Saturday, February 16, 2013

Singapore. So the people have protested against government plans to greatly increase the island's already overcrowded population. What next are they going to do? Probably nothing.

Ladies and Gentlemen,

Yesterday, 4,000 or so people in Singapore island attended a rare government approved protest at a tiny government approved location set aside for this, Hong Lim Park, to protest against the government’s proposal to increase the already unbearably overcrowded tiny island’s population, whose dimensions are a mere 26 miles on the east west radial and 16 on the north south radial, from the present 5.3 million to a whopping 6.9 million by 2030.

At present, in order to accommodate 5.3 million people in a tiny island such as this, they have to live one on top of the other in high rise apartments; otherwise there is no space to fit all of them.

Had they been in the jungle, they would be like monkeys, living one on top of the other in trees.

What this means when the Lee Kuan Yew government carries out their threat, which they always do in the island dictatorship where Lee Kuan Yew’s orders are the law, where the people have no voice but to obey; is for people to be stacked up even higher in the high rise apartments or for the monkeys to be stacked even higher on the branches.

Good. So a few of you, a mere 4000 out of 5 million docile submissive Lee Kuan Yew's obedience trained people,  have now finally picked up the courage to walk out there in the open, holding your fear of Lee Kuan Yew and what he can do to you momentarily under control and finally done what you should do. But the question is, will you do anything else after this one day bravado? That is the big question. Knowing that you are Singaporeans, after all the world's most timid compliant and submissive people, I think probably not.

Please see http://www.straitstimes.com/breaking-news/singapore/story/large-turnout-speakers-corner-protest-against-population-white-paper-2

It is quite clear that in a case such as this, in any other country in the world populated by men and not chicken like Lee Kuan Yew's Singaporeans, where almost 99% of the population is against such a move to increase the population, there won’t be just 4,000 but 2,000,000 (two million) people not just in Hong Lim Square but throughout the island, facing riot police and tear gas canisters standing their ground arm to arm and refusing to move until the government has given a guarantee that they will not do what they have threatened.

And what is more, they won't go home just after one day's quiet protest, they would come back day after day, week after week, no matter how long it takes until this government is finally brought to their knees on this issue.

But then Singapore does not have people of courage like that. It is peopled with a bunch of chickens who would have to look over their shoulder several times before they uttered the slightest criticism of the Lee Kuan Yew government, lest the Internal Security Department (Lee Kuan Yew's secret police) police knock on their door at the middle of the night and drive them off to Whitley Road Detention Center (Secret Police Headquarters) for a beating.

Singaporeans are unfortunately a dull people, which a recent international survey found to the most emotionless, besides being the most miserable in the world. If they don't like Lee Kuan Yew's dictatorship, instead of standing up and publicly denouncing it, they would prefer merely to suffer in silence. Many will quietly leave the island for settlement aboard, not have any children or simply die of old age (Singapore has the highest rates of brain drain, the lowest birth rates and the biggest ageing population). But standing up to be counted is not something they would normally be prepared to do. Perhaps Confucius (most of them are ethnic Chinese) considers such timidity a virtue.

Perhaps there is an old Chinese saying “Good man always keep mouth shut”! I am not sure. I am not a Confucius expert. I am not even Chinese. I am Indian by race.

I suppose the young men and women of Egypt in Tahrir Square are made of different mettle. I can assure you, they are not Singaporeans.

I am afraid to say, Lee Kuan Yew is going to have his day after all. Singaporeans being what they are, he will carry out his threat. He has nothing to fear from a bunch of docile timid subservient chickens, I mean Singaporeans. Singapore will in fact have 6.9 million people after all, and they will be hanging like monkeys one top of the other, but only higher up this time.

Gopalan Nair
Attorney at Law
A Singaporean in Exile
Fremont, California, USA
Tel: 510 491 4375

8 comments:

Anonymous said...

yes, i agree with u. Singaporeans are timid. And i guess u are timid yourself, running away to america, not willing to fight for us.

Steven Hone said...

I have tried to make men out of Singaporeans. I have given them a few slaps, left, right and left again and repeated it againand again but to no avail. They still remained as docile as they were before. No amount of mental or physical abuse brought out the men in them. I am sorry their genes does not have the masculine factor in them.

Le tien said...

Calling and generalising Sgporeans names like "chickens" isn't going to convince ppl to support your cause.

Oh btw , what has the young man and women of Egypt achieved today? Jobless rates and the quality of life has gotten worse and after Mubarak who have they got ? Mursi? the leader of Muslim Brotherhood who supports terroism against Free ppl of US? Hmmm... Indeed they are a people of "different mettle" as u claim.

Gopalan Nair said...

To li Tien,

I have never believed in using euphemism, or in artificially moderating language to be polite because oftentimes it results in potraying a totally false meaning from what you are trying to say.

Here this is such a case. Singaporeans are indeed a timid and subservient people and the word chicken is really not inappropriate. Just to take one example, in which country in the world could political leaders pay themselves any amount of money they want in blatant and open corruption, $3.7 million a year each corrupt politician in the island, and people just accept it without complaint! Are such people not chickens? Would you prefer then instead to call them lions?

As for your statements on the people of Egypt, their problems arose out of the corrupt dictatorship of Mubarak. Secondly they are no comparison with Singapore since the British did not set it up as a major shipping and trading center like they did for Singapore. They are also not at the cross roads of major shipping and trading centers of Asia as Singapore is endowed. But in the end, the proud people of Egypt had the courage to do what is right, whereas you would rather they live quietly under the dictatorship without complaint.

Gopalan Nair said...

To Anonymous who said,

"yes, i agree with u. Singaporeans are timid. And i guess u are timid yourself, running away to america, not willing to fight for us."

There is nothing timid about emigrating to another country for a multitude of reasons. In my case I did not want to spend an entire life living under the Lee Kuan Yew family dictatorship, preferring to live in a free society like America. Nothing timid about that. What is timid is for people to willingly live under such conditions, like Singaporeans, but not have the courage to stand up and do something about it. That is timidity. And if I was timid, I would not be spending time writing this from the USA and neither would I be doing it publicly. That too is not timidity.

Anonymous said...

Singaporeans have always waited for instructions from an old man on top who is about to die of illness anytime within the next few years. I once remembered challenging my godsister whose attitude of "Will it change things?" about social protests with this: "Are you still waiting to take instructions from an old man who is about to die anytime within the next few years, and will sue you anyway for anything you say and do? If so, then GO AHEAD and do nothing." My challenge to Singaporeans who really care--as someone who left years ago--is this: IF you really still care, then you will CONTINUE to have more of these protests and to lobby for change, and you will do what you can to advance the cause of democracy on that oppressive island instead of whining and whining when you stay on in it!

Anonymous said...

Egyptians at least have more guts than Singaporeans. They suffered under Mubarak and enough was really enough for them to start protesting. Singaporeans are still waiting to know if the old man is still alive or dead, and it is NOT productive at all, because if they really cared, they would have taken to the streets and demanded from the son and his team of associates that they take back all their words and policies which are ill-informed and wrong.

Anonymous said...

Go to America, S'pore sucks big time. People in America have an identity, innovation, spontaneity, soul and more.

What do people in S'pore have? A slum housing project unit (HDB) and riding the MRT and kow towing to a dictator. Most people in S'pore can't afford a single family house (Bungalow) and own a car. Come to America - you can own a single family house (bungalow) and own a car. You have freedom, right to bear arms and more. You do not have a dictator like what you have in S'pore.