Tuesday, November 30, 2010

Singapore Lee Kuan Yew's "instant" politicians.

Ladies and Gentlemen,

Many know that in Singapore, reality is not always what meets the eye. Research on the country would show a Constitution, grossly mutilated and hacked by numerous amendments literally taking away the rights immediately after they are given.

Article 14 of the Constitution says you have freedom of speech, while another part of it limits that right by some other law; while that other statute, takes away that right completely by requiring a government permit. In the end you notice you have no right to free speech at all. It is the same with every other right in that constitution. You can live in Singapore as long as you don't challenge Lee's power, while if you do, you will be punished by imaginary offenses and completely destroyed. You are a sort of a modern day slave. It is this double game which Lee Kuan Yew's Singapore plays on you which makes you realise that this piece of paper they call the Constitution, is simply worthless. You suddenly realize that, you might as well be in North Korea or Burma because it would have made no difference at all. In fact the North Koreans are at least more sincere, since they don't claim to be a democracy.

And then you have the elections which are required under the Constitution every 5 years. Also Singapore, according to it, is a democracy with different political parties eligible to form the government. Nothing can be further from the truth. There are 84 members of Parliament in the unicameral house. 82 of this number belong to Lee Kuan Yew's PAP, while 2 are from a perceived disguised opposition, because in truth Low Thia Khiang and Chiam See Tong, the 2, are supporters of Lee Kuan Yew, but parading as something else. In fact this one party state has gone on ever since Singapore got it's self government in 1959, making it no different from the other dictatorships of the world. The only difference between Singapore and North Korea is the fact that you cannot escape from North Korea, while you can from Singapore, something many are doing in ever increasing numbers.

Lee Kuan Yew wins all the seats at elections not because he has better politicians, it is because it is simply arranged that way.

This is how Lee Kuan Yew does it every 5 years or so. First, he controls the entire media, which means his men are given full coverage in the press and extolled as the greatest men who ever lived while opposition politicians are labelled cheats and criminals, leaving them unable to rebut any of these lies and defamations.

Second, as he controls the judges, opposition politicians are punished and bankrupted in the courts. Since Singaporeans are aware of this and since voting an opposition candidate, if he wins, will likely attract the wrath and displeasure of the mighty Lee Kuan Yew, they decide voluntarily to vote only for PAP candidates since to do otherwise would be tantamount to hurting themselves.

As for PAP politicians, they are always someone whom no one has ever heard before. In Singapore unlike in other democracies, PAP candidates do not have to gain the support of their electorate. This is how it is done. Lee Kuan Yew, sends out his agents to scout the island for people with good educational qualifications. They are then invited to his palace where they are put through rigorous testing, both psychological and for social aptitudes. The main requirement is their willingness to do anything for Lee Kuan Yew and his PAP without question. In other words, it does not matter if someone had no interest whatsoever in politics, as along as they are greedy enough to do anything to please Lee Kuan Yew for money and career advancement.

These chosen PAP candidates are then fielded in elections and are invariably elected due to the advantage to the PAP in the unfair system, and secondly because the people themselves after long years of conditioning vote for them anyway, seeing no advantage in an opposition politician. If Lee Kuan Yew wanted to keep anyone out, he always succeeds. All he has to do is to state publicly that a certain Mr. X is a bad guy for that person to have no chance at all. The people are told that to have a prosperous life, it is essential to vote for Lee's choice of candidate.

Many of these PAP politicians, which I call "instant politicians" because they sprout out from the blue, have no interest in politics or even their society. They accept Lee's offer because there is profit in it, mind boggling unimaginably high salaries. Singaporeans do not respect them at all, but because they have no voice in saying it, with all the newspapers under Lee's control, apathy and indifference is the order of the day.

Singapore is not a participatory democracy, the people have no say in what the government does, just as the former Soviet Union or present day China. Lee Kuan Yew and his minions decide what is to be done, what roads to build, how many schools to build and how many hospitals and whatever else they think need be done after which his ministers and men simply implement it. Lee's philosophy is this; I will decide what is good for you, and you can stuff it. A good Singaporean in Lee Kuan Yew's books is one who appreciates what he does for you, showing both obedience and gratitude and above all silence.

Then there are a handful of Singaporeans, who are not prepared to live this, who believe that the Constitution gives them better. These are Lee's enemies. They refuse to be part of the quiet obedient lot, like Dr. Chee Soon Juan. He detests them and will do anything to silence them, using his wide array of dirty tricks in his bag. Chee has been sued repeatedly and bankrupted to the tune of several hundreds of thousands of dollars, leaving him a bankrupt and disqualified from running for elections. So is his sister, Chee Siok Chin, also disqualified.

Just as Dr. Chee there are several other real politicians fighting for democracy in Singapore and who continue to suffer debilitating punishments and impoverishment, but yet continue to remain defiant in the cause of freedom. None of them have ever succeeded in winning any election. In fact it seems unlikely that they would ever win any elections in Singapore, unlike Lee Kuan Yew's "instant politicians".

It peeves me to see such ignoble and spineless gutless men and women win elections with ease licking Lee Kuan Yew's boots, while the true defenders of the people like Dr. Chee, have no chance at all. You can see the shame in the faces of men such K Shanmugam, Lee Kuan Yew's Minister for Law arguing bald lies such as, Singapore is so unique that even peaceful protests should be denied, that any attempt to criticize their judges should be punished, that Singapore is not suitable to have free press like other countries; statements which I am sure he himself knows are lies, but says it anyway.

And what is finally disappointing is the fact that despite the opposition knowing everything that I have written here and more, yet they are willing to go along with this ruse that Lee Kuan Yew is throwing at them as his "democracy". Why do they put up with it? Why do they even contest the elections when they know they are going to lose?

It must be quite obvious to anyone that Lee is not prepared to hand over his government to anyone. If elections did not go his way, he will simply stuff the ballot boxes. The opposition simply have no chance.

Anyone such as Gandhi would have called Lee's bluff and taken the fight elsewhere, to the streets. And I hope my call for civil disobedience will be heard.

Singapore is not made up entirely of such shameless boot licking "instant politicians" as the PAP ministers and a cowardly mass of people who are both ignorant and afraid to stand by principle. The Singapore diaspora, a very large one despite Singapore's small size, is made up today of hundreds of thousands even millions of capable men and women with pride who will not live under such a dictator, comprising of thousands of lawyers and professionals in all the English speaking capitals of the world who left and wish to have nothing to do with their former home. Mostly they simply vanish from the scene entirely not wanting to be heard at all. But mind you, they are there, even if you can't see them, a great loss to Singapore.

If Singaporeans are asked to state honestly who would protect them and stand by them, in times of calamity, PAP politicians or the opposition; I am sure the answer would be overwhelmingly for the opposition. If they were asked who would you trust more, Dr. Chee Soon Juan or PAP's K Shanmugam, I am sure the latter would not have got a single vote. But the tragic irony is that in Singapore's unfair electioneering system, a shameless bootlicker like K Shanmugam wins and Dr. Chee loses.

In the meantime, my advice to the next American tourist who pops in for a 4 day vacation is this, don't be fooled by the glass buildings on the waterfront. North Korea has them too.

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.

Monday, November 29, 2010

Foreign Policy Magazine votes Gopalan Nair "World's Top Dissidents"

Ladies and Gentlemen,

The respected Foreign Policy Magazine, Washington DC Magazine of May 07, 2010, has voted Gopalan Nair one of the "World's Top Dissidents". Among others voted are Aung San Suu Kyi, Burma; Simar Samer, Afghanistan; Arnold Tsunga, Zimbabwe; Anwar Ibrahim, Malaysia; Shirin Ebadi, Iran; and Gopalan Nair, Singapore.

This is what Foreign Policy Magazine said about Gopalan Nair, Singapore:

Gopalan Nair: Nair, a former opposition politician, is known throughout Singapore's embattled blogosphere for his fierce promotion of human rights and blunt criticism of founding leader and current "minister mentor" Lee Kuan Yew. In September 2008, Nair was sentenced to three months in jail for defaming a judge in a blog entry. On March 6, he published a hoax post on his blog indicating that Lee had suffered a heart attack and had been brought to Singapore General Hospital. Nair's motive? It was, he says, "a deliberate attempt to highlight how tenuous Singapore really is, with all power in the island vested in one man, and the dire consequences to the island of his parting. And especially so as [Lee] is 87." Nair lives in California and has been a U.S. citizen since 2004.

http://www.foreignpolicy.com/articles/2010/05/07/the_worlds_top_dissidents?page=0,6

Gopalan Nair
39737 Paseo Padre Parkway, Suite A1
Fremont, CA 94538, USA
Tel: 510 657 6107
Fax: 510 657 6914
Email: nair.gopalan@yahoo.com
Blog: http://singaporedissident.blogspot.com/

Your letters are welcome. We reserve the right to publish your letters. Please Email your letters to nair.gopalan@yahoo.com And if you like what I write, please tell your friends. You will be helping democracy by distributing this widely. This blog not only gives information, it dispels government propaganda put out by this dictatorial regime.

Sunday, November 28, 2010

Lee Kuan Yew's PAP of Singapore has begun the hunt.

Ladies and Gentlemen,

Singapore state controlled newspaper the Straits Times online edition of Nov 29, 2010has the story, "Singapore General Elections. First Class Candidates". It reports, more than 240 potential election candidates have been invited for "tea" and more than 40 have been interviewed by a committee chaired by the Prime Minister, Lee Kuan Yew's son.

Among Singapore's many odd practices, among which is criminalizing chewing gum, Singapore's one party state, goes around the country each year looking for instant politicians who are persuaded or forced, I do not know, to step up and stand for elections under Lee Kuan Yew's party banner. Somewhat like the practice in Buddhist Tibet where the high priests scour the country looking for children, one of whom is selected as the future Dalai Lama for his Godlike habits.

One of the biggest lies of the PAP, claiming they chose people for their merit and wisdom is completely debunked in the case of Dr. Chee Soon Juan. If there is one capable, competent and honest politician in Singapore, it surely has to be him, with a PhD in Nueropsychology from an American University and a great deal of experience determination and passion. But I can assure you one thing, Lee Kuan Yew would not select him. He doesn't fit the profile of their best candidate. He has his own opinions, his own views and he will not kowtow to anyone regardless of how much he is paid. Not just that, he is according to Lee Kuan Yew, a criminal, a cheat and numerous other epithets you can imagine.

This practice is unlike every other democracy in the world where politician hopefuls are driven by their passion to go into politics, spend many years in some party and eventually, if they are lucky are chosen to stand in elections, in stiff competition where only the best succeed.

In contract, in Singapore, these selected candidates are very often reluctant and indifferent to politics, are coerced to join them and become instant politicians and almost always, because the elections in Singapore are rigged for Lee Kuan Yew to always win, become Ministers and members of Parliament overnight for their citizens who had never even heard of them until yesterday.

These men and women are chosen primarily because of their indifference to politics or for that matter anything else other than their jobs, men who have no other opinion in their heads about anything, but for one thing alone, their proven success in reading books and passing examinations. Another character trait that they look for is the ability to be completely loyal to their master as long as there is money in it.

As the PAP pay very high salaries, literally millions of dollars, there are always many mercenaries and opportunists who try to join the PAP for personal gain, such as the recent Minister of Law, K Shanmugam, a Tamil in a predominantly ethnic Chinese government.

According to the report, the PAP has carried out the hunt not only within Singapore but also overseas, which means even an Australian resident could be selected, repatriated to Singapore, made to fly PAP colours and elected into Parliament to represent his new found wards in Toa Payoh Singapore the next day.

This practice of the PAP of selecting politicians instead of their being chosen by free and fair elections, by itself belies the claim by the PAP that it is a democracy; it is simply not. Only countries such as Communist China and Cuba who are confident of winning the elections even before its happening, would pretend to go out and chose candidates and be confident of their winning even though no one has ever even seen them before.

This practice proves not only that Singapore is a one party state where representatives are appointed, not elected, and where the ruling party is confident they would remain in power perpetually. And that alone proves what many suspect all along, that Lee Kuan Yew has been rigging every single election since 1959 and if he ever loses, he will simply stuff the ballot boxes. Otherwise he will not be so confident of getting men into Parliament who have no experience in politics, let alone any desire for it.

Of course you know today there are 84 Members of Parliament in Singapore out of which 82 are PAP, Lee Kuan Yew's party. And what is more, the 2 so called opposition politicians are in fact PAP politicians in disguise which explains why they alone are holding their seats for decades now and there is no one else.

And that is why I repeat my call to all the freedom loving people of Singapore. Don't waste your time playing Lee Kuan Yew's game when you know you have no chance. Elections should only be a side show of a side show. The real action should be on the streets, in peaceful protests, demanding 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.

Saturday, November 27, 2010

To Singapore's Lee Kuan Yew, credit where credit is due

Ladies and Gentlemen,

By now, anyone who has come across this blog even in passing would have no doubts whatsoever that I am no fan of the old man, the Singaporean dictator Lee Kuan Yew. But even for me, who thinks a dead Lee Kuan Yew is far better than a walking one, I have to admit that he is not all bad if you look at history. He has done some good.

And I for one would never deny a man credit when credit is due as in this case.

Let me tell you the reason for writing this. I am as you know principally dabbling in Immigration, Naturalization Law and Movement of companies and capital from the world to the US, apart from local criminal law. A few days ago, a 21 year old Latin American girl from Honduras came to my office. She spoke no English and neither did the friend who accompanied her; they only spoke Spanish.

Although I speak some Spanish, having lived in California for some time, but insufficiently, my Spanish speaking bilingual assistant translated the story. It was a heart rending story. She was picked up in a car travelling somewhere near Los Angeles, a long way from where I am in Northern California. She had entered the country illegally and had no status, and therefore liable to be removed from the US.

I asked her if she wanted to stay here and she said at all costs. She said her mother had died back home in Honduras, that her father had a medical condition in his leg and could not work, she was the oldest with 3 other younger children who were in school, there was no money at all and the Honduran government provided no social welfare. She herself had to leave school prematurely.

I am trying to help her as best I can and although normally I would have charged at least $2,000 for a case such as this, I couldn't in this case. How could I, in a heartbreaking story such as this.

It was then that I realised Lee Kuan Yew's Singapore of the 1950s. My elder brother and sisters had a hard time finding places in school since there weren't enough schools. I am not sure if it was the fault of the British or Lim Yew Hock, Lee Kuan Yew's predecessor. Near my home at 52 Exeter Road, Singapore 9, the only school nearby was Monks Hill School at Newton but I did not get a place there.

I remember my father taking me to see the school Principal Mr. Muthiah who told us there was no place in school but it was possible at the nearby Windstedt School which was either already built or was being built.

And it is for this reason that we have to give credit to Lee Kuan Yew because he deserves it. From the middle 1950s onwards he started a blitz of school building throughout the island. Schools such as Newton Boys School suddenly sprung up as well as Cairnhill School and several others in the vicinity. I am not sure but I think it was under Lee Kuan Yew's administration that the schools were built and almost every child who wanted a place got it.

And in my job I compare the Singapore of those days with countries such as Honduras and several others both in Latin America and Asia and see the difference in what they have and the Singapore of today. Although Singapore education was not perfect, at least it was something. And that credit has to go, I must unfortunately say, to Singapore's strong man Lee Kuan Yew.

I am not suggesting that the education I received was great. Hardly. I would have got a much better education in an Australian School or an English School. But surely I am comparing apples with oranges and that is not fair. Singapore of the 1950s was basically made up of a bunch of coolies and a few were trained to be teachers. For what it was worth, it was still better than nothing.

Singapore has it's shame of being a dictatorship in a one party state without a free press and a judiciary controlled by the state. This is all bad. Having said that it did also produce Gopalan Nair and numerous other upright individuals who dare to criticise and stand on their rights.

Although Lee Kuan Yew and his son now may be cursing themselves for educating someone like me, their life long critic, and hope I would drop dead the next minute, still they cannot deny themselves the credit of having created Gopalan Nair who they imprisoned but refuses to give up.

Gopalan Nair would not be writing this today from California had Lee Kuan Yew not built Windstedt School in Newton Singapore. Surely I have to be thankful for that. And thankful for the fact that I was not born in Honduras, Bolivia, Paraguay or even Pakistan but rather in Lee Kuan Yew's Singapore. To that extent, I have to thank Lee Kuan Yew, Singapore's dictator.

Gopalan Nair
39737 Paseo Padre Parkway, Suite A1
Fremont, CA 94538, USA
Tel: 510 657 6107
Fax: 510 657 6914
Email: nair.gopalan@yahoo.com
Blog: http://singaporedissident.blogspot.com/

Your letters are welcome. We reserve the right to publish your letters. Please Email your letters to nair.gopalan@yahoo.com And if you like what I write, please tell your friends. You will be helping democracy by distributing this widely. This blog not only gives information, it dispels government propaganda put out by this dictatorial regime.

Friday, November 26, 2010

Singapore, a stupid legal system with stupid judiciary

Ladies and Gentlemen,

I am not sure if you feel the same but I cannot think of another more illogical legal system with thugs as judges other than Singapore. I am of course talking of Singapore's defamation laws, contempt of court laws and "insulting a civil servant" laws. In all these laws, you only get punished if they catch you within Singapore island, if you are outside you can say anything you want about them, and they cannot even touch you. And this is despite the fact that in their Kangaroo courts, whenever their judges or "thugs" punish you, they invariably say they have to do it, because otherwise their leaders would find it hard to govern.

Let's take this very blog and this article that I am writing. In this article, I have called Singapore's judges "thugs" and their legal system "illogical". Let me add one more adjective and call their judges and their legal system corrupt. Surely this is an unacceptable attack on their system of law and government and surely if I am to be left unpunished, these statements would, according to them, seriously undermine the ability of their leaders to rule and would have an adverse impact on their administration of justice (statements they repeat each time ad nasuem each time they unjustly punish a Singapore critic). Another very material fact is that this blog post is not banned in Singapore, it is read by countless Singaporeans, many of whom believe what I am saying, resulting in their complete loss of faith in the administration of justice there.

But one very curious and ridiculous circumstance about the Singapore one party state with their state controlled legal system is this. Had I written this article in Singapore, Lee Kuan Yew's police would be at my doorstep the next minute and have me arrested. But as I am writing this article from my office in California, the one party state of Singapore is simply helpless to do anything to me, except to engage in some criminality which they appear afraid to do. And with this knowledge, I continue to write from the safety of my office in California about Singapore, targeted to a Singapore audience, which they read and yet I remain free.

Since my arrest in 2008 in Singapore for writing a blog post about Lee Kuan Yew judge Belinda Ang Saw Ean's abuse of the legal system to please her master, after returning to the US I have repeatedly almost in every blog post I have written criticized their legal system as corrupt and beholden to the Lee Kuan Yew family. I have also deliberately committed contempt of their judge Leslie Chew by withdrawing the apology I gave to the court when I was charged for contempt after I had already spent 2 months in jail. It would appear that according to their laws, I could be rearrested again and charged for numerous instances of contempt of court, defamation of character and "insulting" various Singaporean civil servants. Yet from California, I can write anything I want about them and they are as helpless as mice.

If Singapore wants to take itself seriously, which obviously it does not, by this sort of stupidity; dealing with someone one way when he is in the island and another way when he is outside, it should have one standard regardless of where the culprit was. Therefore if indeed I will be arrested for what I say here within Singapore, then they should make sure that I am brought to justice in Singapore even from California. This is not difficult to do since all it takes is to amend Singapore's laws to make actions such as mine, extraditable offenses, apply for extradition by arguing which they so eloquently do within Singapore that to protect Singapore's interests I should be extradited to Singapore and made to stand trial for calling Singapore's judges a bunch of Lee Kuan Yew errand boys.

But they refuse to do any of this. They simply continue in their double standards, which is to punish you for the slightest criticism within Singapore but leave you entirely alone if you are outside.

Alan Sahdrake, the British author who is being put to such inconvenience and trouble in Singapore merely for writing a book would have none of that trouble, if he had never stepped foot in Singapore. Had he remained outside, he could have written his book and could have laughed at Lee Kuan Yew, his son and their side kick Judge Loh Sze On, Quentin as much as he wanted. But just because he was physically within the the island these thugs of Lee Kuan Yew arrest him and put him to this much inconvenience.

That is why, I have to say that Lee Kuan Yew and his son and the entire bunch of his judges whom he appoints because they will carry out his orders including this fellow Loh Sze On, Quentin, are just bums which we all laugh at from outside and from within Singapore after they read this blog.

Thank you guys for reading but sorry I cannot come to Singapore now because these gangsters who call themselves judges in Lee Kuan Yew's island will do me harm. But this is not too much of an inconvenience as the right to be free in California far outweighs it.

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.

Australia's (Singapore's) James Gomez, slipping into the night

Ladies and Gentlemen,

Reliable lookouts secreted inside Singapore's Changi Airport have accurately reported sightings of James Gomez, a self proclaimed future opposition Member of Parliament in Singapore's Lee Kuan Yew's Parliament, having boarded another night flight for his home in Melbourne where he lives and works permanently.

Unlike any other political opposition hopeful in Singapore's entire history, Gomez does not live in Singapore, but at his new found home in Australia where he lives and works as an Australian permanent resident. However this scenario has one twist in it, Gomez unlike his other fellow Australians in his country, is not an Australian citizen, he technically is still a Singapore citizen.

It is this fact, his Singapore passport, regardless of the fact that he has no desire to reside in his country of nationality, preferring the West instead, that has enabled him to visit Singapore for a few days lately, persuade Dr. Chee Soon Juan to give him the Singapore Democratic Party membership and even suggesting that he may contest the next general elections in Singapore, to represent Singaporeans (not Australians) among whom he has not lived for decades now, and for whom it is impossible to render any assistance since he is physically in Australia.

It is this fact, the Singapore passport alone, never mind he only visits Singapore occasionally after a 6 hour flight North West across the China sea to Singapore, that has enabled him to make fiery passionate speeches at the only place allowed for such activity by Lee Kuan Yew, Singapore's Hong Lim park, about how bad Lee Kuan Yew is and about how good he was and how he is going to change Singapore and rid the island completely of the tyrant.

It is this fact alone, the Singapore passport, that has enabled him from the rostrum to make his unusual signature greeting of sorts, by raising his right hand straight towards the sky and pointing all fingers upwards, a gesture that he did repeatedly from the Workers Party rostrums in 2006 electioneering (a party which he has since abandoned), a gesture which I have not been able to establish the origin despite every diligent effort.

I enquired whether this outstretching of his right hand vertically upwards, is some sort sort of Australian aboriginal gesture or greeting but that has not proven to be so. Since Australians themselves do not stretch out their right hand vertically to the sky for any reason, I decided to give my own interpretation to this extraordinary physical movement. I reckon, Gomez is pointing to the Heavens and reminding us that one day he wants to move from Australia to the Heavens, and secondly he is telling us that the Heavens is indeed a particularly desirable place to emigrate to, besides Australia.

It is to be noted that stealth is one of Gomez's strong points, perhaps a prowess he got by studying the Aborigines in Kakadoo Kangaroo National Park at Alice Springs, waiting to pounce on the unsuspecting wallaby for their supper. He was able to almost stealthily unnoticed enter Singapore without even the permanent lookouts at Changi observing anything, and now he has left with the rest of us Singaporeans not being any the wiser.

Surely this is not what Singaporeans, his future constituents, in the unlikely event that he wins the elections, should be asked to expect from a future Singapore Democratic Party representative in Lee Kuan Yew's Parliament. Is all that we Singaporeans can expect from this Australian is a few fiery speeches, an unusual hand raising to the sky, a few photo ops, and that's it! Is he not going to be with us, among us, and working for us permanently in Singapore, rather than in Australia? Or is all we can expect is a few lightning flash visits of a few days, a bit of hand raising, and is that all!

Had I been a resident of Toa Payoh Lorong One, 15th floor, Block 25, Apartment number 12345, Singapore 45678, in Lee Kuan Yew's Singapore, facing East to Changi airport, at Runway 02, from my balcony, should I not be feeling a little let down by this man who has just abandoned me after a few speeches and returned to his Australia permanently, to his house with a lawn and a Yorkshire Terrier and a Barbecue, and crates of 3 Arrows Melbourne beer?

What sort of an Singapore Democratic Party politician is that, I am going to say, a man who just abandons me whenever it suits him and goes home to Australia, and flies in on Qantas QX1, to Changi for a few speeches and media interviews and photo ops, as and when it suits him.

Am I a Singaporean worth nothing more than this from this Australian, is that all I can expect from an Australian permanent residence who comes in from the cold and slips out stealthily under the cover of night from Changi?

Singapore Democratic Party has Dr. Chee, Siok chin, Gandhi Ambalam, Wijeyasinga, John Tan and every other committee member and activist. All of them are not only honest hardworking politicians who represent their constituents interests, all of them of course live permanently in Singapore and work full time for the interests of their residents who can approach them at anytime and anywhere for help which they are ready and capable of rendering.

And while these admirable Singapore democratic Party members are working hard on the ground for their fellow Singaporeans, Gomez for whom living in Singapore is not good enough, works in his Melbourne university, and goes home to his house with a lawn and a dog and a barbecue to gulp his 3X beer under the Australian sunshine totally oblivious and indifferent to the pains of his fellow Singaporeans 6 jet hours away in Singapore North West across the China Sea by Qantas, at flight level 41, magnetic heading 280, for Darwin VOR, then on to Cupang, Bali, Senang and cleared for landing on Runway Changi 02R.

If the Singapore Democratic Party is determined to have Gomez PhD, as their man, surely Singaporeans including myself have a right to know his itinerary, when is he scheduled to grace us with another of his flash visits, like a flash flood, when is he going to give us another of his luminary speeches worth their weight in gold on how he will demolish Lee Kuan Yew single handedly, and when is he going to do his classic salute of stretching out his right hand to the Heavens, and last but not least, when will he leave us again, until his next precious visit.

Surely the Singapore Democratic Party , whose member Gomez has become by virtue of his magic document, the Singapore passport, has a duty to keep us informed of such nice things.

And perhaps Gomez could enlighten us about the way of his new found countrymen, the Australian Aborigine, and give us a rendition after having stripped naked to his loincloth, singing the Kakadoo Forever, their unofficial national anthem, with warrior paint on his body and a rendition of the Didgeridoo, their primitive wind instrument at the junction of Serangoon Road Little India in Singapore and Norris Road.

Now that is what Gomez should be doing instead of trying to represent a people among whom he does not even live.

Gopalan Nair
39737 Paseo Padre Parkway, Suite A1
Fremont, CA 94538, USA
Tel: 510 657 6107
Fax: 510 657 6914
Email: nair.gopalan@yahoo.com
Blog: http://singaporedissident.blogspot.com/

Your letters are welcome. We reserve the right to publish your letters. Please Email your letters to nair.gopalan@yahoo.com And if you like what I write, please tell your friends. You will be helping democracy by distributing this widely. This blog not only gives information, it dispels government propaganda put out by this dictatorial regime.

Thursday, November 25, 2010

Singapore. Release Mas Selamat Now

Ladies and Gentlemen,

Mas Selamat, the celebrated "terrorist" accused by Singapore of trying to blow up Singapore airport and several Singapore aircraft to boot, 9/11 style, had escaped from Singapore's top security detention center in broad daylight and just strolled away to the eternal shame of Lee Kuan Yew's so called top notch island city state. 2 years later, a few months ago, he was handed over by the Johore Police to Singapore who have since put him back in jail.

But one thing that Singaporeans either are not aware of or deliberately do not wish to know is the startling fact that up till now, for the many years that this poor man has been kept in jail and his liberty denied him, he has never yet been charged with any crime at all! Like a bunch of Lee Kuan Yew gangsters, their Singapore police with their guns had just arrested him, jailed him and literally thrown away the key, yet again! This sort of thing does not usually happen in this day and age, let alone in a modern city state which claims to be first world.

Their excuse to arbitrarily jail Mas Selamat is their law, the Internal Security Act. Under this law, anyone, including you, can be arrested at the fancy of Lee Kuan Yew or any of his minions, accused of being a threat to national security and simply locked away without trial.

I am not sure if there can be any justification for a law like this which permits detention without trial in other circumstance but in this particular case, there are none.

If in fact the government claims that he wanted to blow up Singapore Airport and let us assume Lee Kuan Yew himself and his politically embattled son, the present Prime Minister to smithereens, then produce the evidence. If he wanted to fly a Cessna 172 as pilot in command into the airport control tower, then produce his pilot licenses, produce his flight instructors and his pilot log book to show his flight hours logged. Produce the TNT or other chemicals or evidence. Don't just write in the paper that he wanted to do this that or the other and just jail him for as long as you want.

Let me give a stern warning to this government of Lee Kuan Yew. You have no right to imprison this man without trial. The Constitution requires a fair trial. You are torturing and punishing a man without just cause. You are seen to day as a cruel island republic which has the highest execution rate in the world, barbaric punishments such as beatings and torture and a place that uses the law to silence critics of your dictator Lee Kuan Yew. A place that has no free press, no independant judiciary and in brief an Alice in Wonderland comedy island.

By what is seen as a barbaric lawless country, you are driving away good Singaporeans overseas permanently and making your island republic the laughing stock of the world, the object of odium, ridicule and contempt.

Give Mas Selamant a trial or release him now. Remember, the law states, a man is innocent until proven guilty.

To me, based on the fact that Lee is unable to produce any evidence against him, means you have none. Therefore in my eyes, and the eyes of good people around the world, Mas Sealamant is not only innocent, he is also a Hero. To me, he is certainly a hero, for being able to withstand the suffering, the brutality, the imprisonment and solitary confinement all these years, yet kept his sanity and his state of mind intact. I look upon him as another Henri Charriere of Papillon fame, imprisoned on Devils Island, French Guiana for decades and finally escaped. Even if Papillon never really escaped and it was all a figment of his imagination, still it was one great story, and something like what is happening to our Mas Selamat with his daring escape, by swimming the Johore Straits.

Hang in there Mas Selamat, (Papi) we love you. You are not a terrorist in my eyes, you are a Hero. The only terrorists here are Lee Kuan Yew, his son and his minions. Stay strong Mas, if I could call you that. You will be vindicated, we promise you that. You will be free.

If you can escape again, do it. You are lawfully justified in that action.

And if there is anything I could do for you from the US, please do not hesitate to ask. From my understanding of the law, the US will not support this imprisonment without trial. Guantanamo was a completely different species of animal which as no relation to a case like yours. If you manage to escape and can somehow enter the US, I will help you obtain sanctuary.

Hang in there Mas Selamat. You are a Hero.

Gopalan Nair
39737 Paseo Padre Parkway, Suite A1
Fremont, CA 94538, USA
Tel: 510 657 6107
Fax: 510 657 6914
Email: nair.gopalan@yahoo.com
Blog: http://singaporedissident.blogspot.com/

Your letters are welcome. We reserve the right to publish your letters. Please Email your letters to nair.gopalan@yahoo.com And if you like what I write, please tell your friends. You will be helping democracy by distributing this widely. This blog not only gives information, it dispels government propaganda put out by this dictatorial regime.

Wednesday, November 24, 2010

Alan Shadrake's Judge, Loh Sze On Quentin's biggest folly

Ladies and Gentlemen,

Alan Shadrake, the British author who despite universal protests was jailed for 6 weeks for writing a book about Singapore recently by the rookie, yet 60 year old judge Loh Sze On, Quentin, is going to be fine, after his short interment; it is this judge who is going to regret that mistake all his life.

Judge Loh Sze on, Quentin, who is already 60 years old, who had earlier spent an entire career in an inconsequential law practice, should know that his appointment to the judiciary by Lee Kuan Yew, being a staunch and lifelong supporter of Lee's party the PAP, was at best an afterthought on Lee's part and at the worst clear evidence that he was chosen simply because there was no one else even marginally suitable.

Under Singapore's constitution, judge's have to retire at 65 unless their term is extended. In most cases, they are appointed at a much younger age, even in their 30s so as to give them enough experience in judgeship. If Lee Kuan Yew waited until this man is 60 before making him one, it has to mean only one thing, he hardly qualifies; his appointment was simply because of his loyalty to Lee Kuan Yew, Singapore's dictator. And we all know that Lee uses his judges as a political tool to destroy his opponents.

On his part, we are not surprised that a man like this who has spent an entire life sucking up to Lee's dictatorship, immediately accepted the position. But anyone else with his head in the right place, would have not accepted the position in today's Singapore.

The PAP's political domination in the island is today not only uncertain, it is in fact hanging in the balance with a strong probability that it will collapse sooner than we think. Some months ago, I had written a hoax faux blog post in this blog, claiming that Lee Kuan Yew, the Singapore strongman had a massive heart attack and was hospitalized. My purpose was to prove that dictatorships crumble and fall with the demise of the dictator in whose hands all power lies. True to my prediction, indeed the island was suddenly thrown into a state of total uncertainly when the news of it spread. In fact if this eventuality actually happened, there is no doubt going to be a mass exodus of all Lee Kuan Yew cronies who would be held to account for their actions.

Lee Kuan Yew today is 88 years old and looking at him, it is anyone guess whether it is today or tomorrow when he kicks the bucket. We than have his son, his wife already having passed away lately, remaining who himself is a surviving cancer patient. In his case too we don't know whether the fateful day will be today or tomorrow.

Without the Lee family this entire government has its foundations shaking. Without the family, all the other bootlickers such as Vivian Balakrishnan and Teo Chee Hean would be of no consequence. And even if they thought for one minute if they could stay in power by deploying Gurkha troops, such is a fantasy which has been disproved throughout history, as force never accomplished anything.

So among the culprits who are going to be held to account by the newly empowered Singaporeans, would include men such as this man the 60 year old Loh Sze On, Quentin, who has just recently misused his judicial office to punish Alan Shadrake. There can be no doubt of his guilt here. The Constitution of Singapore clearly guarantees free speech and expression and Alan Shadrake's action in writing the book in which he criticizes the Singapore judiciary is well supported by evidence. In fact we have had protests from the British government and international organizations all over the world urging Loh Sze On, Quentin not to do what he had threatened to do, but yet he goes ahead in his blind desire to please his master Lee Kuan Yew and jails Shadrake.

Anyone with open eyes would not only have refused a judgeship in the present circumstances of the likelihood of the Lee government collapsing any moment, noone would have accepted a case such as this, a classic hot potato, whose ramifications are likely to haunt him the rest of his life.

No sane human would want to be in this man Loh Sze On, Quentin's shoes today with a strong possibility of reprisals and vengeance from a newly empowered and free Singapore. It is like Marie Antoinette publicly eating cake before a starving French peasantry who are just about to storm the Bastille.

Very bad idea indeed. Either greed got the better of him and he forgot that he lives in present day Singapore island or he has not much in his head, which proves my point why his master Lee Kuan Yew waited until he became 60 to make him a judge. I am sure there is no one out there who would want to be in his shoes now.

Good Luck.

Gopalan Nair
39737 Paseo Padre Parkway, Suite A1
Fremont, CA 94538, USA
Tel: 510 657 6107
Fax: 510 657 6914
Email: nair.gopalan@yahoo.com
Blog: http://singaporedissident.blogspot.com/

Your letters are welcome. We reserve the right to publish your letters. Please Email your letters to nair.gopalan@yahoo.com And if you like what I write, please tell your friends. You will be helping democracy by distributing this widely. This blog not only gives information, it dispels government propaganda put out by this dictatorial regime.

Sunday, November 21, 2010

Part 2, Singapore opposition's wasted election fever

Updated Nov 22, 2010, "recently returned" changed to "visiting Australian permanent resident"

Ladies and Gentlemen,

In my last post of the same title, I said why I felt Parliamentary Elections in today's Lee Kuan Yew dictatorship will do the Singapore political oppostion no good. What they need is public and open resistance, non violent peaceful but defiant civil disobedience.

This is why I say it.

We see on the Internet at Lee Kuan Yew's Hong Lim Park, a sort of London's speakers corner, where Lee has grudgingly allowed public speaking, where both new and old opposition politicians are making their usual speeches about this and that, as they have done for the last 50 years.

James Gomez has begun speaking just as he did the last time in 2006 under the Worker's Party ticket and lost, talking once again about great things, how poor some Singaporeans are and how heartless and cruel Lee Kuan Yew and his friends are taking home several millions in salaries. So do the others, Jufrie Mahmood my old friend, Dr. Chee and everyone else who is expected to speak has spoken and will continue to speak. But it will only be speeches, nothing more, as has gone on for election after election for the last 50 years. The question really is whether anything is going to come of it, and in the remotest eventuality of any of them being returned, will they be able to do anything about it anyway.

Let us consider the most unlikely scenario, that James Gomez, the visiting Australian permanent resident, who has come out from the cold and won in Singapore's elections. Next day he walks into Lee Kuan Yew's Parliament and makes a completely justifiable demand that Lee Kuan Yew's salary be reduced to $60,000 a year instead of the several million he steals. And let us assume that Lee Kuan Yew just ignores him and does nothing.

In any other democracy, James Gomez would take his demand to the streets if Lee does nothing. He would agitate, organize and have his supporters protesting all over the island. That is what a true democracy is and that is what will happen in Australia, Gomez's new found home. But if Gomez cannot enforce his just demands or at least demand it until the cows come home, he is in effect completely ineffective, just as the present 2 half cooked opposition members of Parliament are.

And secondly, what is the opposition trying to achieve by making these speeches? Are they trying to convince the electorate that they should vote them in because they say good things? Have you asked yourself where they live, they live in HDB flats; government owned housing. Have you asked yourself where they work, probably in government or government liked organizations. The people live, work and play all in government organizations in circumstances where the police have free reign to arrest anyone and the courts carry out Lee's orders to the letter.

And even despite these circumstances as in Anson where Jeyaretnam (not to be confused with his son Kenneth) won, how long did he last anyway?

Let me give you some bad news, which you already know anyway. None in the SDP including the new entrant Gomez is going to win. It is not how the electorate vote that decides who wins or loses but who does Lee Kuan Yew want, and he wants noone in the SDP. That, I am proud to say, is the only opposition party that is determined to fight for freedom and democracy and Lee Kuan Yew does not want any of it. As I have said, if all else fails Lee Kuan Yew will fix the ballot papers to keep them out.

The other parties have a chance like the Workers Party and many other equally helpless minuscule ones that have sprouted out like mushrooms from the woodwork. Lee may see to it that some like the fraud opposition politicians Low and Chiam are allowed in. Lee is always looking for opposition politicians who are not a threat to his power and if you are one, your chances are good. It seems to me Kenneth Jeyaretnam stands a good chance. So far he appears to be a Chiam or Low Thia Khiang double. He has not ruffled any feathers, he has not criticized Lee for his outrageous salary and he has kept completely out of the people's human rights, all areas Lee Kuan Yew demands obedience.

A victory for Kenneth is good for Lee in more ways than one. He will have another opposition member in Parliament to boast as proof of a multi party Singapore, as just two members is hardly there; he will be able to boast of being truly fair by giving the son of his late arch enemy a chance; and as for Kenneth, it will be a lifetime job and political office, as Lee will make sure he wins each time. A win win situation you can say.

You notice Kenneth has kept at arms length from Gomez and from the Singapore Democratic Party, not suprising how badly he wants to get into Parliament.

It is not with pleasure that I write this. I wish with all my heart that Dr. Chee Soon Juan and members of his party will enter Parliament. But if contesting elections is all they are going to do, I see no better prospects.

I don't want to sound like a broken record, but with a man such as Lee Kuan Yew, the dictator of Singapore, I truly see no chance at all in ousting him unless you are willing to take him on on the streets, with the world watching. And you know, history is on my side when I say this.

Let there be no mistake, I am not suggesting a violent struggle such as the the ANC of South Africa, Sendero Luminoso or the Tupac Amaru of Peru. I am suggesting Mahatma Gandhi's non violent struggle as the only solution in dealing with tyrants like Lee Kuan Yew.

Gopalan Nair
39737 Paseo Padre Parkway, Suite A1
Fremont, CA 94538, USA
Tel: 510 657 6107
Fax: 510 657 6914
Email: nair.gopalan@yahoo.com
Blog: http://singaporedissident.blogspot.com/

Your letters are welcome. We reserve the right to publish your letters. Please Email your letters to nair.gopalan@yahoo.com And if you like what I write, please tell your friends. You will be helping democracy by distributing this widely. This blog not only gives information, it dispels government propaganda put out by this dictatorial regime.

Saturday, November 20, 2010

Singapore opposition's wasted election fever

Ladies and Gentlemen,

We read of election fever today in Singapore's minuscule helpless opposition parties, speech making at Hong Lim Park, the one place Lee Kuan Yew has allowed the public to speak; increased traffic in political news, more Internet postings on how bad Lee Kuan Yew and his party are, and ad infinitum. As is always the case every 4 years or thereabouts at Singapore's election time.

And at each election time, we have seen the same enthusiasm, hurried preparations by the same opposition parties every 4 years since 1959, but they have not made any headway at all. And yet today even after 50 years the opposition has still not realized what should have been obvious to anyone with open eyes, that they simply cannot win; why, because Lee Kuan Yew is not prepared to let them win, as simple as that.

I am sure they are not completely naive or overly optimistic, but why they go through this utterly futile exercise every four years, I simply do not know. But one thing they should know is this; they simply cannot win through the ballot box.

Let me say that again, the political opposition in Singapore simply cannot beat Lee Kuan Yew and his PAP at the polls because Lee Kuan Yew does not want any real political opposition; second because he controls the courts he will destroy any real opposition through the law and third, as he controls the newspapers he will tell any lie he wants about them and finally if all else fails, he will simply stuff the ballot boxes.

Lee Kuan Yew has long ago decided that only his family and his party are capable of ruling Singapore, noone else.

At the same time, he is not happy about being called a one party state, so he conveniently permits at his pleasure 2 men, Chaim See tong and Low Thia Khaing who pretend to be opposition, but who really in truth support the PAP. This way he can hoodwink the world into thinking he is a democracy.

Since 1959, there was only one real opposition member of Parliament, none other than the late JB Jeyaretnam who Lee Kuan Yew naturally booted out of Parliament at the first opportunity. Since then there has been none.

A clear proof of election rigging is the fact that these 2 half opposition men, if I could call them that; Low and Chiam have consistently kept their seats for decades, even though their housing estates are just next door to other wards, just 10 feet away, which were all invariably won by Lee Kuan Yew's party. In a crowded island city like this, why is it that men who live 3 feet away from another consistently vote one way in one and the other way in the other!

Singapore's political opposition parties should realize once and for all, even after 50 years, that they simply will not win any election playing to the rules of Lee Kuan Yew and his government. Unless they do something else, at every election, Lee Kuan Yew will win and if he did not he will engineer a win, as simple as that. With this in mind, the opposition should not be spending time and effort contesting an election where all the reins are in Lee Kuan Yew's hands.

But it is not all gloomy. As I have always said, Lee Kuan Yew's Singapore will collapse very soon, regardless of whether any opposition member contests elections. Various factors are all working together which will cause this demise, which are, the mounting brain drain of the educated out of Singapore, the falling birth rate, Singapore's inability to attract educated English speaking workers and the huge influx of Mandarin speaking immigrants from China who are of no use to modern Singapore.

As for the opposition, instead of playing along with these unjust rules which permit only Lee Kuan Yew and his party to win, they should take to the streets in peaceful protest. They may not get many to come forward but it does not matter. Peaceful protests attract great public attention and when they arrest the activists, great political profit can be made by both local Singaporeans and foreign countries against a repressive regime. Such dramatic events, I believe would cause others to join and thereby become a mass civil disobedience movement. Even if it did not and all the activists were arrested, it would still be worth it, since a mass movement being born is almost certain.

The question in my mind should not be whether civil disobedience would create massive support, it should be whether such action is right or is it wrong. And the answer can only be that it is the right thing to do.

To look on it from the darkest side, it may well be that any political leader choosing this path may lose all support. But even if that was so, still that is better than repeating again and again something that he already knows beforehand is a waste of every one's time.

That is why when I listen and watch the spirited and burning speeches of the opposition on rostrums set up in Lee Kuan Yew's Hong Lim Park to the same handful of stragglers, I feel sorry, because I know that their spirits going to be dampened yet again, because they simply cannot win.

Only if they see what I see.

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.

Monday, November 15, 2010

Singapore's (or Australia's) James Gomez

Ladies and Gentlemen,

Singapore one party state's state controlled newspaper Straits Times online edition of Nov 14, 2010 has the story "James Gomez joins the SDP". It tells us that at Hong Lim Park, Singapore's version of London's Speakers Corner, with one difference, that in Singapore you are watched when you speak by Big Brother; Gomez had announced his joining Dr. Chee Soon Juan's Singapore Democratic Party and that he may even contest the next general elections as their candidate.

James Gomez is a highly desirable candidate, there can be no doubt about it. He has a PhD in a social science discipline and has many years of research experience in studying Singapore politics.

But as much as I would love to see him in Lee Kuan Yew's Singapore parliament, I can tell you this much.

He not only has no chance of winning, and what is more, he is a serious impediment to SDP's electoral prospects.

My friendly advice to him is both to stay out of politics and stay away from opposition political parties; because it would do him no good and neither the party.

If there is one human being that Lee Kuan Yew or his son for that matter wants to keep out of their Parliament is Dr. James Gomez, other than Dr. Chee himself of course.

James Gomez knows too much and if he is to get into Parliament, he will ask difficult questions which they have no desire or intention to answer.

They know, Gomez is the genuine product, not the "government approved" "half opposition" such as Low Thia Khiang and Chiam See Thong.

If only Gomez was like them, not only would he have been in Parliament a long time ago, they would have even invited him to their PAP as a candidate.

But not being another Low Thia Khaing, and knowing too much, Gomez has to be destroyed at any cost.

And it is very easy for them to do the dirty work, thanks to Gomez himself for giving them sufficient rope.

I can predict very correctly that Lee Kuan Yew's as certain as sunrise, smear campaign against Gomez is going to be like this.

Firstly he is a fly by night politician, literally so.

You notice that in 2006, when he had lost the election, the first thing he did was to book the first flight out to Sweden where he was permanently stationed for several years. It was indeed a night flight, "so fly by night", a slogan they are bound to repeat non stop.

They are going to say that he is a man who runs away at the first opportunity rather than one who stands and fights for his people.

In fact they are gong to say that for more than half a decade, Gomez was living and working abroad permanently, not in Singapore.

After Sweden he went to live in Japan for some years, never living in Singapore at all.

They are going to say that he maintains his Singapore passport only for show, that he is a man who has all along been living abroad, who flits in and out of Singapore like a housefly, makes a speech or 2 and gets his name reported in the press, pays for his HDB flat which he has rented out while he permanently lives elsewhere, and leaves on the next flight out.

A man who does not even want to live in Singapore among his people, preferring rather to live in Australia permenently is surely not a political representative that can be trusted by any Singaporean. So much for that.

Then we have his dishonesty alleged to have committed at the Parliamentary Elections Nomination Center in 2006.

You will recall that he said he had handed an election form to the Election Officer when in fact he was caught red handed on video tape putting that very same form into his briefcase.

A blatant lie, the Lee Kuan Yew faction is going to say.

They are going to say there surely cannot be a greater dishonesty shamelessly carried out by any politician living or dead; that he is the most dishonest person there can ever be, a man not to be trusted and never voted into Parliament.

In 2006 Lee Kuan Yew himself spent several days speaking in public and widely telecast and publicised, calling Gomez a lair, a cheat, and many other unflattering names you could think of.

In fact many believed that it was Gomez who had ruined the chances of the Workers Party GRC team in Aljunied and without him, they would have won a GRC.

One cannot deny there is justification for this argument, although any reasonable person would have given him the benefit of the doubt and dismissed his actions as a mistake.

But you are not talking about reasonable people in other countries, you are talking about Singaporeans, a fear ridden people who have consistently voted for the PAP mostly out of fear.

In such a society, Gomez with a rather blemished history for honesty or for his commitment to Singapore stands no chance at all.

Even today, it is well publicised fact that Gomez does not live in Singapore.

He lives and works in Australia where it is believed he is a permanent resident, as a Professor at Monash University in Melbourne, for the past several years.

With the imminent elections in Singapore, he has flown into Singapore recently a few times to make speeches and this last time to publicise his membership of the SDP.

I expect he makes these short overnight flights into Singapore in between his teaching assignments at Melbourne Australia.

This fact that even today, he is nothing more than a fly by night character who only comes in and out occasionally into Singapore but yet wants to represent Singaporeans in Parliament, an unsavory fact that Lee Kuan Yew's people will be drumming into the electorate.

Frankly with this kind of a record, just packing up and leaving but keeping a Singapore passport just for namesake, is not a person most would be prepared to trust.

And lastly PAP journalists would have a field day questioning him on his switching political parties.

In 2006 he stood as a Workers Party candidate, but now has gone over to the Singapore Democratic Party.

A man who cannot make up his mind what he wants. I am sure they are going to ask him why he left the Worker's Party?

Did he not know that Low Thia Khiang was nothing but a PAP stooge when he joined them or did he join them anyway despite knowing it? A very difficult question to answer indeed.

And as for Dr. Chee Soon Juan, he is making a terrible mistake if he allows Gomez to contest under his party's ticket.

In this event, Lee Kuan Yew's men would claim, quite justifiably too that SDP is a party that associates with fly by night slimy characters such as Gomez, and in the process, discrediting the SDP.

The Singapore Democratic Party stands for many in Singapore including myself in California as the one real political party willing to to face Lee Kuan Yew's PAP.

Dr. Chee has stood his ground among his Singaporeans and unlike Gomez has not opted to live permanently in Stockholm Sweden or Melbourne Australia just because he lost elections.

And everyone in the SDP has stood their ground in Singapore and never backed off when faced by a bully such as this.

Gomez is not made of that mettle.

He is seen as a man who runs at the first opportunity of trouble, a sort of quitter, who comes back in the middle of the night, periodically for a few nights at a time to contest elections and immediately thereafter disappears at night on the next flight out to his permanent residence and job in Australia.

This is a bad idea for Gomez and a bad idea for Dr. Chee's SDP.

In fact I would suggest to Gomez to do the honorable thing, be loyal and grateful to his new country Australia.

It is Monash University in Australia that has given him a job and it is Australia that has given him his new home and new opportunity. Gomez should thank them for it.

Gomez should do the honorable thing and take up Australian citizenship and continue living in Australia which has accepted him.

He can of course contribute to the betterment of Singapore from Australia but to claim to be wanting to represent Singaporeans in Parliamentary Elections, a people whom he has literally abandoned, is somewhat stretching it.

When I came to the United States, this country country accepted me, admitted me to the Bar and gave me a living.

This is where my 3 children were educated with college degrees, and which made them proud upright individuals, something which Singapore could never have given.

I appreciated that and felt the only right thing to do is to become an American citizen. That was the only honorable thing to do.

That does not mean of course that I could not fight for the betterment of Singapore, a country in which I was born. That I intend to do.

But for me to try to contest Singapore elections, even if that was possible, like what Gomez is trying to do, is simply wrong.

Talking of honor, there could not be a more honorable person than Dr. Chee. He stands his ground. He takes all the punishment thrown at him, but stand he does, without wavering.

The only difference between me in California and Gomez in Melbourne Australia is that I have given up my Singapore passport, Gomez has held on to his.

But in every other respect, Singapore is as distant to him from Australia as it is to me from California.

Gomez, take my advice, don't waste your time or that of the SDP. Furthermore your name is going to be dragged though the dirt for a mile. It is not worth it.

Remember Lee Kuan Yew controls the entire media in Singapore. Before you could bat an eyelid, you would have been the next most evil person beside Satan.

Stay in Australia and enjoy a Thee Star Beer or whatever else they drink in the West side of Melbourne. Do yourself and the SDP a favor by not contesting Singapore's elections now.

If you really want to enter Singapore politics, I suggest you do this.

Give up Australia and return to Singapore permanently.

Stop this flitting in and out of Singapore like a housefly.

For 10 years show your commitment to Singaporeans, living among them and fighting for them.

Then in the year 2021, when you are past 50 years old, contest under whatever party you want.

In that case I say you have a slim chance of succeeding.

I say slim because even then it is not certain.

Gopalan Nair
39737 Paseo Padre Parkway, Suite A1
Fremont, CA 94538, USA
Tel: 510 657 6107
Fax: 510 657 6914
Email: nair.gopalan@yahoo.com
Blog: http://singaporedissident.blogspot.com/

Your letters are welcome. We reserve the right to publish your letters. Please Email your letters to nair.gopalan@yahoo.com And if you like what I write, please tell your friends. You will be helping democracy by distributing this widely. This blog not only gives information, it dispels government propaganda put out by this dictatorial regime.

Saturday, November 13, 2010

Singaporeans, a people without conviction

Ladies and Gentlemen,

A Singaporean today is vastly different from peoples around the world. The virtues that one expects of human beings is in fact an impediment to success in that one party island city state. What would be extolled as virtues in other societies are in fact in many cases crimes according to their way of thinking.

The late JB Jeyaretnam of Singapore was a great criminal lawyer who dedicated almost his entire life for the advancement of his people's freedom and rights. Yet according to Singapore, he was none other than a common crook, who was guilty of embezzlement and other crimes, disbarred and discredited. His name is carefully removed from every possible document, so that hopefully future generations will not even know who he was. I thought this sort of thing was only done in fictional futuristic countries such as George Orwell's 1984 but I am wrong.

The same goes for Dr. Chee Soon Juan, and many others in the history of Singapore. I too, according to the Singapore psyche is a very bad man, who had "insulted" their judge Belinda Ang Saw Ean in 2008 and "misbehaved" in public and insulted their police officers as well as other crimes. Very soon, Singapore will have me disbarred as being unworthy of practicing law in Singapore.

The people of Singapore on the other hand may have completely different opinions about what anyone of us, "criminals" but as far as Lee Kuan Yew and his administration is concerned, we are all a bunch of crooks best either put away for good or harassed their entire lives.

Then you have the "good people" of Singapore. Top of the list of of course is the 88 year old walking dead man or almost dead man, Lee Kuan Yew himself. According to their thinking, it was Lee Kuan Yew who single handedly made Singapore what it is today, an island of skyscrapers (never mind if they are all empty). It is he who built the roads, the railways everything, a modern Singaporean version of Big Brother.

But the fact that he is the biggest thief in the island is conveniently brushed aside, such as the fact that he pays himself $3.7 million a year, the same amount stolen by all his family members. And the fact that that he will sue anyone if they dared to question him about it and invariably win the law suit because he owns the judges in the island.

Singapore's "good people" also include his son, and his various ministers and his members of parliament who have nothing much to say except read out pre prepared speeches which are drafted by his Prime Ministers office.

The good people include his Minister of Law K Shanmugam a Tamil in a predominantly ethnic Chinese government. He picks a Tamil just as the late Saddam Hussein chooses Tariq Aziz as his Foreign Minister. Tariq Aziz, a Christian is chosen to appease the non Sunni population of Iraq just as Shanmugam is used to appease the non Chinese Singapore population. And of course he is a very good man because he extols all the doctrine of the man at the top, entirely without question. With this amount of loyalty, surely in the Singaporean sense, Shammugam is a gem of a man indeed.

Singapore's best people also include their best lawyer, Davinder Singh. His virtues are his lawyering skills where he successfully sues and bankrupts all Lee Kuan Yew's enemies, not one of his victims has ever escaped his exemplary "lawyering" skills. It is as if the Singapore courts were made for men like him, world renowned defamation lawyer Davinder Singh, never mind the fact that the whole trial is stage managed from the beginning with Lee Kuan Yew knowing he won even before stepping into the courtroom.

We also have Singapore's best citizens, the numerous men and women in Lee Kuan Yew's civil service who dutifully punish Lee Kuan Yew's political enemies and reward his supporters. According to Singapore thinking, these are highly qualified capable people whom Lee Kuan Yew wants to attract to his country and his government.

But at the end of the day, are these Lee Kuan Yew worshippers the best citizens any country needs. I think not. What Singapore needs is more Dr. Chee Soon Juans, more JB Jeyaretnams and more more Gopalan Nairs, people who have the courage to speak their mind for the good of their society. It so happens that every one of us who have been punished and vilified are men and women who want freedom for themselves and the people, who believe that freedom is the best way to go forward for any society and dictatorship and one party rule is universally a bad thing.

But for Lee Kuan Yew, freedom and democracy are bad words, not because it is bad for Singapore as he conveniently claims but because it is bad for him. With freedom, he cannot justify the total control of the press, the total control of the judiciary and the total control of the minds of Singaporeans.

Many faced with a situation where they simply cannot win, simply go along with the tide. Singapore population today comprise on the one part, totally unscrupulous people who would do anything for money, and on the other side, total ignorance which makes them totally compliant.

Lee's exemplary minister Shanmugam enacts a law which totally denies any right to protest whatsoever and extols the virtue of state censorship of newspapers. He of course does it for money, precisely several million dollars a year, which is his salary to please his master. In this shameful group are those in his administration in high places such as the civil service and the judiciary, all paid mind boggling incomes to say silly things. Clearly they are in it not for Singapore but for themselves.

Then you have the other ordinary millions of Singaporeans who have nothing to contribute because they know nothing of their rights. They include the security guard, the Chinese woman clerk who works for the multi national company on the 25th floor of one of the glass buildings along the sea front, and the taxi driver. They go about their daily lives in total disregard of these things that does not matter to them. They for their part don't care whether they have freedom of protest because they are not about to do it anyway!

And then you have the group who know and are unhappy with the whole thing. They are the ones who leave the island in droves permanently settling in democracies such as Australia.

Day by day, with the people understanding the extent of dishonesty it takes to survive in the one party state, the quality of the Singaporean continues to decline, leaving only unscrupulous mercenaries at the higher echelons of society; the ones who care leaving the island in increasing numbers and leaving behind only those at the bottom who have nothing in their heads.

While the ones who really cared are branded as criminals and are either bankrupted or driven into exile.

I can tell you this much. The quality of Singaporeans is fast declining day by day; Singapore itself is weakening into becoming a totally ineffective society because the thinkers, the very ones any society needs the most are branded criminals and hounded out of the island.

Singapore being small as it is, small island and small population needs its discerning thinking citizens the most if it ever wants to succeed. Instead it is either criminalizing them or driving them into exile. Not a good recipe for success.

Gopalan Nair
39737 Paseo Padre Parkway, Suite A1
Fremont, CA 94538, USA
Tel: 510 657 6107
Fax: 510 657 6914
Email: nair.gopalan@yahoo.com
Blog: http://singaporedissident.blogspot.com/

Your letters are welcome. We reserve the right to publish your letters. Please Email your letters to nair.gopalan@yahoo.com And if you like what I write, please tell your friends. You will be helping democracy by distributing this widely. This blog not only gives information, it dispels government propaganda put out by this dictatorial regime.

Tuesday, November 9, 2010

Singapore's thugs bully Alan Shadrake

PS.Nov 10, 2010, I have Emailed this blog post to the Singapore Attorney General Sundaresh Menon, to his Secretary shirleyne_chan@agc.gov.sg and to Hema Subramanian hema_subramanian@agc.gov.sg. If you feel strongly about this, give them a piece of you mind as well.

Ladies and Gentlemen,

What Alan Shadrake, the British author of Once a Jolly Hangman, convicted of contempt of court of Singapore's judiciary and now waiting to be sentenced is going through is nothing short of a thorough state sanctioned bullying more common in North Korea and Burma, not in a so called first world island city state.

All Shadrake did, let us not forget was simply to write a book which criticized the Singapore judiciary as being no more than an extension of the Singapore dictatorship to silence dissent, hang drug traffickers who do not have friends in high places and tailor their court judgments to suit their diplomatic and economic interests, not on their evidence.

What's wrong in writing that, you tell me. If Singapore didn't like what he said, then don't read his book. But if you are still not satisfied, then go ahead and write another book refuting what Shadrake wrote.

But no, that is not enough for this tin pot small time thug, Lee Kuan Yew and his bully boys in the police force and his Attorney Generals chambers. In the early hours of July 19, 2010, policemen break into his hotel room while he is sleeping like Hitler's Gestapo, ransack his room and in their well rehearsed and perfected procedure, look for his passport before anything else which they confiscate, handcuff him and take him away in their waiting police cars to Central Police Station where he is repeatedly interrogated day and night without the benefit of counsel.

2 days later they release him minus passport and tell him he has to wait another 4 long months in Singapore before his trial.

These tactics are nothing short of what gangsters do, they hold you against your will and blackmail you into submission if they can. Only thing in this case, Shadrake refused to be blackmailed.

Then they bring on a Tamil woman prosecutor in a predominantly Chinese country to prosecute him. I mention the word Tamil woman, her name is Hema Subramaniam, deliberately.

Singapore is predominantly ethnic Chinese and there are many ethnic Chinese lawyers in the Attorney Generals Chambers quite capable of prosecuting Shadrake.

I can only imagine why they have used this Tamil woman, probably because no other Chinese prosecutor wants the dirty job.

Chinese lawyers, with a much greater client base in a predominately Chinese society, are more capable of leading independent careers and are more and more refusing to stoop so low as to do the dirty work of a dictatorship to silence dissent.

I guess, not finding any other ethnic Chinese lawyer for the unwholesome job, they gave it this Tamil woman, who was ever ready and willing to bend any way demanded of her.

I would not be surprised that she is more than happy to do any amount of dirty work her masters want without which she would probably be without a job entirely in a predominantly Chinese city state.

I do not know how low she would be prepared to go, or what else she would be prepared to do for her master, but I shall leave this entirely to your imagination.

If someone has a picture of this woman, I would be grateful to see how this desperado woman looks.

What Shadrake is going through here is not a trial, it is a lynching. And the punishment he is suffering is not just from the court's decision, it is from every other direction.

First, he is being punished financially, being forced to remain in Singapore without any financial support. Remember he does not live in Singapore and went there merely as a visitor more than 4 months ago. He has no means of livelihood in Singapore at all and expecting him to pay his upkeep in a foreign country for nearly half a year is the worst punishment one can imagine.

Second the state controlled newspapers and media are having a field day on a daily basis defaming him and parading his picture in their newspapers. The intent in this action cannot be more clearer, it is to defame and discredit him while he is imprisoned within the island.

I hope Shadrake does not capitulate. I appreciate his difficult circumstances but there cannot be any greater joy for me than to see Shadrake standing defiant and this puny little dictatorship unable to overcome a brave man.

Lee Kuan Yew, look here; the World is watching. In your small island you use a Tamil woman and a Tamil Attorney General, both of whom pathetic souls who do your bidding because they are incapable of having any scruples in your predominantly Chinese country; to go after a man who wrote a book which you do not like. Either way you are not going to win this one, because the biggest losers would be you and these Tamils that you use for your dirty work.

Gopalan Nair
39737 Paseo Padre Parkway, Suite A1
Fremont, CA 94538, USA
Tel: 510 657 6107
Fax: 510 657 6914
Email: nair.gopalan@yahoo.com
Blog: http://singaporedissident.blogspot.com/

Your letters are welcome. We reserve the right to publish your letters. Please Email your letters to nair.gopalan@yahoo.com And if you like what I write, please tell your friends. You will be helping democracy by distributing this widely. This blog not only gives information, it dispels government propaganda put out by this dictatorial regime.

Friday, November 5, 2010

Singapore. "US style not for us". Says who?

Ladies and Gentlemen,

Singapore's state controlled newspaper the Straits Times in the online edition of Nov 05, 2010, which in this case is on the point, since this story is about press freedom, reports "US style not for Singapore". It quotes a statement made by Lee Kuan Yew's recently promoted Indian sidekick K Shanmugam as the Minister for Law and Home Affairs in his speech at Columbia University, USA, yesterday.

And who the Hell are you anyway?

The nonsense or the arrogance he was spouting was this. Singapore he says is not entitled, according to him, of having a free press because Singaporeans are not like the Americans who, according to him are a larger country, rich and stable and strong enough to endure a free press, Singaporeans being not as judicious, fair and independent as the Americans.

I have this much to say to this Tamil side kick who can't find any other way to make a living than licking Lee Kuan Yew's Japanese rubber slippers. Simply Bollocks.

Look here you pathetic Tamil nothing, who was probably a son of a Tamil day laborer, who suddenly finds himself important because the Singapore dictator beckons him and gives him a job, let me tell you this. It is not for you to decide whether Singaporeans are entitled to read what they want and write what they want.

It is for them to decide, and if you thought even for a moment that you had that God given right to tell Singaporeans what they can read and not read, you have something else coming.

Look here you Tamil prick. The Singapore Constitution expressly provides in Article 14, the right to free speech and expression. That right is not just for Americans, that applies even to Hottentots in the Kalahari and even sons of Tamil coolies like yourself. Moreover, you might not have realized it because of your mediocre legal education from the mediocre University of Singapore where even peaceful protests are banned, the right to free speech and expression is an inalienable Universal Right enshrined in the United Nations.

And as for your ignorance of basic English language, which I suspect you suffer from, the word "inalienable" means something that cannot be taken away, not by you, not by your master Lee Kuan Yew and not by any other two legged living thing in this world, except God, which I am sure God will not do.

The gist of his stupidity that would make any hot blooded human being boil with anger is this. He says that because Americans are smarter than Singaporeans, they can handle fringe lunatic behaviour and by implication is suggesting that there are lunatics in Singapore (a group in which I assume he does not include himself) who will cause disruption in society, and therefore Singapore will rupture along racial and religious lines.

How does he know all this anyway? When was the last time there were racial riots in the country? And why does he think that Singapore will rupture and disintegrate?

I don't have to tell you why he spouts this drivel from his lips. It is very convenient for him surely. He can carry on licking his master's Japanese slippers for a living, his master and his sons will rule the country through the censorship of the newspapers, which is another way of saying that they are going to continue to dish out the propaganda which they have done for the last 50 years.

For those who may not understand that Singapore is no different from North Korea when it comes to the media, let me tell you. There is a government owned company in the island called Singapore Press Holdings, which by the way is owned by the Lee Kuan Yew family. This monopoly owns all the newspapers, all television stations, all radio stations and every other form of publication both visual and oral. No one is allowed to print and distribute any newspaper without a licence and as you expected, if you criticise the government your licence will be withdrawn. Not just that, the ownership of even a printing press requires a license, if not you go to jail

Just as in Communist China of today and the former Soviet Union, all news is carefully crafted to make the government look good and the critics look bad. Usually there is nothing about critics reported in the Singapore papers anyway, unless it is intended to make them look badly and poorly.

An example was my arrest in Singapore in 2008. For days on end I was reported in the newspapers as having criticized one of Lee Kuan Yew's judges, that I misbehaved in public, that I am more evil than even Adolf Hitler or anything else they wanted to say.

You have by now heard of the unstoppable and mounting brain drain of the educated and skilled from Singapore to Western countries for permanent settlement. Can anyone be surprised by it in these circumstances. What the government is trying to tell you is this, they have a right to selectively report what they want you to hear and conceal what they don't; distort the news so as to make them look good and their critics bad, and live a life where at any point of time you are unaware that any news you hear may or may not be true, take it or leave it.

I certainly would refuse to live a life like that under this Tamil sidekick of Lee Kuan Yew. Oh no, simply no. But the problem for Singaporeans is this. There is no way you can protest this injustice and the brainwashing of your mind. Firstly there is no political opposition since it is a one party state. Second, you are not entitled to even peacefully protest this violation of your right because you will be arrested, as even peaceful protests are illegal.

So an educated man in these circumstances has no choice at all. Either he has to take this lying down which to everyone would be totally unacceptable, or else just pack up and leave the country.

So now you know why so many educated skilled Singaporeans leave the country permanently for a like abroad. Can anyone blame them? I for one would not tolerate this nonsense at all. That is why I live in America.

As I said in my last post, if you look at it another way, truly you should in fact thank this pathetic soul for his silly speeches and actions. You see, it is he himself who is digging his own grave. I bet several more thousands of educated Singaporeans reading his determination to dish out propaganda through his state controlled press would finally say enough is enough and purchase their one way tickets to the first Western country that will take them.

Which means another couple of feet into the grave for Lee Kuan Yew, literally and his government politically.

And mind you, this is the First World Country that Lee Kuan Yew was talking about! Frankly, I don't think so.

I have always tried to use moderation in my language because that is the only gentlemanly thing to do. But in this case I may have used stronger language deliberately because anything less would not have done justice against this sycophantic Tamil licker of Lee Kuan Yew's Japanese slippers.

Gopalan Nair
39737 Paseo Padre Parkway, Suite A1
Fremont, CA 94538, USA
Tel: 510 657 6107
Fax: 510 657 6914
Email: nair.gopalan@yahoo.com
Blog: http://singaporedissident.blogspot.com/

Your letters are welcome. We reserve the right to publish your letters. Please Email your letters to nair.gopalan@yahoo.com And if you like what I write, please tell your friends. You will be helping democracy by distributing this widely. This blog not only gives information, it dispels government propaganda put out by this dictatorial regime.

Thursday, November 4, 2010

Toppling the Singapore dictatorship by digging their own graves.

Ladies and Gentlemen,

The theories of Sun Tzu the great military strategist has been proved correct in many great wars including the great Chinese Revolution, a theory which said, first you have to win hearts and minds of the people, then you surely win the war.

I am sure if he were to be asked today on how to topple this Singapore dictator and his family, he would have said exactly the same; win hearts and minds and then victory is yours.

And that is why today, anyone who knows Singapore knows this dictatorship is crumbling, by the minute and by the day, despite the daily glorious nonsense put out by it's state controlled press.

It would not be wrong to say, the average man in Singapore has no interest in his government just as they have no interest whatsoever in his opinions.

The junta, if you could call it that, comprised of the 88 year old Lee Kuan Yew and his son, the Prime Minister whom the father himself placed in power and a number of scholars and relatives both close and distant of the father, actually run the island.

These men who rule, do anything they want because there is no one to question them.

If you are stupid enough to do that, you would either be sued or arrested and that is the end of that, remember the police and their judiciary will anything the Lee Kuan Yew family desires.

They pay themselves anything they want, which today is $3.7 million dollars a year each and another unknown amount which they siphon out of the various government agencies and wealth funds.

There are many millionaires in the island all of whom have become rich through government connections and running government linked companies.

Not a single one in the island ever got rich without Lee Kuan Yew's patronage.

The ordinary man who has no government connections are there simply to work to enrich Lee Kuan Yew and his relatives and friends at the top.

He does it by being very quiet and concentrating on his work.

Any attempt to think and question government policies is inimical to his health and liberty.

There are numerous laws in place that effectively silences all forms of criticisms.

His police force, which consists today of mostly uneducated Malays, the lowest and most neglected of all the 3 races of Chinese Indian and Malay, are used to terrorize the citizens, with powers to stop and search anyone without cause, to harass and hurt the poor and the disadvantaged and to arrest anyone criticizing the government at their masters orders.

As the judiciary is effectively only a mouthpiece of the Lee Kuan Yew government, the people have no redress to the law courts and don't expect to go to court for anything except when they have been arrested by Lee Kuan Yew's police or to pay fines and penalties for failing to pay their taxes on time.

Since Singapore is a one party state, laws can change anytime without any notice.

There is no public participation for enactment of laws, and even if there is, it is no more than a theatrical exercise with government agents pretending to be members of the public all claiming unanimously that the proposed laws are the best.

Just like in any other dictatorship of which Singapore is no different, the people, unless they are the government themselves, have no say whatsoever on how their lives would be as the government decides how they would live any minute of the day.

It is simply a case of take it or leave it, and in fact many do.

I am not the only Gopalan Nair in or was in Singapore who is unhappy.

There are many like me who are fed up with this life under a dictator and they have all left the island like I have; today they live in countries like Australia and other places in the free world.

They, just like I, have said, it is necessary to not only have material wealth, it is even more important to be free.

Material wealth without a spirit of freedom is not worth all the gold in the world.

And that is why, I, just like all the rest of thinking Singaporeans have told Lee Kuan Yew and his son that he can take all his money and wealth and shove it, you know up where.

And the main forces working against this Lee Kuan Yew dictatorship are not just Dr. Chee soon Juan, the Singapore opposition politician and the many other activists, it is Lee Kuan Yew and his family and friends themselves; it is they who are digging their own graves.

In the 1980s when they went against JB Jeyaretnam and broke every law to destroy and eventually kill him, you could conservatively say that several thousands of educated thinking skilled Singaporeans left the island permanently in disgust, not wanting to live in an island without the rule of law.

Similarly in the 1980s when Lee Kuan Yew brought trumped up professional ethics charges against me just for questioning the then Attorney General of Singapore, about half the lawyer population stopped practicing law there and emigrated to Australia, which is why there are no more than 3,000 lawyers today in that island of 5 million.

Then again in the 1980s they imprisoned 22 democracy activists and some for up to 3 years falsely claiming they were Marxists.

This caused another few more thousands of the best and brightest to emigrate to the West.

Last year, Lee Kuan Yew's handpicked Tamil Minister for Law, K Shanmugam, in a predominantly ethnic Chinese government, who treat him no better than a dog, passed a law, requiring even one peaceful protester to obtain a government permit or else he would be jailed.

This law, which is not only totalitarian but also unconstitutional would have driven another couple more thousand English educated Singaporeans abroad for good.

While it is tolerable for a large country such as the former Soviet Union to lose some thousands of it's population to the West; it is quiet another for a small island which at that time had no more than 3 million to lose it's people at this rate. Simply put, it is suicide.

And then you have either the ignorance or the arrogance of Lee Kuan Yew the dictator which contributes to this unstoppable brain drain.

I get the impression that he thinks, that regardless of how the people are treated, they will continue supporting you as long as you pay them enough.

I don't think this is the normal human strait and this is where the dictator has got it all wrong.

I recall his going to Melbourne and Sydney a few years ago trying to persuade Singaporeans to return home, but was surprised no one wanted to.

He should have been told that Singaporeans who have gone to live in Australia have done so because they want to be free, not because they want a few dollars more.

If Singapore has a problem today, it is a dire shortage of skilled manpower.

You hear stories every day of passengers at the Singapore airport not being able to converse with restaurant waitresses because they don't speak a word of English, only Mandarin.

Today you hear of Singaporeans going to government offices, where you would expect English to be spoken, where counter staff are only able to manage broken English and sometimes none at all.

It is all right if you are ethnic Chinese but what about an Indian or Malay Singaporean who knows no Chinese.

I have heard of one hilarious case of a Singaporean Chinese taxi driver taking a passenger to Tan Tock Seng Hospital when he actually wanted to go to Woodlands.

It seems the passenger, an Indian Sikh had just got off at Changi Airport, took a taxi, and began a conversation with the taxi driver who hardly spoke any English.

At one point the passenger thought the driver wanted to know his name to which he replied Santok Singh.

After that the Singaporean Chinese taxi driver did not understand a word of what the passenger said.

The driver on hearing Santok Singh mistakenly thought he heard Tan Tock Seng, and thinking that was where the passenger wanted to go, and promptly took him to Tan Tock Seng Hospital!

By the way for those who do not know Singapore there is a well known hospital there called Tan Tock Seng Hospital.

Of course, Santok Singh had no idea where he was and was naturally surprised that the driver had taken him to a hospital, especially when he was not even sick!

As to whether or not Santok Singh was upset for being taken to the hospital I cannot really say but I can say this much; he must have left Singapore thinking the people do not know English!

You have heard Teo Hean Seng, the Deputy Prime Minister's sad speech in Parliament where he said in the Singapore Police Force, the resignation rate is as high as 40%, requiring ever increasing numbers of totally illiterate policemen who know nothing else but to obey orders, most Malays and illiterate Chinese; that the resignation rate in the Civil Service is high high as 20 percent and across the board there are insufficient skilled Singaporeans to do anything for that matter.

The reason for this dearth in human capital is not because there are insufficient qualified Singaporeans, it is because anyone with any skills worth mentioning has already left or is the process of leaving permanently either to Australia, Canada or New Zealand.

Singapore has in effect become a training city for the Western world, Singapore trains them, and then they leave.

Nurses, aircraft technicians, plumbers, pilots, teachers, doctors, lawyers, you name it, they are all gone.

And in order to run the place this oligarchy with Lee Kuan Yew at the top have no choice but to scrape the barrel.

First they brought in the Malaysian Chinese.

When that supply ran out they tried to import Hong Kong and Taiwan immigrants, who mind you, do not have any English.

Today their only source of migrants are those from Peoples Republic of China with the same fundamental problem, no English.

They do bring in some impoverished Indians but they are only there temporarily, getting some skills to go on to Australia.

And that is why Sun Tzu was right, his theory is spot on even for Singapore.

Lee Kuan Yew has successfully managed to alienate every single right thinking Singaporean by his permanently dictatorial form of government.

He has managed to single handedly kick out hundreds of thousands of Singaporeans who would have gladly stayed and worked for Singapore.

He has successfully managed to send chills down the spines of every citizen for criticizing him or his government by jailing them, torturing them or impoverishing them, which is why Singapore has the lowest birth rate in the world and people are not getting married.

Lee Kuan Yew does not understand for some reason that to succeed in government you need the support of the people.

Today he has completely lost it.

And that is why we have to thank him for alienating the people.

We have to thank former Lee Kuan Yew's High Court judge GP Selvam for suspending me from practicing law for 2 years just for criticizing the then Attorney General Tan Boon Teik in 1988, to Judge Belinda Ang Saw Ean for bankrupting Dr. Chee Soon Juan for criticizing Lee Kuan Yew, to TS Sinnathuray, former Lee Kuan Yew judge for unjustly punishing the late JB Jeyaretnam and the list goes on.

It is these people themselves who are digging the grave of the Lee Kuan Yew government, because their unjust actions cause a reaction which hurts them more than anything I or anyone else can do.

Next week, the recently appointed Lee Kuan Yew stooge of a judge Loh Sze On, Quentin, is going to punish the well known British author for writing a book in which he criticized the Singapore judiciary.

By doing that Loh Sze On, Quentin would be doing those who are seeking democracy in Singapore great good by showing once again the lack of freedoms and fundamental human rights in that island.

We should thank him in advance.

Either the Lee Kuan Yew administration does not realize it or they don't want to, I don't know which but this is the truth as Sun Tzu would himself have said.

You don't win support and the right to rule by terrorizing the population, you win it by being nice to them and making them a party to your government.

By treating them like slaves, and instilling fear in them, you not only drive them away, but you cause them to withdraw their co-operation, which every government needs.

As no one with any self respect would want to co-operate with a government such as this.

You can of course get the bootlickers like K Shanmugam, the Tamil Lee Kuan Yew Minister for Law but the mistake that Lee Kuan Yew makes is to think everyone can be bought like him.

Let me say this. Nobody with any self respect wants to live in a country where his opinions do not matter one bit. And that is what life in Singapore is.

Today Singapore is as quiet as a cemetery.

There is not a single worker's strike, not a single protest, not a single whimper, nothing.

It is not because they live in Aldous Huxley's Brave New World where they are drugged into a perpetual state of happiness.

No, it is because they are afraid and they remain quiet, like the cemetery.

I do not want to live in a cemetery.

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.