Saturday, January 10, 2015

Singapore PAP dictatorship's greatest worry. Losing the elections

Ladies and Gentlemen,

All dictatorships with time become all powerful, above the law and beyond accountability. And that is when they begin to forget, what if they are no longer in power.

Singapore's Lee Kuan Yew and Son's greatest worry has to be their nepotism and corruption on an industrial scale. In Singapore we are not talking about a few hundred dollars stolen by one minister or other. We are talking of official salaries of no less than $3.7 million a year, paid to bed ridden Lee Kuan Yew, his son appointed prime Minister and each and every Minister in government. Not just this outrageous amount but hidden bonuses as well each year amount to 6 to 7 months salary, government linked company dividends for directorships and who knows what else. The total amount of money each of these men takes is not clearly known but it is anybody's guess; $10 million, $20 million or hundreds a year for decades!

This is not a case of Mobutu of the Congo stealing some diamonds occasionally into his Swiss bank accounts. This is open corruption which they steal every each year for decades, all tax payers money. These are crooks of the highest order, the most corrupt government in the whole world.

And then we have nepotism on a grand scale. Almost each and every Minister except for the Tamil ones like K Shanmugam, for obvious reasons, are all related to Lee Kuan Yew extended family. You have Ho Ching, wife of Lee Kuan Yew's son who is appointed Temasek Holdings chief, a state wealth fund boss, although she knows nothing about business. In reality she does nothing, except staying at home and doing her hair and nails, for, I do not know how many millions. The ones who run it are of course paid managers.

The island's state controlled newspaper Straits times has the report "Opposition Singapore Democratic party launches campaign for next general elections" Jan 10, 2015 http://www.straitstimes.com/archive/saturday/news/singapore/more-singapore-stories/story/opposition-singapore-democratic-party-launches-campaign. According to it, they are vigorously working towards the next general election.

Can you imagine what happens to any dictatorship, like Lee's Singapore, in such an event? Invariably the incoming government holds the outgoing dictators to account. Questions will be asked? Why did you steal $10 million each year of tax payers money? Where is the money? We want that money? And in third world countries, usually the incoming government just murders the outgoing dictators. Or they put them on trial to account for their actions. Will that ever happen to Lee Kuan Yew and his family and friends in their Peoples Action Party, the dictatorship that has ruled Singapore ever since independence, 1959?

And then you have the injustice in their Kangaroo Courts. Will the judges who sent JB Jeyaretnam into bankruptcy, to jail and eventually to his death accountable. Will they hold the shamelessly corrupt judge Belinda Ang Saw Ean who sent opposition politician Chee Soon Juan to bankruptcy and jail be put on trial herself and sent to jail for abusing the law?

Will judge Kan Ting Chiu who sent me to jail for 3 months in 2008 while in Singapore when I correctly stated in this blog that Judge Belinda Ang Saw Ean "prostituted" herself as a judge when she found Chee Soon Juan guilty of defaming Lee Kuan Yew, be himself tried and sent to jail?

I think it would be simply impossible for the Lee government to ever allow this to happen. It would be too high a price to pay. They have too much to answer  for. It would very probably be arrest trial and imprisonment for each and every one of these dictators and their henchmen. Even if they fled the island, there is always the possibility of extradition trial and imprisonment.

In this dire scenario, it is most unlikely that they can ever lose their grip on power. They will hold on at any cost. If they knew they are losing, they would simply stuff the ballot boxes or call out the military. They are in a fix just like any other dictatorship which thinks they can do anything they want and get away with it. Eventually every single dictatorship realizes that it is not so easy. One day someone may come after you. Nothing is eternal. And at that time, things begin to get ugly.

The Lee government is now at the cross roads. Their position is today dangerously precarious. The educated Singapore population is far too small. The vast majority have already left for settlement abroad. Children are not being born in the island. It has the lowest fertility rate in the world, and the largest ageing population. All this is within a tiny population of just about a million locals and 4 million foreigners.

The economy is too fragile and volatile. It is almost entirely dependent on foreign money. If there is the slightest economic uncertainty, the first people to leave would be the foreigners many of who have been recently given citizenship to boost the numbers. With them, the money would flow out.

Lee Kuan Yew and son's PAP government survives almost entirely on this foreign investment remaining in the island. Once the money flows out, the Lee government will also collapse.

Moreover, one of the pillars of this fragile economy hopelessly dependent on foreign capital is the existence, precarious at the moment, of the 92 year old bedridden Lee Kuan Yew in poor health, the Singaporean dictator. When he dies, which is going to be soon, it will give a jolt to the stability of that fragile economy. That is when I suppose it will be time for Lee Kuan Yew's son and company along with their millions to take the first flight out.

Gopalan Nair
Attorney at Law
A Singaporean in Exile
Fremont, California USA
Tel: 510 491 8525
Email: nair.gopalan@yahoo.com
Facebook: www.facebook.com/singapore.dissident

4 comments:

Anonymous said...

The self inflicted damaged done by the Evil PAP Government over several decades of one party ruled system of dictatorship and cronyism would result in Sg entering into a major crossroad between 2016-2017.

Hopefully a new Government will take place after this.

Linda Kosmanto said...

PAP = Lee clan. Singapore has to rid itself of both.

hongkies hongkeys three 3 passports said...

@linda kosmanto:

You really have a big mouth for someone who is NOT a Singaporean (CITIZEN).

Anonymous said...

There already is no more singapore since about two decades ago...it's just an international city..is all.