Wednesday, July 3, 2013

Singaporeans cannot remove the PAP goverment

Ladies and Gentlemen,

A fact that Singaporeans should know by now. You cannot remove the Lee Kuan Yew PAP government through Parliamentary elections. You would be like the dog chasing its own tail. You can go to as many elections in as many 5 years you like, the Lee PAP government simply cannot be ousted. It does not matter whom you vote. Sadly change can only happen if you have a revolution or otherwise naturally when he dies through infighting and island wide disorder. But as far as your hopes go for change through parliamentary elections, don't hold your breath. It will not happen in 2016, or every five years after that. Why, because Lee Kuan Yew does not rule through the Parliament, he rules through the law or more plainly said, through his Kangaroo Courts.

This is how it is. First the plan. Lee's plan right from 1959 was that he  alone was good enough to run the island. Only he had the right ideas, no one else and by extension, his children, his relatives both distant and near are all in the equation. According to plan, he governed the island for as long as he could. When it became embarrassing for him before the world (he does not care what locals think) for staying too long, he steps down and appoints his son, who is now the Prime Minister. I suppose the plan is, if all goes well that is, for his son when he has had enough to give his place to his son, and so on ad infinitum.

To carry out the plan, he conjures up a mechanism. He decides that relying on a parliamentary democracy is too risky. What if they vote him out? That will never do. So he needs a system which will keep him in power despite the Constitution and Parliament. First he nationalizes all newspapers and outlaws the free press. This enables him to use it as his own publicity platform. Whenever he wants to warn Singaporeans about something, vilify his political opponents or threaten dissenters he has his state controlled press. On the other hand he can deny the opposition any coverage in the media whatsoever. Of course there is the Internet but that too has been threatened.

The only ones who can say it as it is, are blogs like this one from abroad. He can try to block it from being seen in Singapore but that is a measure that he has been unable or unwilling to do.

Second he needs a toothless Parliament, a rubber stamp, who without exception support him or are in fear of him. This he does through rigging the elections and purging it of real opposition. Any real political opposition is promptly sued for defamation or worse still jailed indefinitely. This sends a chill down the spine of mortal men who simply do not stand against him. The only ones who do well or better said, allowed to do well, are the likes of Workers Party leader Loh Thia Khiang who appears to be winning more and more seats. But of course Loh does nothing for the cause of his supporters who are made to believe that he is the genuine product.

In any case as it stands, Lee has the overwhelming majority in Parliament. He simply can pass any law anytime, never mind any Parliament. But even if, arguendo, the opposition were to gain even more seats, it still does not change anything. Lee does not rule Singapore because of any Parliament, he rules Singapore through the courts.

The island of Singapore has the distinct and disgraceful reputation of being run through the courts, not Parliament. Lee's reasoning goes like this. If he could get his judges to do anything he wants, he can use them as justification for any act however illegal by arguing that it was the court's judgment. And to do this, he relies on these disgraceful men and women judges who are no better than common prostitutes. A prostitute sells her body for money. Lee Kuan Yew's judges sell their souls and their judicial office for money, large amounts of money, which they get for carrying out Lee's orders. If he doesn't like a particular political opponent, such as the late JB Jeyaretnam, he sues him in his courts and gets these disgraceful men and women who call themselves judges to simply destroy him.

And to carry out these judges' orders he has his equally despicable police attack dogs to arrest anyone he does not like. And here too you find the scum of mankind, thoroughly shameless characters who will do whatever Lee wants of them.

With his judges and police force who are at his beck and call and the state controlled press to publish whatever he wants, what need does Lee have of his Parliament or a Constitution.

But even considering the possibility of even greater numbers of opposition politicians being elected, all he need to do is to produce trumped up charges on the necessary number of opponents to keep the number of his men in Parliament with the overwhelming majority that he needs.

Lee has worked out a system where heads he wins and tails you lose. His plan is to be there for himself and his family in perpetuity. He wants to run the place, come up with new ideas, new ways of doing things and all you the Singaporean has to do is to shut up and enjoy the ride while it is still good. And while he does all this, he will pay himself whatever he wants, which presently happens to be $3.7 million a year officially and unofficially even more and as for you, just shut up and be quiet. Afterall Lee knows best, and if you ever thought otherwise, watch out for his Kangaroo judges.

With the courts, the police and the newspapers and every other organ of power in the island firmly under his grip, what need does he have of such things as the Constitution or Parliament. With power like this, he can change anything he does not like and govern over you and your descendants for ever.

So don't be too excited about parliamentary elections. As Lee's government themselves once said, it is an occasion for Singaporeans to let off steam every 5 years. The opposition rallies, speeches, the shouting, the yelling and the cheering is just entertainment. Lee Kuan Yew is not worried about any of that. He has got it all worked out.

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

8 comments:

Anonymous said...

How I wish there is a person like V from "V for Vendetta" who could stop the Lee's regime.

V for Vendetta Speech: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=chqi8m4CEEY

Anonymous said...

You left out a significant step - the removal of trial-by-jury, paving the way of the control of the judiciary by his appointed judges.

Anonymous said...

After 50+ years of his rule, LKY has destroyed Singapore for Singaporeans.

Now, we must all return the favour - expose him for the tyrant that he his.

We must drag his name through the mud and expose all his sins and nepotism.

The 2016 elections will be meaningless as there are not enough good opposition candidates to take on LEE's Party, the PAP.

Gopalan Nair said...

To Anonymous who said

"The 2016 elections will be meaningless as there are not enough good opposition candidates to take on LEE's Party, the PAP"

You haven't understood what I have written. It does not matter how good the opposition candidates are. If they are good, they will be removed even before the elections through defamation action in his Kangaroo courts. And in the unlikely event they contest and win, he will have them removed through his Kangaroo Courts. I trust you understand my argument.

Irene Puah said...

Short of an uprising, we simply need to wait for the biological solution: LKY's death. Thereafter, his clan and network of cronies will collapse

Gopalan Nair said...

To Irene Puah,

I agree. This whole philosophy created by Lee Kuan Yew to hold on to power doesn't stand up to scrutiny. The control he wields is conveniently justified by national interest when in fact it is just an excuse to keep him in power. When he dies, his son would have a hard time justifying the repression. It simply cannot stand.

The bad news is that the country will be torn by uncertainty which would mean even more leaving and a serious possibility of an economic collapse. But then it may will result in a new Phoenix rising up from the sand and a better and brighter future.

Kevin J. said...

This decline might not be a bad thing after all. It(the system in Singapore) has bred a new generation of young people who feel entitled but who often do not know how to bring about the change they want. Some have never been through enough of hardships too after having been spoilt by parents who simply obeyed orders without questioning them. If my guess or two cents' worth comes true, the death of the old man will create a much-needed vacuum in power, because his son will no longer have the usual advisor to fall back upon anymore. His beloved PAP party will either fall apart or splinter into a few groups, leaving the door open for newer politicians. For the Singaporeans and former Singaporeans who have left the country and either taken up permanent residency or even renounced the red passport in favor of citizenship elsewhere, even the death of the old man will be a form of schadenfreude, a form of poetic justice to rejoice in.

Unknown said...

I live in Singapore and it is not difficult as a foreigner to understand why a 'meritocratic dictatorship of the proletariat' could remain in a stranglehold of power for so long in Sungapore. Most other countries in the world (or shall we say, cities, for Singapore at 640 puny square miles is hardly a country) cannot hope to have the quality of life and health care and 'government assistance' in the form of returnable CPF monies, that is available to the majority of Singaporeans. It is for this and likely ONLY this reason that Singaporeans continue to elect PM. lee. Freedom doesn't mean very much when you cannot find any work or have no money to live on. But then that may be Singapore's undoing: when it is discovered that the "huge surplus" of bankrolled CPF monies is NOT REAL and HAS NOT BEEN TRUE SINCE 1994.