Sunday, February 7, 2010

Singapore's fear factor. The hidden commentors.

Ladies and Gentlemen,

It is a sad thing to see this much fear among Singaporeans. I am referring to those who take an interest in Singapore politics or social conditions and seriously comment on it in the Internet. Very sensible researched learned views, but alas the author remains so afraid that he is unable to say who he is. And this applies to every single one who comments on political matters.

Take for instance the Singapore Democratic Party's website yoursdp.org. There you see BryantT, AhKow, Robox who is a prolific commenter, quantum, nobody and so on and so forth. In this blog almost all commenters sign off as "anonymous". And this is sad. Very sad.

It is sad because each one of these commenters provide a valuable input on the state of the case in Singapore. Very valuable indeed. And in normal reckoning, we all like to take credit for our hard work and contribution and look to it's appreciation by the reader. But it is impossible to take credit when you are forced to conceal your identity and that must be painful to each and every one of them who do so much for the betterment of Singapore.

This fear of identifying oneself has to be peculiar to Singapore. Nowhere else do I see people so afraid like this.

Take Robox and Mycroft for instance, Robox of SDP and Mycroft here. They have provided such excellent commentary from which not only myself but I am sure many others have benefited. Singapore too has benefited from their writings.

But who are they? And what a pity they have to hide.

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/


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1 comment:

mycroft said...

Hi Gopalan and thanks for the kind words. Actually it's nothing to do with a personal fear factor as such. While I may well be out of reach of Lee's goons, the same cannot be said of relatives still in that island police state. We know (the persecution of Tang Liang Hong's innocent wife is a fine example) how vindictive the octogenarian can be to those unfortunate enough to remain within range of his malice, so there is no need to expose the blameless to his spite unnecessarily.

Until that happy, happy day that we have a truly democratic, free and fair nation with an honest judiciary and fearless press, I reckon the old idiom, 'Discretion is the better part of valour' will have to be the wisest course to adopt. It shouldn't be too long that dissent need remain incognito though. Already the ground is beginning to crumple beneath the incumbent's feet. Grassroots anger is almost palpable now.

The rot that began when the son took the reins in 2006 has continued unabated since, with one snafu after another culminating in the loss of one-third of the reserves last year and an infrastructure struggling to cope with 2 million more foreign residents as we speak. Thanks to PAP's blinkered programming I don't see them ever being able to make the sort of 180 degree policy U-turns needed to regain lost support. That would require a modicum of commonsense and humility and I don't think that last word is in their vocabulary. They'll try to tough it out and that will be their undoing.

Cheers and see you in our Singapore someday very soon!