Ladies and Gentlemen,
Singapore has an apartheid policy when it comes to public housing.
Almost 99% of Singaporeans live in high rise apartments belonging to the government agency the HDB.
This is because of scarcity of land in the tiny island resulting in the government forcibly acquiring huge swathes of land to house its overcrowded people.
These residents are all leaseholders renting their tiny apartments on a 99 year lease which the government conveniently refers to as ownership, which it is not.
But what is astonishing to any foreigner is the rule that Singaporeans are not allowed to live anywhere they choose in their HDB flats, a form of apartheid in housing.
The government has a rule that each of these government housing estates (which house 99% of the people) should reflect the racial percentages in the island.
Since there are 75% Chinese, about 14% Malays and the balance being Indians, each housing estate should also reflect these percentages, claiming that if people were allowed to live anywhere they want, it will end up as ghettos which is undesirable.
Therefore anyone wanting to lease an apartment from the HDB should first establish if they could secure it in a location of their choice.
Once 75% has been reached in any block, a Chinese would be disallowed from purchase there and similarly once 14% has been reached which would prohibit Malays and similarly for the Indians, about 8%, according to the percentages.
As you can see, the Chinese are not as badly affected as the Malays and Indians since each location has 75% set aside for them while of the other hand the Malays and Indians get the blunt end of the stick for obvious reasons.
This policy of racial segregation in housing compels Malay and Indian families to live apart because quotas have been filled resulting in one brother having to live at one end of the island and the other brother in the other end.
Furthermore even more punishing is the fact that when a Malay sells his flat, he will have to sell it to a Malay and not to a Chinese or Indian.
Since Malays are far fewer in numbers in their already tiny population, it may mean that he cannot sell his apartment for lack of a buyer or even if he finds one, may have to sell it at a greatly discounted price and lose money since there is no one else to buy.
Additionally Malays and Indians because of this policy are effectively also disenfranchised.
As a result of the forced segregation of their people, they are unable to form any majority in any area of Singapore thereby effectively depriving them of a chance to choose a political representative of their choice since in every constituency they are forced to be a tiny minority.
On the other hand Geylang was and is a popular Malay area. If Malays are allowed to reside in Geylang without restriction, they would naturally be able to elect a Malay Member of Parliament and very probably someone not from the ruling party.
Today as a result of these laws that force racial segregation on their people, the Malays are unable to do this and are effectively disenfranchised. They are forced to accept an ethnic Chinese politician whom they do not want.
It is unfortunate that the Malays of Singapore continue to take this punishment lying down. They are simply allowing the Chinese dominated administration to simply walk over them.
The Malays of Singapore should stand up now and reclaim the rights which they have. They should protest openly in the streets demanding that these racial quotas be immediately abrogated as it is a clear violation of the Singapore constitution which demands equality under the law.
There is no need to fear the government labeling those who protest as inciting racial hatred and fearing arrest because this is clearly not the case.
We are not against the Chinese Singaporeans because they are our brothers. But we are against the government because it is they who are deliberately denying us our rights.
Our fight is against the government, not against the Chinese. In fact I believe that any protest and demonstration that you organize against this policy would also receive the support of the Chinese because they too realize the injustice in this case.
I would ask the Malays and Indians to stand up against these unjust racial discrimination policies. Truth is on your side and so will the international community. There is no need to fear this government any longer.
Please do not obey the government and protest at Hong Lim Park conveniently designated by this government for protests. They have this law only because they don't want people to hear of your protest. You should protest where you should in this case, outside the HDB housing agency offices because they are the ones who are carrying out this injustice against you.
Don't be afraid.
Gopalan Nair
Attorney at Law
A Singaporean in Exile
Fremont, California USA
Tel: 510 491 8525
Email:nair.gopalan@yahoo.com
Sunday, September 29, 2013
Saturday, September 28, 2013
Singapore's very funny laws against demonstrations and protests
Ladies and Gentlemen,
For a long time, Singapore did not allow any demonstrations or protests even if peaceful.
The way this was accomplished is by requiring government permits to hold any protest while at the same time denying each and every application that was ever made.
It is therefore impossible to obtain a permit. And if you went ahead and held the protest without it, you will be arrested and it is no good arguing that even if you applied for the permit, they would not have granted it!
A very warped sense of reasoning here, but true. It is like saying you can't go to the movie unless you have a ticket. But then they never sell you the ticket!
As a result of this very convenient game that they play, opposition politician Chee Soon Juan was jailed multiple times for holding peaceful protests. Each time he complained that he did apply for this elusive permit but they never gave it to him!
His argument which was obvious, that it was useless applying for any permit since they were never granted were all peremptorily dismissed by Lee Kuan Yew's Kangaroo judges with eyes conveniently in blinkers. All that they were capable of doing was to parrot the ridiculous excuse ad nausem that since Chee did not have a permit, he was guilty.
I think the Lee Kuan Yew government finally realized that they were looking very silly by demanding permits when they were never granted, and thought of another equally silly plan.
This time they assigned a designated location in the island called Hong Lim Park in Singapore's Chinatown which was to be called Speakers Corner and henceforth limited types of protests or demonstrations would be allowed here without permits.
However the rule requiring permits anywhere else in the island still stood.
But once again the Singapore government were making themselves look very silly by allowing protests at Speakers Corner, a most ridiculous rule that anyone could imagine as you will see. Speakers Corner is in downtown Singapore, a short distance from the main business center, a mere square of grass and shaded with trees, a location which many never take much notice, except for some office workers who pass by at lunch time.
Just imagine a case where the workers of Sembawang Shipyard, a location in the north of Singapore island were contemplating protesting against their employer for unfair work practices. Of course the only sensible location at which they should protest is outside their work place, at Sembawang shipyard so that their employers can hear it. But according to Singapore's upside down reasoning, these workers who have a grievance against Sembawang Shipyard are not allowed to hold it there. The only place where they could do it legally is at Hong Lim Park about 15 or 20 miles away in the south of Singapore.
Can anyone tell what in Heaven's is the point of protesting against Sembawang Shipyard at Hong Lim Park 15 mikes away? And even if you did, would any onlooker have the remotest idea as to what you were doing at Hong Lim Park holding banners and placards with the name Sembawang Shipyard?
You don't have to be very smart to realize how stupid this rule is. But very strangely, Singaporeans who have been so thoroughly and successfully put through Lee Kuan Yew's world famous behavior training that their minds are entirely happy with such a rule and there appears to be no complaint whatsoever!
The other very clever trick they have conjured up is the idea of designating areas as "Gazetted Areas". According to their laws, whenever parliament designates locations as "Gazetted Areas" no one should demonstrate or protest there and any violator is promptly arrested.
Very conveniently, the very places where a citizen would want to protest are all conveniently "Gazetted". The vicinity of Lee Kuan Yew's palace at Clemenceau Avenue is gazetted. The outside of Parliament House is gazetted. The ground outside all embassies and consulates are gazetted. The outsides of all police stations are gazetted. In fact all areas where a citizen would most want to protest are all gazetted!
Consider Lee Kuan Yew's palace. If you were a citizen unhappy with the fact that Lee Kuan Yew and his son pay themselves 5 times the salary of the president of the United States and wanted to protest about this, you would probably want to stand outside his palace with a banner and shout "Down Down Thieves and Corrupt Dictators". It of course would make no sense for you to go to Hong Lim Park, miles away from where Lee Kuan Yew lives and shout "Down With The Dictator"! But that is exactly what the Singapore police want you to do!
Similarly if you wanted to protest against the high cost of government housing, your most sensible location would be outside Parliament House. But since Lee Kuan Yew has conveniently gazetted it too, you would be immediately arrested if you stood there. It would be all right if you went some miles away and stood at Hong Lim Park which obviously defeats the purpose.
You can see why Lee Kuan Yew has all these laws against protesting or demonstrating. If he can help it, he doesn't want anyone to protest, period. He is afraid that protests is the first step to toppling him from power. But since in the 21 century if he were to continue denying any form of protest he would be equated with the North Korean ruler Kim. So he does the next best thing. He allows you to do it where no one would ever know you protested.
It is indeed mind boggling that Singaporeans don't seem to mind any of this. In fact Singaporeans are not too keen to demonstrate at all, whether or not it is a gazetted area or whether or not it is Hong Lim Park.
In fact Singaporeans are a unique people. They appear to have no strong opinion about anything worth protesting about, ever.
Have you seen the citizens of London, New York, Jakarta, Athens or Madrid or for that matter anywhere else. The people of Spain are protesting against the austerity measures. So are the Greeks. Some Englishmen have protested to break with the EU. The Indians are protesting about the Kashmir issue. In Jakarta the Islamics are protesting for Sharia. But there is one place in the world where the people have absolutely nothing to protest about. You guessed it right. It is Singapore.
It is a one boring unique place where a person would be prepared to protest at Hong Lim Park 15 miles away from where he should rightfully be protesting, at Sembawang shipyard. It is a place where instead of protesting at Parliament House, you will stand at a location which has nothing to do with your cause at Hong Lim Park.
Singapore is one place in the world where brainwashing is so successfully accomplished that human beings will robot fashion, do anything that is demanded of them by their rulers.
Gopalan Nair
Attorney at Law
A Singaporean in Exile
Fremont, California USA
Tel: 510 491 8525
Email: nair.gopalan@yahoo.com
For a long time, Singapore did not allow any demonstrations or protests even if peaceful.
The way this was accomplished is by requiring government permits to hold any protest while at the same time denying each and every application that was ever made.
It is therefore impossible to obtain a permit. And if you went ahead and held the protest without it, you will be arrested and it is no good arguing that even if you applied for the permit, they would not have granted it!
A very warped sense of reasoning here, but true. It is like saying you can't go to the movie unless you have a ticket. But then they never sell you the ticket!
As a result of this very convenient game that they play, opposition politician Chee Soon Juan was jailed multiple times for holding peaceful protests. Each time he complained that he did apply for this elusive permit but they never gave it to him!
His argument which was obvious, that it was useless applying for any permit since they were never granted were all peremptorily dismissed by Lee Kuan Yew's Kangaroo judges with eyes conveniently in blinkers. All that they were capable of doing was to parrot the ridiculous excuse ad nausem that since Chee did not have a permit, he was guilty.
I think the Lee Kuan Yew government finally realized that they were looking very silly by demanding permits when they were never granted, and thought of another equally silly plan.
This time they assigned a designated location in the island called Hong Lim Park in Singapore's Chinatown which was to be called Speakers Corner and henceforth limited types of protests or demonstrations would be allowed here without permits.
However the rule requiring permits anywhere else in the island still stood.
But once again the Singapore government were making themselves look very silly by allowing protests at Speakers Corner, a most ridiculous rule that anyone could imagine as you will see. Speakers Corner is in downtown Singapore, a short distance from the main business center, a mere square of grass and shaded with trees, a location which many never take much notice, except for some office workers who pass by at lunch time.
Just imagine a case where the workers of Sembawang Shipyard, a location in the north of Singapore island were contemplating protesting against their employer for unfair work practices. Of course the only sensible location at which they should protest is outside their work place, at Sembawang shipyard so that their employers can hear it. But according to Singapore's upside down reasoning, these workers who have a grievance against Sembawang Shipyard are not allowed to hold it there. The only place where they could do it legally is at Hong Lim Park about 15 or 20 miles away in the south of Singapore.
Can anyone tell what in Heaven's is the point of protesting against Sembawang Shipyard at Hong Lim Park 15 mikes away? And even if you did, would any onlooker have the remotest idea as to what you were doing at Hong Lim Park holding banners and placards with the name Sembawang Shipyard?
You don't have to be very smart to realize how stupid this rule is. But very strangely, Singaporeans who have been so thoroughly and successfully put through Lee Kuan Yew's world famous behavior training that their minds are entirely happy with such a rule and there appears to be no complaint whatsoever!
The other very clever trick they have conjured up is the idea of designating areas as "Gazetted Areas". According to their laws, whenever parliament designates locations as "Gazetted Areas" no one should demonstrate or protest there and any violator is promptly arrested.
Very conveniently, the very places where a citizen would want to protest are all conveniently "Gazetted". The vicinity of Lee Kuan Yew's palace at Clemenceau Avenue is gazetted. The outside of Parliament House is gazetted. The ground outside all embassies and consulates are gazetted. The outsides of all police stations are gazetted. In fact all areas where a citizen would most want to protest are all gazetted!
Consider Lee Kuan Yew's palace. If you were a citizen unhappy with the fact that Lee Kuan Yew and his son pay themselves 5 times the salary of the president of the United States and wanted to protest about this, you would probably want to stand outside his palace with a banner and shout "Down Down Thieves and Corrupt Dictators". It of course would make no sense for you to go to Hong Lim Park, miles away from where Lee Kuan Yew lives and shout "Down With The Dictator"! But that is exactly what the Singapore police want you to do!
Similarly if you wanted to protest against the high cost of government housing, your most sensible location would be outside Parliament House. But since Lee Kuan Yew has conveniently gazetted it too, you would be immediately arrested if you stood there. It would be all right if you went some miles away and stood at Hong Lim Park which obviously defeats the purpose.
You can see why Lee Kuan Yew has all these laws against protesting or demonstrating. If he can help it, he doesn't want anyone to protest, period. He is afraid that protests is the first step to toppling him from power. But since in the 21 century if he were to continue denying any form of protest he would be equated with the North Korean ruler Kim. So he does the next best thing. He allows you to do it where no one would ever know you protested.
It is indeed mind boggling that Singaporeans don't seem to mind any of this. In fact Singaporeans are not too keen to demonstrate at all, whether or not it is a gazetted area or whether or not it is Hong Lim Park.
In fact Singaporeans are a unique people. They appear to have no strong opinion about anything worth protesting about, ever.
Have you seen the citizens of London, New York, Jakarta, Athens or Madrid or for that matter anywhere else. The people of Spain are protesting against the austerity measures. So are the Greeks. Some Englishmen have protested to break with the EU. The Indians are protesting about the Kashmir issue. In Jakarta the Islamics are protesting for Sharia. But there is one place in the world where the people have absolutely nothing to protest about. You guessed it right. It is Singapore.
It is a one boring unique place where a person would be prepared to protest at Hong Lim Park 15 miles away from where he should rightfully be protesting, at Sembawang shipyard. It is a place where instead of protesting at Parliament House, you will stand at a location which has nothing to do with your cause at Hong Lim Park.
Singapore is one place in the world where brainwashing is so successfully accomplished that human beings will robot fashion, do anything that is demanded of them by their rulers.
Gopalan Nair
Attorney at Law
A Singaporean in Exile
Fremont, California USA
Tel: 510 491 8525
Email: nair.gopalan@yahoo.com
Thursday, September 26, 2013
Singapore's make-believe unconstitutional government
Ladies and Gentlemen,
The best way to describe the Singaporean government is to call it a make-believe government. More a case of saying, what you see is not what you get. It is an island where ever since independence 50 years ago till today, the general understanding, although it is nowhere written, has always been Lee Kuan Yew and his PAP government is destined to rule over the people. The handpicked rulers will be scholars recently returned from abroad on government funded scholarships, and Lee Kuan Yew's relatives who have been handpicked by the ruling party.
Every five years there are elections to give simulated compliance to the Constitution but in reality those elected will always be scholars or relatives of Lee Kuan Yew. Elections don't mean anything. Those who are not from Lee's PAP or the simulated Workers Party opposition have no chance of winning. Today, his son is the Prime Minister and several of his relatives such as Wong Kan Seng, Home Minister are in office.
The Constitution is completely sidelined and flagrantly and brazenly violated. All the freedoms that people in any democracy would assume are all denied, including free speech, expression and assembly. There is no free press and Lee Kuan Yew and his family are above the law. As for the law courts, they have Kangaroo judges.
Since this doctrine of rule by Lee Kuan Yew family through handpicked ministers is nowhere written, it becomes impossible for anyone to know unless one finds this out through oftentimes painful experience. For instance, when I returned after my education in England to practice law in my country Singapore, I never knew that this was the way things were run. I naturally assumed that Singapore was a parliamentary democracy with the usual rights that citizens have. It only dawned on me much later that what you see is totally different in reality. In spite of all the good things written in the Singaporean constitution, it is nothing but a dictatorship or a fascist state.
And here lies the problem for Singapore island. Anyone who has any understanding of politics would know that it is not a democracy and one has to live literally as a slave accepting anything thrown at them without complaint from their masters. This results in a great many capable Singaporeans unwilling to live under such a system and despite the good roads, infra structure and clean running water, they simply clear out for settlement abroad.
And with these disgruntled Singaporeans who have left, which by the way are the most educated skilled and most importantly self respecting upright thinking individuals who have some self respect and a capability to survive anywhere in the world, those left behind are of two types. On the one hand you have the ignorant who have no idea of any rights and would be very happy to live under a monkey as long as they are fed. The former president of Singapore, Devan Nair, no relation of mine, had a term of them: Department Store Dummies.
The other type who stay behind are the opportunists who lack any self respect, have no ideas of their own and are in in it purely for the millions that Lee Kuan Yew pays them. These are the bootlickers and asslickers like the Deputy Prime Minister Teo Chee Hean and the Minister for Law, Tamil K Shanmugam. They are doing what they are doing, running around propping up the Lee Kuan Yew regime because it pays well. As a result you have an entire government of Ministers, top civil servants and military officers none of whom have any ideas of their own and are ever ready to give lip service to their masters for large sums of money, millions to be exact.
As a result of this selection process, the entire island is deprived of true leaders and the only ones you have are the ones who support the denial of the rule of law, the denial of any human right, using Kangaroo judges to silence dissenters, and people who simply run around parroting Lee Kuan Yew's mantra whatever that happens to be at any moment of time. In other words the entire government of Singapore comprises of mindless conformists who toe the line for the opportunity.
On the other hand if there was even a single Singaporean out there who felt that freedom happens to be a good thing and if he took out a placard and peacefully stood outside Lee Kuan Yew's palace to demand his ousting, he would be immediately arrested and locked up. The bottom line is, if you want to survive in Lee Kuan Yew's island, please don't have ideas of your own. Simply adopt whatever is the prevailing thinking and train your mind to accept it as the truth, a mental exercise that Singaporeans have taught themselves very well.
I am not sure if you read Orwell's 1984 where it is a very good idea to believe that you were really at war with Oceania even though only last week the war was with Eurasia. And it surely doesn't hurt to believe that Big Brother invented the airplane after all.
Such a system which demands submission under pain of punishment alienates a great many capable and able Singaporeans with independent ideas and passion, only to force them either to emigrate or to withdraw from co-operating with such a regime. Such as system is especially damaging to an island which has no more than perhaps 2 million local born citizens; and declining. For instance not for all the gold in the world would I want to do the job of the Singapore Law Minister where he has to justify laws which detain people without trial, arresting peaceful protesters or critics of the government and other equally obnoxious things. As Edward Rice Murrows was reported to have said, when you do this, you would have difficulty shaving in the morning (you would have to look at your own face).
In the end such as system cannot last. The foundation is unstable. It simply does not have the integrity needed to support any society for any period of time. All they can expect is to continue attracting young students without any moral fiber willing to sell their souls and their mothers, because it is profitable. At the same time much larger numbers of educated upright thinking young men and women with some pride and confidence simply clear out of the country in disgust. And as time progresses, you are going to have more and more weak minded crooked individuals ruling over you and anyone passionate about any thing would have long gone and cleared out.
In the end, you can build as many roads and skyscrapers as you want but without a strong foundation of thinking morally upright young men and women with a passion for what they believe in, and ideas, a tiny island such as this has no chance at all.
Gopalan Nair
Attorney at Law
A Singaporean in Exile
Fremont, California USA
Tel: 510 491 8525
Email: nair.gopalan@yahoo.com
The best way to describe the Singaporean government is to call it a make-believe government. More a case of saying, what you see is not what you get. It is an island where ever since independence 50 years ago till today, the general understanding, although it is nowhere written, has always been Lee Kuan Yew and his PAP government is destined to rule over the people. The handpicked rulers will be scholars recently returned from abroad on government funded scholarships, and Lee Kuan Yew's relatives who have been handpicked by the ruling party.
Every five years there are elections to give simulated compliance to the Constitution but in reality those elected will always be scholars or relatives of Lee Kuan Yew. Elections don't mean anything. Those who are not from Lee's PAP or the simulated Workers Party opposition have no chance of winning. Today, his son is the Prime Minister and several of his relatives such as Wong Kan Seng, Home Minister are in office.
The Constitution is completely sidelined and flagrantly and brazenly violated. All the freedoms that people in any democracy would assume are all denied, including free speech, expression and assembly. There is no free press and Lee Kuan Yew and his family are above the law. As for the law courts, they have Kangaroo judges.
Since this doctrine of rule by Lee Kuan Yew family through handpicked ministers is nowhere written, it becomes impossible for anyone to know unless one finds this out through oftentimes painful experience. For instance, when I returned after my education in England to practice law in my country Singapore, I never knew that this was the way things were run. I naturally assumed that Singapore was a parliamentary democracy with the usual rights that citizens have. It only dawned on me much later that what you see is totally different in reality. In spite of all the good things written in the Singaporean constitution, it is nothing but a dictatorship or a fascist state.
And here lies the problem for Singapore island. Anyone who has any understanding of politics would know that it is not a democracy and one has to live literally as a slave accepting anything thrown at them without complaint from their masters. This results in a great many capable Singaporeans unwilling to live under such a system and despite the good roads, infra structure and clean running water, they simply clear out for settlement abroad.
And with these disgruntled Singaporeans who have left, which by the way are the most educated skilled and most importantly self respecting upright thinking individuals who have some self respect and a capability to survive anywhere in the world, those left behind are of two types. On the one hand you have the ignorant who have no idea of any rights and would be very happy to live under a monkey as long as they are fed. The former president of Singapore, Devan Nair, no relation of mine, had a term of them: Department Store Dummies.
The other type who stay behind are the opportunists who lack any self respect, have no ideas of their own and are in in it purely for the millions that Lee Kuan Yew pays them. These are the bootlickers and asslickers like the Deputy Prime Minister Teo Chee Hean and the Minister for Law, Tamil K Shanmugam. They are doing what they are doing, running around propping up the Lee Kuan Yew regime because it pays well. As a result you have an entire government of Ministers, top civil servants and military officers none of whom have any ideas of their own and are ever ready to give lip service to their masters for large sums of money, millions to be exact.
As a result of this selection process, the entire island is deprived of true leaders and the only ones you have are the ones who support the denial of the rule of law, the denial of any human right, using Kangaroo judges to silence dissenters, and people who simply run around parroting Lee Kuan Yew's mantra whatever that happens to be at any moment of time. In other words the entire government of Singapore comprises of mindless conformists who toe the line for the opportunity.
On the other hand if there was even a single Singaporean out there who felt that freedom happens to be a good thing and if he took out a placard and peacefully stood outside Lee Kuan Yew's palace to demand his ousting, he would be immediately arrested and locked up. The bottom line is, if you want to survive in Lee Kuan Yew's island, please don't have ideas of your own. Simply adopt whatever is the prevailing thinking and train your mind to accept it as the truth, a mental exercise that Singaporeans have taught themselves very well.
I am not sure if you read Orwell's 1984 where it is a very good idea to believe that you were really at war with Oceania even though only last week the war was with Eurasia. And it surely doesn't hurt to believe that Big Brother invented the airplane after all.
Such a system which demands submission under pain of punishment alienates a great many capable and able Singaporeans with independent ideas and passion, only to force them either to emigrate or to withdraw from co-operating with such a regime. Such as system is especially damaging to an island which has no more than perhaps 2 million local born citizens; and declining. For instance not for all the gold in the world would I want to do the job of the Singapore Law Minister where he has to justify laws which detain people without trial, arresting peaceful protesters or critics of the government and other equally obnoxious things. As Edward Rice Murrows was reported to have said, when you do this, you would have difficulty shaving in the morning (you would have to look at your own face).
In the end such as system cannot last. The foundation is unstable. It simply does not have the integrity needed to support any society for any period of time. All they can expect is to continue attracting young students without any moral fiber willing to sell their souls and their mothers, because it is profitable. At the same time much larger numbers of educated upright thinking young men and women with some pride and confidence simply clear out of the country in disgust. And as time progresses, you are going to have more and more weak minded crooked individuals ruling over you and anyone passionate about any thing would have long gone and cleared out.
In the end, you can build as many roads and skyscrapers as you want but without a strong foundation of thinking morally upright young men and women with a passion for what they believe in, and ideas, a tiny island such as this has no chance at all.
Gopalan Nair
Attorney at Law
A Singaporean in Exile
Fremont, California USA
Tel: 510 491 8525
Email: nair.gopalan@yahoo.com
Tuesday, September 24, 2013
Singaporeans are groomed only as workers, not thinking human beings
Ladies and Gentlemen,
An observer of Singapore must have noticed something unusual. There are no strikes in the island, there are no protests peaceful or otherwise. Except for well regulated government licensed associations and societies, there are no organizations that want to any further philosophical views. There are no Communist parties, no Machiavellian Club, no Flat Earth Society, nothing. No Skin Heads, no Round Heads, no nothing.
Everyday is just like any other day. There is no unrest of any sort. The Singaporean goes about his work quietly and without fuss. Other than some hobbies, his mind is devoid of anything else. The most boring conversation you could ever have is with a Singaporean.
Some people like to lead, some like to ride and some like to be taken for a ride. The Singaporean falls into the last category.
The Singapore government is a professional organization. They have been chosen by the Lee family and placed in positions of authority and given a license to lecture to Singaporeans on how they should live, how they should treat others, that there should be racial harmony and so on and so forth, despite the fact that no one solicited their advice in the first place, and in reality they do not have any real authority over anyone, having been handpicked to their positions by the supreme ruler Lee Kuan Yew.
As for the Singaporean worker who is trained only for a job, he knows nothing about government or how the country is run. He does not care who is in charge and will obey anyone who happens to have the position. He does not care what is written in the newspapers or what these officials tell him, which he usually ignores. In fact most of the time, he doesn't even know who they are and even if he did, he doesn't care.
The ordinary Singaporean does not aspire for leadership of any sort and if he does, it is solely for financial gain. The professional politicians handpicked who happen to hold positions as Prime Minister and Ministers are only there for the money it pays, millions of dollars.
Young students who aspire to be millionaires do this by doing well in school and get recognized and selected for scholarships abroad. Once they graduate, they return to Singapore and are fielded in national elections where it is impossible for them to lose since their opponents are bankrupted and removed through defamation lawsuits in their Kangaroo courts. After they win elections they are promptly placed in positions of authority and are instantly transformed into leaders, with a license to rule and preach over their subjects.
Someone in a free democracy would find this sort of a system totally unacceptable. For one they wouldn't respect any of these scholar turned instant leaders since in truth they are not leaders at all. But in Singapore through the deliberate attempt at shielding the citizens from any knowledge of politics, government and civic responsibility, they are incapable of considering whether these leaders are worth their positions of authority.
The problems faced by societies such as these is that they need to be always ruled and are incapable of any leadership by themselves. They are also totally ignorant of what democracy means and the need for free and fair elections and principles such as the need for government to be accountable to the people.
Because of the way they are brought up and taught in schools, they are groomed into thinking it is perfectly normal for a human being to do exactly as they are told as long as they are provided the basic necessities of food and shelter. They are a people who are totally devoid of any ambition unless the ambition is to make money.
Such a society is on a dangerously weak foundation. An empowered population would be able to correct the excesses of any dictator that comes along but an enfeebled society such as this is totally helpless and in the mercy of bad leadership. They are unable to realize that true leaders emerge not because of how much money it pays but because they really want to further the interests of their society. True leaders are passionate people. Singaporeans leaders on the other hand are merely greedy.
This is what is lacking in a society such as this, which is, indifferent apathetic and ignorant.
Gopalan Nair
Attorney at Law
A Singaporean in Exile
Fremont, California, USA
Tel: 510 491 8525
Email: nair.gopalan@yahoo.com
An observer of Singapore must have noticed something unusual. There are no strikes in the island, there are no protests peaceful or otherwise. Except for well regulated government licensed associations and societies, there are no organizations that want to any further philosophical views. There are no Communist parties, no Machiavellian Club, no Flat Earth Society, nothing. No Skin Heads, no Round Heads, no nothing.
Everyday is just like any other day. There is no unrest of any sort. The Singaporean goes about his work quietly and without fuss. Other than some hobbies, his mind is devoid of anything else. The most boring conversation you could ever have is with a Singaporean.
Some people like to lead, some like to ride and some like to be taken for a ride. The Singaporean falls into the last category.
The Singapore government is a professional organization. They have been chosen by the Lee family and placed in positions of authority and given a license to lecture to Singaporeans on how they should live, how they should treat others, that there should be racial harmony and so on and so forth, despite the fact that no one solicited their advice in the first place, and in reality they do not have any real authority over anyone, having been handpicked to their positions by the supreme ruler Lee Kuan Yew.
As for the Singaporean worker who is trained only for a job, he knows nothing about government or how the country is run. He does not care who is in charge and will obey anyone who happens to have the position. He does not care what is written in the newspapers or what these officials tell him, which he usually ignores. In fact most of the time, he doesn't even know who they are and even if he did, he doesn't care.
The ordinary Singaporean does not aspire for leadership of any sort and if he does, it is solely for financial gain. The professional politicians handpicked who happen to hold positions as Prime Minister and Ministers are only there for the money it pays, millions of dollars.
Young students who aspire to be millionaires do this by doing well in school and get recognized and selected for scholarships abroad. Once they graduate, they return to Singapore and are fielded in national elections where it is impossible for them to lose since their opponents are bankrupted and removed through defamation lawsuits in their Kangaroo courts. After they win elections they are promptly placed in positions of authority and are instantly transformed into leaders, with a license to rule and preach over their subjects.
Someone in a free democracy would find this sort of a system totally unacceptable. For one they wouldn't respect any of these scholar turned instant leaders since in truth they are not leaders at all. But in Singapore through the deliberate attempt at shielding the citizens from any knowledge of politics, government and civic responsibility, they are incapable of considering whether these leaders are worth their positions of authority.
The problems faced by societies such as these is that they need to be always ruled and are incapable of any leadership by themselves. They are also totally ignorant of what democracy means and the need for free and fair elections and principles such as the need for government to be accountable to the people.
Because of the way they are brought up and taught in schools, they are groomed into thinking it is perfectly normal for a human being to do exactly as they are told as long as they are provided the basic necessities of food and shelter. They are a people who are totally devoid of any ambition unless the ambition is to make money.
Such a society is on a dangerously weak foundation. An empowered population would be able to correct the excesses of any dictator that comes along but an enfeebled society such as this is totally helpless and in the mercy of bad leadership. They are unable to realize that true leaders emerge not because of how much money it pays but because they really want to further the interests of their society. True leaders are passionate people. Singaporeans leaders on the other hand are merely greedy.
This is what is lacking in a society such as this, which is, indifferent apathetic and ignorant.
Gopalan Nair
Attorney at Law
A Singaporean in Exile
Fremont, California, USA
Tel: 510 491 8525
Email: nair.gopalan@yahoo.com
Monday, September 23, 2013
Singapore's new law to "hire locals first" will only help foreigners, not locals !
Ladies and Gentlemen,
The Singaporean state controlled newspaper Straits Times of Sept 23, 2013 has the story "Firms must show they tried to hire Singaporeans first" Please see http://www.straitstimes.com/archive/monday/breaking-news/singapore/story/firms-must-advertise-singaporeans-hiring-foreign-professionals-2013092
Believe it or not, Singapore till now does not have any laws to treat locals better than foreigners. Unbelievably, up till now, it is the only country in the world, where a foreigner can simply fly into the island, look up the papers for a job vacancy and get the job the very day, without any concern that there may be a hundred unemployed Singaporeans, with families to feed, equally qualified waiting for that very job!
And unbelievably, it is the only country among the so-called developed world, not being sure if the island qualifies as a developed country, where there is no minimum wage laws of any kind and anyone can be paid any amount by any employer, take or leave it.
And now this. The government claims, according to this report that "from August next year firms that want to hire foreign professionals must prove that they have tried to hire Singaporeans"
And that they have to advertise in "a national job bank" and that "firm with fewer than 25 or less" or those whose salaries are more than "$12,000.00 per month" are exempt.
All very nice but have they ever considered whether it will ever work?
I am principally a US Immigration lawyer with more than 17 years of experience and I should know a thing or two about hiring foreigners. And I will tell you that this rule or policy is simply hogwash, another of Lee Kuan Yew's red herrings that he occasionally throws when convenient. It will not help any Singaporean. If it does, foreigners will be the only beneficiaries of this harebrained policy. This is why:
1. In order for this rule to have any meaning, the country should first have minimum wage laws. Without this, in Singapore any employer can advertise a job at any salary they want. Therefore if any employer wanted to circumvent this law, the easiest thing to do would be to advertise the job at a very low wage rate. In this way they can easily eliminate any Singaporeans, who has to live in Lee Kuan Yew's HDB flat and send his children to school and pay the high cost of living. After that all they have to do is to claim no Singaporean applied and the job immediately goes to the foreigner.
And secondly and more importantly, the government should carry out wage surveys for different occupations and require employers to comply. For instance, California minimum wage may be about $8 per hour but the wage for a Software Engineer is around $60,000.00 a year, not minimum wage. On the other hand the prevailing wage of a hairdresser may be $40,000.00 a year. This requires the government or the private sector to put out prevailing wage figures for different occupations requiring compliance by employers.
For instance, a nurse assistant wage might be just $40,000.00 a year in the bay area of San Francisco, but you cannot get away with paying this to a Software Engineer whose job requires at least $60,000.00.
Unless you have these laws in place, a Singaporean employer could advertise a job at the nurse assistant rate for the Software Engineer and get away with it to employ the foreigner, who may well be prepared to accept it!
And what is even worse, without the need to pay a fair wage to every worker, the living standards decline and the worker as well as the state goes to the dogs, except of course Lee Kuan Yew family and his multi millionaire friends.
2. Second, they should be prohibited from conveniently placing onerous conditions. For instance you cannot advertise for a job and require proficiency in Mongolian which a Singaporean is unlikely to know. After that claim no locals applied and give the job to the Mongolian!
3. For this rule to work, the job has to be tied to the particular employer. As the situation is now in Singapore, I understand once you are certified for your employment pass, you can move from one job to another without further certification.
4. It makes no sense to exempt firms with less than 25 employees from this requirement. If this is the case small firms can continue to hire foreigners at the expense of locals thereby defeating the intention of protecting locals.
5. The functioning of the government agency enforcing this rule must be open to public scrutiny and any local who is denied a job which subsequently went to a foreigner should be provided a grievance filing mechanism for the employer to justify the hiring. Otherwise they could simply give the job to anyone they want without the local ever knowing that he has been taken advantage of.
6. And there should be a separate labor court where these cases are filed enabling the worker to take the offending employer to court and demand adequate relief.
7. And finally any of this would only work if you had the rule of law and basic human rights. In Singapore where none of this exists, the locals will not only continue to be at the mercy of the employers, they will continue to be the slaves of the their government as well; as they are now.
I am sure Lee Kuan Yew's son is going to do nothing to truly implement any of this. Once again this new rule ostensibly to protect the local worker is instead going to protect the foreigner, as it has always been the case in business friendly island. Once again in Lee Kuan Yew's Singapore where foreign millionaires whizz around in their Ferraris and the locals drool with envy watching them, business interests have won again and the locals have gone to Hell once again.
Gopalan Nair
Attorney at Law
A Singaporean in Exile
Fremont, California USA
Tel: 510 491 8525
Email: nair.gopalan@yahoo.com
The Singaporean state controlled newspaper Straits Times of Sept 23, 2013 has the story "Firms must show they tried to hire Singaporeans first" Please see http://www.straitstimes.com/archive/monday/breaking-news/singapore/story/firms-must-advertise-singaporeans-hiring-foreign-professionals-2013092
Believe it or not, Singapore till now does not have any laws to treat locals better than foreigners. Unbelievably, up till now, it is the only country in the world, where a foreigner can simply fly into the island, look up the papers for a job vacancy and get the job the very day, without any concern that there may be a hundred unemployed Singaporeans, with families to feed, equally qualified waiting for that very job!
And unbelievably, it is the only country among the so-called developed world, not being sure if the island qualifies as a developed country, where there is no minimum wage laws of any kind and anyone can be paid any amount by any employer, take or leave it.
And now this. The government claims, according to this report that "from August next year firms that want to hire foreign professionals must prove that they have tried to hire Singaporeans"
And that they have to advertise in "a national job bank" and that "firm with fewer than 25 or less" or those whose salaries are more than "$12,000.00 per month" are exempt.
All very nice but have they ever considered whether it will ever work?
I am principally a US Immigration lawyer with more than 17 years of experience and I should know a thing or two about hiring foreigners. And I will tell you that this rule or policy is simply hogwash, another of Lee Kuan Yew's red herrings that he occasionally throws when convenient. It will not help any Singaporean. If it does, foreigners will be the only beneficiaries of this harebrained policy. This is why:
1. In order for this rule to have any meaning, the country should first have minimum wage laws. Without this, in Singapore any employer can advertise a job at any salary they want. Therefore if any employer wanted to circumvent this law, the easiest thing to do would be to advertise the job at a very low wage rate. In this way they can easily eliminate any Singaporeans, who has to live in Lee Kuan Yew's HDB flat and send his children to school and pay the high cost of living. After that all they have to do is to claim no Singaporean applied and the job immediately goes to the foreigner.
And secondly and more importantly, the government should carry out wage surveys for different occupations and require employers to comply. For instance, California minimum wage may be about $8 per hour but the wage for a Software Engineer is around $60,000.00 a year, not minimum wage. On the other hand the prevailing wage of a hairdresser may be $40,000.00 a year. This requires the government or the private sector to put out prevailing wage figures for different occupations requiring compliance by employers.
For instance, a nurse assistant wage might be just $40,000.00 a year in the bay area of San Francisco, but you cannot get away with paying this to a Software Engineer whose job requires at least $60,000.00.
Unless you have these laws in place, a Singaporean employer could advertise a job at the nurse assistant rate for the Software Engineer and get away with it to employ the foreigner, who may well be prepared to accept it!
And what is even worse, without the need to pay a fair wage to every worker, the living standards decline and the worker as well as the state goes to the dogs, except of course Lee Kuan Yew family and his multi millionaire friends.
2. Second, they should be prohibited from conveniently placing onerous conditions. For instance you cannot advertise for a job and require proficiency in Mongolian which a Singaporean is unlikely to know. After that claim no locals applied and give the job to the Mongolian!
3. For this rule to work, the job has to be tied to the particular employer. As the situation is now in Singapore, I understand once you are certified for your employment pass, you can move from one job to another without further certification.
4. It makes no sense to exempt firms with less than 25 employees from this requirement. If this is the case small firms can continue to hire foreigners at the expense of locals thereby defeating the intention of protecting locals.
5. The functioning of the government agency enforcing this rule must be open to public scrutiny and any local who is denied a job which subsequently went to a foreigner should be provided a grievance filing mechanism for the employer to justify the hiring. Otherwise they could simply give the job to anyone they want without the local ever knowing that he has been taken advantage of.
6. And there should be a separate labor court where these cases are filed enabling the worker to take the offending employer to court and demand adequate relief.
7. And finally any of this would only work if you had the rule of law and basic human rights. In Singapore where none of this exists, the locals will not only continue to be at the mercy of the employers, they will continue to be the slaves of the their government as well; as they are now.
I am sure Lee Kuan Yew's son is going to do nothing to truly implement any of this. Once again this new rule ostensibly to protect the local worker is instead going to protect the foreigner, as it has always been the case in business friendly island. Once again in Lee Kuan Yew's Singapore where foreign millionaires whizz around in their Ferraris and the locals drool with envy watching them, business interests have won again and the locals have gone to Hell once again.
Gopalan Nair
Attorney at Law
A Singaporean in Exile
Fremont, California USA
Tel: 510 491 8525
Email: nair.gopalan@yahoo.com
Friday, September 20, 2013
Singapore Lee's iron grip over his people
Ladies and Gentlemen,
In Egypt today it is commonly said that the "Deep State" is where real power lies. And the Deep State is the military and all the major pillars of government, including the newspapers and the courts. Together they control Egypt and everything else in it.
In Singapore too, you have the Deep State which consists of the Lee Family, with Lee Kuan Yew's son the Prime Minister. They control the government and the elections by destroying political opposition through filing defamation of character lawsuits. In this way they alone decide who is elected into Parliament and who is kept out.
The courts are an extension of the government, ever willing to bend the law to remove troublesome politicians. Examples of political action by the courts include the removal of the late JB Jeyaretnam and the destruction of Chee Soon Juan.
The newspapers are beholden to the government. They are all state controlled and report only what they are allowed to report. The Newspapers and Printing Presses Act ensures that no news media is allowed to exist without state permission.
The island's military is selected for absolute loyalty to the government and especially to the Lee family. To prevent the unlikely event of the military turning against them, Gurkha policemen mercenaries are employed to guard the Lee family in the belief that Gurkha loyalty is beyond question.
All major companies in the island are state owned and controlled by the Lee family, their relatives, both near and distant cousins. The Companies Registry in the island keeps these records secret but an examination if made would show them to be their large shareholders and directors. This is corruption on a massive scale, since these companies were created with taxpayers money who see no part of the profits.
Singapore school teachers are specially selected for their political loyalty. They are told to avoid teaching subjects such as government and politics so as not to empower their young and to keep out any ideas of a rebellion. As a result the children go through schools trained only for their vocation but incapable of any thought beyond that, as if they were a programmed robot.
There is a large network of secret police lurking among the people whose duty is to report on any sign of trouble. Anyone showing any inclination at opposition politics is closely monitored and appropriately dealt with if the need arises.
Realizing that more and more young people are voting against the government despite all their efforts, it has become necessary for the government to control the opposition parties. In this way, a vote for the opposition is not necessarily adverse to their interests.
The Workers Party, an opposition party has seven members in parliament. But the chief, Loh Thia Khiang and the others are in reality working in support of Lee Kuan Yew's party. Truly, they have nothing to do with opposition politics. This is evident by this fact alone; in spite of being in Parliament for the last two decades, democracy has not advanced in the island one inch. In fact it has become even more totalitarian!
Loh Thia Khiang's very convenient agenda is merely to give the illusion of being opposition, nothing more. He knows, with seven members in Parliament, there is nothing much he can do anyway. He also knows that the moment he manifests any tendency to becoming real opposition, Lee will have him removed. So why not make the best of it. So he talks in Parliament about the huge salaries of the Ministers, the high costs of housing and other similar grouses, which the government promptly ignores, and then he goes home.
A man who really wanted change would not just stop at making speeches in parliament. He would have done much more. He would organized protest marches outside Parliament and sworn not to let up unless his demands are met.
Issues such as freedom of speech, expression and assembly, guaranteed Constitutional rights are not matters which one compromises upon. These are not a matters to just speak in Parliament and go home.
But Low does not do any of it.
Lee Kuan Yew has literally co-opted the Workers Party into his ruling Peoples Action Party. This way you can vote for as many Workers Party candidates at the next election. It is not going to make a dent in the government machinery.
As for the average Singaporean, his job is merely to serve the Lee Kuan Yew government as a worker in one of the many state owned companies, government or elsewhere in the island. His role stops there.
All lawyers in large firms, doctors in major hospitals and other professionals toe the government line. In return they are left alone to live their quite elitist lives. Any educated professional, academic or otherwise discerning thinking individual showing any opposition tendencies is promptly removed from his post and marginalized for the rest of his life. Realizing such activity is suicidal almost all professionals academics and other educated citizens simply keep quiet or better still join the Lee bandwagon.
The Deep State in Singapore is simply too strongly entrenched. No election can unravel the grip which the Lee family has over the island. All pillars of government and repositories of power are firmly in the grip of the Lee family and his friends. The military, the law courts, the newspapers and the business community will continue to make sure of that.
What the island needs is massive protests by citizens who feel strongly enough that unless they take action to empower themselves, to reclaim their lost power, they are destined to live for an even longer time under the Lee family's totalitarian police state.
Gopalan Nair
Attorney at Law
A Singaporean in Exile
Fremont, California, USA
Tel: 510 491 8525
Email:nair.gopalan@yahoo.com
In Egypt today it is commonly said that the "Deep State" is where real power lies. And the Deep State is the military and all the major pillars of government, including the newspapers and the courts. Together they control Egypt and everything else in it.
In Singapore too, you have the Deep State which consists of the Lee Family, with Lee Kuan Yew's son the Prime Minister. They control the government and the elections by destroying political opposition through filing defamation of character lawsuits. In this way they alone decide who is elected into Parliament and who is kept out.
The courts are an extension of the government, ever willing to bend the law to remove troublesome politicians. Examples of political action by the courts include the removal of the late JB Jeyaretnam and the destruction of Chee Soon Juan.
The newspapers are beholden to the government. They are all state controlled and report only what they are allowed to report. The Newspapers and Printing Presses Act ensures that no news media is allowed to exist without state permission.
The island's military is selected for absolute loyalty to the government and especially to the Lee family. To prevent the unlikely event of the military turning against them, Gurkha policemen mercenaries are employed to guard the Lee family in the belief that Gurkha loyalty is beyond question.
All major companies in the island are state owned and controlled by the Lee family, their relatives, both near and distant cousins. The Companies Registry in the island keeps these records secret but an examination if made would show them to be their large shareholders and directors. This is corruption on a massive scale, since these companies were created with taxpayers money who see no part of the profits.
Singapore school teachers are specially selected for their political loyalty. They are told to avoid teaching subjects such as government and politics so as not to empower their young and to keep out any ideas of a rebellion. As a result the children go through schools trained only for their vocation but incapable of any thought beyond that, as if they were a programmed robot.
There is a large network of secret police lurking among the people whose duty is to report on any sign of trouble. Anyone showing any inclination at opposition politics is closely monitored and appropriately dealt with if the need arises.
Realizing that more and more young people are voting against the government despite all their efforts, it has become necessary for the government to control the opposition parties. In this way, a vote for the opposition is not necessarily adverse to their interests.
The Workers Party, an opposition party has seven members in parliament. But the chief, Loh Thia Khiang and the others are in reality working in support of Lee Kuan Yew's party. Truly, they have nothing to do with opposition politics. This is evident by this fact alone; in spite of being in Parliament for the last two decades, democracy has not advanced in the island one inch. In fact it has become even more totalitarian!
Loh Thia Khiang's very convenient agenda is merely to give the illusion of being opposition, nothing more. He knows, with seven members in Parliament, there is nothing much he can do anyway. He also knows that the moment he manifests any tendency to becoming real opposition, Lee will have him removed. So why not make the best of it. So he talks in Parliament about the huge salaries of the Ministers, the high costs of housing and other similar grouses, which the government promptly ignores, and then he goes home.
A man who really wanted change would not just stop at making speeches in parliament. He would have done much more. He would organized protest marches outside Parliament and sworn not to let up unless his demands are met.
Issues such as freedom of speech, expression and assembly, guaranteed Constitutional rights are not matters which one compromises upon. These are not a matters to just speak in Parliament and go home.
But Low does not do any of it.
Lee Kuan Yew has literally co-opted the Workers Party into his ruling Peoples Action Party. This way you can vote for as many Workers Party candidates at the next election. It is not going to make a dent in the government machinery.
As for the average Singaporean, his job is merely to serve the Lee Kuan Yew government as a worker in one of the many state owned companies, government or elsewhere in the island. His role stops there.
All lawyers in large firms, doctors in major hospitals and other professionals toe the government line. In return they are left alone to live their quite elitist lives. Any educated professional, academic or otherwise discerning thinking individual showing any opposition tendencies is promptly removed from his post and marginalized for the rest of his life. Realizing such activity is suicidal almost all professionals academics and other educated citizens simply keep quiet or better still join the Lee bandwagon.
The Deep State in Singapore is simply too strongly entrenched. No election can unravel the grip which the Lee family has over the island. All pillars of government and repositories of power are firmly in the grip of the Lee family and his friends. The military, the law courts, the newspapers and the business community will continue to make sure of that.
What the island needs is massive protests by citizens who feel strongly enough that unless they take action to empower themselves, to reclaim their lost power, they are destined to live for an even longer time under the Lee family's totalitarian police state.
Gopalan Nair
Attorney at Law
A Singaporean in Exile
Fremont, California, USA
Tel: 510 491 8525
Email:nair.gopalan@yahoo.com
Wednesday, September 18, 2013
Singapore. A bald shameless nepotism. Lee Kuan Yew's son the Prime Minister
Ladies and Gentlemen,
If you were to say within Singapore island that the Prime Minister and his father Lee Kuan Yew are guilty of nepotism, you will not only be sued for defamation of character, you will also surely be found guilty by his Kangaroo courts and made to pay a great deal of money, if you have it. If you don't they will send you to jail. Unlike anywhere else in the world, in Singapore this result is certain. You can bet on it.
But as anyone can see from these facts, the Prime Minister were it not for the fact that his father is none other than Lee Kuan Yew, the 90 year old Singaporean strongman, would probably be quietly pushing a pen at the third floor offices of the Bank of China along Battery Road or even working at the Department of Mother Vehicles along Maxwell Road checking automobile license plates. I don't think a man such as this would have aspired or capable to any higher level.
He was born in 1952 when his father was already a successful politician in the British colony at a time when the Empire was unraveling. He went to school in the island, a nondescript boy who quietly went through his classes without much noise. In 1971 when he finished 12th grade, his father was already the Prime Minister for some years.
He started doing his national service this year. After 2 years he went to England on a government scholarship, naturally at government expense to study at an English University, where he never stood out as anyone with any independent ideas or any leadership qualities worth mentioning. He wasn't the president of the Save the Eagles Club, or The Flat Earth Society or even The Association to Rescue Unwed Mothers!
He appeared to be a person who would rather be left alone or someone who wondered what all the fuss was about in the world anyway. He completed his education, without anyone knowing or any fuss, and quietly returned to the coattails of his father the Prime Minister of Singapore.
He the rejoined the army, no doubt on his father's advice, and in world record time, a span of no more than 12 years, from 1971 to 1983, was promoted to Brigadier General. Henceforth the government and everyone else was ordered to address him as Brigadier General Lee or BG Lee for short. The idea of course was to make him look important.
For a Brigadier General, during this entire time, he never saw any active service, never served in the Congo against the rebels, and spent most of his time pushing paper. He was probably the most boring Brigadier General in the world! I recall that when a newspaper reporter had written that he was a very bad shot and could not shoot straight, the reporter was punished and removed from his post.
Then in 1984 he stands for elections in a constituency where either the votes were rigged and the ballot boxes stuffed or because the residents were all threatened by his father of dire consequences, he breezed through the elections. After this, in just 3 years his father makes him a Minister in 1987 and in 2004 when the incumbent Prime Minister, Goh Chock Tong was asked to step down, this man is sworn in as Prime Minister.
Beside his dull boring life dictated by his dull boring mind, anyone who took a look at him is not going to think otherwise. His entire life has been lived just as the son of his father going to school and passing exams. He doesn't appear in nothing else at all. I think if he was honest, he would have just one line in his resume, "Lee Hsien Loong, son of my father".
And this is why it must enrage anyone with any sense of pride and dignity to have to live in an island and be thrust upon with a man such as this as Prime Minister, let alone having to listen to his speeches in the state controlled press, on how to live. It is perfectly acceptable to be told by President Obama or David Cameron or some other leader of any real nation how things should be because they are leaders in their own right.
Obama became President not because his father was the USA's dictator, but because he had leadership, and was able to get his peoples support through hotly fought bitter elections. Such leaders deserve respect for none other reason than they are leaders. As for the Singapore Prime Minister, his only qualification is being his father's son.
Which is why many leave the island of Singapore. They simply don't allow you to tell these handpicked ministers who they actually are, because if you do, they will sue you and send you to jail. Rather than waste time and effort challenging meritless leaders such as these, better to just pack up and clear out.
These are not leaders. They are cowardly bullies, because they would sue you if you spoke.
Gopalan Nair
Attorney at law
A Singaporean in Exile
Fremont, California USA
Tel: 510 491 8525
Email; nair.gopalan@yahoo.com
If you were to say within Singapore island that the Prime Minister and his father Lee Kuan Yew are guilty of nepotism, you will not only be sued for defamation of character, you will also surely be found guilty by his Kangaroo courts and made to pay a great deal of money, if you have it. If you don't they will send you to jail. Unlike anywhere else in the world, in Singapore this result is certain. You can bet on it.
But as anyone can see from these facts, the Prime Minister were it not for the fact that his father is none other than Lee Kuan Yew, the 90 year old Singaporean strongman, would probably be quietly pushing a pen at the third floor offices of the Bank of China along Battery Road or even working at the Department of Mother Vehicles along Maxwell Road checking automobile license plates. I don't think a man such as this would have aspired or capable to any higher level.
He was born in 1952 when his father was already a successful politician in the British colony at a time when the Empire was unraveling. He went to school in the island, a nondescript boy who quietly went through his classes without much noise. In 1971 when he finished 12th grade, his father was already the Prime Minister for some years.
He started doing his national service this year. After 2 years he went to England on a government scholarship, naturally at government expense to study at an English University, where he never stood out as anyone with any independent ideas or any leadership qualities worth mentioning. He wasn't the president of the Save the Eagles Club, or The Flat Earth Society or even The Association to Rescue Unwed Mothers!
He appeared to be a person who would rather be left alone or someone who wondered what all the fuss was about in the world anyway. He completed his education, without anyone knowing or any fuss, and quietly returned to the coattails of his father the Prime Minister of Singapore.
He the rejoined the army, no doubt on his father's advice, and in world record time, a span of no more than 12 years, from 1971 to 1983, was promoted to Brigadier General. Henceforth the government and everyone else was ordered to address him as Brigadier General Lee or BG Lee for short. The idea of course was to make him look important.
For a Brigadier General, during this entire time, he never saw any active service, never served in the Congo against the rebels, and spent most of his time pushing paper. He was probably the most boring Brigadier General in the world! I recall that when a newspaper reporter had written that he was a very bad shot and could not shoot straight, the reporter was punished and removed from his post.
Then in 1984 he stands for elections in a constituency where either the votes were rigged and the ballot boxes stuffed or because the residents were all threatened by his father of dire consequences, he breezed through the elections. After this, in just 3 years his father makes him a Minister in 1987 and in 2004 when the incumbent Prime Minister, Goh Chock Tong was asked to step down, this man is sworn in as Prime Minister.
Beside his dull boring life dictated by his dull boring mind, anyone who took a look at him is not going to think otherwise. His entire life has been lived just as the son of his father going to school and passing exams. He doesn't appear in nothing else at all. I think if he was honest, he would have just one line in his resume, "Lee Hsien Loong, son of my father".
And this is why it must enrage anyone with any sense of pride and dignity to have to live in an island and be thrust upon with a man such as this as Prime Minister, let alone having to listen to his speeches in the state controlled press, on how to live. It is perfectly acceptable to be told by President Obama or David Cameron or some other leader of any real nation how things should be because they are leaders in their own right.
Obama became President not because his father was the USA's dictator, but because he had leadership, and was able to get his peoples support through hotly fought bitter elections. Such leaders deserve respect for none other reason than they are leaders. As for the Singapore Prime Minister, his only qualification is being his father's son.
Which is why many leave the island of Singapore. They simply don't allow you to tell these handpicked ministers who they actually are, because if you do, they will sue you and send you to jail. Rather than waste time and effort challenging meritless leaders such as these, better to just pack up and clear out.
These are not leaders. They are cowardly bullies, because they would sue you if you spoke.
Gopalan Nair
Attorney at law
A Singaporean in Exile
Fremont, California USA
Tel: 510 491 8525
Email; nair.gopalan@yahoo.com
Friday, September 13, 2013
Singapore, the looming unknown
Ladies and Gentlemen,
Never in history has any country so transformed itself in such a short time, for anyone able to reasonably predict the outcome. It is anybody's guess.
In a tiny island with a tiny population a few years ago of just 3 million made up of Chinese Malays and Indians, suddenly, we have seen the deluge of immigration into Singapore of millions of foreigners from disparate countries with their foreign tongues customs, mannerisms practices, and traditions of their own, forced to live side by side with Singaporeans in the overcrowded island.
And then you have the government policy of permitting foreigners to take any job they want displacing the locals which is already causing intense animosity, a policy so wrong it would be unthinkable anywhere else.
And then you have Indians and Malays who although citizens by birth against whom the government lawfully permits the majority Chinese to racially discriminate in jobs, services and housing. Let me repeat this lest you disbelieve your ears; it is lawful under Singapore law to racially discriminate.
Besides the government officially allowing recently arrived foreign immigrants to simply take jobs from locals and leaving them unemployed in their own country, there are no minimum wage laws which naturally favors foreign immigrants over locals.
The government justifies this injustice by arguing the need to keep wages low to be competitive in the world markets regardless of how much it hurts local citizens in their own country. This creates a totally bizarre situation where it is in fact more advantageous to be a foreigner in Singapore than to be a Singaporean!
And to make matters worse, with all these totally unacceptable policies in the island, because it is so tiny, every one of these polyglot of people who are literally at the throats of each other are forced to live in such close proximity in their pigeonhole government high rise apartments to almost be able to smell each other's breath.
And then you have the authoritarian laws of Singapore which criminalizes free speech expression or peaceful protest leaving every single local citizen aggrieved by these totally unfair policies with no recourse to redress the injustice, since racial discrimination is legal and employers are allowed to pay as little as they want.
It appears that the government of this tiny island never considered the dangerous consequences of totally changing the makeup of the island almost at an instant.
As you can see, the island is a bomb ready to explode. The situation is incendiary.
All you need if for one Malay Singaporean who has been given the butt end of the stick by a Chinese to come out and slash him with a machete; only for other Malays to join in the fracas in the overcrowded island and you are going to see an island wide conflagration which I am sure the government never expected.
This sort of thing would not have happened among Singaporeans who understand each other having lived in harmony for half a century. But the equation is completely changed with recently arrived foreigners who do not know this is how Singaporean's live.
And it is easy for someone intent to cause trouble for whatever reason to accomplish it. All it takes is for a Malay or a Chinese to go either to Geylang where you find more Malays or to Singapore Chinatown to hurl insults at the other person to have a real breakout of violence. It is like yelling fire in a crowded theater, and you have pandemonium.
It is delusionary for the government to assume that despite Singaporeans renowned capacity for tolerance, they will forever remain as Mahatma Gandhis under these trying circumstances.
I am not sure how long a crowded tiny island such as this can continue without a total breakdown. I have no doubt the government is thanking their stars as each day passes without incident, but common sense tells us that surely it is not a question of if, but when, does the peace and tranquil turns into one big catastrophe.
From Fremont in California, USA, I am eagerly waiting to see how this arrangement will unravel.
Gopalan Nair
Attorney at Law
A Singaporean in Exile
Fremont, California, USA
Tel: 510 491 8525
Email: nair.gopalan@yahoo.com
Never in history has any country so transformed itself in such a short time, for anyone able to reasonably predict the outcome. It is anybody's guess.
In a tiny island with a tiny population a few years ago of just 3 million made up of Chinese Malays and Indians, suddenly, we have seen the deluge of immigration into Singapore of millions of foreigners from disparate countries with their foreign tongues customs, mannerisms practices, and traditions of their own, forced to live side by side with Singaporeans in the overcrowded island.
And then you have the government policy of permitting foreigners to take any job they want displacing the locals which is already causing intense animosity, a policy so wrong it would be unthinkable anywhere else.
And then you have Indians and Malays who although citizens by birth against whom the government lawfully permits the majority Chinese to racially discriminate in jobs, services and housing. Let me repeat this lest you disbelieve your ears; it is lawful under Singapore law to racially discriminate.
Besides the government officially allowing recently arrived foreign immigrants to simply take jobs from locals and leaving them unemployed in their own country, there are no minimum wage laws which naturally favors foreign immigrants over locals.
The government justifies this injustice by arguing the need to keep wages low to be competitive in the world markets regardless of how much it hurts local citizens in their own country. This creates a totally bizarre situation where it is in fact more advantageous to be a foreigner in Singapore than to be a Singaporean!
And to make matters worse, with all these totally unacceptable policies in the island, because it is so tiny, every one of these polyglot of people who are literally at the throats of each other are forced to live in such close proximity in their pigeonhole government high rise apartments to almost be able to smell each other's breath.
And then you have the authoritarian laws of Singapore which criminalizes free speech expression or peaceful protest leaving every single local citizen aggrieved by these totally unfair policies with no recourse to redress the injustice, since racial discrimination is legal and employers are allowed to pay as little as they want.
It appears that the government of this tiny island never considered the dangerous consequences of totally changing the makeup of the island almost at an instant.
As you can see, the island is a bomb ready to explode. The situation is incendiary.
All you need if for one Malay Singaporean who has been given the butt end of the stick by a Chinese to come out and slash him with a machete; only for other Malays to join in the fracas in the overcrowded island and you are going to see an island wide conflagration which I am sure the government never expected.
This sort of thing would not have happened among Singaporeans who understand each other having lived in harmony for half a century. But the equation is completely changed with recently arrived foreigners who do not know this is how Singaporean's live.
And it is easy for someone intent to cause trouble for whatever reason to accomplish it. All it takes is for a Malay or a Chinese to go either to Geylang where you find more Malays or to Singapore Chinatown to hurl insults at the other person to have a real breakout of violence. It is like yelling fire in a crowded theater, and you have pandemonium.
It is delusionary for the government to assume that despite Singaporeans renowned capacity for tolerance, they will forever remain as Mahatma Gandhis under these trying circumstances.
I am not sure how long a crowded tiny island such as this can continue without a total breakdown. I have no doubt the government is thanking their stars as each day passes without incident, but common sense tells us that surely it is not a question of if, but when, does the peace and tranquil turns into one big catastrophe.
From Fremont in California, USA, I am eagerly waiting to see how this arrangement will unravel.
Gopalan Nair
Attorney at Law
A Singaporean in Exile
Fremont, California, USA
Tel: 510 491 8525
Email: nair.gopalan@yahoo.com
Thursday, September 12, 2013
Singapore wastes it's very best citizens
Ladies and Gentlemen,
Those who have been reading this blog would know that I have very little good to say of Lee Kuan Yew's Singapore. It is nothing but a one party dictatorship regardless of what anyone wants to call it with no human rights whatsoever.
But having said that, after having lived in America for the last 22 years, and practicing law here for nearly as long, I cannot deny that Singapore has many redeeming qualities, which the power freak Lee Kuan Yew dictatorship appears determined to fritter away.
As a lawyer specializing in Immigration Law in my practice I have the opportunity of meeting people from all over the world, many from impoverished Latin American countries.
Only last week I had two clients from El Salvador applying for asylum, who crossed the Mexico Arizona border after crossing the Sonora Desert into Nogales Arizona. They told me they suffered great poverty in their country and in their entire life, listen to this, they attended school for just 3 days! Both of them are only in their twenties and they are completely illiterate. And like them there are many among their population who have no education whatsoever!
I then thought of Singapore and Lee Kuan Yew's pigeonhole government housing in which everyone lives and his Singapore schools. And then it dawned on me how lucky Singaporean children are, for being given an education and a roof over their heads. There is no doubt regardless of how repressive the society is, Singaporeans are given an education and the basic necessities for a decent living. A Singaporean is without doubt far luckier than someone from El Salvador unless you happen to be the son of their president.
For anyone who may think that I have now suddenly embraced the dictatorship, and have become a turncoat and have made a complete U turn, let me assure you it is not the case.
At the state of development at which Singapore is today, for which we cannot deny some accomplishment on the part of Lee Kuan Yew, we should be comparing it not with El Salvador but with Finland or Australia.
And if so compared Lee Kuan Yew's Singapore is a total failure, because although it gives it's people an education, it denies them their freedom, which makes the education useless. What good is an education in the head of someone who is afraid of his own shadow and that of Lee Kuan Yew. What good is an education in the head of a mouse?
This is my message for the Lee Kuan Yew government. Well done for doing what you have done so far. But don't throw it all away by treating your people like sheep. They don't like it. And this why they emigrate. You are losing your best talent by your determination to keep a lid over them. You are afraid of your own people. This is why you behave this way. And this is why you are losing your very best talent.
I can assure you, if educated Singaporeans stayed instead of leaving for Australia, the island would be a far better success than it is now.
The average Singaporean is a far superior specimen to the El Salvadorian that I mentioned, no doubt about it. Far more educated and far more capable. And they will stay if you treat them like human beings, not like rabbits.
If you allowed true democracy in your island, your citizens will stay. And you will benefit by their presence. Otherwise, as what is happening now, your very best talent is leaving and you are replacing them with second rate foreigners. This is the most stupid policy I have ever seen in my life.
Use your head. Retain your talent by treating them as human beings. I can assure you, you will be doing your island good.
Gopalan Nair
Attorney at Law
A Singaporean in Exile
Fremont, California, USA
Tel: 510 491 8525
Email:nair.gopalan@yahoo.com
Those who have been reading this blog would know that I have very little good to say of Lee Kuan Yew's Singapore. It is nothing but a one party dictatorship regardless of what anyone wants to call it with no human rights whatsoever.
But having said that, after having lived in America for the last 22 years, and practicing law here for nearly as long, I cannot deny that Singapore has many redeeming qualities, which the power freak Lee Kuan Yew dictatorship appears determined to fritter away.
As a lawyer specializing in Immigration Law in my practice I have the opportunity of meeting people from all over the world, many from impoverished Latin American countries.
Only last week I had two clients from El Salvador applying for asylum, who crossed the Mexico Arizona border after crossing the Sonora Desert into Nogales Arizona. They told me they suffered great poverty in their country and in their entire life, listen to this, they attended school for just 3 days! Both of them are only in their twenties and they are completely illiterate. And like them there are many among their population who have no education whatsoever!
I then thought of Singapore and Lee Kuan Yew's pigeonhole government housing in which everyone lives and his Singapore schools. And then it dawned on me how lucky Singaporean children are, for being given an education and a roof over their heads. There is no doubt regardless of how repressive the society is, Singaporeans are given an education and the basic necessities for a decent living. A Singaporean is without doubt far luckier than someone from El Salvador unless you happen to be the son of their president.
For anyone who may think that I have now suddenly embraced the dictatorship, and have become a turncoat and have made a complete U turn, let me assure you it is not the case.
At the state of development at which Singapore is today, for which we cannot deny some accomplishment on the part of Lee Kuan Yew, we should be comparing it not with El Salvador but with Finland or Australia.
And if so compared Lee Kuan Yew's Singapore is a total failure, because although it gives it's people an education, it denies them their freedom, which makes the education useless. What good is an education in the head of someone who is afraid of his own shadow and that of Lee Kuan Yew. What good is an education in the head of a mouse?
This is my message for the Lee Kuan Yew government. Well done for doing what you have done so far. But don't throw it all away by treating your people like sheep. They don't like it. And this why they emigrate. You are losing your best talent by your determination to keep a lid over them. You are afraid of your own people. This is why you behave this way. And this is why you are losing your very best talent.
I can assure you, if educated Singaporeans stayed instead of leaving for Australia, the island would be a far better success than it is now.
The average Singaporean is a far superior specimen to the El Salvadorian that I mentioned, no doubt about it. Far more educated and far more capable. And they will stay if you treat them like human beings, not like rabbits.
If you allowed true democracy in your island, your citizens will stay. And you will benefit by their presence. Otherwise, as what is happening now, your very best talent is leaving and you are replacing them with second rate foreigners. This is the most stupid policy I have ever seen in my life.
Use your head. Retain your talent by treating them as human beings. I can assure you, you will be doing your island good.
Gopalan Nair
Attorney at Law
A Singaporean in Exile
Fremont, California, USA
Tel: 510 491 8525
Email:nair.gopalan@yahoo.com
Wednesday, September 11, 2013
Singapore poised for racial intolerance and xenophobia
Ladies and Gentlemen,
Singapore today has according to government sources slightly above 5 million blabbering polyglot mix of people mostly recently arrived immigrants from various Asian countries, with the local native population of Malays Indians and Chinese now forming the minority in an island just 26 miles across and 15 miles vertical.
It is a place unlike any other in the world where if you stepped it in for the first time, you would have once thought you were in China, never in South East Asia's Malay Archipelago. No other place in the world has transformed and changed it's identity almost overnight. Yesterday, Dr. Jekyll, today Mr. Hyde.
It is a country with inadequate laws, ill-equipped to handle such a mix of people from various countries all cramped into a very small piece of real estate.
Except for harsh criminal laws which involve long prison terms for even petty offenses, it also has beatings, in Singapore called canings, where convicts are beaten on their behinds even for minor transgressions like vandalism, till their backsides are shredded, with a prison officer handy with a mop to clean the bloody floor. This is nothing short of torture, plain and simple.
There are also very punishing defamation laws to bankrupt anyone who criticizes the all mighty government.
On the other hand there are not much laws else. There are no laws against racial discrimination permitting both the government and the Chinese majority to deny services to the minority Malays and Indians although they are supposed to be equal citizens under the law. Although the government officially gives lip service by discouraging the odious practice, in reality they encourage it as being good for business.
There are also no minimum wage laws to prevent employers from exploiting their workers. In addition to this any form of protest or criticism by the victims of this injustice is strictly outlawed.
As a result the average person in Singapore is deprived any avenue to vent his grievance. The Malay who is deprived of a job and racially discriminated has no means to seek redress in the courts since racial discrimination is officially legal. The Indian who is passed over for promotion in favor of a Chinese simply has to take the victimization lying down.
To make matters worse, the government in order to please the business community continues to bring in Chinese immigrants at breakneck speed who immediately upon arrival displace the local citizens and literally throw them on the street. In doing so, Singapore government conveniently justifies it by claiming they believe equality in market forces; when in fact this is a deliberate policy to keep wages down with cheap foreign labor. Once again the poor Singaporean who is thrown out of job in his own country by the foreigner has no recourse under the law at all.
To add to all this, Lee Kuan Yew, the Singaporean dictator since 1959 who is 90 years old, is about to die any minute and his son, whom he made Prime Minister does not seem up to the job minus his father.
Already we see cracks in the society. The islanders do not seem as harmonious as is claimed. There are numerous daily instances of local Chinese beating up foreign Chinese for taking their jobs. So do the local Indians against imported Indians. The Malays on the other hand are seething with anger against everyone for making them a third class citizen in their own country.
In their crowded subway, Chinese hurling insults at Malays and pushing incidents are daily occurrences. It is only a matter of time when these verbal insults turn into deadly violence. The island is a ticking time bomb, ready to explode.
It seems the islanders are at the throats of each other. And it also seems that the regime which has been in power since 1959 were so used to getting their way with everything; they never considered the consequences of this flood of immigration from abroad. Neither did they consider the need to have a fair and just set of rules in place for inter racial grievance procedure to prevent the people being at the throats of each other. This risk of island wide racial and xenophobic violence is all the more heightened by the over crowdedness of the tiny island, when even a minor fracas can turn into an island wide conflagration.
It is only a matter of time that matters will explode. The situation is simply incendiary. The spark may come when 90 year old Lee Kuan Yew dies which is anytime soon.
If the island descends into chaos, with the people rejecting Lee Kuan Yew's son who already has very little respect, the question becomes who then takes over. With a total dearth of leadership material and everyone terrified not only of politics but even of identifying themselves as politicians, the people do not have anyone they can trust. Except for government politicians who are all handpicked bureaucrats, the opposition does not anyone who is willing to stand his ground and demand justice.
For instance even though the Malay community is suppressed and discriminated against, there is not a single Malay who dares to openly demand a stop to this injustice and if necessary protest and demonstrate publicly in the name of the cause. Since the Singapore Malays are not up to it, the government simply continues to do whatever they want. It is the same with every other cause, with the government simply doing whatever they want. Without any laws in the books to regulate inter personal co-existence, unless they are addressed, Singapore will soon descend into chaos and the peace and tranquility of the cemetery will transform it into a sloop in a Force 10 Gale.
Gopalan Nair
Attorney at Law
A Singaporean in Exile
Fremont, California, USA
Tel: 510 491 8525
Email: nair.gopalan@yahoo.com
Singapore today has according to government sources slightly above 5 million blabbering polyglot mix of people mostly recently arrived immigrants from various Asian countries, with the local native population of Malays Indians and Chinese now forming the minority in an island just 26 miles across and 15 miles vertical.
It is a place unlike any other in the world where if you stepped it in for the first time, you would have once thought you were in China, never in South East Asia's Malay Archipelago. No other place in the world has transformed and changed it's identity almost overnight. Yesterday, Dr. Jekyll, today Mr. Hyde.
It is a country with inadequate laws, ill-equipped to handle such a mix of people from various countries all cramped into a very small piece of real estate.
Except for harsh criminal laws which involve long prison terms for even petty offenses, it also has beatings, in Singapore called canings, where convicts are beaten on their behinds even for minor transgressions like vandalism, till their backsides are shredded, with a prison officer handy with a mop to clean the bloody floor. This is nothing short of torture, plain and simple.
There are also very punishing defamation laws to bankrupt anyone who criticizes the all mighty government.
On the other hand there are not much laws else. There are no laws against racial discrimination permitting both the government and the Chinese majority to deny services to the minority Malays and Indians although they are supposed to be equal citizens under the law. Although the government officially gives lip service by discouraging the odious practice, in reality they encourage it as being good for business.
There are also no minimum wage laws to prevent employers from exploiting their workers. In addition to this any form of protest or criticism by the victims of this injustice is strictly outlawed.
As a result the average person in Singapore is deprived any avenue to vent his grievance. The Malay who is deprived of a job and racially discriminated has no means to seek redress in the courts since racial discrimination is officially legal. The Indian who is passed over for promotion in favor of a Chinese simply has to take the victimization lying down.
To make matters worse, the government in order to please the business community continues to bring in Chinese immigrants at breakneck speed who immediately upon arrival displace the local citizens and literally throw them on the street. In doing so, Singapore government conveniently justifies it by claiming they believe equality in market forces; when in fact this is a deliberate policy to keep wages down with cheap foreign labor. Once again the poor Singaporean who is thrown out of job in his own country by the foreigner has no recourse under the law at all.
To add to all this, Lee Kuan Yew, the Singaporean dictator since 1959 who is 90 years old, is about to die any minute and his son, whom he made Prime Minister does not seem up to the job minus his father.
Already we see cracks in the society. The islanders do not seem as harmonious as is claimed. There are numerous daily instances of local Chinese beating up foreign Chinese for taking their jobs. So do the local Indians against imported Indians. The Malays on the other hand are seething with anger against everyone for making them a third class citizen in their own country.
In their crowded subway, Chinese hurling insults at Malays and pushing incidents are daily occurrences. It is only a matter of time when these verbal insults turn into deadly violence. The island is a ticking time bomb, ready to explode.
It seems the islanders are at the throats of each other. And it also seems that the regime which has been in power since 1959 were so used to getting their way with everything; they never considered the consequences of this flood of immigration from abroad. Neither did they consider the need to have a fair and just set of rules in place for inter racial grievance procedure to prevent the people being at the throats of each other. This risk of island wide racial and xenophobic violence is all the more heightened by the over crowdedness of the tiny island, when even a minor fracas can turn into an island wide conflagration.
It is only a matter of time that matters will explode. The situation is simply incendiary. The spark may come when 90 year old Lee Kuan Yew dies which is anytime soon.
If the island descends into chaos, with the people rejecting Lee Kuan Yew's son who already has very little respect, the question becomes who then takes over. With a total dearth of leadership material and everyone terrified not only of politics but even of identifying themselves as politicians, the people do not have anyone they can trust. Except for government politicians who are all handpicked bureaucrats, the opposition does not anyone who is willing to stand his ground and demand justice.
For instance even though the Malay community is suppressed and discriminated against, there is not a single Malay who dares to openly demand a stop to this injustice and if necessary protest and demonstrate publicly in the name of the cause. Since the Singapore Malays are not up to it, the government simply continues to do whatever they want. It is the same with every other cause, with the government simply doing whatever they want. Without any laws in the books to regulate inter personal co-existence, unless they are addressed, Singapore will soon descend into chaos and the peace and tranquility of the cemetery will transform it into a sloop in a Force 10 Gale.
Gopalan Nair
Attorney at Law
A Singaporean in Exile
Fremont, California, USA
Tel: 510 491 8525
Email: nair.gopalan@yahoo.com
Tuesday, September 10, 2013
Singapore's state controlled press. Simply writing any nonsense they want
Ladies and Gentlemen,
It is a wonderful thing for any country to have a state controlled press, no doubt about it. Because you can simply write any nonsense you want and there is none to question you.
The one party island state of Singapore's state controlled newspaper Straits Times of Sept 11, 2013 has the story "Reluctance to work abroad limits us: PM Lee" Please see the article here http://www.straitstimes.com/breaking-news/singapore/story/reluctance-work-abroad-limits-us-pm-lee-20130911
It is reported Lee Kuan Yew's son the Prime Minister claims the reluctance to work and posted overseas by their companies impedes Singapore's potential. Apparently, according to him they resist overseas postings by their companies due to concerns such as their children's education and spouses career, making it hard to uproot. It seems he made this astounding remark at the IE Singapore's 30th anniversary dinner.
Anyone following the interesting political situation in that island would no doubt be surprised. As far as I know, for at least the last two decades, the main insurmountable problem that the island faced, and indeed continues to face is it's huge and mounting brain drain to the West.
To try to correct this, we have seen Senior Minister Goh Chock Tong in desperation calling Singaporeans who have settled abroad "quitters" while Lee Kuan Yew, Singapore's dictator has called them "ungrateful".
We have also seen them as well as Minister Liu Tuck Yew making several trips to the capitals of the world, including San Francisco where I am, to where Singaporeans have fled to coax them to return. We also know that none have so far ever come back as a result of which they have given up even mentioning the problem anymore. I suppose they reckon it pointless to flog a dead horse.
But against all that we thought was the problem, now the son, the Prime Minister says their problem is just the reverse; that Singaporeans don't want to go abroad!
This is why state controlled newspapers in totalitarian countries such as the former Soviet Union, todays China and Cuba receive very little respect, because you can simply say what you want. Understandably most Singaporeans pay very little attention to their local media since there is very little one can do about it.
Gopalan Nair
Attorney at Law
A Singaporean in Exile
Fremont, California USA
Tel: 510 491 8525
Email:nair.gopalan@yahoo.com
It is a wonderful thing for any country to have a state controlled press, no doubt about it. Because you can simply write any nonsense you want and there is none to question you.
The one party island state of Singapore's state controlled newspaper Straits Times of Sept 11, 2013 has the story "Reluctance to work abroad limits us: PM Lee" Please see the article here http://www.straitstimes.com/breaking-news/singapore/story/reluctance-work-abroad-limits-us-pm-lee-20130911
It is reported Lee Kuan Yew's son the Prime Minister claims the reluctance to work and posted overseas by their companies impedes Singapore's potential. Apparently, according to him they resist overseas postings by their companies due to concerns such as their children's education and spouses career, making it hard to uproot. It seems he made this astounding remark at the IE Singapore's 30th anniversary dinner.
Anyone following the interesting political situation in that island would no doubt be surprised. As far as I know, for at least the last two decades, the main insurmountable problem that the island faced, and indeed continues to face is it's huge and mounting brain drain to the West.
To try to correct this, we have seen Senior Minister Goh Chock Tong in desperation calling Singaporeans who have settled abroad "quitters" while Lee Kuan Yew, Singapore's dictator has called them "ungrateful".
We have also seen them as well as Minister Liu Tuck Yew making several trips to the capitals of the world, including San Francisco where I am, to where Singaporeans have fled to coax them to return. We also know that none have so far ever come back as a result of which they have given up even mentioning the problem anymore. I suppose they reckon it pointless to flog a dead horse.
But against all that we thought was the problem, now the son, the Prime Minister says their problem is just the reverse; that Singaporeans don't want to go abroad!
This is why state controlled newspapers in totalitarian countries such as the former Soviet Union, todays China and Cuba receive very little respect, because you can simply say what you want. Understandably most Singaporeans pay very little attention to their local media since there is very little one can do about it.
Gopalan Nair
Attorney at Law
A Singaporean in Exile
Fremont, California USA
Tel: 510 491 8525
Email:nair.gopalan@yahoo.com
Saturday, September 7, 2013
Singapore's ungrateful "quitters"
Ladies and Gentlemen,
Tiny Singapore island's major gripe with a mere 2 million or so local born citizens, is it's unstoppable and growing brain drain to the West. Senior Minister Goh Chock Tong coined the derisory term "quitters" some years ago when referring to educated and skilled Singaporean's who decide to be educated in the island but leave for settlement to the West after graduation. He wants them to stay behind since just as any other country, needs it's skilled educated citizens. Lee Kuan Yew, Singapore dictator, had once called them "ungrateful" for abandoning their island in time of need. He is reported to have lamented that "no matter what I do for them, they are never satisfied".
A look around Singapore will convince anyone that it has it's notable achievements, the outstanding one being housing. The Lee government has successfully managed to provide clean and modern housing to every single Singaporean, although they come at exorbitant prices and are no bigger than pigeonholes. But nevertheless a great achievement if you compare how a person in Havana Cuba, or San Salvador or Guatemala City lives. One cannot deny him that.
Not just housing, the island also provides a quality education ( albeit with a stress on supporting the ruling party in government and re-writing history) to all with a major plus point for it being in English. An English education makes one far more mobile than a non -English educated person as it opens up to him Australia, New Zealand and all the other very attractive English speaking countries in the world.
But while Lee Kuan Yew and his son does all the good things such as providing a good education to all with clean decent housing with running water and plumbing, at the same time it does itself a grave disservice by denying a free press, subverting the rule of law, denying free speech expression and assembly and literally strutting around the island in an arrogant you-listen-to-me-or-else mentality. And after behaving this way, both Lee Kuan Yew and his side kick Goh Chock Tong appear to wonder why the educated and skilled among Singaporeans wish to leave his island paradise.
The answer to this question must be obvious to anyone. For a Singaporean Chinese illiterate noodle seller, lets call him Tan Ah Kow, with no English proficiency or any other skill or knowledge at the local food court who has a wife and family to support, I won't be surprised that he is very grateful to Lee Kuan Yew and what he has done for him. Tan realizes that unlike others in similar circumstances in third world countries, he has a decent place to live, good transportation and communications and a reasonably safe society to live in. He is unlikely to want to leave Singapore and would be counting his blessings that the island has produced a man such as Lee Kuan Yew who has given him this good life.
On the other hand, take a person like Gopalan Nair, English educated with an British degree, capable of finding a job anywhere else in the world. In spite of good housing and clean running water in the island, he is aware that in places like Australia, he can live in a much bigger house with a garden and a car which he may not afford in Singapore with it's astronomical car prices.
And more importantly in Australia there is freedom of speech expression and assembly which Lee Kuan Yew disallows in his island. Moreover unlike Singapore, Australia has wide open spaces, animals, goats, horses and cows, mountains deserts and all sorts of interesting things which does not exist in Lee's island.
And most important of all, in Australia, he can call the Prime Minister a rat if he thought so, while in Singapore he will end up in jail. In Australia you can live as a free man. You cannot in Singapore.
So an educated confident skilled and worldly person who puts Singapore on a scale with other democracies in the world, would probably choose to live in the West rather in Lee Kuan Yew's Singapore where success has a price which is being loyal to a dictatorship, whereas we need not pay such a disagreeable price in a Western democracy.
As a result Lee's actions, which are in many respects undoubtedly admirable, sadly has a down side. Good that he builds the apartments for his people, but bad that he demands that they live like slaves in them.
One has to feel sorry for Lee Kuan Yew's government. The tragedy for them is the fact that despite all that they do for their people, the young skilled and educated give him a slap across the face, once they have had their education, by saying thanks but no thanks, I am leaving. Lee has to realize that human beings once skilled and educated and able to survive anywhere in the world are not going to be satisfied with three meals a day and housing. They need their freedom, they need to achieve their fullest potential and this they cannot get in a dictatorship like Singapore.
Today, there is not a single person in Singapore whom I know or used to know in the professions who has not either left himself or at least sent his children abroad. In fact every single person that I knew has actually themselves emigrated to Australia or elsewhere or at least have sent their children abroad and who have decided to stay abroad. And these are the best qualified and educated talent among Singaporeans and a great loss to Singapore.
Of course the bus drivers, the food peddlers , the office clerks and the messenger boys are all still in Singapore. They are of course very happy with Lee Kuan Yew and count themselves lucky to be able to live in decent housing with clean running water and plumbing. They are aware that they may not have these things had they been living in Phnom Penh Cambodia.
Gopalan Nair
Attorney at Law
A Singaporean in Exile
Fremont, California, USA
Tel: 510 491 4375
Email: nair.gopalan@yahoo.com
Tiny Singapore island's major gripe with a mere 2 million or so local born citizens, is it's unstoppable and growing brain drain to the West. Senior Minister Goh Chock Tong coined the derisory term "quitters" some years ago when referring to educated and skilled Singaporean's who decide to be educated in the island but leave for settlement to the West after graduation. He wants them to stay behind since just as any other country, needs it's skilled educated citizens. Lee Kuan Yew, Singapore dictator, had once called them "ungrateful" for abandoning their island in time of need. He is reported to have lamented that "no matter what I do for them, they are never satisfied".
A look around Singapore will convince anyone that it has it's notable achievements, the outstanding one being housing. The Lee government has successfully managed to provide clean and modern housing to every single Singaporean, although they come at exorbitant prices and are no bigger than pigeonholes. But nevertheless a great achievement if you compare how a person in Havana Cuba, or San Salvador or Guatemala City lives. One cannot deny him that.
Not just housing, the island also provides a quality education ( albeit with a stress on supporting the ruling party in government and re-writing history) to all with a major plus point for it being in English. An English education makes one far more mobile than a non -English educated person as it opens up to him Australia, New Zealand and all the other very attractive English speaking countries in the world.
But while Lee Kuan Yew and his son does all the good things such as providing a good education to all with clean decent housing with running water and plumbing, at the same time it does itself a grave disservice by denying a free press, subverting the rule of law, denying free speech expression and assembly and literally strutting around the island in an arrogant you-listen-to-me-or-else mentality. And after behaving this way, both Lee Kuan Yew and his side kick Goh Chock Tong appear to wonder why the educated and skilled among Singaporeans wish to leave his island paradise.
The answer to this question must be obvious to anyone. For a Singaporean Chinese illiterate noodle seller, lets call him Tan Ah Kow, with no English proficiency or any other skill or knowledge at the local food court who has a wife and family to support, I won't be surprised that he is very grateful to Lee Kuan Yew and what he has done for him. Tan realizes that unlike others in similar circumstances in third world countries, he has a decent place to live, good transportation and communications and a reasonably safe society to live in. He is unlikely to want to leave Singapore and would be counting his blessings that the island has produced a man such as Lee Kuan Yew who has given him this good life.
On the other hand, take a person like Gopalan Nair, English educated with an British degree, capable of finding a job anywhere else in the world. In spite of good housing and clean running water in the island, he is aware that in places like Australia, he can live in a much bigger house with a garden and a car which he may not afford in Singapore with it's astronomical car prices.
And more importantly in Australia there is freedom of speech expression and assembly which Lee Kuan Yew disallows in his island. Moreover unlike Singapore, Australia has wide open spaces, animals, goats, horses and cows, mountains deserts and all sorts of interesting things which does not exist in Lee's island.
And most important of all, in Australia, he can call the Prime Minister a rat if he thought so, while in Singapore he will end up in jail. In Australia you can live as a free man. You cannot in Singapore.
So an educated confident skilled and worldly person who puts Singapore on a scale with other democracies in the world, would probably choose to live in the West rather in Lee Kuan Yew's Singapore where success has a price which is being loyal to a dictatorship, whereas we need not pay such a disagreeable price in a Western democracy.
As a result Lee's actions, which are in many respects undoubtedly admirable, sadly has a down side. Good that he builds the apartments for his people, but bad that he demands that they live like slaves in them.
One has to feel sorry for Lee Kuan Yew's government. The tragedy for them is the fact that despite all that they do for their people, the young skilled and educated give him a slap across the face, once they have had their education, by saying thanks but no thanks, I am leaving. Lee has to realize that human beings once skilled and educated and able to survive anywhere in the world are not going to be satisfied with three meals a day and housing. They need their freedom, they need to achieve their fullest potential and this they cannot get in a dictatorship like Singapore.
Today, there is not a single person in Singapore whom I know or used to know in the professions who has not either left himself or at least sent his children abroad. In fact every single person that I knew has actually themselves emigrated to Australia or elsewhere or at least have sent their children abroad and who have decided to stay abroad. And these are the best qualified and educated talent among Singaporeans and a great loss to Singapore.
Of course the bus drivers, the food peddlers , the office clerks and the messenger boys are all still in Singapore. They are of course very happy with Lee Kuan Yew and count themselves lucky to be able to live in decent housing with clean running water and plumbing. They are aware that they may not have these things had they been living in Phnom Penh Cambodia.
Gopalan Nair
Attorney at Law
A Singaporean in Exile
Fremont, California, USA
Tel: 510 491 4375
Email: nair.gopalan@yahoo.com
Wednesday, September 4, 2013
Singapore island gives up on floods
Ladies and Gentlemen,
Singapore's state controlled newspaper Straits Times reports in it's Sept 05, 2013 edition, "Heavy rains, flash floods reported over several parts of Singapore" Please see report http://www.straitstimes.com/breaking-news/singapore/story/heavy-rain-causes-flashfloods-traffic-jams-several-parts-singapore-201
Several areas including Dunearn, Queenstown and Commonwealth were several feet underwater causing damage to many motor vehicles as is routine in these instances of frequent flooding. Only some months ago, it was reported that Singapore had several sea walls built to prevent these floods but it appears nothing is working. It sounds as if now they are resigned to the inevitable sea level rise in Lee Kuan Yew's tropical island with nothing further to be done, but just wait while the floods get higher and higher, more and more frequent until such time the island is no longer livable with it's sardine packed population.
I remember not too long ago when the flooding phenomenon first showed it's head, Lee Kuan Yew's son, the Prime Minister and the entire government was abuzz with theories upon theories daily in their newspapers as to how they would resist Mother Nature's resolve.
One theory was to build overheard storage tanks to hold the water, another was to build underground tanks, yet another was to plant spaces on rooftops to soak up the water, another was to build a huge underground tank in Dempsey Road and so went the fantasy for days and days without end. It appears none worked and the flooding has only become more frequent and more intense.
As of late there is no more fantastic solutions being published in their propaganda newspapers on solutions to the flooding. Lee Kuan Yew's sons' government it appears has finally given up. Apart from just reporting on the floods they have ran out of ideas.
And you notice it is like that with everything else in that island. At one point the state controlled dailies reported on attempts to solve a shrinking population and the low birth rate. All sorts of solutions were reported such as increasing the number of ethnic Chinese dating agencies (the government only wants to increase the Chinese birth rate, not Malay or Indian), announcing increased perks and allowances for mothers who gave birth and even showing pornography on late night TV in the hope they would procreate. When they found that despite all these efforts Chinese mothers fertility rate instead of rising, actually declined even further, that subject too was shelved. Now there is no more talk of trying to solve the island's world record low birth rate.
Once there was an attempt to make people speak better English. When instead of doing that, their English got worse, they gave that up too. Another case where they persuaded people to be more gracious. When they began slashing each other in gang fights and road rage incidents, that too was shelved. Then there was the worry over the brain drain. At one point Lee Kuan Yew, Goh Chock Tong and other senior ministers went to the capitals of the world to lure the huge numbers of overseas Singaporeans to return. When no one did, they gave that up too.
You can see that Singapore has not only given up in their attempts to solve the flooding issue, they have just about given up on everything else. This is what happens when you have a top down government giving orders and demanding obedience from a population which has altogether given up any participation with their government for fear that only praises will be heard and opposing views will not only be ignored but may even lead you into hot soup.
The end result is a total gridlock of ideas by the government with total apathy on the part of it's citizens. This is what happens in dictatorships and totalitarian countries all over the world. They try to solve the country's problems but when the people have to live in fear of their government, they don't usually want to say or do much. Without the people with them, totalitarian governments usually find it impossible to solve even mundane problems.
Gopalan Nair
Attorney at Law
A Singaporean in Exile
Fremont, California, USA
Tel: 510 491 4375
Email: nair.gopalan@yahoo.com
Singapore's state controlled newspaper Straits Times reports in it's Sept 05, 2013 edition, "Heavy rains, flash floods reported over several parts of Singapore" Please see report http://www.straitstimes.com/breaking-news/singapore/story/heavy-rain-causes-flashfloods-traffic-jams-several-parts-singapore-201
Several areas including Dunearn, Queenstown and Commonwealth were several feet underwater causing damage to many motor vehicles as is routine in these instances of frequent flooding. Only some months ago, it was reported that Singapore had several sea walls built to prevent these floods but it appears nothing is working. It sounds as if now they are resigned to the inevitable sea level rise in Lee Kuan Yew's tropical island with nothing further to be done, but just wait while the floods get higher and higher, more and more frequent until such time the island is no longer livable with it's sardine packed population.
I remember not too long ago when the flooding phenomenon first showed it's head, Lee Kuan Yew's son, the Prime Minister and the entire government was abuzz with theories upon theories daily in their newspapers as to how they would resist Mother Nature's resolve.
One theory was to build overheard storage tanks to hold the water, another was to build underground tanks, yet another was to plant spaces on rooftops to soak up the water, another was to build a huge underground tank in Dempsey Road and so went the fantasy for days and days without end. It appears none worked and the flooding has only become more frequent and more intense.
As of late there is no more fantastic solutions being published in their propaganda newspapers on solutions to the flooding. Lee Kuan Yew's sons' government it appears has finally given up. Apart from just reporting on the floods they have ran out of ideas.
And you notice it is like that with everything else in that island. At one point the state controlled dailies reported on attempts to solve a shrinking population and the low birth rate. All sorts of solutions were reported such as increasing the number of ethnic Chinese dating agencies (the government only wants to increase the Chinese birth rate, not Malay or Indian), announcing increased perks and allowances for mothers who gave birth and even showing pornography on late night TV in the hope they would procreate. When they found that despite all these efforts Chinese mothers fertility rate instead of rising, actually declined even further, that subject too was shelved. Now there is no more talk of trying to solve the island's world record low birth rate.
Once there was an attempt to make people speak better English. When instead of doing that, their English got worse, they gave that up too. Another case where they persuaded people to be more gracious. When they began slashing each other in gang fights and road rage incidents, that too was shelved. Then there was the worry over the brain drain. At one point Lee Kuan Yew, Goh Chock Tong and other senior ministers went to the capitals of the world to lure the huge numbers of overseas Singaporeans to return. When no one did, they gave that up too.
You can see that Singapore has not only given up in their attempts to solve the flooding issue, they have just about given up on everything else. This is what happens when you have a top down government giving orders and demanding obedience from a population which has altogether given up any participation with their government for fear that only praises will be heard and opposing views will not only be ignored but may even lead you into hot soup.
The end result is a total gridlock of ideas by the government with total apathy on the part of it's citizens. This is what happens in dictatorships and totalitarian countries all over the world. They try to solve the country's problems but when the people have to live in fear of their government, they don't usually want to say or do much. Without the people with them, totalitarian governments usually find it impossible to solve even mundane problems.
Gopalan Nair
Attorney at Law
A Singaporean in Exile
Fremont, California, USA
Tel: 510 491 4375
Email: nair.gopalan@yahoo.com
Tuesday, September 3, 2013
Singapore, Lee Kuan Yew's island paradise.
Ladies and Gentlemen,
Anyone who comes to Lee Kuan Yew's creation, Singapore island, is first struck by it's cleanliness. The streets are so clean, you can almost eat your Chinese noodles with chopsticks straight off the pavement! But there is a reason for this. And it is not because Singaporeans are congenitally born clean. The reason is Big Brother, meaning Lee Kuan Yew. He is watching you. Beware.
The government needs to keep the streets clean to encourage foreign investors to invest. They wouldn't do it if you had dirty streets would they? Which is why there is a hefty fine for anyone who litters. It is something like $500.00 the first time and a jail term the second. In any case it brings in an enormous amount of revenue in fines. So either way it is a win win situation. The streets are clean. If not we get your money.
And there are police both in uniform, incognito beyond every wall nook and corner to catch litter bugs. Singapore has the largest number of police both in uniform and undercover, security officers, and intelligence men. Your every movement is watched. Big Brother is watching you.
We pay our Ministers $3.7 million a year, five times what President Obama gets. If anyone calls this corruption, we will sue them. We have to pay them this money because if we don't they will become corrupt. So what do you want? A corrupt minister or one that is paid $3.7 million a year? Decide. Now you see the argument, I hope. In any case you can complain as much as you want. We just don't care. We will do whatever we want.
Have you noticed, Singapore has no strikes. Not because the workers are so happy and contended. Strikes are bad for foreign investment. Americans will not invest in a country with strikes. So we have to make strikes illegal. Anyone who strikes is promptly arrested and sent to jail to deter others of even thinking of striking. We have to make labor conditions attractive to the employers. This way there will be more work for everyone. So Singapore does not have any strikes. We have to think of the what is good for the employer. Local Singapore workers are nothing. Please understand that.
Singapore's trains and buses always run on time. If any driver is late or does not turn up for work we just sack him. We have to show a good image to foreigners who invest in the island. They will not come if train drivers are late and unpunctual. What is important is the image we create to the West and to investors. We rely on them for our livelihood. The rights of local Singaporeans unless you belong to Lee Kuan Yew's family or his party will be ignored. The average Singaporean is nothing. Business is everything. Always remember that.
There are no race relations laws in the island. Why because we have to make it as attractive as possible to employers. Employers who prefer Chinese wouldn't be happy if we told them they had to take a Malay. Forcing them to be racially fair would damage our business interests and turn away empoyers. Remember we should not do anything that makes it inconvenient for employers because employers are everything, the local Singaporean is nothing.
There are no minimum wage laws in Singapore. Why, because once again we have to make working conditions attractive for employers. Only then would they invest in the island and we will prosper. By looking after the interest of the silly local office boy, Singapore does not benefit. That is why employers are allowed to pay workers any wage they want. If workers are unhappy, they could always kill themselves. As it is now, there was 471 suicides a year, or about 2 a day. We don't mind if it is 3. If these poor people die, it will not hurt the Singapore economy. But it will hurt it if the employers are unhappy. So if you have no money, go kill yourself. It is very easy. Simply jump from your government owned high rise apartment.
People do not have the freedom of speech. Denying the people freedom of speech is good for the economy. We don't want people to be going around criticizing our Ministers because their reputation might be damaged. And if their reputation is damaged, they will not be able to do the good work they now do. Their feelings would be hurt. Also it would adversely affect their ability to rule. So we have denied the islanders the freedom of speech. The people don't need freedom of speech to survive. So there is no harm in denying freedom of speech. Moreover if people criticize their government foreign investors may think there is something wrong with the Ministers. We don't want to give that impression. It is bad for business.
We do not allow freedom of assembly. This will create disruption to the economy. Moreover others might be emboldened to do this. This will disrupt work among the population, and block streets and alleyways. Foreign investors might be put off and discouraged from investing in the island. Demonstrations and protests are bad for business and we have made it illegal. Singaporeans are not allowed to protest. The only place they can do it is at Hong Lim Park even though your grievance may have nothing to do with Chinatown but with Semabawang Shipyard. Sorry you cannot protest outside Sembawang Shipyard but only at Hong Lim Park. If no one knew about your protest, it is your problem not mine.
Chinese are preferred over Indians and Malays in Singapore. That is why the government continues to bring in Chinese immigrants from China to boost their numbers. Singapore does not accept any Malays. Why because the Malays are lazy and will not work as hard as the Chinese. Moreover the Malays and Indians complain more than the Chinese. Chinese are Confucian and do as they are told. We like that. Singapore relies a great deal on Communist China for it's business and therefore we have to show them that we racially discriminate in favor of the Chinese. The Malays and Indians are simply too weak and can do nothing if we ignore them. That is why we will do whatever we want and continue to import plane loads of Chinese.
Singapore has the best legal system and the best judges in the world. Singapore's rule of law is respected across the world. It is the world's busiest legal hub. If anyone says otherwise, he is an ignorant fool. And if your persist in criticizing our legal system, we will charge you with contempt of court. We cannot allow anyone to malign our legal system because it will adversely affect business to do that. Have you seen anyone criticizing Singapore legal system? No, you have therefore answered your own question.
If anyone vandalizes property or commits drug or serious crime, we will cane (beat) them. Once we give someone a beating like that, he will never commit any crime again. We want to break his will and his spirit. In any case, those who commit such crimes are local Singaporeans who are unimportant. We can ignore them. They are nothing. Surely it is good to beat and torture people so that you purge them of their criminal proclivity. We want to see an island of good people and if we have to torture you to achieve it, we will do it.
Singapore also produces bad people like Gopalan Nair. He is a bad man and decided to criticize our judges and our legal system. He decided to run away to America. He is a traitor. We have sent him to jail and held him in solitary confinement, disbarred him from practicing law in Singapore and deported him. As result he cannot enter Singapore the paradise island anymore. Yet he still persists in criticizing us by writing his silly blogs from America. We have completely ignored him and have warned Singaporeans not to read his blog Singapore Dissident and not to follow in his footsteps. Many Singaporeans have followed the government's advice and have refused to read his blog or have anything to do with him. They don't want to suffer the punishment that Gopalan Nair had to endure. They want Gopalan Nair to be declared the most hated man in Singapore.
People are not allowed to chew gum. Gum can be messy. People have stuck gum on train doors causing it to break down. We don't want trains to break down. Therefore we have decided to make it a criminal offense to import gum. We don't care if the rest of the world is laughing at us for this. We are the best island in the world.
We don't have a free press. Every newspaper is owned and controlled by the government. A free press is bad because if we allow anyone to write anything they want, local Singaporeans may write bad things about our beloved leader Lee Kuan Yew or his beloved son. If this happens, they would lose their moral authority to rule. Moreover people will write wrong things about our beloved island which may adversely affect our business. This will drive away foreign investment. It is best if we decide what can be written and published. That way we will know that the news is always correct.
Freedom House has declared that we have no free press and our papers are worse than those in Somalia. This is wrong. Freedom House are a bunch of hippies who run around with flowers in their hair. They are an irresponsible bunch let alone shameless lairs. In fact Singapore newspapers are the best in the world and New York Times have sent delegations to the island to learn how we do it. Last year our beloved leader Lee Kuan Yew seated in his wheelchair, bestowed the world's best newspaper award on our own newspaper the Straits Times. Singapore has the best newspapers in the world.
Last year Singapore workers are found to have worked the longest hours in the world. They are not working that long because they love it. They do it because if they don't they would be fired. After all it is a good thing to be hardworking. It does not matter if you have no leisure at all.
In Singapore, 90 year old men are seen to be working cleaning tables. This is because they don't want to be idle and prefer to be occupied. Tell me, surely it is better to be working than sitting around wasting your time. That is why our citizens who are 90 years old show a good example to others by working cleaning tables.
Singapore is the one country that ticks. Welcome to Lee Kuan Yew's Singapore.
Gopalan Nair
Attorney at Law
A signaporean in exile
Fremont, California, USA
Tel: 510 491 4375
Emmail: nair.gopalan@yahoo.com
Anyone who comes to Lee Kuan Yew's creation, Singapore island, is first struck by it's cleanliness. The streets are so clean, you can almost eat your Chinese noodles with chopsticks straight off the pavement! But there is a reason for this. And it is not because Singaporeans are congenitally born clean. The reason is Big Brother, meaning Lee Kuan Yew. He is watching you. Beware.
The government needs to keep the streets clean to encourage foreign investors to invest. They wouldn't do it if you had dirty streets would they? Which is why there is a hefty fine for anyone who litters. It is something like $500.00 the first time and a jail term the second. In any case it brings in an enormous amount of revenue in fines. So either way it is a win win situation. The streets are clean. If not we get your money.
And there are police both in uniform, incognito beyond every wall nook and corner to catch litter bugs. Singapore has the largest number of police both in uniform and undercover, security officers, and intelligence men. Your every movement is watched. Big Brother is watching you.
We pay our Ministers $3.7 million a year, five times what President Obama gets. If anyone calls this corruption, we will sue them. We have to pay them this money because if we don't they will become corrupt. So what do you want? A corrupt minister or one that is paid $3.7 million a year? Decide. Now you see the argument, I hope. In any case you can complain as much as you want. We just don't care. We will do whatever we want.
Have you noticed, Singapore has no strikes. Not because the workers are so happy and contended. Strikes are bad for foreign investment. Americans will not invest in a country with strikes. So we have to make strikes illegal. Anyone who strikes is promptly arrested and sent to jail to deter others of even thinking of striking. We have to make labor conditions attractive to the employers. This way there will be more work for everyone. So Singapore does not have any strikes. We have to think of the what is good for the employer. Local Singapore workers are nothing. Please understand that.
Singapore's trains and buses always run on time. If any driver is late or does not turn up for work we just sack him. We have to show a good image to foreigners who invest in the island. They will not come if train drivers are late and unpunctual. What is important is the image we create to the West and to investors. We rely on them for our livelihood. The rights of local Singaporeans unless you belong to Lee Kuan Yew's family or his party will be ignored. The average Singaporean is nothing. Business is everything. Always remember that.
There are no race relations laws in the island. Why because we have to make it as attractive as possible to employers. Employers who prefer Chinese wouldn't be happy if we told them they had to take a Malay. Forcing them to be racially fair would damage our business interests and turn away empoyers. Remember we should not do anything that makes it inconvenient for employers because employers are everything, the local Singaporean is nothing.
There are no minimum wage laws in Singapore. Why, because once again we have to make working conditions attractive for employers. Only then would they invest in the island and we will prosper. By looking after the interest of the silly local office boy, Singapore does not benefit. That is why employers are allowed to pay workers any wage they want. If workers are unhappy, they could always kill themselves. As it is now, there was 471 suicides a year, or about 2 a day. We don't mind if it is 3. If these poor people die, it will not hurt the Singapore economy. But it will hurt it if the employers are unhappy. So if you have no money, go kill yourself. It is very easy. Simply jump from your government owned high rise apartment.
People do not have the freedom of speech. Denying the people freedom of speech is good for the economy. We don't want people to be going around criticizing our Ministers because their reputation might be damaged. And if their reputation is damaged, they will not be able to do the good work they now do. Their feelings would be hurt. Also it would adversely affect their ability to rule. So we have denied the islanders the freedom of speech. The people don't need freedom of speech to survive. So there is no harm in denying freedom of speech. Moreover if people criticize their government foreign investors may think there is something wrong with the Ministers. We don't want to give that impression. It is bad for business.
We do not allow freedom of assembly. This will create disruption to the economy. Moreover others might be emboldened to do this. This will disrupt work among the population, and block streets and alleyways. Foreign investors might be put off and discouraged from investing in the island. Demonstrations and protests are bad for business and we have made it illegal. Singaporeans are not allowed to protest. The only place they can do it is at Hong Lim Park even though your grievance may have nothing to do with Chinatown but with Semabawang Shipyard. Sorry you cannot protest outside Sembawang Shipyard but only at Hong Lim Park. If no one knew about your protest, it is your problem not mine.
Chinese are preferred over Indians and Malays in Singapore. That is why the government continues to bring in Chinese immigrants from China to boost their numbers. Singapore does not accept any Malays. Why because the Malays are lazy and will not work as hard as the Chinese. Moreover the Malays and Indians complain more than the Chinese. Chinese are Confucian and do as they are told. We like that. Singapore relies a great deal on Communist China for it's business and therefore we have to show them that we racially discriminate in favor of the Chinese. The Malays and Indians are simply too weak and can do nothing if we ignore them. That is why we will do whatever we want and continue to import plane loads of Chinese.
Singapore has the best legal system and the best judges in the world. Singapore's rule of law is respected across the world. It is the world's busiest legal hub. If anyone says otherwise, he is an ignorant fool. And if your persist in criticizing our legal system, we will charge you with contempt of court. We cannot allow anyone to malign our legal system because it will adversely affect business to do that. Have you seen anyone criticizing Singapore legal system? No, you have therefore answered your own question.
If anyone vandalizes property or commits drug or serious crime, we will cane (beat) them. Once we give someone a beating like that, he will never commit any crime again. We want to break his will and his spirit. In any case, those who commit such crimes are local Singaporeans who are unimportant. We can ignore them. They are nothing. Surely it is good to beat and torture people so that you purge them of their criminal proclivity. We want to see an island of good people and if we have to torture you to achieve it, we will do it.
Singapore also produces bad people like Gopalan Nair. He is a bad man and decided to criticize our judges and our legal system. He decided to run away to America. He is a traitor. We have sent him to jail and held him in solitary confinement, disbarred him from practicing law in Singapore and deported him. As result he cannot enter Singapore the paradise island anymore. Yet he still persists in criticizing us by writing his silly blogs from America. We have completely ignored him and have warned Singaporeans not to read his blog Singapore Dissident and not to follow in his footsteps. Many Singaporeans have followed the government's advice and have refused to read his blog or have anything to do with him. They don't want to suffer the punishment that Gopalan Nair had to endure. They want Gopalan Nair to be declared the most hated man in Singapore.
People are not allowed to chew gum. Gum can be messy. People have stuck gum on train doors causing it to break down. We don't want trains to break down. Therefore we have decided to make it a criminal offense to import gum. We don't care if the rest of the world is laughing at us for this. We are the best island in the world.
We don't have a free press. Every newspaper is owned and controlled by the government. A free press is bad because if we allow anyone to write anything they want, local Singaporeans may write bad things about our beloved leader Lee Kuan Yew or his beloved son. If this happens, they would lose their moral authority to rule. Moreover people will write wrong things about our beloved island which may adversely affect our business. This will drive away foreign investment. It is best if we decide what can be written and published. That way we will know that the news is always correct.
Freedom House has declared that we have no free press and our papers are worse than those in Somalia. This is wrong. Freedom House are a bunch of hippies who run around with flowers in their hair. They are an irresponsible bunch let alone shameless lairs. In fact Singapore newspapers are the best in the world and New York Times have sent delegations to the island to learn how we do it. Last year our beloved leader Lee Kuan Yew seated in his wheelchair, bestowed the world's best newspaper award on our own newspaper the Straits Times. Singapore has the best newspapers in the world.
Last year Singapore workers are found to have worked the longest hours in the world. They are not working that long because they love it. They do it because if they don't they would be fired. After all it is a good thing to be hardworking. It does not matter if you have no leisure at all.
In Singapore, 90 year old men are seen to be working cleaning tables. This is because they don't want to be idle and prefer to be occupied. Tell me, surely it is better to be working than sitting around wasting your time. That is why our citizens who are 90 years old show a good example to others by working cleaning tables.
Singapore is the one country that ticks. Welcome to Lee Kuan Yew's Singapore.
Gopalan Nair
Attorney at Law
A signaporean in exile
Fremont, California, USA
Tel: 510 491 4375
Emmail: nair.gopalan@yahoo.com
Singapore's China Dynasty style Scholar Ministers.
Ladies and Gentlemen,
Singapore's Lee Kuan Yew, was the world's longest serving Minister when he finally stepped down in 2011. Despite what the Constitution says he decided on his own style of government which is, he alone is in charge of Singapore, like a God or a Fuhrer. In order to govern, he needs Ministers and civil servants which he personally selects and forces them upon his people.
These handpicked ministers are accountable only to him. If he is no longer pleased he simply removes them. The people have no say in any of this.
This is how the selection takes place. He holds island wide elections every five years. Instead of leaders in society coming forward to contest them as the people's representatives, he orders scholars who have returned from abroad on government funded scholarship to attend at his office in his Singapore palace, the Istana. This is locally called "an invitation to tea".
The invited scholars naturally jump at the opportunity as they know this is the moment of their lives they have been waiting for. If Lee Kuan Yew selects them into his political party to stand for elections, they will not only win, they would overnight be transformed into leaders and Ministers in his government which means astronomically high salaries turning them into millionaires in no time. They are set for life under the patronage and protection of the most powerful man in Singapore, Lee Kuan Yew.
At these "tea party" invitations at his palace, these lucky shortlisted candidates are put through a series of psychological tests, IQ tests and a number of other tests such as judging them for their acumen at teamwork and other qualities. They are also asked to swear their undivided loyalty to him as is the case in all dictatorships.
Once selected, the lucky candidate is fielded at elections. He will invariably win, no doubt about it. This is because the people have already been sufficiently intimidated and terrified after what has happened in previous elections to know that you not only have no chance of winning against Lee's party, it may also seriously damage your health, your pocket or even your liberty.
The people are already aware that standing for elections against Lee Kuan Yew would attract his wrath, resulting in defamation actions which he will always win resulting in your bankruptcy. His judges where your case will be heard are his Kangaroos who will do whatever he wants.
Alternatively you may be criminally prosecuted with fake charges and sent to jail. What happened to JB Jeyaretnam, an opposition candidate who was repeatedly sued, jailed and bankrupted is still very fresh in the average Singaporean's mind. So is the plight of Dr. Chee Soon Juan another victim who had the misfortune of challenging Lee Kuan Yew at the polls.
As a result, Singaporeans have already been sufficiently intimidated not to stand in Lee Kuan Yew or his son's way. Lee Kuan Yew is not too dissimilar to the South African snake the Black Mamba. If threatened the Black Mamba is known to repeatedly strike his victim making sure he doesn't get away.
In the 2011 elections nearly all constituencies were contested. However no single constituency was won by any real opposition. Loh Thia Khaing of the Workers Party succeeded in winning seven seats. But Lee has managed to ensure that Loh is not the genuine product, he is not going to further the cause of the opposition. He has been around for a decade if not more, during which time the peoples rights have further diminished, not advanced.
In fact Loh has himself admitted that his job is to ensure that Lee Kuan Yew and his party remains in power. All he will do, by his own admission, is to be a watchdog for the Lee government, by which he means that occasionally he would make a few subdued noises in Parliament and then go home.
As a result of his being literally a double agent, like a spy who is working for both sides, the people of Singapore have been effectively fooled. Any vote for Loh is in fact a vote for Lee Kuan Yew and his son. Voting for the Workers Party is like getting two Lee Kuan Yews for the price of one.
After winning these stage managed elections, these Lee Kuan Yew scholars are thrust upon the people through the state controlled press. Their pictures are prominently displayed in the propaganda media. From that point, they will begin to advice people how to live, what they should do, and what they will do for the people, although in reality they don't in fact represent anyone. They are literally thrust down the throats of the citizens through rigged elections.
If you are asking why they would always win, this is the reason. Firstly no sensible person in his right mind would really want to challenge Lee Kuan Yew or his son. As a result, just as in the last elections every single opposition candidate was a timorous terrified reluctant soul carefully self censoring himself to make sure the mighty Lee Kuan Yew is not offended.
There is a pervasive fear running across the island against voting for a non-Lee Kuan Yew candidate. Everyone in Singapore lives in a HDB flat which is owned by the Lee Kuan Yew government. Under their lease agreements the government is entitled to terminate the lease and throw you out in the street, with or without reason. It is a document in fine print that runs into reams of pages, which if you read would probably give you a headache.
Also, the people have a fear that your vote can be traced to you and if they find out you voted for the opposition, you may lose your apartment. They fear that Lee may cause you to lose your job, your prospect of promotion, your livelihood. They fear that Lee may even harass and victimize your entire family.
In Lee's thinking, Loh Thia Khiang is seen as a supporter. In fact he doesn't mind your voting for him. He would actually encourage you to vote for Loh as he serves a valuable purpose. It gives the impression to the world that Singapore has a multi party system because he has got the votes, while at the same time Lee knows the Workers Party is no threat thereby enabling the PAP to continue their one party rule. Voting for the Workers Party for Lee is like killing two birds with one stone.
Singapore's is a government on the same style as the Chinese Emperors of ancient China. There the Emperor enabled those who passed exams, thereby becoming enlightened, to rule over the illiterate masses. These scholars do not have to represent anyone. They become instant leaders by virtue of the fact of having passed the exams. They are only answerable to the Emperor, not the people.
Lee Kuan Yew's government today is run exactly the same way as the Chinese Emperors. Lee chooses bright students who have been sent abroad on government scholarships. On passing their exams they are fielded at elections which they will invariably win at which point they are commissioned with the authority to rule their subjects, regardless of the fact that you may have never seen or heard of them before except at the last election. And by the way each one of them is paid millions, $3.7 million each annually, the highest paid politicians in the world. From that point on, their stars shine on them thanks to Lee Kuan Yew and Imperial China.
This is why it makes my blood boil to have to read in their state controlled papers that Deputy Prime Minister Teo Chee Hean has advised us to do this or do that, or the Tamil law Minister K Shanmugam is telling us that it is like this or like that, let alone their passing whatever legislation they wish to pass to deny ever more rights of their subjects.
Which makes me want to ask them the question, who the Hell do you think you are anyway? These people have no legal authority let alone any moral authority to tell us anything because they were never elected in any free and fair election. They were simply thrust upon us.
And never mind how many exams each of them have passed, they simply are not representative of a single human being in that island. In fact each of them is merely an ugly unethical opportunist who was lucky to have done well in school and passed his exams and managed to catch Lee Kuan Yew's eye; enabling them to become very very rich at the expense of Singaporeans.
This sort of system might have worked in ancient China but it will not work in Singapore today. If it has managed to last this long, it is just because the people did not have the Internet and there weren't people like Gopalan Nair to point out to them that they were being taken for a ride. And write this with impunity I might add because Gopalan Nair lives in Fremont California and Lee's Kangaroos in his Kangaroo Courts have no jurisdiction where Gopalan Nair lives. And therefore Gopalan Nair can write this and go to bed without having to fear of any defamation action, fake criminal charges or imprisonment.
Singapore people today are either going to be dumb and accept such nonsense or they would just pack up their bags and emigrate to the West. Or even better take to the streets and demand an end to this nonsense.
This is why the numbers of Singaporeans who leave their shores for the West continue to climb while the tiny population continues to comprise increasingly of recent arrivals from the neighboring impoverished countries who don't care one bit if they are ruled by a monkey.
Gopalan Nair
Attorney at Law
A Singaporean in Exile
Fremont, California, USA
Tel: 510 491 4375
Email: nair.gopalan@yahoo.com
Singapore's Lee Kuan Yew, was the world's longest serving Minister when he finally stepped down in 2011. Despite what the Constitution says he decided on his own style of government which is, he alone is in charge of Singapore, like a God or a Fuhrer. In order to govern, he needs Ministers and civil servants which he personally selects and forces them upon his people.
These handpicked ministers are accountable only to him. If he is no longer pleased he simply removes them. The people have no say in any of this.
This is how the selection takes place. He holds island wide elections every five years. Instead of leaders in society coming forward to contest them as the people's representatives, he orders scholars who have returned from abroad on government funded scholarship to attend at his office in his Singapore palace, the Istana. This is locally called "an invitation to tea".
The invited scholars naturally jump at the opportunity as they know this is the moment of their lives they have been waiting for. If Lee Kuan Yew selects them into his political party to stand for elections, they will not only win, they would overnight be transformed into leaders and Ministers in his government which means astronomically high salaries turning them into millionaires in no time. They are set for life under the patronage and protection of the most powerful man in Singapore, Lee Kuan Yew.
At these "tea party" invitations at his palace, these lucky shortlisted candidates are put through a series of psychological tests, IQ tests and a number of other tests such as judging them for their acumen at teamwork and other qualities. They are also asked to swear their undivided loyalty to him as is the case in all dictatorships.
Once selected, the lucky candidate is fielded at elections. He will invariably win, no doubt about it. This is because the people have already been sufficiently intimidated and terrified after what has happened in previous elections to know that you not only have no chance of winning against Lee's party, it may also seriously damage your health, your pocket or even your liberty.
The people are already aware that standing for elections against Lee Kuan Yew would attract his wrath, resulting in defamation actions which he will always win resulting in your bankruptcy. His judges where your case will be heard are his Kangaroos who will do whatever he wants.
Alternatively you may be criminally prosecuted with fake charges and sent to jail. What happened to JB Jeyaretnam, an opposition candidate who was repeatedly sued, jailed and bankrupted is still very fresh in the average Singaporean's mind. So is the plight of Dr. Chee Soon Juan another victim who had the misfortune of challenging Lee Kuan Yew at the polls.
As a result, Singaporeans have already been sufficiently intimidated not to stand in Lee Kuan Yew or his son's way. Lee Kuan Yew is not too dissimilar to the South African snake the Black Mamba. If threatened the Black Mamba is known to repeatedly strike his victim making sure he doesn't get away.
In the 2011 elections nearly all constituencies were contested. However no single constituency was won by any real opposition. Loh Thia Khaing of the Workers Party succeeded in winning seven seats. But Lee has managed to ensure that Loh is not the genuine product, he is not going to further the cause of the opposition. He has been around for a decade if not more, during which time the peoples rights have further diminished, not advanced.
In fact Loh has himself admitted that his job is to ensure that Lee Kuan Yew and his party remains in power. All he will do, by his own admission, is to be a watchdog for the Lee government, by which he means that occasionally he would make a few subdued noises in Parliament and then go home.
As a result of his being literally a double agent, like a spy who is working for both sides, the people of Singapore have been effectively fooled. Any vote for Loh is in fact a vote for Lee Kuan Yew and his son. Voting for the Workers Party is like getting two Lee Kuan Yews for the price of one.
After winning these stage managed elections, these Lee Kuan Yew scholars are thrust upon the people through the state controlled press. Their pictures are prominently displayed in the propaganda media. From that point, they will begin to advice people how to live, what they should do, and what they will do for the people, although in reality they don't in fact represent anyone. They are literally thrust down the throats of the citizens through rigged elections.
If you are asking why they would always win, this is the reason. Firstly no sensible person in his right mind would really want to challenge Lee Kuan Yew or his son. As a result, just as in the last elections every single opposition candidate was a timorous terrified reluctant soul carefully self censoring himself to make sure the mighty Lee Kuan Yew is not offended.
There is a pervasive fear running across the island against voting for a non-Lee Kuan Yew candidate. Everyone in Singapore lives in a HDB flat which is owned by the Lee Kuan Yew government. Under their lease agreements the government is entitled to terminate the lease and throw you out in the street, with or without reason. It is a document in fine print that runs into reams of pages, which if you read would probably give you a headache.
Also, the people have a fear that your vote can be traced to you and if they find out you voted for the opposition, you may lose your apartment. They fear that Lee may cause you to lose your job, your prospect of promotion, your livelihood. They fear that Lee may even harass and victimize your entire family.
In Lee's thinking, Loh Thia Khiang is seen as a supporter. In fact he doesn't mind your voting for him. He would actually encourage you to vote for Loh as he serves a valuable purpose. It gives the impression to the world that Singapore has a multi party system because he has got the votes, while at the same time Lee knows the Workers Party is no threat thereby enabling the PAP to continue their one party rule. Voting for the Workers Party for Lee is like killing two birds with one stone.
Singapore's is a government on the same style as the Chinese Emperors of ancient China. There the Emperor enabled those who passed exams, thereby becoming enlightened, to rule over the illiterate masses. These scholars do not have to represent anyone. They become instant leaders by virtue of the fact of having passed the exams. They are only answerable to the Emperor, not the people.
Lee Kuan Yew's government today is run exactly the same way as the Chinese Emperors. Lee chooses bright students who have been sent abroad on government scholarships. On passing their exams they are fielded at elections which they will invariably win at which point they are commissioned with the authority to rule their subjects, regardless of the fact that you may have never seen or heard of them before except at the last election. And by the way each one of them is paid millions, $3.7 million each annually, the highest paid politicians in the world. From that point on, their stars shine on them thanks to Lee Kuan Yew and Imperial China.
This is why it makes my blood boil to have to read in their state controlled papers that Deputy Prime Minister Teo Chee Hean has advised us to do this or do that, or the Tamil law Minister K Shanmugam is telling us that it is like this or like that, let alone their passing whatever legislation they wish to pass to deny ever more rights of their subjects.
Which makes me want to ask them the question, who the Hell do you think you are anyway? These people have no legal authority let alone any moral authority to tell us anything because they were never elected in any free and fair election. They were simply thrust upon us.
And never mind how many exams each of them have passed, they simply are not representative of a single human being in that island. In fact each of them is merely an ugly unethical opportunist who was lucky to have done well in school and passed his exams and managed to catch Lee Kuan Yew's eye; enabling them to become very very rich at the expense of Singaporeans.
This sort of system might have worked in ancient China but it will not work in Singapore today. If it has managed to last this long, it is just because the people did not have the Internet and there weren't people like Gopalan Nair to point out to them that they were being taken for a ride. And write this with impunity I might add because Gopalan Nair lives in Fremont California and Lee's Kangaroos in his Kangaroo Courts have no jurisdiction where Gopalan Nair lives. And therefore Gopalan Nair can write this and go to bed without having to fear of any defamation action, fake criminal charges or imprisonment.
Singapore people today are either going to be dumb and accept such nonsense or they would just pack up their bags and emigrate to the West. Or even better take to the streets and demand an end to this nonsense.
This is why the numbers of Singaporeans who leave their shores for the West continue to climb while the tiny population continues to comprise increasingly of recent arrivals from the neighboring impoverished countries who don't care one bit if they are ruled by a monkey.
Gopalan Nair
Attorney at Law
A Singaporean in Exile
Fremont, California, USA
Tel: 510 491 4375
Email: nair.gopalan@yahoo.com
Monday, September 2, 2013
Singapore Lee Kuan Yew style schools do not produce independent thinkers, but timorous fear ridden robots
Ladies and Gentlemen,
There is already a mounting brain drain from the island to the West.
Many are families with young children who do not want to submit their children's education to the Lee Kuan Yew style, you-listen-to-me-or-else style of education where teachers are required to warn their student's not to criticize the government for fear they would be arrested and jailed by their island's Kangaroo courts.
Surely an education is intended not only to teach the child math's and science and English but also the importance of courage, integrity, compassion and a sense of duty and civic conscience.
Most important of all, a child should be taught to stand for his principles and not submit to any tin pot tyrant like that running around in that island today such as Lee Kuan Yew and his son the Prime Minister; not to forget the importance of being able to tell right from wrong and even to stand up to your beliefs even if it meant your life.
Surely the most important quality that a child should have is the ability to form principles and the realization that it is honorable to live up to those ideals and opinions. Surely that is what differentiates a leader from a mere follower. But Lee Kuan Yew's Singapore does not want any leaders, but only followers.
In Singapore where the government is in essence a fascist state which demands under pain of arrest imprisonment or defamation lawsuits that everyone subscribe to the ethos and doctrines of Lee's ruling party, which by the way is indefensible for no other reason than it is based on fascism, not democracy, every single parent and every single teacher in that island out of fear of their government tells their children that they are required to think the way the government wants and simply do as they are told.
In such a society that child is literally brainwashed into thinking that submission to government views is the only safe way to live. The end product of such an education is a person who is incapable of independent thinking and only capable of doing as he is told. This stunting behavior training results in his being able to survive only in a society like Singapore but is completely unequipped if asked to live in western societies where independent thinking is crucial to success.
Singapore parents should remember that Lee Kuan Yew government deliberately has this policy to instill obedience in their children only because such unquestioning human beings are easy to govern than would another society such as Americans or Australian. This as you can see is a deliberate nefarious and pernicious plan to suit themselves. They have no concern whatsoever of the permanent emotional and psychological damage they are causing to your children's mind.
Therefore if any parent in Singapore is reading this blog post, if you can take your child out of Singapore you should do it. Remember the child's young years are crucial in their overall development. The sooner you can leave the better.
If he is a son, take him out before he is liable for national service, simply do not return for enlistment and just stay away from the island. Refusing to do national serviced is not an extraditable offence and the government can simply do nothing to you or your son. They cannot force him to return. As I write thousands and thousands of young Singaporeans have already left the island and Lee Kuan Yew's Singapore is having a hard time trying to fill up their empty army barracks and their schools.
This is an island which is determined to fail by their repressive harebrained policies and I don't think you or I has any duty to educate them. If they are determined to destroy their island through this stupidity, why should I or anyone else stand in their way.
Gopalan Nair
Attorney at Law
A Singaporean in Exile
Fremont, California, USA
Tel: 510 491 4375
Email: nair.gopalan@yahoo.com
There is already a mounting brain drain from the island to the West.
Many are families with young children who do not want to submit their children's education to the Lee Kuan Yew style, you-listen-to-me-or-else style of education where teachers are required to warn their student's not to criticize the government for fear they would be arrested and jailed by their island's Kangaroo courts.
Surely an education is intended not only to teach the child math's and science and English but also the importance of courage, integrity, compassion and a sense of duty and civic conscience.
Most important of all, a child should be taught to stand for his principles and not submit to any tin pot tyrant like that running around in that island today such as Lee Kuan Yew and his son the Prime Minister; not to forget the importance of being able to tell right from wrong and even to stand up to your beliefs even if it meant your life.
Surely the most important quality that a child should have is the ability to form principles and the realization that it is honorable to live up to those ideals and opinions. Surely that is what differentiates a leader from a mere follower. But Lee Kuan Yew's Singapore does not want any leaders, but only followers.
In Singapore where the government is in essence a fascist state which demands under pain of arrest imprisonment or defamation lawsuits that everyone subscribe to the ethos and doctrines of Lee's ruling party, which by the way is indefensible for no other reason than it is based on fascism, not democracy, every single parent and every single teacher in that island out of fear of their government tells their children that they are required to think the way the government wants and simply do as they are told.
In such a society that child is literally brainwashed into thinking that submission to government views is the only safe way to live. The end product of such an education is a person who is incapable of independent thinking and only capable of doing as he is told. This stunting behavior training results in his being able to survive only in a society like Singapore but is completely unequipped if asked to live in western societies where independent thinking is crucial to success.
Singapore parents should remember that Lee Kuan Yew government deliberately has this policy to instill obedience in their children only because such unquestioning human beings are easy to govern than would another society such as Americans or Australian. This as you can see is a deliberate nefarious and pernicious plan to suit themselves. They have no concern whatsoever of the permanent emotional and psychological damage they are causing to your children's mind.
Therefore if any parent in Singapore is reading this blog post, if you can take your child out of Singapore you should do it. Remember the child's young years are crucial in their overall development. The sooner you can leave the better.
If he is a son, take him out before he is liable for national service, simply do not return for enlistment and just stay away from the island. Refusing to do national serviced is not an extraditable offence and the government can simply do nothing to you or your son. They cannot force him to return. As I write thousands and thousands of young Singaporeans have already left the island and Lee Kuan Yew's Singapore is having a hard time trying to fill up their empty army barracks and their schools.
This is an island which is determined to fail by their repressive harebrained policies and I don't think you or I has any duty to educate them. If they are determined to destroy their island through this stupidity, why should I or anyone else stand in their way.
Gopalan Nair
Attorney at Law
A Singaporean in Exile
Fremont, California, USA
Tel: 510 491 4375
Email: nair.gopalan@yahoo.com
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