Ladies and Gentlemen,
The common but erroneous perception is that with more education and higher standard of living, a society would become more democratic. The belief was totalitarianism and societal advancements work in opposites. Unfortunately this is not true as history shows, and point proven by Singapore. Since independence no doubt the island has progressed economically, but as for democracy, it not only did not take root, and as far as democracy is concerned, it has regressed, not progressed.
And the reasons are obvious. A people cannot want what they do not know. And Singaporeans thanks to their dictators carefully shielding them from any mention of democracy have become today totally ignorant of what democracy even is. The ordinary Singaporean just as another Iraqi or Syrian or Afghan wants a job, food to eat and roof over the heads. As for democracy, he hasn't heard of it, and as long as he is left alone, quite happy not to have it.
And this is exactly the state of affairs the islands dictators want. Singaporeans have no real rights as an American would have. Singapore police can arrest anyone anytime. But usually they only harass political opponents and criminals. If you are not a criminal or a political dissident, you have no problems at all.
Singapore does have a constitution which is almost the same as that of United States, replete with the rights of man, human rights, free speech and the entire litany. But unlike the United States all that is ignored and the police do whatever they want. But since the police and the Kangaroo judges placed by the rulers only punish anyone who is a critic or a criminal, people don't care whether they have rule or law or not since it doesn't affect them personally.
As a result Singapore today is a very repressive society with no rule of law. But the repression is only used against political opponents. The rule is, as long as you allow the rulers to be as corrupt as they want, you have no complaint of the lack of a free press, or lack of any freedoms, then you can go on with your life uneventfully and quiet. Since the aspirations of the average Singaporean only extends up to his daily upkeep and daily material needs, the dictators can continue in power for another 100 years as long as you accept your humble state.
Unlike the ordinary Singapore who lives this way, there are those, only a handful who may know that a free and independent life without having to live under Big Brother is much more meaningful and rewarding. So the handful, such as Chee Soon Juan and the late JB Jeyaretnam or myself have stuck our necks out to challenge this totalitarian regime for which we have suffered great punishment. And then there are the other handful who are aware but do not think it worthwhile to openly question authority. These people simply leave the island for settlement in free countries. I am one of them.
The procedure used by the Singapore dictators is an old practice used in ancient China. It comes from the saying "You kill a chicken to frighten all the monkeys". So if you have a lone critic like myself or JB Jeyafretnam, you come down hard on them. You abuse the law and punish them severely. By doing this you send a message to every helpless Singaporean that if you oppose, this is what will happen. This method of intimidation is very successful. It was successful in ancient China as it is today in Singapore. In this manner and entire society is silenced into submission.
But our leaving the island is not going to change the average mindset of the average Singaporean. As long as they have some income and some security of life, they will continue living under this totalitarian administration which will continue for a long long time.
As we can see of US and British history, it was the early founding fathers of the United States and England who believed that the best way to live is to be free. I am one such person who also believes this. And the US and British democracies exist because the rulers themselves understood this and encouraged this. Had they not, the US and Britain would be no different from Singapore of today. But since the Lee family who run the island of Singapore appear more concerned of their own personal interests and personal wealth, I don't see anytime when they would ever allow a democratic society in the island of Singapore.
And Singaporeans being satisfied with the way they live, absent democracy are not going to demand it either.
Gopalan Nair
Attorney at Law
Fremont San Francisco California USA
Tel: 510 491 8525
Email: nair.gopalan@yahoo.com
Monday, November 20, 2017
Tuesday, October 31, 2017
Why I am very proud of being disbarred (struck off the Rolls) from practicing law in Singapore
Ladies and Gentlemen,
Under any other circumstances, a lawyer wouldn't be jumping up for joy if he was disbarred in any jurisdiction. Being disbarred is usually not a good thing, unless of course you are disbarred from Nazi German Courts, North Korean courts or Singapore.
That's why I am proudly displaying what they call a court order in disbarment in 2011. It is taken from their Singaporean website. http://www.singaporelaw.sg/sglaw/laws-of-singapore/case-law/free-law/high-court-judgments/14650-law-society-of-singapore-v-gopalan-nair-alias-pallichadath-gopalan-nair-2011-sghc-191
But strangely enough, for a Singaporean like me who was born in that island and now proudly practicing law in California and US Federal Courts, it is indeed turned out as a sense of pride for me to say, I was disbarred in the Lee dictatorship of Singapore island. Shouldn't I be proud!
Here is the judgement of the Singaporean Kangaroo courts against me
Law Society of Singapore v Gopalan Nair (alias Pallichadath Gopalan Nair)
[2011] SGHC 191
Tan Lee Meng J (delivering the grounds of decision of the court):
Introduction
1 The Law Society of Singapore (“the Law Society”) applied under s 82A(10) of the Legal Profession Act (Cap 161, 1990 Rev Ed) (“the LPA”) for an order that the defendant, Mr Gopalan Nair alias Pallichadath Gopalan Nair (“GN”), be “struck off the roll, prohibited from applying for a practising certificate, censured and/or otherwise punished” for misconduct unbefitting of an advocate and solicitor as an officer of the Supreme Court or as a member of an honourable profession. We ordered that GN be struck off the roll and now give the reasons for our decision.
2 GN, who was admitted onto the roll on 10 August 1980, is a non-practising advocate and solicitor of the Supreme Court of Singapore. He is presently an American citizen residing in California, USA.
1st charge
8 GN did not attend and was not represented by counsel at the hearing before this Court on 25 July 2011.The Court was satisfied that he had been duly served the requisite papers and that he was fully aware of the hearing scheduled for 25 July 2011.
21 Disciplinary action is intended to punish the errant solicitor for his or her misconduct, deter others from misbehaving in the same manner, and protect public confidence in the administration of justice: see Law Society of Singapore v Tham Yu Xian Rick [1999] 3 SLR(R) 68 (at [18]) and Law Society of Singapore v Rasif David [2008] 2 SLR(R) 955 (at [28]).
And let me say I enjoyed every minute of my escapade with these dictators and their Kangaroo courts in 2008, being arrested being thrown in jail, being accosted on the streets, being held in solitary confinement, refusing to break. It was all great fun. I wouldn't have had so much fun even in the darkest corners of the African jungle. Thank you, you bunch of goons, you made my day. I will never forget the experience. And best of all, you have given me an opportunity to continue making fun of your courts and your country.
If you had been wiser, you could have just deported me and no one would have been the wiser. But thanks to the stupidity and shortsightedness of your Attorney General Walter Woon, you had me arrested where clearly it was a wrong decision. And you successfully made my case known throughout the world and the opportunity to put your Kangaroo courts in the spotlight of the world.
Under any other circumstances, a lawyer wouldn't be jumping up for joy if he was disbarred in any jurisdiction. Being disbarred is usually not a good thing, unless of course you are disbarred from Nazi German Courts, North Korean courts or Singapore.
That's why I am proudly displaying what they call a court order in disbarment in 2011. It is taken from their Singaporean website. http://www.singaporelaw.sg/sglaw/laws-of-singapore/case-law/free-law/high-court-judgments/14650-law-society-of-singapore-v-gopalan-nair-alias-pallichadath-gopalan-nair-2011-sghc-191
But strangely enough, for a Singaporean like me who was born in that island and now proudly practicing law in California and US Federal Courts, it is indeed turned out as a sense of pride for me to say, I was disbarred in the Lee dictatorship of Singapore island. Shouldn't I be proud!
Here is the judgement of the Singaporean Kangaroo courts against me
Law Society of Singapore v Gopalan Nair (alias Pallichadath Gopalan Nair)
[2011] SGHC 191
| Originating Summons No 947 of 2009 (Summons No 1404 of 2011) | |
| 22 August 2011 | |
| High Court | |
| Tan Lee Meng J, Tay Yong Kwang J, Lee Seiu Kin J | |
| Peter Cuthbert Low and Han Lilin (Peter Low LLC) for the plaintiff; Defendant absent and unrepresented. |
Legal Profession – Disciplinary Proceedings
22 August 2011
|
Introduction
1 The Law Society of Singapore (“the Law Society”) applied under s 82A(10) of the Legal Profession Act (Cap 161, 1990 Rev Ed) (“the LPA”) for an order that the defendant, Mr Gopalan Nair alias Pallichadath Gopalan Nair (“GN”), be “struck off the roll, prohibited from applying for a practising certificate, censured and/or otherwise punished” for misconduct unbefitting of an advocate and solicitor as an officer of the Supreme Court or as a member of an honourable profession. We ordered that GN be struck off the roll and now give the reasons for our decision.
2 GN, who was admitted onto the roll on 10 August 1980, is a non-practising advocate and solicitor of the Supreme Court of Singapore. He is presently an American citizen residing in California, USA.
3 Although GN is a non-practising advocate and solicitor, he is still subject to the control of the Supreme Court as s 82(A)(2) of the LPA provides:
All Legal Service Officers and non-practising solicitors shall be subject to the control of the Supreme Court and shall be liable on due cause shown to be punished in accordance with this section.
4 Pursuant to ss 82A(4) and (5) of the LPA, the Law Society applied in ex parte Originating Summons No 947 of 2009 for leave from the Chief Justice for an investigation to be made into a number of complaints about GN’s misconduct. On 4 September 2009, the Chief Justice appointed a Disciplinary Tribunal (“the Tribunal”) comprising Mr Toh Kian Sing SC and Mr Tan Jee Ming, under s 90 of the LPA.
5 The following 5 charges of misconduct were preferred by the Law Society against GN:
1st charge
That you on the 4th day of July 2008, at or about 10.35 pm, near the junction of Bukit Timah Road and Race Course Road, Singapore, which is a public place, did use abusive words towards certain public servants, namely, police officers of the Singapore Police Force, in particular Senior Staff Sergeant Kang Wei Chain and Sergeant Noor Azhar, by shouting:
(a)“Fuck off you policeman, don’t waste my fucking time. You go and do your job properly and go catch thieves and I did nothing wrong. I am waiting for the fucking taxi”;
(b)“Fuck off, forget about my name, you fucking bastard.
(c)“You fucking Malay bastard”.
at the said police officers in the execution of their duties as such public servants, and you had thereby committed an offence punishable under section 13D(1)(a) of the Miscellaneous Offences (Public Order and Nuisance) Act, Chapter 184, for which on 5 September 2008, you were convicted and sentenced to a fine of $2,000 in default two week imprisonment, and you are hereby guilty of conduct unbefitting an advocate and solicitor as an officer of the Supreme Court or as a member of an honourable profession which warrants disciplinary proceedings against you within the meaning of section 82A(3)(a) of the Legal Profession Act (Chapter 161).
2nd charge
That you on the 4th day of July 2008, at or about 10.35 pm, near the junction of Bukit Timah Road and Race Course Road, Singapore, which is a public place, did behave in a disorderly fashion to wit, by gesticulating with your hands and shouting loudly, and you had thereby committed an offence punishable under section 20 of the Miscellaneous Offences (Public Order and Nuisance) Act, Chapter 184, for which on 5 September 2008, you were convicted and sentenced to a fine of $1,000 in default one week imprisonment, and you are hereby guilty of conduct unbefitting an advocate and solicitor as an officer of the Supreme Court or as a member of an honourable profession which warrants disciplinary proceedings against you within the meaning of section 82A(3)(a) of the Legal Profession Act (Chapter 161).
3rd charge
That you in your blog post at http://singaporedissident.blogspot.com dated 29 May 2008 entitled “Singapore, Judge Belinda Ang’s Kangaroo Court”, did make the following offending statement insulting the judiciary of Singapore, namely, the Honourable Justice Belinda Ang:
“The judge Belinda Ang was throughout prostituting herself during the entire proceedings by being nothing more than an employee of Mr Lee Kuan Yew and his son and carrying out their orders.”
and you had thereby committed an offence punishable under section 228 of the Penal Code, Chapter 224, for which on 17 September 2008, you were convicted and sentenced to 3 months imprisonment, and you are hereby guilty of conduct unbefitting an advocate and solicitor as an officer of the Supreme Court or as a member of an honourable profession which warrants disciplinary proceedings against you within the meaning of section 82A(3)(a) of the Legal Profession Act (Chapter 161).
4th charge
That you in your blog post at http://singaporedissident.blogspot.com dated 28 November 2008 entitled “Hello from Freemont, near San Francisco, California”, did make the following offending statement amounting to contempt of court:
“…. I am defying the undertaking that I gave in court on September 12, 2008 when I admitted being in contempt of court. .. I had also given an undertaking to remove the 2 blog posts, of Sept 1 2008 and Sept 6, 2008 which referred to my trial and conviction before Judge James Leong in the Subordinate Courts for disorderly behaviour and insulting a policeman, charges entirely made up by the police to discredit me. I will be re-posting those 2 blog posts and stand by every word that I had written in them …” (Sic).
and you are hereby guilty of conduct unbefitting an advocate and solicitor as an officer of the Supreme Court or as a member of an honourable profession which warrants disciplinary proceedings against you within the meaning of section 82A(3)(a) of the Legal Profession Act (Chapter 161).
5th charge
That you in your blog post at http://singaporedissident.blogspot.com dated 30 November 2008 entitled “Justice Judith Prakash, Another Kangaroo Judge”, did make the following offending statement insulting the judiciary of Singapore, namely, the Honourable Justice Judith Prakash:
“Judge Judith Prakash of the Singapore High Court has prostituted herself in the hearing of the Kangaroo T shirt case on November 24, 2008 by being nothing more than an employee of Lee Kuan Yew and his son, whom he appointed Prime Minister. By her actions in sending these young men to prison and making them pay crippling court costs of $5,000 each, she has shamelessly disgraced herself, her office as a judge, disgraced the Singapore Constitution and disgraced Singapore.”
and you are hereby guilty of conduct unbefitting an advocate and solicitor as an officer of the Supreme Court or as a member of an honourable profession which warrants disciplinary proceedings against you within the meaning of section 82A(3)(a) of the Legal Profession Act (Chapter 161).
6 GN sent, by way of emails to the Disciplinary Tribunal Secretariat, his Defence and his Amended Defence on 1 December 2009. However, although he knew that his case was being heard by the Tribunal on 20 and 21 September 2010, he did not appear for the hearing.
7 The Tribunal found GN guilty of all 5 charges brought against him and determined that there was cause of sufficient gravity for disciplinary action to be taken against him. The Chief Justice then appointed Mr Peter Low, the plaintiff’s counsel, under s 82A(10) of the LPA to make the present application in Summons No 1404 of 2011.
Decision of the Court8 GN did not attend and was not represented by counsel at the hearing before this Court on 25 July 2011.The Court was satisfied that he had been duly served the requisite papers and that he was fully aware of the hearing scheduled for 25 July 2011.
9 The issues before this Court were whether due cause for disciplinary action against GN under s 82A(3)(a) of the LPA had been shown and if so, the appropriate penalty to be imposed on him.
Due cause
Such due cause may be shown by proof that a Legal Service Officer or a non-practising solicitor, as the case may be —
(a)has been guilty in Singapore or elsewhere of such misconduct unbefitting a Legal Service Officer or an advocate and solicitor as an officer of the Supreme Court or as a member of an honourable profession ...
11 The Law Society rightly submitted that for the purpose of considering whether there has been “misconduct unbefitting an advocate and solicitor as an officer of the Supreme Court or as a member of an honourable profession” under s 82(3)(a) LPA, the meaning accorded to the identical phrase in s 83(2)(h) LPA should be adopted. As such, both misconduct in the solicitor’s professional capacity as well as misconduct in the solicitor’s personal capacity are relevant to this inquiry (see Law Society of Singapore v Heng Guan Hong Geoffrey [1999] 3 SLR(R) 966 at [24]). The same standard applies to non-practising lawyers.
12 The Law Society relied on the findings of the Tribunal to support its assertion that “due cause”, as defined in s 82A(3)(a) of the LPA, had been shown.
13 The 1st and 2nd charges against GN concerned his conviction with respect to two offences under s 13D(1)(a) and s 20 of the Miscellaneous Offences (Public Order and Nuisance) Act (Cap 184, 1997 Rev Ed) for uttering vulgarities when speaking to officers of the Singapore Police Force and for behaving in a disorderly manner towards the police officers who had enquired why he had knocked a number of times on a police vehicle bearing the registration number QX501H. The gravity of his use of abusive and obscene language was stressed by the Tribunal in its report at [28]-[29]:
28 It is clear beyond reasonable doubt … that the Respondent uttered vulgarities towards the two policemen after he was stopped by them.All this happened in a public place in the full glare of members of the public. [T]he Respondent behaved in a petulant manner and apparently took grave offence when he was stopped by the police. His reaction was entirely unprovoked. Even if the Respondent was unhappy about being questioned by the police, he should have acted with self-restraint and moderation. In the entire episode, he displayed neither virtue. If he had responded to the questions in a co-operative manner, his subsequent arrest could possibly have been avoided. In our view, these vulgarities which the Respondent spewed were not only profoundly offensive, but also had the effect of lowering the dignity and professionalism of law enforcement officers.
29 We further find the racist outburst directed at Sergeant Daud to be wholly reprehensible and deserving of condemnation in a multi-racial society like Singapore. It demonstrates a callous, unpardonable disregard for the sensitivities of the different races that make up our society. It is not behaviour that one would expect of a member of the legal profession.
[emphasis added]
14 In regard to his disorderly behaviour in the presence of the police, the Tribunal noted at para [39] of its report:
39 Creating a ruckus in a public place, gesticulating wildly (even if a non-threatening manner), spewing vulgarities towards public officers shows a very low level of restraint and self-control as well as a complete lack of respect for law enforcement officers. Simply put, the Respondent had made a complete nuisance of himself in public. The fine of $1000 (or one week imprisonment in default thereof) may be marginally less serious as compared with the Respondent’s offence in MAC 3211.Nevertheless, such unruly, petulant and disorderly conduct (in full view of the public) is unfitting of an advocate or solicitor as an officer of the Court and as a member of a honourable profession. After all, a solicitor is expected to exercise a high level of self restraint and a bad tempered solicitor can only bring disrepute to the legal profession.
15 As for the breach of the undertaking referred to in the 4th charge, the background for the undertaking given by GN is as follows. When the case regarding GN’s abuse of the policemen, as outlined in the 1st and 2nd charges pressed by the Law Society against him, was heard before District Judge James Leong (“DJ Leong”), GN made several offending statements in open court. For instance, on 25 August 2008, he said:
... I frankly do not have any faith or belief that I will get a fair trial in this Court. Any attempt on my part to recall these witnesses would only be a waste of my time since I believe the result will be the same in any event.
16 Subsequently, GN authored two blog posts dated 1 September 2008 and 6 September 2008 on http://singaporedissident.blogspot.com. These were entitled, “Another classic case of trying to use the courts to silence dissent” and “Convicted” respectively and were replete with statements which attacked DJ Leong. For instance, he stated:
As for Mr. James Leong, I have this to say. I have begun to know him pretty well since it took 18 days of trial. He is a good man at heart; there is no doubt about it. If he had his way, there is no doubt he would have acquitted me immediately. But alas he is weak. He cuts a pathetic figure. A man, because of his circumstances, having to do things that he does not really want to do. He knows that his employment as a judge in the Singapore courts depends on the patronage of Lee Kuan Yew and his friends. He also knows that Lee Kuan Yew demands his judges to punish political opponents of the government. And therefore to keep his job as a judge, he has no choice but to find me guilty....
17 GN’s statements prompted the Attorney-General to make an application under Originating Summons No 385 of 2008 for an order of committal for contempt. When the hearing commenced on 12 November 2008 before District Judge Leslie Chew (“DJ Chew”), GN admitted that he had made the offending statements, apologized for his behaviour and gave an undertaking to the Court not to make similar offending statements and to remove the blog posts dated 1 September 2008 and 6 September 2008. As such, DJ Chew only reprimanded him and ordered him to pay the costs of the proceedings. As soon as GN left Singapore and returned to California, he breached his undertaking to the Court.
18 What was truly unacceptable was that GN subsequently declared that he never had any intention of abiding by his undertaking and that he deliberately breached the undertaking at the first opportunity. The Tribunal stated as follows at [62]:
By flagrantly flouting his undertaking to the court in such a defiant manner, the Respondent displayed absolutely no remorse or contrition for what he had done prior to leaving Singapore for the United States. He was simply trying to make a mockery out of the entire affair. The apology he made and the undertaking he gave were both quickly withdrawn once he was safely out of Singapore. Clearly the apology and undertaking was an expedient way to a lighter sentence – the Respondent by his own admission, never intended or believed in either.
19 As for the offensive blog post regarding Belinda Ang J on 29 May 2008, which was the subject matter of the 3rd charge, that blog post was in the context of a defamation suit brought by Prime Minister Lee Hsien Loong against the Singapore Democratic Party. For this charge of contempt of court, GN was sentenced to three months’ imprisonment by Kan Ting Chiu J. The sentence meted out gave a clear indication of the seriousness of the contempt. Yet, in his blog post in relation to Judith Prakash J on 30 November 2008, who had, at the material time, found a number of persons in contempt of court for wearing T-shirts depicting a kangaroo in judges’ robes, GN continued to abuse the judiciary.
20 After taking all the circumstances into account, we found that the Law Society had shown that there was due cause for disciplinary action to be taken against GN. As such, we proceeded to consider the penalty that ought to be imposed.
The appropriate penalty21 Disciplinary action is intended to punish the errant solicitor for his or her misconduct, deter others from misbehaving in the same manner, and protect public confidence in the administration of justice: see Law Society of Singapore v Tham Yu Xian Rick [1999] 3 SLR(R) 68 (at [18]) and Law Society of Singapore v Rasif David [2008] 2 SLR(R) 955 (at [28]).
22 Although GN had been convicted of a number of offences, which were referred to in the charges preferred against him by the Law Society, it should be borne in mind that in Law Society of Singapore v Wee Wei Fen [1999] 3 SLR(R) 559, the Court observed (at [25]) that it cannot be that every violation of the criminal law implies a defect of character which renders the offender unfit to be a member of the legal profession and that the nature of the offence is clearly material. Similarly in Law Society of Singapore v Wong Sin Yee [2003] 3 SLR(R) 209, the Court stated (at [12]):
We would, at the outset, make it quite clear that conviction of criminal offence does not per se imply a defect of character rendering an advocate and solicitor unfit for his profession. It is the nature of the offence, and the circumstances under which it was committed, and in turn the punishment imposed, which are likely to be determinative…. The offence must be of such a nature that it is expedient for the protection of the public and the preservation of the good name of the profession to remove the solicitor from the roll or from practice.
[emphasis added]
23 The offences in respect of which GN had been convicted and the circumstances under which they were committed lead to the conclusion that a serious penalty must be imposed. Apart from abusing the police with foul language in public and behaving in a disorderly manner in the presence of the police, GN was imprisoned for contempt of court in relation to his blog post regarding Belinda Ang J on 29 May 2008.Furthermore, he openly defied the undertaking he had given to the District Court shortly after he was convicted by Kan J for contempt of court. He then posted offensive statements in his blog about Prakash J on 30 November 2008.
24 When considering whether or not to strike an advocate and solicitor off the rolls, it is worth noting that in Law Society of Singapore v Amdad Hussein Lawrence [2000] 3 SLR(R) 23, the Court held at [11]:
The earlier decisions in Law Society of Singapore v Ravindra Samuel [1999] 1 SLR(R) 266 at [15]; Law Society of Singapore v Tham Yu Xian Rick (at [18]; Law Society of Singapore v Suresh Kumar Suppiah [1999] 2 SLR(R) 1203 at [18]; and Law Society of Singapore v Heng Guan Hong Geoffrey [1999] 3 SLR(R) 966 at [28]-[29] have consistently affirmed and applied the following principles on disciplinary sentencing:
(a) where a solicitor has acted dishonestly, the court will almost invariably order that he be struck off the roll of solicitors;
(b) if he has not acted dishonestly, but is shown to have fallen below the required standards of integrity, probity and trustworthiness, he will nonetheless be struck off the roll, as opposed to being suspended, if his lapse is such as to indicate that he lacks the qualities of character and trustworthiness which are the necessary attributes of a person entrusted with the responsibilities of a legal practitioner.
[emphasis added]
25 In the present case, the relevant question is whether or not GN should be struck off the roll on the basis that he lacked the necessary attributes of a person entrusted with the responsibilities of a legal practitioner. After taking all the charges into account, we were of the view that he lacked the said attributes. In particular, the facts in the 3rd, 4th and 5th charges disclosed a contemptuous disrespect on the part of GN towards the judges concerned. Such egregious misconduct is totally unacceptable. As there were no mitigating circumstances to persuade us that he merited a less severe penalty than striking off the roll, we ordered that he be struck off the roll of advocates and solicitors of the Supreme Court of Singapore and awarded costs to the Law Society.
I don't think there is much for me to add here except to say those accusations of my swearing at policemen are accusations pulled out of a hat by 5 policemen who all testified in orchestrated parrot fashion that I had swore at them in a public place. But even if I did so what, they deserve to be yelled at behaving like thugs as expected. And in no country in the world do you disbar a lawyer for hurling insults at policemen of all people, except perhaps Nazi Germany.
But I love the part where it says I should be disbarred for having no respect at all for these Kangaroo courts. And that part I am proud to say is all entirely true. Yes I don't have any respect for judges like you whose main occupation is to persecute anyone who has the guts to stand up to the Singaporean dictatorship.
Finally if you note, they have ordered costs against me in the judgement. It clearly says "and awarded costs to the Law Society". But you won't be surprised to know that till now they have not demanded any money! And it has been 7 years since the judgement. Why if they believe, as they claim that they have indeed a real legal system. This is not a legal system. These are Kangaroo Courts. And I am very proud that I had this opportunity in 2008 when I visited Singapore to write a blog stating publicly that Singaporean judge Belinda Ang Saw Ean "prostituted herself and her office" in punishing Chee Soon Juan a government critic exercising his right to freedom of speech. And I am very proud of resisting an unlawful arrest on July 4, 2008 in Little India Singapore while walking peacefully on a public street.
And finally if the Singaporean authorities are so sure that I am unfit to be a lawyer, why have they not made any attempt to alert the State bar of California, where I am now in active law practice, to commence proceedings against me or the Bar England and Wales where I am still on the Rolls? Perhaps they are not so sure they will receive the same verdict as in their Singaporean Kangaroo courts.
And as for their claim that I was "absent and unrepresented" at the hearing in Singapore, did they really believe that I would travel to Singapore from California again after what they have done to me! It is like asking a zookeeper to go into a tiger's cage voluntarily after I had just escaped after an attack! What do they think I am, insane?
And as for their claim that I was "absent and unrepresented" at the hearing in Singapore, did they really believe that I would travel to Singapore from California again after what they have done to me! It is like asking a zookeeper to go into a tiger's cage voluntarily after I had just escaped after an attack! What do they think I am, insane?
And let me say I enjoyed every minute of my escapade with these dictators and their Kangaroo courts in 2008, being arrested being thrown in jail, being accosted on the streets, being held in solitary confinement, refusing to break. It was all great fun. I wouldn't have had so much fun even in the darkest corners of the African jungle. Thank you, you bunch of goons, you made my day. I will never forget the experience. And best of all, you have given me an opportunity to continue making fun of your courts and your country.
If you had been wiser, you could have just deported me and no one would have been the wiser. But thanks to the stupidity and shortsightedness of your Attorney General Walter Woon, you had me arrested where clearly it was a wrong decision. And you successfully made my case known throughout the world and the opportunity to put your Kangaroo courts in the spotlight of the world.
Gopalan Nair
Attorney at Law
A Singaporean in Exile
Fremont San Francisco California USA
Tel: 510 491 8525
Email: nair.gopalan@yahoo.com
Saturday, October 21, 2017
The wasted minds of Singaporeans under a dictatorship.
updated 10/31/2017
Ladies and Gentlemen,
Singapore is a dictatorship where dictator Lee Hsien Loong whose father was the island's dictator before him. It is a place where everything is literally controlled by the state and him. The people have no human rights. Despite Constitutional provisions free speech is prohibited, even one man peaceful demonstrations are illegal, all newspapers are controlled and owned by the state, rule of law does not exist and judges behave more like state appointed politicians rather than independent arbiters of justice. Any similarity between them and judges is just the black robes they wear and there ends any connection with the law. The police are there to carry out the orders of their superiors. Whenever they see anything suspicious they immediately get out their cell phones to their superiors. If ordered to arrest they do so immediately. And if it happens to be anyone who was known to have criticized the rulers, arrested without question.
Judges police civil servants and anyone in authority in Singapore invariably punish known political opponents, whenever they have an opportunity. No need to have done anything wrong.
If they didn't persecute known critics, their jobs are on the line.
You have in this society a climate of fear and the need to be either left alone. So you stay as quiet as possible or better still join the state apparatus, called Peoples Association. It is like joining the Communist Party in Stalin's Russia. If you show support, you stand to gain but if you are seen to oppose, you are persecuted. This system is based on the old Chinese practice called "You kill a chicken to frighten the monkeys". The government comes down hard on critics mainly because this discourages others, much less to punish the political opponent. This was how it is done in Communist China, it was how it is done in Russia and it is how it is done in Singapore island.
The government has done very well over 50 years of rule instilling fear across the island where today the citizenry have been effectively brainwashed into a state of hopelessness. Every Singaporean willingly accepts the life of a sheep or a tamed animal who understands that to survive, the best thing is either to openly sing praises or at least keep your mouth shut.
But it takes a large dose of hypocrisy and mental gymnastics to pretend everything is fine when you know you live at the mercy of the rulers. As a result it causes a man to lose sight of his own thought process and become someone other than himself. This is a sad wasted life, not only for yourself but also for the state. As a result of the fear their talents, imagination, ideas are all wasted because it is dangerous to be too public about what you may think. A nail sticking has to be immediately hammered. Result, an entire society all thinking alike and no one had a mind of his own.
The law course in England which many Singaporeans take, naturally includes Constitutional law, the right of citizens to be free, human rights, the right to free speech and expression, the rule of law. They also know that when men are free, they as a society come up with new ideas, a better way to live, encourages change in society because change is good thing by itself. It is through change that a society gets better and the educated who are more capable of improving society and their law degree helps not only themselves society as a whole.
Singapore lawyers do the routine stuff. In what they call a law practice, they represent a client in an accident case, insurance case or debt collection. But where it really matters, where men's civil rights are denied, where a man is falsely accused of defaming the Prime Minister, they are nowhere to be seen. They will not under any circumstances represent a political opponent of the Lees. They know full well that the Constitution provides for free speech and expression, yet they will not dare to claim that Lee Kuan Yew or his son are persecuting opponents.
They shut their minds on Constitutional rights of their people because their masters would punish them if they did. The question is then, why pretend that you are a lawyers if all you can do is debt collection and accident cases? Are you not bound as a lawyer to uphold the rights of your client beyond just defending him in a debt collection matter? The entire legal community in the island are sadly the same, afraid to do what their training requires of them. Nay, afraid of even being human beings. An example of this was clearly seen when Chee Soon Juan, the main opposition politician, was sued for defamation, some years ago by the Prime Minister abusing the law once again. Despite diligent efforts, Chee was unable to find a single lawyer there to represent him. As a result Chee had to represent himself. It is as bad as that.
Unfortunately just as every other fellow Singaporean, lawyers are consumed with fear. Although they know full well, they are prohibited from openly criticizing the state for denying their human rights, they know they has no right to free speech, expression, assembly and that they could be arrested anytime. They know all this is wrong but they simply cannot pick up the courage to speak their mind.
Singapore lawyers pretend they are actually practicing law and what they see in their courts are actually judges. They dress up in fancy black lawyers garb in a shameless state of hypocrisy when they know these are not courts at all but state institutions to subjugate their subjects. In any other society lawyers would have been up in arms demanding the restoration of Constitutional rights, free speech and expression. Singapore lawyers on the other hand are like a lion in the circus. They has lost their ability to roar. They are caged animals with their dictator holding the whip. And for a lawyer of all people to be like that is indeed a disgrace, but that is what a society like Singapore does to its people.
You can see why a society such as this where people have to tailor their lives to appease state authority have wasted lives. The purpose of an education is to be able to think and formulate ideas and principles, to promote those ideas for your own good as well as society. Education is supposed to embolden you, not make you a mouse. But when a society is prevented from doing this because it would displease their master, you have a society who are using just half their brain. It is a Dr. Jekyll and Mr. Hyde existence. It is a theatrical performance. It is a pantomime.
Singapore lawyers are incapable of publicly proclaiming that their society is a rotten dictatorship which should be changed. Singapore lawyer is naturally afraid to do this because he knows the moment he is seen as a threat, his masters would claim he has just raped 20 women, or some other preposterous accusation, send him to jail and disbar him. That is what dictatorships do because they can do anything they want, punish anyone anytime. Singapore lawyers only use half their brains to do their mundane work, while incapable of doing anything about the miserable way they live.
Can you imagine an island with everyone thinking like that. Everyone simply go about their lives, do their work for a living and behave as if nothing was wrong, because even if it was wrong, there is nothing you can do about it. And if you did you are punished.
Once the state openly proclaim you as a political opponent, from that point every single judge, every single government servant, every single private company, every single private individual is required to deny you a normal life. If you are a lawyer, you will lose every single case, if you are a citizen you would be denied every single request.
Sadly Singapore lawyers just as the ordinary layman just want to be left alone as far away from the wrath of their rulers so they can go home to their three meals a day and watch their television in peace. It is a truly a wasted life.
For a lawyer to remain in Singapore and submit to this nonsense of a profession is disgraceful. They should either stand up to the regime, or if this is not possible to leave the island for settlement elsewhere and to hold their heads up high. There is no honor in remaining and submitting to this your entire life. And worst of all pretending you are a lawyer when you are not. You are working under false pretenses.
Gopalan Nair
Attorney at Law
A Singaporean in Exile
Fremont San Francisco California
Tel: 510 491 8525
Email: nair.gopalan@yahoo.com
Ladies and Gentlemen,
Singapore is a dictatorship where dictator Lee Hsien Loong whose father was the island's dictator before him. It is a place where everything is literally controlled by the state and him. The people have no human rights. Despite Constitutional provisions free speech is prohibited, even one man peaceful demonstrations are illegal, all newspapers are controlled and owned by the state, rule of law does not exist and judges behave more like state appointed politicians rather than independent arbiters of justice. Any similarity between them and judges is just the black robes they wear and there ends any connection with the law. The police are there to carry out the orders of their superiors. Whenever they see anything suspicious they immediately get out their cell phones to their superiors. If ordered to arrest they do so immediately. And if it happens to be anyone who was known to have criticized the rulers, arrested without question.
Judges police civil servants and anyone in authority in Singapore invariably punish known political opponents, whenever they have an opportunity. No need to have done anything wrong.
If they didn't persecute known critics, their jobs are on the line.
You have in this society a climate of fear and the need to be either left alone. So you stay as quiet as possible or better still join the state apparatus, called Peoples Association. It is like joining the Communist Party in Stalin's Russia. If you show support, you stand to gain but if you are seen to oppose, you are persecuted. This system is based on the old Chinese practice called "You kill a chicken to frighten the monkeys". The government comes down hard on critics mainly because this discourages others, much less to punish the political opponent. This was how it is done in Communist China, it was how it is done in Russia and it is how it is done in Singapore island.
The government has done very well over 50 years of rule instilling fear across the island where today the citizenry have been effectively brainwashed into a state of hopelessness. Every Singaporean willingly accepts the life of a sheep or a tamed animal who understands that to survive, the best thing is either to openly sing praises or at least keep your mouth shut.
But it takes a large dose of hypocrisy and mental gymnastics to pretend everything is fine when you know you live at the mercy of the rulers. As a result it causes a man to lose sight of his own thought process and become someone other than himself. This is a sad wasted life, not only for yourself but also for the state. As a result of the fear their talents, imagination, ideas are all wasted because it is dangerous to be too public about what you may think. A nail sticking has to be immediately hammered. Result, an entire society all thinking alike and no one had a mind of his own.
The law course in England which many Singaporeans take, naturally includes Constitutional law, the right of citizens to be free, human rights, the right to free speech and expression, the rule of law. They also know that when men are free, they as a society come up with new ideas, a better way to live, encourages change in society because change is good thing by itself. It is through change that a society gets better and the educated who are more capable of improving society and their law degree helps not only themselves society as a whole.
Singapore lawyers do the routine stuff. In what they call a law practice, they represent a client in an accident case, insurance case or debt collection. But where it really matters, where men's civil rights are denied, where a man is falsely accused of defaming the Prime Minister, they are nowhere to be seen. They will not under any circumstances represent a political opponent of the Lees. They know full well that the Constitution provides for free speech and expression, yet they will not dare to claim that Lee Kuan Yew or his son are persecuting opponents.
They shut their minds on Constitutional rights of their people because their masters would punish them if they did. The question is then, why pretend that you are a lawyers if all you can do is debt collection and accident cases? Are you not bound as a lawyer to uphold the rights of your client beyond just defending him in a debt collection matter? The entire legal community in the island are sadly the same, afraid to do what their training requires of them. Nay, afraid of even being human beings. An example of this was clearly seen when Chee Soon Juan, the main opposition politician, was sued for defamation, some years ago by the Prime Minister abusing the law once again. Despite diligent efforts, Chee was unable to find a single lawyer there to represent him. As a result Chee had to represent himself. It is as bad as that.
Unfortunately just as every other fellow Singaporean, lawyers are consumed with fear. Although they know full well, they are prohibited from openly criticizing the state for denying their human rights, they know they has no right to free speech, expression, assembly and that they could be arrested anytime. They know all this is wrong but they simply cannot pick up the courage to speak their mind.
Singapore lawyers pretend they are actually practicing law and what they see in their courts are actually judges. They dress up in fancy black lawyers garb in a shameless state of hypocrisy when they know these are not courts at all but state institutions to subjugate their subjects. In any other society lawyers would have been up in arms demanding the restoration of Constitutional rights, free speech and expression. Singapore lawyers on the other hand are like a lion in the circus. They has lost their ability to roar. They are caged animals with their dictator holding the whip. And for a lawyer of all people to be like that is indeed a disgrace, but that is what a society like Singapore does to its people.
You can see why a society such as this where people have to tailor their lives to appease state authority have wasted lives. The purpose of an education is to be able to think and formulate ideas and principles, to promote those ideas for your own good as well as society. Education is supposed to embolden you, not make you a mouse. But when a society is prevented from doing this because it would displease their master, you have a society who are using just half their brain. It is a Dr. Jekyll and Mr. Hyde existence. It is a theatrical performance. It is a pantomime.
Singapore lawyers are incapable of publicly proclaiming that their society is a rotten dictatorship which should be changed. Singapore lawyer is naturally afraid to do this because he knows the moment he is seen as a threat, his masters would claim he has just raped 20 women, or some other preposterous accusation, send him to jail and disbar him. That is what dictatorships do because they can do anything they want, punish anyone anytime. Singapore lawyers only use half their brains to do their mundane work, while incapable of doing anything about the miserable way they live.
Can you imagine an island with everyone thinking like that. Everyone simply go about their lives, do their work for a living and behave as if nothing was wrong, because even if it was wrong, there is nothing you can do about it. And if you did you are punished.
Once the state openly proclaim you as a political opponent, from that point every single judge, every single government servant, every single private company, every single private individual is required to deny you a normal life. If you are a lawyer, you will lose every single case, if you are a citizen you would be denied every single request.
Sadly Singapore lawyers just as the ordinary layman just want to be left alone as far away from the wrath of their rulers so they can go home to their three meals a day and watch their television in peace. It is a truly a wasted life.
For a lawyer to remain in Singapore and submit to this nonsense of a profession is disgraceful. They should either stand up to the regime, or if this is not possible to leave the island for settlement elsewhere and to hold their heads up high. There is no honor in remaining and submitting to this your entire life. And worst of all pretending you are a lawyer when you are not. You are working under false pretenses.
Gopalan Nair
Attorney at Law
A Singaporean in Exile
Fremont San Francisco California
Tel: 510 491 8525
Email: nair.gopalan@yahoo.com
Sunday, October 15, 2017
It is a pity. Too late for Singapore to ever be a real democracy
Ladies and Gentlemen,
I think it may be too late. Singapore may never be a real democracy. And its people may never enjoy the freedoms that one would naturally expect in America or Western Europe.
First of all we have to agree that democracy is a good thing. I do. It is a system which as far as possible leave people alone to develop your full potential. The state only interferes if you harm others unlike in a dictatorship like Singapore where the state punishes you if you espouse ideas not to their liking. Democracies believe that the engine for change and betterment is the people while in dictatorships like Singapore it is the dictator who decides how you live.
For a country to be a real democracy, its government must accept that democracy is a good thing and consequently the State should create the necessary institutions to enable it. Take USA as an example. USA from its inception embraced democracy as the best form of government, created a constitution to enable it, and actively ensured that its provisions are obeyed, through the deliberate setting up of civil society, the rule of law, a free press and fundamental human rights. This is the case too in Western Europe, Canada Australia and New Zealand.
In Singapore on the other hand, since its inception more than 50 years ago, the government has deliberately and progressively sustained its policy of denying a free society. The rule of law is maligned with corrupt judges beholden to the government and used as tool to silence dissent, the papers are state controlled and have become an instrument of state propaganda, all freedoms are denied and anyone criticizing openly is liable to arrest and imprisonment. Although Singapore derived its political system from England, it deliberately suppressed any part of it that relates to democracy.
Under such circumstances unless the people are themselves aware of the need for democracy and are willing to stand up to this dictatorial government, there is no way that the system will ever change, mainly because people in a place such as Singapore, over years of behavior training by the government, are not even aware of what democracy means. And if they don't know what democracy is, how does anyone expect the people to fight for it or the society to become democratic?
Those who did not wish to live in a society like this Singaporean dictatorship have mostly left the island for settlement in the West. I too did not want to be a "digit" under Lee Kuan Yew's Singapore, as he once called the ordinary Singaporean. So I left. As a result over the years, the island has been depleted of people who know what it is to live in freedom. The education system in the island makes sure that students are never taught anything of Constitutional law or democracy. As a result they go through an entire school life not knowing anything about democracy, a topic which is almost taboo. In order to replenish those who have left the island seeking freedom, Singapore government continues to bring in large numbers of immigrants and offer them instant citizenship. Their main source for the immigration as expected is Communist China since the government knows that these Chinese from Communist China don't have a clue as to what freedom is, and would be quite content to live without any rights in Singapore, as they did in Communist China.
Unfortunately this does not prevent many immigrants from other countries such as Australians or some Europeans of coming to Singapore to work which they do just for a living. By and large these immigrants who don't really consider Singapore home would be willing to work anywhere regardless of the political system, since all they want is a job temporarily. As soon as they manage to get a job back home, they leave, as do the thousands of workers who work in Dubai.
Therefore as time progresses , with more and more people with any idea of democracy leaving and those left behind are totally unaware of freedom while supplemented with hoards of Chinese nationals quite happy to live under any dictator, I think it a little too late for the island to ever be free.
My observation of the ordinary man is that he does not necessarily have any desire for such imaginary concepts as freedom. Most people usually just want a job and be able to live a comfortable life and be left alone. This is why until and unless the state appreciates that democracy is a good thing and actively works to towards creating a free society, there is no real hope that people would ever know what it is to be free. For instance you cannot expect Syria, Egypt the Congo and all the hundreds of countries around the world to have true freedom if the basics for it, unless created and championed by their rulers, do not exist.
One will clearly see why an American thinks very differently from a man from Singapore. Its because he is taught and is aware that he has a right to the rule of law, freedom of speech expression and assembly. Which is why an American would be outraged and aghast if you told him that judges would use their office to eliminate opponents of the ruling party like they do in Singapore; or if they were told that they have no right to freedom of expression as is the case in Singapore. On the other hand in Singapore the government routinely uses their judges to abuse their judicial office to eliminate political opponents but yet most Singaporeans have no complaints whatsoever to this abuse going on. Neither does the average Singaporean complain about the fact that he has no rights at all.
In the end, it is the state itself that has to take the effort to promote democracy. If they don't, like what we have in Singapore, it will never be free and its people can never live free and independent lives. They will always be at the mercy of the Lee family and their dictatorship. You are creating in Singapore a robotic society whose only goal in life to be able to work and go about their own business with the blessing of the all embracing ever watchful Big Brother.
Gopalan Nair
Attorney at Law
A Singaporean in Exile
Fremont San Francisco California USA
Tel: 510 491 8525
Email: nair.gopalan@yahoo.com
I think it may be too late. Singapore may never be a real democracy. And its people may never enjoy the freedoms that one would naturally expect in America or Western Europe.
First of all we have to agree that democracy is a good thing. I do. It is a system which as far as possible leave people alone to develop your full potential. The state only interferes if you harm others unlike in a dictatorship like Singapore where the state punishes you if you espouse ideas not to their liking. Democracies believe that the engine for change and betterment is the people while in dictatorships like Singapore it is the dictator who decides how you live.
For a country to be a real democracy, its government must accept that democracy is a good thing and consequently the State should create the necessary institutions to enable it. Take USA as an example. USA from its inception embraced democracy as the best form of government, created a constitution to enable it, and actively ensured that its provisions are obeyed, through the deliberate setting up of civil society, the rule of law, a free press and fundamental human rights. This is the case too in Western Europe, Canada Australia and New Zealand.
In Singapore on the other hand, since its inception more than 50 years ago, the government has deliberately and progressively sustained its policy of denying a free society. The rule of law is maligned with corrupt judges beholden to the government and used as tool to silence dissent, the papers are state controlled and have become an instrument of state propaganda, all freedoms are denied and anyone criticizing openly is liable to arrest and imprisonment. Although Singapore derived its political system from England, it deliberately suppressed any part of it that relates to democracy.
Under such circumstances unless the people are themselves aware of the need for democracy and are willing to stand up to this dictatorial government, there is no way that the system will ever change, mainly because people in a place such as Singapore, over years of behavior training by the government, are not even aware of what democracy means. And if they don't know what democracy is, how does anyone expect the people to fight for it or the society to become democratic?
Those who did not wish to live in a society like this Singaporean dictatorship have mostly left the island for settlement in the West. I too did not want to be a "digit" under Lee Kuan Yew's Singapore, as he once called the ordinary Singaporean. So I left. As a result over the years, the island has been depleted of people who know what it is to live in freedom. The education system in the island makes sure that students are never taught anything of Constitutional law or democracy. As a result they go through an entire school life not knowing anything about democracy, a topic which is almost taboo. In order to replenish those who have left the island seeking freedom, Singapore government continues to bring in large numbers of immigrants and offer them instant citizenship. Their main source for the immigration as expected is Communist China since the government knows that these Chinese from Communist China don't have a clue as to what freedom is, and would be quite content to live without any rights in Singapore, as they did in Communist China.
Unfortunately this does not prevent many immigrants from other countries such as Australians or some Europeans of coming to Singapore to work which they do just for a living. By and large these immigrants who don't really consider Singapore home would be willing to work anywhere regardless of the political system, since all they want is a job temporarily. As soon as they manage to get a job back home, they leave, as do the thousands of workers who work in Dubai.
Therefore as time progresses , with more and more people with any idea of democracy leaving and those left behind are totally unaware of freedom while supplemented with hoards of Chinese nationals quite happy to live under any dictator, I think it a little too late for the island to ever be free.
My observation of the ordinary man is that he does not necessarily have any desire for such imaginary concepts as freedom. Most people usually just want a job and be able to live a comfortable life and be left alone. This is why until and unless the state appreciates that democracy is a good thing and actively works to towards creating a free society, there is no real hope that people would ever know what it is to be free. For instance you cannot expect Syria, Egypt the Congo and all the hundreds of countries around the world to have true freedom if the basics for it, unless created and championed by their rulers, do not exist.
One will clearly see why an American thinks very differently from a man from Singapore. Its because he is taught and is aware that he has a right to the rule of law, freedom of speech expression and assembly. Which is why an American would be outraged and aghast if you told him that judges would use their office to eliminate opponents of the ruling party like they do in Singapore; or if they were told that they have no right to freedom of expression as is the case in Singapore. On the other hand in Singapore the government routinely uses their judges to abuse their judicial office to eliminate political opponents but yet most Singaporeans have no complaints whatsoever to this abuse going on. Neither does the average Singaporean complain about the fact that he has no rights at all.
In the end, it is the state itself that has to take the effort to promote democracy. If they don't, like what we have in Singapore, it will never be free and its people can never live free and independent lives. They will always be at the mercy of the Lee family and their dictatorship. You are creating in Singapore a robotic society whose only goal in life to be able to work and go about their own business with the blessing of the all embracing ever watchful Big Brother.
Gopalan Nair
Attorney at Law
A Singaporean in Exile
Fremont San Francisco California USA
Tel: 510 491 8525
Email: nair.gopalan@yahoo.com
Saturday, September 30, 2017
Singapore citizens always fail in any other country. Their minds have been destroyed by the Stalinist political system
Ladies and Gentlemen,
Except for my childhood and about 10 years as a lawyer in the island, I have spent a great part of my life abroad, 7 years in Europe and 26 years now in California USA. I can clearly see the damage that life in Singapore does to your brain. I have also seen a few Singaporeans here and previously in Europe. I can say without hesitation that a Singaporean either in Europe or America is a disappointment. He is a bore. The only things that interests him is perhaps talking about the price of houses and where to eat at which restaurant. Since most Singaporeans who have left the island are ethnic Chinese, they invariably appear pale, effete and weak both physically mind and spirit. You will never see a Singaporean scaling El Capitan or sailing the world. Only Americans and Europeans do that. And he is afraid to speak because he does not want the Singapore rulers to take offense. In other words he has no opinion because he is a bore.
Once again let me tell you this. It took me a long time before it dawned on me as to why these Singaporeans are so different, so uninteresting, so bereft of any daring or courage compared to Englishmen or Europeans. Their total lack of spontaneity. Their total lack of a spark in the eye. Talking to them is like getting information from an old 1980 computer; you feed in the question and there is a delay before your answer is processed.
Why are Singaporeans this way? With a little bit of thought the answer would be very clear. It is the stifling political system which prevents a human being from being who you are. In Singapore island, the island wide security apparatus includes island wide surveillance, not dissimilar to North Korea. Success in that island depends on your pleasing your masters, just as you would please Kim Jong Un, showing unwavering support to the ruling party and their government and in this manner one climbs the ladder to financial and political success.
But Hey wait a minute. Is it not hard to show loyalty and support to a government which denies you the right to free speech and expression, which denies you the right to free and independent newspapers, which has no rule of law but rule by telephone by which I mean the judge before passing judgment waits for the Prime Minister to tell him how long the sentence should be?
For example common sense should tell you that there should be nothing wrong for you to peacefully stand alone and hold up a placard with the words "Down Down Prime Minister". No one is harmed. No one is hurt. The island doesn't collapse as a result. But not in Singapore. In that island common sense is upside down. Even if you think there is nothing wrong for the peaceful protester, you have to deliberately make yourself believe that it is wrong and not do it. If you do you are punished.
For any lawyer to tell the court that he believes the judge is corrupt and a Kangaroo would mean a contempt charge and you would be thrown in jail, even though you, the judge himself and everyone else knows it is perfectly true! In other words the Singapore's rulers have a right to appoint corrupt judges to punish political opponents and you simply have to accept it.
What happens over time when you live in such a state is this. You slowly begin to realize the hopelessness of your situation. You realize that there is nothing you can do. Whether you like it or not you simply have to submit. You simply have to crawl. You have to resign yourself to your fate and the life that this dictatorship has decided for you.
Having resigned yourself to this state of hopelessness, the vast majority who either have no means to leave the island or are opportunists, feel that the best policy is "In Rome do as the Romans do". If success in the island depends on your unwavering support for the dictatorship, then why not give it and reap the rewards. The thinking is just the same as what a Russian would have thought under the Soviet Union. If it is profitable to sing praises to Stalin, never mind he is a mass murderer, then why not do it and profit by it.
So in Singapore today you have an entire citizenry who are daily looking at ways to please the rulers, i.e. the Lee Family and their ruling party. The smart guy in the island is the thoroughly obedient submissive loyal supporter of the establishment. He is a member of the Peoples Association, the branch of the government which you are invited to join, run around doing errands for the government members of parliament and after sufficient crawling and licking their boots, you will be rewarded. In order to accomplish this, you have to engage in some mental gymnastics. Even though you hate the way you have to live, you should publicly declare it is paradise. Even though you have no respect these government appointment lapdog judges, you have to say the island has the best legal system in the world. Even though you have no right to freedom of speech, you have to say that freedom of speech is a very bad thing. And so on and so forth.
On the other hand, in Alice in Wonderland Singapore, the one who has the courage to stand up against this Stalinist government is considered a fool, who does not know which side the bread is buttered! In any other country, he would a hero.
And can you imagine someone who has lived a life such as this suddenly coming to America! All he knows is to simply obey like a Labrador Retriever. The problem is this. In Singapore it is good for you to be a Labrador Retriever. But American society has no respect for such people. In any organization, people who have independent minds and opinions are appreciated. And in America people have common sense which is why if you told an American that is a criminal offense to hold up a sign peacefully, he will send you to the mental asylum.
In America and Europe, everyone has the right think and speak openly. And this is why when people think of new ideas and changes, they have a chance to get it implemented thereby improving their own lives as well as society. Free societies always change because everyone is always thinking of new and better ideas. Sometimes it is wrong and the country regresses. But then they realize it, correct their mistakes and move forward. Change is always good for society because change means progress.
In Singapore island you can have no change at all through the people. If there is going to be change it is because the rulers have decided it. As for you, you have to just sit back and wait for the next orders. In the end, the Singaporean is a boring dummy. And that is why Singaporeans never succeed abroad in the free world. It's because if an American is faced with something really stupid like don't stand on a street protesting, he would instantly ask why not. Whereas a Singaporean brought up under the obedience regime of Singapore would not even imagine of questioning the rule. And if you come to America and live your life simply obeying authority, you will not only fail in life, you will be a bore and no one would want to be with you.
Which is why an English boy, an American boy or an Australian boy is far more smarter intelligent and interesting than a Singaporean raised under this Stalinist one party police state.
I am a very lucky man to have got out of Singapore before my mind was permanently damaged living under such a regime. And that is why I am passing this message to you.
Please spread this message as widely as possible in social media sites. Thank you
Gopalan Nair
Attorney at Law
A Singaporean in Exile
Fremont San Francisco USA
Tel: 510 491 8525
Email: nair.gopalan@yahoo.com
Except for my childhood and about 10 years as a lawyer in the island, I have spent a great part of my life abroad, 7 years in Europe and 26 years now in California USA. I can clearly see the damage that life in Singapore does to your brain. I have also seen a few Singaporeans here and previously in Europe. I can say without hesitation that a Singaporean either in Europe or America is a disappointment. He is a bore. The only things that interests him is perhaps talking about the price of houses and where to eat at which restaurant. Since most Singaporeans who have left the island are ethnic Chinese, they invariably appear pale, effete and weak both physically mind and spirit. You will never see a Singaporean scaling El Capitan or sailing the world. Only Americans and Europeans do that. And he is afraid to speak because he does not want the Singapore rulers to take offense. In other words he has no opinion because he is a bore.
Once again let me tell you this. It took me a long time before it dawned on me as to why these Singaporeans are so different, so uninteresting, so bereft of any daring or courage compared to Englishmen or Europeans. Their total lack of spontaneity. Their total lack of a spark in the eye. Talking to them is like getting information from an old 1980 computer; you feed in the question and there is a delay before your answer is processed.
Why are Singaporeans this way? With a little bit of thought the answer would be very clear. It is the stifling political system which prevents a human being from being who you are. In Singapore island, the island wide security apparatus includes island wide surveillance, not dissimilar to North Korea. Success in that island depends on your pleasing your masters, just as you would please Kim Jong Un, showing unwavering support to the ruling party and their government and in this manner one climbs the ladder to financial and political success.
But Hey wait a minute. Is it not hard to show loyalty and support to a government which denies you the right to free speech and expression, which denies you the right to free and independent newspapers, which has no rule of law but rule by telephone by which I mean the judge before passing judgment waits for the Prime Minister to tell him how long the sentence should be?
For example common sense should tell you that there should be nothing wrong for you to peacefully stand alone and hold up a placard with the words "Down Down Prime Minister". No one is harmed. No one is hurt. The island doesn't collapse as a result. But not in Singapore. In that island common sense is upside down. Even if you think there is nothing wrong for the peaceful protester, you have to deliberately make yourself believe that it is wrong and not do it. If you do you are punished.
For any lawyer to tell the court that he believes the judge is corrupt and a Kangaroo would mean a contempt charge and you would be thrown in jail, even though you, the judge himself and everyone else knows it is perfectly true! In other words the Singapore's rulers have a right to appoint corrupt judges to punish political opponents and you simply have to accept it.
What happens over time when you live in such a state is this. You slowly begin to realize the hopelessness of your situation. You realize that there is nothing you can do. Whether you like it or not you simply have to submit. You simply have to crawl. You have to resign yourself to your fate and the life that this dictatorship has decided for you.
Having resigned yourself to this state of hopelessness, the vast majority who either have no means to leave the island or are opportunists, feel that the best policy is "In Rome do as the Romans do". If success in the island depends on your unwavering support for the dictatorship, then why not give it and reap the rewards. The thinking is just the same as what a Russian would have thought under the Soviet Union. If it is profitable to sing praises to Stalin, never mind he is a mass murderer, then why not do it and profit by it.
So in Singapore today you have an entire citizenry who are daily looking at ways to please the rulers, i.e. the Lee Family and their ruling party. The smart guy in the island is the thoroughly obedient submissive loyal supporter of the establishment. He is a member of the Peoples Association, the branch of the government which you are invited to join, run around doing errands for the government members of parliament and after sufficient crawling and licking their boots, you will be rewarded. In order to accomplish this, you have to engage in some mental gymnastics. Even though you hate the way you have to live, you should publicly declare it is paradise. Even though you have no respect these government appointment lapdog judges, you have to say the island has the best legal system in the world. Even though you have no right to freedom of speech, you have to say that freedom of speech is a very bad thing. And so on and so forth.
On the other hand, in Alice in Wonderland Singapore, the one who has the courage to stand up against this Stalinist government is considered a fool, who does not know which side the bread is buttered! In any other country, he would a hero.
And can you imagine someone who has lived a life such as this suddenly coming to America! All he knows is to simply obey like a Labrador Retriever. The problem is this. In Singapore it is good for you to be a Labrador Retriever. But American society has no respect for such people. In any organization, people who have independent minds and opinions are appreciated. And in America people have common sense which is why if you told an American that is a criminal offense to hold up a sign peacefully, he will send you to the mental asylum.
In America and Europe, everyone has the right think and speak openly. And this is why when people think of new ideas and changes, they have a chance to get it implemented thereby improving their own lives as well as society. Free societies always change because everyone is always thinking of new and better ideas. Sometimes it is wrong and the country regresses. But then they realize it, correct their mistakes and move forward. Change is always good for society because change means progress.
In Singapore island you can have no change at all through the people. If there is going to be change it is because the rulers have decided it. As for you, you have to just sit back and wait for the next orders. In the end, the Singaporean is a boring dummy. And that is why Singaporeans never succeed abroad in the free world. It's because if an American is faced with something really stupid like don't stand on a street protesting, he would instantly ask why not. Whereas a Singaporean brought up under the obedience regime of Singapore would not even imagine of questioning the rule. And if you come to America and live your life simply obeying authority, you will not only fail in life, you will be a bore and no one would want to be with you.
Which is why an English boy, an American boy or an Australian boy is far more smarter intelligent and interesting than a Singaporean raised under this Stalinist one party police state.
I am a very lucky man to have got out of Singapore before my mind was permanently damaged living under such a regime. And that is why I am passing this message to you.
Please spread this message as widely as possible in social media sites. Thank you
Gopalan Nair
Attorney at Law
A Singaporean in Exile
Fremont San Francisco USA
Tel: 510 491 8525
Email: nair.gopalan@yahoo.com
Saturday, September 16, 2017
The worst thing that happens to you in Singapore is the destruction of your mind
Ladies and Gentlemen,
Singapore is a one party dictatorship run formerly by Lee Kuan Yew since his inception and now by his son Lee Hsien Loong of the Lee Family's political party the Peoples Action Party.
There can be no denial that it is a complete dictatorship run today by the Lee family's Lee Hsien Loong. Every organ of state and everyone is controlled by Lee Hsien Loong and the Peoples Action Party. The party controls the courts and all judges are Kangaroos who willingly punish and destroy political opponents. All newspapers are state owned and put out propaganda on a daily basis. Every head of any government department, every police office every soldier and everyone is required to toe the government line. If anyone openly challenges the state apparatus, they face, like in the former Soviet Union, trumped up charges and removed from their positions or jobs. Dissidents and political opponents are shamed and defamed in the state controlled newspapers. Thousands of moles are deployed all over the island to spy on you and ferret out the detractors to be punished. In Singapore, just as in the former Soviet Union or Nazi Germany no one who is critical of the government can succeed or even exist in the island.
This reason for this total subjugation and obedience required of the citizenry is 2 fold. Firstly the Singapore rulers have no intention of relinquishing power. Lee Kuan Yew's son is determined to rule and the only way to make sure of this is to destroy all political opponents. Stalin did this too. They justify it by claiming that only they are best qualified to rule and therefore it is in the interests of the state to punish any critic, naturally a very convenient argument from their viewpoint.
Secondly they argue that as Singapore is a small tiny island without natural resources, the only way to provide jobs is to attract foreign investment. And since foreign investors prefer dictatorships where the citizens workers have no rights, the subjugation, denial of human rights and repression is actually in their own best interests, a very spurious argument indeed. In other words, not having any human rights is actually in your best interests, is what their preposterous argument is!
The sad truth is that all this denial of human rights and submission of political critics is exactly what foreign investors want. Because they have no rights, a foreign company intending to set up a sweat shop assembly line would find Singapore most attractive; you can ill treat the workers as much as you want and get away with it in maximizing your profits.
Until and unless Singaporeans themselves stand up and demand their rights, this sad state of affairs would continue in the island, fueled by foreign industrialists taking advantage of the helpless powerless and weak Singaporean work force.
As you know in Singapore the citizen has no rights at all. The trade unions are all controlled by the employers and the state, the worker has no rights. There is no rule of law which means the police can pick you up anyone anytime on trumped up charges and finish you off. There is no free speech or expression as it is illegal to speak publicly against the state under Singapore law. There is no right of peaceful assembly under Singapore law. All these repressive measures are designed to stop any open rebellion against the government to entrench their rule forever.
What is most damaging is the result of such government actions on the minds of their people. Because you to always be careful when you speak or to whom you speak, you become some sort of a hypocrite. You are no longer capable of thinking normally. In Singapore you are at all times required to lead a double life. The government is aware that privately a great many people hate the system, they are content to leave you alone as long as you don't make your opinions public. So in public, people are always claiming the government is right, however ridiculous you may think their argument is. In fact they themselves know how ridiculous they sound but they say it anyway. For instance since the government line is that even the smallest peaceful demonstration is dangerous and therefore illegal, this is what the average person repeats. You will not hear anyone arguing that such a law is unjust even though it is obvious to anyone it is.
You will not hear anyone saying that there should be a free press because the government line is that a free press will result in fake news and therefore free press is bad and only state news agencies are true. You will not hear anyone in the island questioning the arbitrary manner in which Singapore police arrest and detain people since the government argument is that Singapore police are good people and would do only right and therefore they should not be questioned.
Numerous political dissidents have been arrested charged with imaginary crimes and put away. the government claims that all these people are criminals and even though it is clearly evident that they are innocent, their only fault being to challenge the government, nevertheless the judges are still right, they are not corrupt and these political detractors deserve what they got.
Take the law and lawyers. Every single lawyer knows that every single judge in Singapore is corrupt and is a tool of the state to punish critics. But not one lawyer would dare to openly say so or do anything about it. In fact they go about their daily work as if Singapore had the best legal system in the world. And in a system where every single judge is corrupt and misuses his office to please Lee Kuan Yew's son and their henchmen, not a single lawyer would openly dare to say so for fear of losing their livelihoods and impoverished. Although the lawyers know these judges are corrupt and a criminal with any indication of open political unhappiness has no chance in the world before these judges, yet they make no demand for jury trials as the jury system has been abolished so as to make sure that the Lee government can make sure of court verdicts.
As a result of having to live this way in fear and submission, you can see how the people's minds are completely destroyed. The normal human behavior is to say what you think. But living in Singapore under this dictatorship over the years makes your thought process skewed. You can no longer be a rational normal logical person. Even though you hate the establishment, you have to say they are good. You have to be one person in public and another in private 24 hours a day.
If you go to Singapore today you would not be able to find a person to openly tell you what he thinks. Quite often if you confront him with these questions, he politely slides away by one excuse or another. He understands that the way to survive in the island is to keep your mouth shut and mind your own business. Then there are others who are the most disgraceful. These are the ones who hate the system like everyone else, but in order to advance in their careers, they have to join the state ruling party's official organ for such purposes, the Peoples Association. The hope and idea is that if you join and participate in the Peoples Association long enough, the establishment would be pleased and reward you, either by money, by career advancement or by inviting you to join the government. This lot is the most disgusting. They are literally hypocrites and not ashamed of it. They will run around under the establishment coat tails because it is profitable. It does not matter if the people have no rights, it does not matter if the workers are exploited, it does not matter if innocent honest civic minded citizens are put away by Kangaroo courts. All that matters is for them to advance and to do so, it requires them to ingratiate towards the rulers.
You can imagine why these people are therefore the least productive in the world. If you are incapable of doing what you think is right, or speaking your mind, and thinking of new ideas to improve your occupation or profession but instead are only concerned of looking good before your masters, no change can come from you and no good can come from you. You are effectively only capable of following. You are incapable of thinking for yourself and acting on your personal beliefs and ideas.
This sort of society holds the island back. No change can possibly come from the people. Any change has to come from the rulers because only they are allowed to think for themselves. Big Brother will decide for you. Your job is only obedience.
I suppose after your mind is completely destroyed in this manner, it is possible that you may not even notice it if you live there. But if you happen to move to a Western country, you will feel completely at a loss. No American or Western employer will want to have anything to do with you because instead of doing what is right, you will be spending your entire time trying to score points with your boss. A Western employer is not looking for Labrador retriever, he is looking for an independent thinking worker who will do what is best for his job, even if it means telling the boss off.
I have repeatedly advised Singaporean parents to emigrate to the west with their children. It is bad enough if the parents themselves have been turned into zombies by the state apparatus, you don't want to punish your children to the same fate. In the US and the West, independent thinking is encouraged. It is a crucial asset to advance in your life and career. It develops your ability to think openly and independently. It enables you to know that you need not grovel before anyone for your future. It teaches you that there is nothing wrong in individual opinion and the ability to realize it.
I strongly advise Singapore parents to move to the west as soon as possible. If you delay too long it may be too late and your children's minds would be irreparably permanently damaged.
Gopalan Nair
Attorney at Law
A Singaporean in Exile
Fremont San Francisco USA
Tel 510 491 8525
Email: nair.gopalan@yahoo.com
Singapore is a one party dictatorship run formerly by Lee Kuan Yew since his inception and now by his son Lee Hsien Loong of the Lee Family's political party the Peoples Action Party.
There can be no denial that it is a complete dictatorship run today by the Lee family's Lee Hsien Loong. Every organ of state and everyone is controlled by Lee Hsien Loong and the Peoples Action Party. The party controls the courts and all judges are Kangaroos who willingly punish and destroy political opponents. All newspapers are state owned and put out propaganda on a daily basis. Every head of any government department, every police office every soldier and everyone is required to toe the government line. If anyone openly challenges the state apparatus, they face, like in the former Soviet Union, trumped up charges and removed from their positions or jobs. Dissidents and political opponents are shamed and defamed in the state controlled newspapers. Thousands of moles are deployed all over the island to spy on you and ferret out the detractors to be punished. In Singapore, just as in the former Soviet Union or Nazi Germany no one who is critical of the government can succeed or even exist in the island.
This reason for this total subjugation and obedience required of the citizenry is 2 fold. Firstly the Singapore rulers have no intention of relinquishing power. Lee Kuan Yew's son is determined to rule and the only way to make sure of this is to destroy all political opponents. Stalin did this too. They justify it by claiming that only they are best qualified to rule and therefore it is in the interests of the state to punish any critic, naturally a very convenient argument from their viewpoint.
Secondly they argue that as Singapore is a small tiny island without natural resources, the only way to provide jobs is to attract foreign investment. And since foreign investors prefer dictatorships where the citizens workers have no rights, the subjugation, denial of human rights and repression is actually in their own best interests, a very spurious argument indeed. In other words, not having any human rights is actually in your best interests, is what their preposterous argument is!
The sad truth is that all this denial of human rights and submission of political critics is exactly what foreign investors want. Because they have no rights, a foreign company intending to set up a sweat shop assembly line would find Singapore most attractive; you can ill treat the workers as much as you want and get away with it in maximizing your profits.
Until and unless Singaporeans themselves stand up and demand their rights, this sad state of affairs would continue in the island, fueled by foreign industrialists taking advantage of the helpless powerless and weak Singaporean work force.
As you know in Singapore the citizen has no rights at all. The trade unions are all controlled by the employers and the state, the worker has no rights. There is no rule of law which means the police can pick you up anyone anytime on trumped up charges and finish you off. There is no free speech or expression as it is illegal to speak publicly against the state under Singapore law. There is no right of peaceful assembly under Singapore law. All these repressive measures are designed to stop any open rebellion against the government to entrench their rule forever.
What is most damaging is the result of such government actions on the minds of their people. Because you to always be careful when you speak or to whom you speak, you become some sort of a hypocrite. You are no longer capable of thinking normally. In Singapore you are at all times required to lead a double life. The government is aware that privately a great many people hate the system, they are content to leave you alone as long as you don't make your opinions public. So in public, people are always claiming the government is right, however ridiculous you may think their argument is. In fact they themselves know how ridiculous they sound but they say it anyway. For instance since the government line is that even the smallest peaceful demonstration is dangerous and therefore illegal, this is what the average person repeats. You will not hear anyone arguing that such a law is unjust even though it is obvious to anyone it is.
You will not hear anyone saying that there should be a free press because the government line is that a free press will result in fake news and therefore free press is bad and only state news agencies are true. You will not hear anyone in the island questioning the arbitrary manner in which Singapore police arrest and detain people since the government argument is that Singapore police are good people and would do only right and therefore they should not be questioned.
Numerous political dissidents have been arrested charged with imaginary crimes and put away. the government claims that all these people are criminals and even though it is clearly evident that they are innocent, their only fault being to challenge the government, nevertheless the judges are still right, they are not corrupt and these political detractors deserve what they got.
Take the law and lawyers. Every single lawyer knows that every single judge in Singapore is corrupt and is a tool of the state to punish critics. But not one lawyer would dare to openly say so or do anything about it. In fact they go about their daily work as if Singapore had the best legal system in the world. And in a system where every single judge is corrupt and misuses his office to please Lee Kuan Yew's son and their henchmen, not a single lawyer would openly dare to say so for fear of losing their livelihoods and impoverished. Although the lawyers know these judges are corrupt and a criminal with any indication of open political unhappiness has no chance in the world before these judges, yet they make no demand for jury trials as the jury system has been abolished so as to make sure that the Lee government can make sure of court verdicts.
As a result of having to live this way in fear and submission, you can see how the people's minds are completely destroyed. The normal human behavior is to say what you think. But living in Singapore under this dictatorship over the years makes your thought process skewed. You can no longer be a rational normal logical person. Even though you hate the establishment, you have to say they are good. You have to be one person in public and another in private 24 hours a day.
If you go to Singapore today you would not be able to find a person to openly tell you what he thinks. Quite often if you confront him with these questions, he politely slides away by one excuse or another. He understands that the way to survive in the island is to keep your mouth shut and mind your own business. Then there are others who are the most disgraceful. These are the ones who hate the system like everyone else, but in order to advance in their careers, they have to join the state ruling party's official organ for such purposes, the Peoples Association. The hope and idea is that if you join and participate in the Peoples Association long enough, the establishment would be pleased and reward you, either by money, by career advancement or by inviting you to join the government. This lot is the most disgusting. They are literally hypocrites and not ashamed of it. They will run around under the establishment coat tails because it is profitable. It does not matter if the people have no rights, it does not matter if the workers are exploited, it does not matter if innocent honest civic minded citizens are put away by Kangaroo courts. All that matters is for them to advance and to do so, it requires them to ingratiate towards the rulers.
You can imagine why these people are therefore the least productive in the world. If you are incapable of doing what you think is right, or speaking your mind, and thinking of new ideas to improve your occupation or profession but instead are only concerned of looking good before your masters, no change can come from you and no good can come from you. You are effectively only capable of following. You are incapable of thinking for yourself and acting on your personal beliefs and ideas.
This sort of society holds the island back. No change can possibly come from the people. Any change has to come from the rulers because only they are allowed to think for themselves. Big Brother will decide for you. Your job is only obedience.
I suppose after your mind is completely destroyed in this manner, it is possible that you may not even notice it if you live there. But if you happen to move to a Western country, you will feel completely at a loss. No American or Western employer will want to have anything to do with you because instead of doing what is right, you will be spending your entire time trying to score points with your boss. A Western employer is not looking for Labrador retriever, he is looking for an independent thinking worker who will do what is best for his job, even if it means telling the boss off.
I have repeatedly advised Singaporean parents to emigrate to the west with their children. It is bad enough if the parents themselves have been turned into zombies by the state apparatus, you don't want to punish your children to the same fate. In the US and the West, independent thinking is encouraged. It is a crucial asset to advance in your life and career. It develops your ability to think openly and independently. It enables you to know that you need not grovel before anyone for your future. It teaches you that there is nothing wrong in individual opinion and the ability to realize it.
I strongly advise Singapore parents to move to the west as soon as possible. If you delay too long it may be too late and your children's minds would be irreparably permanently damaged.
Gopalan Nair
Attorney at Law
A Singaporean in Exile
Fremont San Francisco USA
Tel 510 491 8525
Email: nair.gopalan@yahoo.com
Sunday, September 10, 2017
Nazi Germany and Singapore. Striking similarities
Ladies and Gentlemen,
From 1933 to the beginning of the Second World War, Hitler's Nazi Germany was the most powerful country in Europe. From the ashes of the First World War it built itself into a powerful military machine and the most successful economy in Europe under Adolf Hitler. Minus the executions and mass murders, the way Nazi Germany rose to power has striking similarities to the late Singaporean dictator Lee Kuan Yew and now his son who has stepped into his shoes.
BREAD AND WORK
Hitler's promise to the masses in Germany's poor was his promise of bread and work. This was a powerful message that created mass support for his movement. Lee Kuan Yew too in the 1950s promised food and work. They both managed to do that.
FASCISM
Hitler learnt from Benito Mussolini the governance through Fascism. The idea was for the state to control every organ of power in the land. They control the press, controls trade unions or better still abolish them, control TV and Radio, deny free speech and assembly, kill anyone who dares to criticize you, conduct show trials with Kangaroo judges to punish dissidents, destroy the weak minded or biologically or genetically inferior peoples, use propaganda to promote your achievements. This is what Nazi Germany did to rise to power.
And this is exactly what Lee Kuan Yew's Singapore under his son's control does. In Singapore anyone who publicly criticizes the ruling government is destroyed. JB Jeyaretnam who for years dared to challenge the government was repeatedly persecuted in Kangaroo courts in show trials and accused of all sorts of trumped up charges, removed from office, bankrupted and impoverished and destroyed. The same fate suffered by another prominent opposition politician who similarly dared to criticize, brought before Kangaroo courts in show trials, vilified and defamed, thrown out of his job, jailed and bankrupted into poverty.
Countless others too numerous to mention suffered the same fate.
I too suffered. From 1984 to 1991 I was in Singapore engaged in opposition politics. Repeatedly harassed, repeatedly charged with trumped up false charges, brought before show trials with Kangaroo judges, defamed and impoverished. Instead of continuing to allow them to abuse me, I left the country permanently in 1991 for California USA where I am now a citizen.
THE EFFECT OF THESE SHOW TRIALS AND PERSECUTION OF OPPONENTS
The purpose of these show trials to shame and punish political opponents is for a purpose much more important. It is to silence and intimidate every other citizen into submission. The intent is to instill fear and forcing them to accept the authority of Adolf Hitler and Singapore's Lee Kuan Yew and his son today. This is the most important purpose of these show trials that are routinely conducted in Singapore island today.
Under Hitler's Germany, the people were aware of the brutality and injustice of the Nazi Government. But they were powerless to resist because if you do you will be killed. It is the same in Singapore of today. Singaporeans are fully aware that they are living under a dictatorship where they have no rights at all, totally under the mercy of these Kangaroo courts controlled by Lee Kuan Yew's sons and his Peoples Action Party. But they are powerless to resist because if they do, they fear they will suffer the dire fate of other political dissidents of the past such as JB Jeyaretnam and Chee Soon Juan. As a result they fear to stand up to their government.
UNDERSTANDING THE PRIORITIES
Both Hitler and Lee Kuan Yew knew that the priorities of both the Germans of 1933 and Singaporeans of the 1950s was work and food. Human rights and such niceties did not appear high in their list of desirables. So Hitler burnt books on democracy and other social theories. The people should just concentrate on work and making a living, not philosophizing. Lee Kuan Yew did the same. Singapore university no longer teaches subjects like philosophy or democracy or if they still do, it is placed in book shelves you will not find. The point was for the Singaporean to go home to watch his television and eat at the hawkers center and leave such things as politics to Lee Kuan Yew's friends and not go around minding other peoples business.
I have to say this policy has worked. Today it is impossible for you to speak to any Singaporean who has any concern about the way he lives. He has no idea of any of that. His mind has been successfully adjusted by long years of behavior training to concentrate only on his job, food and daily pleasures. The thinking man does not exist in Singapore as he did not exist in Nazi Germany.
MASS EMIGRATION AND EXODUS
Many Germans knew what Hitler was doing to his people. As a result large numbers of the best scientists and academics and professionals, many of them Jews as well as ethnic Germans left Germany, many to the US. As a result Hitler lost a large portion of his highly educated citizens. However many Germans stayed despite knowing Hitler's repression. It is the same situation today in Singapore. Thousands of highly educated Singaporeans disgusted with what Lee Kuan Yew's son is doing to Singapore have emigrated to the West, although many still have decided to stay.
The exodus from tiny Singapore of it's educated is so large and especially crippling for a tiny island like Singapore. There is not a single major western country where you will not find the Singapore diaspora. London, New York San Francisco (where I live), Sydney Melbourne, Frankfurt Brussels Vancouver Toronto Auckland and every major city has a growing Singapore population. Germany could handle it because they are a much larger country. For a depletion of it's population from tiny Singapore at this rate has to be a catastrophe.
LACK OF ALTERNATIVE VIEWPOINTS
In Germany the only political view point was the National Socialist Party of Hitler. That was the only political party or philosophy allowed. In Singapore it is the PAP. No other party is really allowed. It is not that other parties do not officially exist, they do. But they are nothing. No one dares to join them, say anything openly and they are other than at election time, comprised of only one member, it's founder. There are no other members.
In Hitler's Germany they were more honest instead of the hypocrisy you find in Singapore. In Hitler's Germany other political parties were not allowed. If you did, you will be shot.
NO NEED FOR ANY HUMAN RIGHTS
Adolf Hitler did not see any need for any human rights. After all he will take care of you. Why should you have any rights. Therefore a German under Nazi Germany did not have a free press. You read only what was published by the German state newspapers under propaganda minister Joseph Goebbels. You are not allowed to demonstrate in public or speak ill of Adolf Hitler, since according to Hitler, he was such a nice man and how could possibly anyone have anything to complain! In any case if you demonstrated you will either be shot, deported or sent to concentration camp.
In Singapore too there are no human rights, no right to free speech, expression and assembly. The reasoning I assume is the same as Hitler. Since Lee Kuan Yew's son is only going to do good for you, why in Heaven's should you have any reason to complain. The reasoning is, that after all he will provide housing in the state owned Housing agency the HDB. He will provide jobs by attracting foreigners to set up factories in the island. He will build roads, infra structure, make sure you have access to daily needs. Then why the need to protest and criticize? That is why the PAP government of Singapore does not allow any human rights in the island.
WORKERS HAVE NO RIGHTS
Hitler abolished trade unions because the leaders of industry wanted a free reign on workers. As a result industry succeeded and Nazi Germany began to produce an immense amount of goods for the rest of Europe becoming the richest economy in Europe. Lee Kuan Yew's Singapore today is no different. Singapore workers have no rights and their unions are powerless. The plan is to make manufacturing in Singapore so attractive to foreigners. When workers are powerless, surely it is very very attractive to foreign businesses. This way businesses set up in Singapore at sweat shop wages while workers are unable to make ends meet. The only ones who profit are the Lee family and their friends and foreign businesses. The locals have to struggle to survive and there is nothing they can do.
THE SILVER LINING
This sort of abuse simply cannot last. If it lasted in 1933 Europe it was because Nazi Germany did not have Internet. Singapore has. What this means is that Singaporeans today do not have to accept this nonsense. Which is why the mass emigration brain drain is so large from tiny Singapore, they are desperately short of workers to man their businesses. Because of the bad reputation they have the only ones who would tolerate coming to Singapore to work are Chinese Communists from Communist China. But these are hardly qualified workers because they do not speak any English. So with fewer and fewer qualified workers and locals becoming increasing disgruntled and unhappy, you have not only a dwindling work force but an unhappy and unproductive one at that.
As long as the Singapore government is determined to be a carbon copy of Nazi Germany, it is bound to fail as Hitler did, although for different reasons.
Gopalan Nair
Attorney at Law
A Singaporean in exile
Fremont San Francisco California USA
Tel: 510 491 8525
Email: nair.gopalan@yahoo.com
From 1933 to the beginning of the Second World War, Hitler's Nazi Germany was the most powerful country in Europe. From the ashes of the First World War it built itself into a powerful military machine and the most successful economy in Europe under Adolf Hitler. Minus the executions and mass murders, the way Nazi Germany rose to power has striking similarities to the late Singaporean dictator Lee Kuan Yew and now his son who has stepped into his shoes.
BREAD AND WORK
Hitler's promise to the masses in Germany's poor was his promise of bread and work. This was a powerful message that created mass support for his movement. Lee Kuan Yew too in the 1950s promised food and work. They both managed to do that.
FASCISM
Hitler learnt from Benito Mussolini the governance through Fascism. The idea was for the state to control every organ of power in the land. They control the press, controls trade unions or better still abolish them, control TV and Radio, deny free speech and assembly, kill anyone who dares to criticize you, conduct show trials with Kangaroo judges to punish dissidents, destroy the weak minded or biologically or genetically inferior peoples, use propaganda to promote your achievements. This is what Nazi Germany did to rise to power.
And this is exactly what Lee Kuan Yew's Singapore under his son's control does. In Singapore anyone who publicly criticizes the ruling government is destroyed. JB Jeyaretnam who for years dared to challenge the government was repeatedly persecuted in Kangaroo courts in show trials and accused of all sorts of trumped up charges, removed from office, bankrupted and impoverished and destroyed. The same fate suffered by another prominent opposition politician who similarly dared to criticize, brought before Kangaroo courts in show trials, vilified and defamed, thrown out of his job, jailed and bankrupted into poverty.
Countless others too numerous to mention suffered the same fate.
I too suffered. From 1984 to 1991 I was in Singapore engaged in opposition politics. Repeatedly harassed, repeatedly charged with trumped up false charges, brought before show trials with Kangaroo judges, defamed and impoverished. Instead of continuing to allow them to abuse me, I left the country permanently in 1991 for California USA where I am now a citizen.
THE EFFECT OF THESE SHOW TRIALS AND PERSECUTION OF OPPONENTS
The purpose of these show trials to shame and punish political opponents is for a purpose much more important. It is to silence and intimidate every other citizen into submission. The intent is to instill fear and forcing them to accept the authority of Adolf Hitler and Singapore's Lee Kuan Yew and his son today. This is the most important purpose of these show trials that are routinely conducted in Singapore island today.
Under Hitler's Germany, the people were aware of the brutality and injustice of the Nazi Government. But they were powerless to resist because if you do you will be killed. It is the same in Singapore of today. Singaporeans are fully aware that they are living under a dictatorship where they have no rights at all, totally under the mercy of these Kangaroo courts controlled by Lee Kuan Yew's sons and his Peoples Action Party. But they are powerless to resist because if they do, they fear they will suffer the dire fate of other political dissidents of the past such as JB Jeyaretnam and Chee Soon Juan. As a result they fear to stand up to their government.
UNDERSTANDING THE PRIORITIES
Both Hitler and Lee Kuan Yew knew that the priorities of both the Germans of 1933 and Singaporeans of the 1950s was work and food. Human rights and such niceties did not appear high in their list of desirables. So Hitler burnt books on democracy and other social theories. The people should just concentrate on work and making a living, not philosophizing. Lee Kuan Yew did the same. Singapore university no longer teaches subjects like philosophy or democracy or if they still do, it is placed in book shelves you will not find. The point was for the Singaporean to go home to watch his television and eat at the hawkers center and leave such things as politics to Lee Kuan Yew's friends and not go around minding other peoples business.
I have to say this policy has worked. Today it is impossible for you to speak to any Singaporean who has any concern about the way he lives. He has no idea of any of that. His mind has been successfully adjusted by long years of behavior training to concentrate only on his job, food and daily pleasures. The thinking man does not exist in Singapore as he did not exist in Nazi Germany.
MASS EMIGRATION AND EXODUS
Many Germans knew what Hitler was doing to his people. As a result large numbers of the best scientists and academics and professionals, many of them Jews as well as ethnic Germans left Germany, many to the US. As a result Hitler lost a large portion of his highly educated citizens. However many Germans stayed despite knowing Hitler's repression. It is the same situation today in Singapore. Thousands of highly educated Singaporeans disgusted with what Lee Kuan Yew's son is doing to Singapore have emigrated to the West, although many still have decided to stay.
The exodus from tiny Singapore of it's educated is so large and especially crippling for a tiny island like Singapore. There is not a single major western country where you will not find the Singapore diaspora. London, New York San Francisco (where I live), Sydney Melbourne, Frankfurt Brussels Vancouver Toronto Auckland and every major city has a growing Singapore population. Germany could handle it because they are a much larger country. For a depletion of it's population from tiny Singapore at this rate has to be a catastrophe.
LACK OF ALTERNATIVE VIEWPOINTS
In Germany the only political view point was the National Socialist Party of Hitler. That was the only political party or philosophy allowed. In Singapore it is the PAP. No other party is really allowed. It is not that other parties do not officially exist, they do. But they are nothing. No one dares to join them, say anything openly and they are other than at election time, comprised of only one member, it's founder. There are no other members.
In Hitler's Germany they were more honest instead of the hypocrisy you find in Singapore. In Hitler's Germany other political parties were not allowed. If you did, you will be shot.
NO NEED FOR ANY HUMAN RIGHTS
Adolf Hitler did not see any need for any human rights. After all he will take care of you. Why should you have any rights. Therefore a German under Nazi Germany did not have a free press. You read only what was published by the German state newspapers under propaganda minister Joseph Goebbels. You are not allowed to demonstrate in public or speak ill of Adolf Hitler, since according to Hitler, he was such a nice man and how could possibly anyone have anything to complain! In any case if you demonstrated you will either be shot, deported or sent to concentration camp.
In Singapore too there are no human rights, no right to free speech, expression and assembly. The reasoning I assume is the same as Hitler. Since Lee Kuan Yew's son is only going to do good for you, why in Heaven's should you have any reason to complain. The reasoning is, that after all he will provide housing in the state owned Housing agency the HDB. He will provide jobs by attracting foreigners to set up factories in the island. He will build roads, infra structure, make sure you have access to daily needs. Then why the need to protest and criticize? That is why the PAP government of Singapore does not allow any human rights in the island.
WORKERS HAVE NO RIGHTS
Hitler abolished trade unions because the leaders of industry wanted a free reign on workers. As a result industry succeeded and Nazi Germany began to produce an immense amount of goods for the rest of Europe becoming the richest economy in Europe. Lee Kuan Yew's Singapore today is no different. Singapore workers have no rights and their unions are powerless. The plan is to make manufacturing in Singapore so attractive to foreigners. When workers are powerless, surely it is very very attractive to foreign businesses. This way businesses set up in Singapore at sweat shop wages while workers are unable to make ends meet. The only ones who profit are the Lee family and their friends and foreign businesses. The locals have to struggle to survive and there is nothing they can do.
THE SILVER LINING
This sort of abuse simply cannot last. If it lasted in 1933 Europe it was because Nazi Germany did not have Internet. Singapore has. What this means is that Singaporeans today do not have to accept this nonsense. Which is why the mass emigration brain drain is so large from tiny Singapore, they are desperately short of workers to man their businesses. Because of the bad reputation they have the only ones who would tolerate coming to Singapore to work are Chinese Communists from Communist China. But these are hardly qualified workers because they do not speak any English. So with fewer and fewer qualified workers and locals becoming increasing disgruntled and unhappy, you have not only a dwindling work force but an unhappy and unproductive one at that.
As long as the Singapore government is determined to be a carbon copy of Nazi Germany, it is bound to fail as Hitler did, although for different reasons.
Gopalan Nair
Attorney at Law
A Singaporean in exile
Fremont San Francisco California USA
Tel: 510 491 8525
Email: nair.gopalan@yahoo.com
Thursday, September 7, 2017
Singapore's Stalinist one party state government holds the island back
Ladies and Gentlemen,
It is Singapore's internationally well known bad reputation, as an authoritarian Stalinist one party island state that is what is holding its progress back. The latest reports state a growing number of local citizens leaving the island for settlement in Western democracies. This would be bad enough for any country, but for an already tiny island with a tiny local population, as the human deluge continues, the Singaporean would soon become extinct in the Singapore!
At the same time, the island has the world's lowest birth rate. For an already tiny population, this means literally extinction of the Singaporean race.
In that already tiny population, the aging component is very large. In fact more than 30% or so are above 60s and soon they will all die.
With massive outward emigration, lowest birth rate in the world and an aging population in an already tiny island, question is, is Singapore going to last very long?
The state apparatus have tried hard over decades to persuade Singaporeans not to leave and to have more children but they have totally failed. They have tried tax incentive, large cash gifts and even career promotions all to noting. Why do Singaporeans hate their own country so much as to refuse to have any children and dying to flee from it?
The way they do it as was the style in the former Soviet Union. Stalin murdered anyone who disagreed with him leaving only compliant bootlickers. In Singapore they don't kill dissidents but they make sure that you are punished for life. In Soviet Union they used to have show trials where dissidents are put on trial made to confess and then shot. In Singapore although they don't shoot you, the purpose is the same. They arrest dissidents, have show trials before kangaroo judges, disgraced and vilified and then cast away. These dissidents served a purpose in soviet Union to frighten everyone into toeing the line. The same purpose is achieved in Singapore. Men such as JB Jeyaretnam are charged in trumped up charges, abused and vilified before the courts and then impoverished and cast away. The purpose is not only to punish JB Jeyaretnam but more importantly, just as in the Soviet Union, to threaten everyone else to obey without question.
Although the Soviet Union got away with it for many years, Lee Kuan Yew and his descendants are stupid to think that it will work in this day and age in an island like Singapore. Under Stalin, his dissidents have nowhere to go. They could not leave the Soviet Union. They either get in line or perish. But this style is useless in Singapore in the 21st century in the Internet age. If you make life miserable for people, they will leave. And not just that, the very best people would leave since they are the ones with the qualifications that the West needs.
Let me give you my personal example. From around the mid eighties to 1991, while I was practicing law in Singapore and agitating for democracy, the state began a series of criminal charges, professional misconduct charges and other means against me, obviously to silence me. And their style was just as it was in the Soviet Union, publicly claiming in the state controlled press that I was a criminal, prominently displaying my picture in all the state controlled newspapers as an evil person, putting me before their Kangaroo judges in show trials and convict fine and jail me. The hope of course was that I would stop agitating, realize that it is useless, and stop being a thorn on their side. That is what happened in the Soviet Union and that is what normally happens in Singapore island.
After all people of Singapore are not stupid. They can see that I am no criminal. They can see that my only fault is my refusal to submit to their dictatorship. So eventually not wanting to allow them to abuse me for the rest of my life, I just left for the US and obtained asylum. I personally know that after I left, there was a massive surge of highly educated Singaporeans leaving the island. And since then the emigration rate has surged to higher and higher levels. So if they thought that by abusing my rights, they could benefit, it has turned out the opposite. By thinking that you can go around bullying people, you hurt yourself more than anyone. As can be seen with the massive numbers leaving the island today which is literally destroying the island about which there is nothing they can do.
And even from San Francisco I continue to expose this regime. In the Soviet times, if you are a critic, regardless of whether you are in the country or outside you will be murdered. We have seen Stalin going after his opponents like Trotsky in Mexico for instance. Bulgarian secret agents had murdered a dissident walking along London bridge not too long ago. More recently Putin has murdered his opponents in London. As for Singapore, although they are prepared to use trumped up charges to destroy you within their island, they are not prepared to kill you overseas. I have been living in United States for the past 25 years but so far no Singapore agent has ever tried to kill me.
You can see the foolishness of their methods. Within Singapore, they use every dirty trick to destroy anyone who is against them. But if you leave, they do nothing. And this fact which is known to all works as an engine to persuade even more Singaporeans to leave the island.
The Singapore model is basically a Stalinist economy. The Soviet Union under Marxist philosophy tried very hard to mould their citizens into believing that the State was everything. The only way to be a model citizen was to obey and serve the state. And those who thought otherwise had no place in that country. It is just the same today in Singapore. The Singapore government has no need for thinkers and philosophers with ideas to better the way they live. What they want is for people to unconditionally accept that the state is right, the sate will create jobs and in obedience you will be forever happy. This was the model Singapore citizen that they want.
The main goal of Singapore is tow fold. Firstly to make Singapore the most attractive place in the world for foreign businesses. And the way to make it most attractive is to deny workers rights, allow the employers to pay you any pittance they want, and a workforce that have no rights whatsoever in total obedience. In this manner, Singapore's Lee family who rule the country hope that more foreign businesses would continue to come to Singapore, provide more employment to Singaporeans so that the economy will progress to enable the Lee family and their friends to continue in power and continue raking their corrupt millions.
This as you can see is a very selfish goal. They are not interested in nurturing independent thinkers who might be able to create change for the better and progressively advance with the constant clash of new ideas and policies. All they want is to continue their present system of silencing their citizens so that it continues a paradise for foreign businesses in Singapore. And most importantly, they want no change.
What they are saying is that they know best. They would plan. They would attract new foreign businesses. As for you, just keep quiet and do your work, that's all.
For any educated person such a life becomes distasteful very soon. Why shouldn't I have my own ideas about Singapore, why should not be allowed to speak openly without fear of arrest and victimization? Why cant I live the way any Australian New Zealander or American lives. Why should I have to listen to the boredom of the state everyday?
The government does not realize that the most important thing for an island such as this to progress is a good reputation. Singapore unfortunately has a very bad reputation. Which is one reason why everyone wants to leave. Everyone knows that it has no rule of law, the courts are an instrument of oppression presided over by corrupt Kangaroo judges, it has harsh criminal system where people are hanged in massive numbers, beaten to the bone in a punishment called caning. It has no right to free speech or expression and it has a defamation regime where Kangaroo courts jail and impoverish you for criticism of the Lee family rulers.
As they continue in this disgusting manner the island would soon be devoid of any locals. What they would have are the recently imported Chinese nationals from China who are brought in to make up the numbers for those leaving. If you look at the figures, you would know that there is no massive outward migration from the UK, Australia, New Zealand, or any Western European country as it is in Singapore. The question is why and the answer is simple. The British are proud of Britain, the Australians are proud of Australia. They have proud state institutions and a robust rule of law. They have no desire to leave. While the ordinary Singapore lives in fear of his rulers and hate the way they have to live. That is why they leave and will continue to leave.
And unless they kill me in California, I will continue to write these pages which will persuade even one more Singaporean to leave the island and condemn it for the rest of his life. I am not going anywhere. I am still in San Francisco and so will this blog Singapore Dissident. I think it is my defiance that angers these petty small time thugs in Singapore the most.
If you like what I write please continue to publish this post on all and every social media possible. Although the Singapore opposition may not be able to achieve an instant revolution, slowly and steadily by attrition we are seeing the collapse of this Lee family Singapore regime. Just as tomorrow 5 more families will leave to be replaced by 5 more from Communist China.
Gopalan Nair
A Singaporean in Exile
Attorney at law
Fremont San Francisco California
Tel: 510 491 8525
Email: nair.gopalan@yahoo.com
It is Singapore's internationally well known bad reputation, as an authoritarian Stalinist one party island state that is what is holding its progress back. The latest reports state a growing number of local citizens leaving the island for settlement in Western democracies. This would be bad enough for any country, but for an already tiny island with a tiny local population, as the human deluge continues, the Singaporean would soon become extinct in the Singapore!
At the same time, the island has the world's lowest birth rate. For an already tiny population, this means literally extinction of the Singaporean race.
In that already tiny population, the aging component is very large. In fact more than 30% or so are above 60s and soon they will all die.
With massive outward emigration, lowest birth rate in the world and an aging population in an already tiny island, question is, is Singapore going to last very long?
The state apparatus have tried hard over decades to persuade Singaporeans not to leave and to have more children but they have totally failed. They have tried tax incentive, large cash gifts and even career promotions all to noting. Why do Singaporeans hate their own country so much as to refuse to have any children and dying to flee from it?
The way they do it as was the style in the former Soviet Union. Stalin murdered anyone who disagreed with him leaving only compliant bootlickers. In Singapore they don't kill dissidents but they make sure that you are punished for life. In Soviet Union they used to have show trials where dissidents are put on trial made to confess and then shot. In Singapore although they don't shoot you, the purpose is the same. They arrest dissidents, have show trials before kangaroo judges, disgraced and vilified and then cast away. These dissidents served a purpose in soviet Union to frighten everyone into toeing the line. The same purpose is achieved in Singapore. Men such as JB Jeyaretnam are charged in trumped up charges, abused and vilified before the courts and then impoverished and cast away. The purpose is not only to punish JB Jeyaretnam but more importantly, just as in the Soviet Union, to threaten everyone else to obey without question.
Although the Soviet Union got away with it for many years, Lee Kuan Yew and his descendants are stupid to think that it will work in this day and age in an island like Singapore. Under Stalin, his dissidents have nowhere to go. They could not leave the Soviet Union. They either get in line or perish. But this style is useless in Singapore in the 21st century in the Internet age. If you make life miserable for people, they will leave. And not just that, the very best people would leave since they are the ones with the qualifications that the West needs.
Let me give you my personal example. From around the mid eighties to 1991, while I was practicing law in Singapore and agitating for democracy, the state began a series of criminal charges, professional misconduct charges and other means against me, obviously to silence me. And their style was just as it was in the Soviet Union, publicly claiming in the state controlled press that I was a criminal, prominently displaying my picture in all the state controlled newspapers as an evil person, putting me before their Kangaroo judges in show trials and convict fine and jail me. The hope of course was that I would stop agitating, realize that it is useless, and stop being a thorn on their side. That is what happened in the Soviet Union and that is what normally happens in Singapore island.
After all people of Singapore are not stupid. They can see that I am no criminal. They can see that my only fault is my refusal to submit to their dictatorship. So eventually not wanting to allow them to abuse me for the rest of my life, I just left for the US and obtained asylum. I personally know that after I left, there was a massive surge of highly educated Singaporeans leaving the island. And since then the emigration rate has surged to higher and higher levels. So if they thought that by abusing my rights, they could benefit, it has turned out the opposite. By thinking that you can go around bullying people, you hurt yourself more than anyone. As can be seen with the massive numbers leaving the island today which is literally destroying the island about which there is nothing they can do.
And even from San Francisco I continue to expose this regime. In the Soviet times, if you are a critic, regardless of whether you are in the country or outside you will be murdered. We have seen Stalin going after his opponents like Trotsky in Mexico for instance. Bulgarian secret agents had murdered a dissident walking along London bridge not too long ago. More recently Putin has murdered his opponents in London. As for Singapore, although they are prepared to use trumped up charges to destroy you within their island, they are not prepared to kill you overseas. I have been living in United States for the past 25 years but so far no Singapore agent has ever tried to kill me.
You can see the foolishness of their methods. Within Singapore, they use every dirty trick to destroy anyone who is against them. But if you leave, they do nothing. And this fact which is known to all works as an engine to persuade even more Singaporeans to leave the island.
The Singapore model is basically a Stalinist economy. The Soviet Union under Marxist philosophy tried very hard to mould their citizens into believing that the State was everything. The only way to be a model citizen was to obey and serve the state. And those who thought otherwise had no place in that country. It is just the same today in Singapore. The Singapore government has no need for thinkers and philosophers with ideas to better the way they live. What they want is for people to unconditionally accept that the state is right, the sate will create jobs and in obedience you will be forever happy. This was the model Singapore citizen that they want.
The main goal of Singapore is tow fold. Firstly to make Singapore the most attractive place in the world for foreign businesses. And the way to make it most attractive is to deny workers rights, allow the employers to pay you any pittance they want, and a workforce that have no rights whatsoever in total obedience. In this manner, Singapore's Lee family who rule the country hope that more foreign businesses would continue to come to Singapore, provide more employment to Singaporeans so that the economy will progress to enable the Lee family and their friends to continue in power and continue raking their corrupt millions.
This as you can see is a very selfish goal. They are not interested in nurturing independent thinkers who might be able to create change for the better and progressively advance with the constant clash of new ideas and policies. All they want is to continue their present system of silencing their citizens so that it continues a paradise for foreign businesses in Singapore. And most importantly, they want no change.
What they are saying is that they know best. They would plan. They would attract new foreign businesses. As for you, just keep quiet and do your work, that's all.
For any educated person such a life becomes distasteful very soon. Why shouldn't I have my own ideas about Singapore, why should not be allowed to speak openly without fear of arrest and victimization? Why cant I live the way any Australian New Zealander or American lives. Why should I have to listen to the boredom of the state everyday?
The government does not realize that the most important thing for an island such as this to progress is a good reputation. Singapore unfortunately has a very bad reputation. Which is one reason why everyone wants to leave. Everyone knows that it has no rule of law, the courts are an instrument of oppression presided over by corrupt Kangaroo judges, it has harsh criminal system where people are hanged in massive numbers, beaten to the bone in a punishment called caning. It has no right to free speech or expression and it has a defamation regime where Kangaroo courts jail and impoverish you for criticism of the Lee family rulers.
As they continue in this disgusting manner the island would soon be devoid of any locals. What they would have are the recently imported Chinese nationals from China who are brought in to make up the numbers for those leaving. If you look at the figures, you would know that there is no massive outward migration from the UK, Australia, New Zealand, or any Western European country as it is in Singapore. The question is why and the answer is simple. The British are proud of Britain, the Australians are proud of Australia. They have proud state institutions and a robust rule of law. They have no desire to leave. While the ordinary Singapore lives in fear of his rulers and hate the way they have to live. That is why they leave and will continue to leave.
And unless they kill me in California, I will continue to write these pages which will persuade even one more Singaporean to leave the island and condemn it for the rest of his life. I am not going anywhere. I am still in San Francisco and so will this blog Singapore Dissident. I think it is my defiance that angers these petty small time thugs in Singapore the most.
If you like what I write please continue to publish this post on all and every social media possible. Although the Singapore opposition may not be able to achieve an instant revolution, slowly and steadily by attrition we are seeing the collapse of this Lee family Singapore regime. Just as tomorrow 5 more families will leave to be replaced by 5 more from Communist China.
Gopalan Nair
A Singaporean in Exile
Attorney at law
Fremont San Francisco California
Tel: 510 491 8525
Email: nair.gopalan@yahoo.com
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