Singapore successfully drives away it's best citizens

Ladies and Gentlemen,

Other than Pol Pot's Cambodia which successfully murdered anyone who was capable of independent thinking, I cannot think of any other country large or small which deliberately drives away it's very best. In fact their policies are so puzzling it is impossible to understand.

On the one hand Singapore provides universal education to it's citizens enabling them to be literate. With literacy, it is possible to read about new ideas, new philosophies.

But when they do form their own individual ideas and passions that is when the Lee ruling family comes down hard. After having given you the education, it appears they don't want you to have any opinions or ideas other than what they want you to think.

And if you do, they sue you for defamation, deny you jobs, victimize you and harass you until you either give in to them or you leave the country. End result is Singapore bereft with individual thinkers, being left with a unique specimen of a human being, someone who has an education but deliberately shuts his mind from any thinking which does not conform to that of the government.

They do this in order to live a peaceful and comfortable life and away from the punishments, reprisals and vindictiveness of an intolerant regime.

Enlightened governments would actually encourage diversity of opinion. People with a passion are encouraged. Strong opinions are respected. And truly, any human being should develop strong opinions about things that matter for him, for his society and for his country. A country benefits thereby.

A man should campaign against gambling if that is how he feels. He should fight for the eradication of poverty in his island if that is what irks him. A man should struggle against homosexuality if his passion lies there. Just as one Jew fights hard to retain the West Bank while the other struggles to give it back.

But in Singapore it appears people either don't have any strong opinions about anything or if they do, they are the same as that of the government.

Have you ever seen anyone protesting on the streets against the gambling houses in Singapore? No one. But does that mean no Singaporean has any strong views against it? I don't know. But surely it is surprising that in an island of 5 million people, not one, not a single one has any strong ideas about anything!

The only ones held up as leaders are the likes of the small girl (at least that is what she looks like) Tin Pei Ling. She is a 27 year old Singapore Chinese woman who had worked hard for the Lee ruling family's political party in return for which she was elected Member of Parliament, from which place; she has begun to make speeches prepared for her which she reads out. No one has any idea what she stands for and what her political beliefs are except that they are identical with that of Lee Kuan Yew and his party at any particular point of time.

I, Gopalan Nair on the other hand had very different strong views. In my opinion Lee Kuan Yew is nothing short of a gangster who denies his people their Constitutional rights and who abuses the law to destroy political opposition. Although everyone with eyes can see that what I say is the truth, in the Singapore of Lee Kuan Yew, I am a criminal who was recently sent to prison there for 3 months and even more recently disbarred in the island because according to them I was an unethical lawyer.

So Singapore’s heroes are people such as Tin Pei Ling. And Singapore's criminals are men such as Gopalan Nair.

But Singapore faces a problem doing this. If people are educated, especially today with the Internet, they can see how silly this is. They can see that Tin Pei Ling is nothing short of an opportunist who would say anything to please anyone, provided she profits from it. She has no ideas of her own. Whereas Gopalan Nair does have some ideas and it may be of some use to his country of birth Singapore.

But because Lee Kuan Yew is so insecure, he fears men like Gopalan Nair who are potential threats to his power. So he is silenced and if possible destroyed. Whereas Tin Pei Ling is useful to him because she is only interested in profit and will trumpet Lee Kuan Yew as and when it pleases.

So Gopalan Nairs, Chee Soon Juans, JB Jeyaretnams and countless others capable of independent thinking and strong views, are either silenced or driven into exile. In the past driving someone into exile was good enough because you never heard from him again. But today the Internet has changed the scene entirely because Gopalan Nair can still matter even from California.

Lee Kuan Yew should either criminalize the Internet, prevent migration like Cuba and deny an education to it's people to remain in control. With the situation as it is, he is fast losing it simply because it is impossible to convince any honest human being that Gopalan Nair, Chee Soon Juan or JB Jeyaretnam are simply criminals.

Gopalan Nair
Attorney at Law
Disbarred from practicing law in Lee's Singapore, imprisoned and refused entry to the island for criticizing Singapore's judiciary in this blog (see blogpost May 29, 2008 Singapore. Judge Belinda Ang's Kangaroo Court)
Actively practicing law in California and in good standing at the California Bar.
Member in good standing as a lawyer in England and Wales (Barrister).
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Fremont, CA 94538, USA
Tel: 510 657 6107
Fax: 510 657 6914
Email: nair.gopalan@yahoo.com
Blog: http://singaporedissident.blogspot.com/

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