Singapore's denial of democracy stunts progress

Ladies and Gentlemen,

A look at the advanced countries of the world, USA, Canada, Australia, or Finland has one common quality. They are all democracies. Their people are respected, they have free speech and they have the rule of law. For prosperity, it does not matter how much gold you have under the ground; what matters is whether the people are treated with respect and they are given full opportunity to participate in government. Nigeria has more oil than you can imagine. Yet Nigerians are poor because of corruption, mismanagement and disrespect for their citizens.

Singapore suffers because it is not a democracy. Despite government claims, the Lee family which has been in power since 1959 rig the elections. Capable opposition candidates are sued for defamation and removed from politics.

The only way to succeed is to support the Lee government, which any honest person would find hard to do. How do you support a government whose ministers pay themselves $3.7 million a year while the rest of the population have to make do with $2,000 a month or less? How do you support a government that has controlled all news media in the country. How do you respect a government where the judges are all Kangaroo judges who do just what the government wants? How do you support a government which openly discriminates their own Malay and Indian citizens and favors only the Chinese. And if you protest against any of this, they put you in jail.

What happens then is that a large section of the population is simply put off by this nonsense. Malays and Indians, although equal citizens feel the resentment for Chinese preference. Even educated Chinese with a conscience are put off by this sort of blatant injustice.

The end result, the island fails to advance.

Just as in the Soviet Union, the unscrupulous men like Minister K Shanmugam who has the broad grin on his face, standing beside his ethnic Chinese minister colleagues, while they deny jobs to his fellow Indians before his very eyes, and Teo Chee Hean who has only praise for all that his master does, will certainly result in the collapse of such an administration. A government such as this does not support men and women who will say what is good for society. It only supports yes-men just as the ones who surrounded Stalin and the Communist dictators resulting on the certain collapse of their country.

A small tiny island like Singapore, especially so, would need every single person to support and contribute to their country. But if contribution means only parrot like support of government policies and punishment for anyone who prefers to use his head, many capable Singaporeans would want no part of it. As a result the government is starved of real talent which prefers to take their money and their skills to clear out for the West.

Especially for young children, Singapore is a very bad society. Children have to grow up not only being able to do maths and science but more importantly, to be able to think independently without fear. This is not possible in Singapore. The teachers themselves are afraid of their government making sure their children don't get out of line. After their education, they end up capable of doing maths and science but are incapable of realizing that it is better to die a free man than to live like a coolie in Lee Kuan Yew's Singapore.

It is independent thinking that produces the great nations of the world. A brainwashed citizenry only produced the Soviet Unions and North Koreas. Today far too many Russians are trying to leave their country for the West, while far too many Singaporeans are leaving for settlement in the West. No smart person from anywhere, if he had something in his head would choose Singapore.

The real difference between the successful countries like those in Western Europe and the weaker ones like Singapore is this. the former realize that the more freedom and respect they give to their citizens, the better the countries perform, while corrupt nations such as Singapore which steal millions of their taxpayers money to enrich themselves and have courts which has no respect whatsoever for the law, decline.

All Singapore's claim to be one of the richest countries is plain nonsense. What they have is a bunch of embezzlers from China who have stolen millions from state owned companies and parked their money in the island, while the rest of Singaporeans earn no more than $2,000.00 per month. Of course the per capita GDP goes up because of these handful of millionaires but Singaporeans can be hardly called rich by what they get. This sort of deception backfires and hurts the island because the average citizen feels deep resentment at the poor life they lead while these foreign thieves are driving around in Ferraris. With deep bitterness and resentment across the island, it is hard to imagine how a small island such as this, with no more than perhaps 2.5 millions locals can head very far.

The people resent the hypocrisy of the ministers. While they ask Singaporeans to stay behind and not leave, they themselves almost to the last man, have all sent their children abroad for education, after which not a single one returns. I suppose they too know that Singapore education system is not conducive to educating anyone in the true sense.

Gopalan Nair
Attorney at Law
A Singaporean in Exile
Fremont, CA, USA
Tel: 510 491 4375
Email: nair.gopalan@yahoo.com