them do it because there is no one to challenge anything they do. Lee Kuan Yew controls the police and even the mildest of criticism can result in arrest and imprisonment in the island. Lee Kuan Yew also controls the media which does not permit any publicity for contrarian views. Furthermore at the behest of Lee's minions, they will defame and smear your reputation in its shameful pages with impunity and there is nothing you can do.

In other words Singapore’s heroes are in fact a bunch a gangsters, while the newspapers that Lee owns portray them as heroes.

And in an island like that, if you had independent views and beliefs, you have nowhere to turn. You either accept the miserable life there or you get out of the country. You have no other option.

Of course all this abuse of power and repression is now beginning to hurt them. Educated Singaporeans are leaving the country en masse. There are insufficient entrants to government jobs.

The numbers of English speaking people are declining. The remaining English speaking Singaporeans have become very poor at it, since the best are continuing to leave the island.

The Internet with writings such as mine is hurting them badly and the harm to them is getting worse.

Only yesterday, the government's state controlled newspaper put out a story of the government legal service being in need of additional prosecutors. I will write about this soon.

The fact is, this blatant misuse of the law by Singapore’s Lee Kuan Yew and his judges has reduced the law's reputation so low that no one with any self respect wants to be part of it.

The total lawyer population in Singapore is only 3,000 and decreasing by the day, a number totally insufficient for a Singapore population of nearly 5 million.

Lee Kuan yew and his judges have succeeded in progressively discrediting the law in Singapore to what it has become today; simply a disgrace, which had caused the International Bar Association to put out a 72 page report condemning the administration of justice there outright.

If these are Singapore’s heroes, tell me, why do we need villains?

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. A dysfunctional society, with nowhere to turn.

Ladies and Gentlemen,

Singapore is today a totally dysfunctional society, it has lost its direction.

Lee Kuan Yew is an 87 year old man, weak in body and mind but yet struggling to remain alive. Singapore has been so dependant on him for so long that his demise could literally destroy the small tiny city state.

Fearing his death which must happen tomorrow if not today, he struggles to put on a happy face hoping that his people, whom he has referred to in the past as his "digits", would not lose all hope.

His son whom he has placed as Prime Minister lives in fear everyday. He knows Singaporeans have no faith in him at all, and will topple him or even worse, hold him to account for his corruption.

Then we have Lee Kuan Yew's lackeys such as the corrupt judge Belinda Ang Saw Ean who misuses the law to punish Lee's critics. She too worries what will happen when her master dies.

How will she justify her actions before an independent new Singapore? Will she lose her millions she got from Lee?

Will she have to flee the island? Worse still will she have to go to prison, the same one to which she sent Lee Kuan Yew's critic Dr. Chee Soon Juan?

G.P. Selvam the disgraceful former Singapore judge about whom I wrote here probably doesn't sleep at nights theses days.

He worries about his actions while he was a judge to ruin an innocent man Tang Liang Hong, whom he literally chased out of the island. Tang lives in Melbourne now.

Merely for pointing out Lee Kuan Yew's false accusations about him, this shameless judge crippled him with court awarded damages, literally impoverishing him, a rich man before that.

That was a disgraceful disgusting act and the people know it. If Lee Kuan Yew dies, will G.P. Selvam be held to account? Will he be made to explain his dishonesty? Will he be thrown out to the streets, disgraced and exposed, like he did to Tang?

He has a young daughter Priya Panniselvam and a son in law, both Tamil lawyers who work in his office? What will happen to them if their father is disgraced and punished?

GP Selvam, a 74 year old man worries about his family, about what will happen if his master and benefactor Lee Kuan Yew dies.

Would he be held liable for what he did to me, suspending me from Singapore law practice for 2 years just because I wrote a letter to his master's Attorney General Tan Boon Teik?

Does Lee Kuan Yew and his cronies in power worry that they are unable to keep Singaporeans from the truth in this information age? A place with no rule of law, no free press, no right to criticize, no pensions, no retirement benefits, no security in the case of unemployment, insufficient child birth, massive emigration of the educated. Does he worry about these things?

Does he worry about the English speaking Singaporeans leaving the city while they struggle to find replacements from elsewhere.

The only countries in the world where there are sufficient numbers of English speaking Chinese are Hong Kong and Malaysia, and now emigrants from both these countries avoid Singapore and instead opt for the West.

Does Lee Kuan Yew worry in the little time he has left before kicking the bucket, of the racial composition of the island? Does he worry that Singapore is today predominantly a Mandarin speaking Chinese city with ever declining English speakers? Does he worry about finding sufficient numbers of English speaking recruits for government and civil service jobs?

Will he have no choice but to switch the main business language in Singapore from English to Chinese; does he worry about what the Indians and Malays in Singapore would do in reprisal?

The 86 year old Lee Kuan Yew worries for his children, when he dies. In turn, GP Selvam worries for his wife, children and son in law. Belinda Ang Saw Ean, Lee Kuan Yew's judge worries and prepares to flee the island. Another corrupt judge Judith Prakash worries for her several daughters (she has no sons).

As a matter of fact every single person in Singapore worries, all because of one old man.

And like vultures the freedom loving Singaporeans everywhere wait eagerly for the old man to die.

Gopalan Nair too waits.

And poor Lee Kuan Yew knowing that everyone is waiting for his death tries even harder to keep alive another day. That eagerness to live, brought upon by fear, will be the very reason why he dies even sooner than otherwise.

I wonder, would the people be at the throat of his son and his corrupt entourage? Interesting thought!

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 handsome rewards for serving the Singapore strongman Lee Kuan Yew; a disgraceful former Singapore judge G.P. Selvam (Govinda Pannirselvam)

Ladies and Gentlemen,

I had previously written about the shameful career of this man G.P. Selvam who now runs the Singapore law firm Arfat Selvam Alliance LLC, having retired from the service in the Bench as a Judge whose principle duties included the awarding of astronomical judgment awards against innocent Singaporeans who had dared to criticize and challenge Lee Kuan Yew's authority.

A disgraceful judicial career indeed.

His law firm has a web site www.asalliance.com.sg, its address at 55 Market Street, #08-01, Singapore 048941.

One thing is certain. If you do Lee Kuan Yew's dirty work such as a policeman illegally jailing Lee Kuan Yew's opponents, a teacher deliberately failing a child at school because his father happened to be Lee Kuan Yew's critic, or a judge misusing the law to destroy and neutralize his opponents as in the case of this man, G.P. Selvam, Lee Kuan Yew handsomely rewards you. No doubt about it.

I had earlier in my posts mentioned how he had completely ruined Lee Kuan Yew's political opponent, Tang Liang Hong, in the Cheng San parliamentary elections of 1997 by ordering him to pay no less than several millions of dollars, yes several millions of dollars in his court, while he sat as a judge, for just saying that Lee Kuan Yew had lied when he called him a Chinese chauvinist.

In my case, he had seen it fit to suspend me from practicing law for 2 years in Singapore all because I had written to Singapore’s Attorney General Tan Boon Teik asking him to clarify himself about a matter of public interest involving the late JB Jeyaretnam. There cannot have been a more shameful abuse of judicial authority by anyone.

A dirty man who did a dirty job.

Coming to his law practice, a search on his website reveals his claims as to what he does and has done which I reproduce below:

G.P. Selvam started his legal career as an Assistant Lecturer, (1968 – 1969), Law Faculty, University of Singapore, immediately after graduating at the top of his class. He then went on to private practice from 1969 to 1991 in one of Singapore’s premier law firms and retired as a senior partner to take up a berth in the Supreme Court. He was a practice leader in Shipping, Admiralty, Banking and International Trade.

G.P. Selvam is a leading practitioner and consultant in International Arbitration Practice, Commercial Law, Shipping Insurance and Civil Litigation. He has also handled many arbitrations as arbitrator or counsel and has advised many clients on the enforcement of foreign arbitration awards in Singapore.

G.P. Selvam’s judicial career began in 1991 when he was appointed Judicial Commissioner and was subsequently appointed Judge of the Supreme Court of the Republic of Singapore, a post he held until 2001 when he retired upon reaching constitutional retirement age. G.P. Selvam has since returned to the practice of law.

While on the bench, G.P. Selvam presided over many matters relating to arbitration including a reported case which defined the expression: "Appeal from an Arbitration Award on a question of law" as well as a reported case on the doctrine of functus officio of an arbitral tribunal under Model Law (UNICITRAL). The latter decision was reversed by the Singapore Court of Appeal but a subsequent Act of Parliament restored the law stated and explained by G.P. Selvam. As a judge of the Supreme Court he has 117 reported cases to his name, many of them landmark cases. They cover a very wide range of civil and commercial matters.

As a member of the Supreme Court Working Party on Civil Procedure and the Rules Committee, G.P. Selvam was also a member of the team which introduced several procedural measures for clearing backlog of cases and expeditious disposal of civil cases and in particular admiralty cases.

G.P. Selvam is involved in several major arbitrations and is advisor to foreign lawyers and governments. G.P. Selvam is also the Editor-in-Chief of Singapore Civil Procedure (Singapore version of English White Book) which was published in 2003 and 2007.

If true, great legal feats indeed by someone who can send an erstwhile rich man, Tang Liang Hong, completely to the cleaners simply because he offended Lee Kuan Yew and in my case, suspending me from law practice merely because I questioned Lee Kuan Yew’s Attorney General's actions.

There is no doubt he and his family members in his law firm get a steady flow of high paying legal work through his patron and benefactor, the Singapore strongman Lee Kuan Yew.

His firm is mainly a Tamil law firm run by his immediate family who all profit handsomely by his erstwhile disgraceful work for his master Lee Kuan Yew. His wife, Arfat Selvam, a Tamil Muslim woman, is a director together with his daughter's husband, another Tamil, Krishna Ramachandra while his daughter Priya Pannirselvam also works there.

A look at each of their profiles in the website shows a great deal of well paying work from government listed companies and connections from third parties who are all connected to Lee Kuan Yew through his wide network.

It looks like they are all doing very well, a classic case of you scratch my dirty back and I scratch yours. I lick your boots and abuse the law for you and destroy your political opponents. In return you give me work, money and lots of it.

There is no doubting that every single lawyer in Singapore reads this blog and realizes the depths to which this man has gone to further his career. And not just that, these blogposts are distributed widely to many others who interested in the goings on of Lee Kuan Yew's and his men.

Had I said this within Singapore, even though it is true, I would have been prosecuted and treated very shabbily. No doubt about it. But from here, from California, it is quite another story.

My question is this. With these writings of mine, how does GP Selvam, his wife Arfat Selvam, his son in law Krishna Ramachandra and his daughter Priya Pannirselvam go about their business in the island with their heads visible to the onlooker?

By the way, as a window dressing, so as not to offend his ethnic Chinese master Lee Kuan Yew, there are a couple of Singaporean Chinese in junior positions in his company. But in principle a Tamil family set up, which profits from Selvam’s willingness for unimaginable dishonesty to please his master Lee Kuan Yew.

My question is this. A highly successful lawyer indeed, him and his family members in his law firm.

But tell me, which self respecting human being would want this sort of success that he and his similarly disgraceful family members have achieved.

You might as well say Adolf Eichmann had a highly successful career too, in eliminating Hitler’s opposition, until of course 1961 when he hung in Tel Aviv gallows.

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.