Ladies and Gentlemen,
Singapore's state controlled newspaper of May 27, 2011 carried the story "British author loses appeal". In 2010, in an internationally widely condemned action, the Lee Kuan Yew government of Singapore arrested and charged well known British author Alan Shadrake for writing a book, Once a Jolly Hangman, which had passages not entirely flattering of the Singapore judicial system.
A well researched book, it gives details of several cases where well connected personages, who were of either economic or political advantage to the Singapore government were either let off Scot free or treated leniently even though guilty of serious crimes while other common Singaporeans were routinely executed.
Any Singaporean living in Singapore already knows this as Singapore deliberately makes their actions in abusing the law especially to punish political dissidents very clear. For example, JB Jeyaretnam, the well known political opponent of the Lee Kuan Yew administration, in well publicised news reports in the state controlled press, was repeatedly sued for defamation of character, jailed and bankrupted in circumstances where it was obvious he did nothing wrong. His only fault was in being a serious political threat to Lee.
The other prominent victim of Lee Kuan Yew's legal abuse was and is Chee Soon Juan, the leader of his Singapore Democratic Party. He has been repeatedly jailed, sued and bankrupted for his political challenge. He is not allowed to contest elections due to his bankruptcy.
A few weeks ago Lee Kuan Yew's PAP had suffered their greatest loss in voter support since decades. Even though they won, they only managed to secure 60% of the votes, the lowest percentage ever, and lost a GRC (5 seats) and another single seat to the opposition.
One would have thought that these numbers would have rung alarm bells in the PAP heads, and they would realise that they are showing their dissatisfaction to the Lee Kuan Yew style, dictatorial form of government. Apparently this is not the case as the dismissal of the appeal of the British author and sending him to jail shows us.
Please remember the facts here. Shadrake wrote a book in 2010, almost exactly a year ago when he said that the Singapore courts were misusing their authority to please their political masters. Once Shadrake was arrested, the sales of his book shot through the ceiling, both in Singapore, Malaysia and around the world. Yesterday, after the news of jailing was confirmed, the sales of his book has shot up even further and turned into a bestseller. And now, almost exactly after a year from the books first publication, and after thousands upon thousands having read it, they send him to jail.
I am sorry but I am unable to understand the reasoning of Lee Kuan Yew's Singapore government in doing this. If the purpose was to punish Shadrake, it is surely not going to bother him after he leaves Lee Kuan Yew's jail. If it is to frighten every other Singaporean not to ever criticize Lee Kuan Yew or his government, I think the point has been made long ago; but I am not sure how effective such a government is going to be that relies on fear to rule. If it is to prove that Singapore's judicial system is fair, this objective has failed miserably as the jailing only confirms what Shadrake has written, precisely that their judicial system is in fact thoroughly corrupt.
Singapore's major problems today are mounting emigration of it's citizens to Western countries due to the lack of freedom and democracy. Second, the birth rate is so low that Singaporeans are almost dying off and unless foreigners are brought in large numbers as replacement, which itself poses great problems on it's own. Again the reason is Lee's authoritarian government. This massive brain drain and a declining population are problems which unless rectified, will destroy Singapore itself.
I have no doubt that Shadrake's jailing has added to these problems multi fold. The educated and skilled Singaporeans who are already leaving the country in droves will only do so sooner and in larger numbers. The fast declining population will decline even faster while the free world has been given yet another example of Singapore's intolerance of dissent and proven as a place where no self respecting human being should want to live.
With the jailing of Shadrake, Lee Kuan Yew's grip over it's people has tightened even further.
So my call to Singapore's educated, skilled and thinking citizens is this. You don't want to hang around in an island which is run as if it is Lee's personal possession, where you are permitted to stay only if you don't criticize and if you do, he sends you to jail. If you have a chance, get out and take your family, your money and your possessions with you.
And when you do, keep giving a piece of your mind to these bullies. Lee Kuan Yew and his family can do nothing in an island such as that without good people to manage it.
Better still, stay and fight them. They may send you to jail, sue you and bankrupt you and that is unfortunately the price to pay. If you can withstand that, I am sure the Lee family will have something to really worry about.
One thing I am sure is this. Very soon there are going to be protests in the island. It may be this week or the next but I am sure it is going to happen. There simply cannot be a country such as this with as many as 5 million people who are all prepared to live as slaves. So when that happens, we will no doubt see change. I am waiting for that day.
In the meantime, my call to Lee Kuan Yew and his judges is this, keep sending political opponents and your critics to jail. You are only shooting yourself in the foot.
I will shortly be disbarred from practicing law in Singapore because I had criticized Lee's judge Belinda Ang Saw Ean in this blog. But that is not going to stop me from continuing the criticism.
Gopalan Nair
Attorney at Law
39737 Paseo Padre Parkway, Suite A1
Fremont, CA 94538, USA
Tel: 510 657 6107
Fax: 510 657 6914
Email: nair.gopalan@yahoo.com
Blog: http://singaporedissident.blogspot.com/
Your letters are welcome. We reserve the right to publish your letters. Please Email your letters to nair.gopalan@yahoo.com And if you like what I write, please tell your friends. You will be helping democracy by distributing this widely. This blog not only gives information, it dispels government propaganda put out by this dictatorial regime.
Saturday, May 28, 2011
Wednesday, May 25, 2011
Singapore PAP's greatest enemy, the Internet.
Ladies and Gentlemen,
Today's greatest leveller between the powerful and the weak, the oppressed and the oppressors is just one thing, modern mass communication and the Internet.
Sun Tzu, the Chinese military strategist, although he wrote about actual warfare, his wisdom is equally true in politics. His belief was the need to weaken the enemy, before the battle, in this case Lee Kuan Yew and his PAP, by dissatisfaction and disaffection as the foundation upon which you build towards battle.
When the people are unhappy, they will obviously be more willing to resist and through resistance, our forces, the opposition would overrun them easily.
And that is exactly what this blog Singapore Dissident and the other blogs as well as democracy activists and everyone else are doing. We are pointing out the evils of Lees' despotic regime. When the people are made to realize the injustices being meted to them, they begin to feel unhappiness.
With unhappiness, they refuse to vote for the PAP at elections, emigrate to other western countries, refuse to have children; all insurmountable problems that Lee Kuan Yew faces today.
As the truth about Singapore is spread around the world, western investors refuse to invest there, they pull out their investments and international banks relocate to other Asian countries from Singapore.
Given the lack of the rule of law and the realization that Singaporean judges are mere servants of the government and distort to law to punish political detractors and favor the ruling party, they lose arbitration business and more and more lawyers lose income and thrown out of work. Today, Singapore has no more than 3000 lawyers for a city of 5 million!
So one thing is certain. Today you simply cannot run roughshod over the people. Even if the Internet alone cannot overthrow governments today, they can definitely cause the people to hate them and this hate and dissatisfaction will eventually with time overcome the state.
No matter which way you look at it, states can only function with the support and respect of their people. Without it they cannot except of course for closed societies like North Korea which Singapore is not, and cannot be.
Gopalan Nair
Attorney at Law
39737 Paseo Padre Parkway, Suite A1
Fremont, CA 94538, USA
Tel: 510 657 6107
Fax: 510 657 6914
Email: nair.gopalan@yahoo.com
Blog: http://singaporedissident.blogspot.com/
Your letters are welcome. We reserve the right to publish your letters. Please Email your letters to nair.gopalan@yahoo.com And if you like what I write, please tell your friends. You will be helping democracy by distributing this widely. This blog not only gives information, it dispels government propaganda put out by this dictatorial regime.
Today's greatest leveller between the powerful and the weak, the oppressed and the oppressors is just one thing, modern mass communication and the Internet.
Sun Tzu, the Chinese military strategist, although he wrote about actual warfare, his wisdom is equally true in politics. His belief was the need to weaken the enemy, before the battle, in this case Lee Kuan Yew and his PAP, by dissatisfaction and disaffection as the foundation upon which you build towards battle.
When the people are unhappy, they will obviously be more willing to resist and through resistance, our forces, the opposition would overrun them easily.
And that is exactly what this blog Singapore Dissident and the other blogs as well as democracy activists and everyone else are doing. We are pointing out the evils of Lees' despotic regime. When the people are made to realize the injustices being meted to them, they begin to feel unhappiness.
With unhappiness, they refuse to vote for the PAP at elections, emigrate to other western countries, refuse to have children; all insurmountable problems that Lee Kuan Yew faces today.
As the truth about Singapore is spread around the world, western investors refuse to invest there, they pull out their investments and international banks relocate to other Asian countries from Singapore.
Given the lack of the rule of law and the realization that Singaporean judges are mere servants of the government and distort to law to punish political detractors and favor the ruling party, they lose arbitration business and more and more lawyers lose income and thrown out of work. Today, Singapore has no more than 3000 lawyers for a city of 5 million!
So one thing is certain. Today you simply cannot run roughshod over the people. Even if the Internet alone cannot overthrow governments today, they can definitely cause the people to hate them and this hate and dissatisfaction will eventually with time overcome the state.
No matter which way you look at it, states can only function with the support and respect of their people. Without it they cannot except of course for closed societies like North Korea which Singapore is not, and cannot be.
Gopalan Nair
Attorney at Law
39737 Paseo Padre Parkway, Suite A1
Fremont, CA 94538, USA
Tel: 510 657 6107
Fax: 510 657 6914
Email: nair.gopalan@yahoo.com
Blog: http://singaporedissident.blogspot.com/
Your letters are welcome. We reserve the right to publish your letters. Please Email your letters to nair.gopalan@yahoo.com And if you like what I write, please tell your friends. You will be helping democracy by distributing this widely. This blog not only gives information, it dispels government propaganda put out by this dictatorial regime.
Singapore. Lee Kuan Yew's PAP forced to loosen it's grip.
Ladies and Gentlemen,
Today we read in Singapore's state controlled press that Lee Kuan Yew's son's ruling party in government, the PAP, has for the first time formed a special committee to look into ministerial salaries.
Singapore's ministers are the highest paid government leaders in the world, even though they are one of the tiniest of countries, a very small island with 5 million people. Yet, their ministers are each paid about 5 times what the President of United States or the combined annual incomes of all the European leaders.
Since Singapore is in effect a dictatorship and completely under the grip of Lee Kuan Yew or his son whom he appointed Prime Minister, up till recently, they have managed to ignore the cries of indignation of it's people over this and other brazen injustices.
After all the Lee family controls everything, the media, the police, the judges, the courts, the newspapers, the unions and the list goes on. In fact simply, everything.
If a government can control everything in the island, what need do they have to listen to it's people. After all if you complain too much, you can be arrested and jailed or bankrupted as the situation dictates.
But we see now that finally, the government is loosening it's grip and has finally agreed to look into Ministerial income, not because Lee Kuan Yew and Sons have finally embraced democracy but because the resistance from the people for accountability has been steadily mounting that they find it impossible to ignore any longer.
It is people power that has finally forced Lee ans Sons to face reality at least for once. Every single opposition political party and across the Internet, people have been crying foul on ministerial salaries. One web site, Melanie Hewitt, that has been particularly loud on this issue comes to mind. They have been writing non stop on this disgraceful theft of Singapore's wealth or simply corruption by it's ministers.
This blog Singapore Dissident too have been repeatedly writing about the outrage over this daylight robbery of millions of dollars being siphoned off by the Lee family and their friends at the top, merely by the expedient of calling it a salary.
What has finally made the Lee Kuan Yew government's willingness to reconsider this theft of public money is the Internet today. People all over Singapore and throughout the world have been reading this theft and corruption, which I am sure was why their vote share in the recent elections dropped to the lowest in Singapore's history, a mere 60%, with the unprecedented loss of one GRC of 5 seats in Parliament and another Single Member constituency, 1 seat, making a loss of 6 seats in all.
I reckon they realise their name is now so badly tainted, both locally and internationally that unless they did something they are going to lose everything.
Singapore Dissident is gratified and takes credit for Singapore's decision to reconsider ministerial salaries. Lee and Son's decision to listen to their people for the first time is caused in no small measure by the writings in this blog which is widely read in Singapore and across the world.
I would ask not only that ministers salaries be cut to an mount commensurate to the size and population of Singapore; but also that the the ministers be made to account for these unconscionable salaries and be compelled to return the amounts taken; and that they be charged for corruption and criminal breach of trust, tried and be sent to jail. And as for Lee Kuan Yew being 88, I urge you to move fast so that he is not allowed to do a Pinochet( the Chilean) on us, by dying before his case comes to trial.
Another example of Lee Kuan Yew being forced to loosen his grip is Alan Shadrake, the British author who was jailed for writing a book critical about Singapore. Although Lee's judge Loh Sze Onn, nothing but a newly appointed errand boy, was quick to blidly do his master's bidding and pass judgement upon him of imprisonment, once Shadrake appealed and when slowly but surely the injustice of that case permeated throughout the world, Lee's Singapore has become paralysed with indecision, unable to decide one way or another.
Although it has been more than a year since Sahdrake was arrested in Singapore, he continues in a limbo in the island, with passport confiscated, unable to leave, while Lee and his courts decide what to do.
In this blog I have written repeatedly about the injustice being done to him, a blog which is being read throughout Singapore and across the world. At the same time the Internet has been splashing the news of it across the world from human rights organizations to embassies and governments.
In my own case, Lee and Sons made the mistake of imprisoning me in Singapore for a blog post I wrote here in 2008 critical of Lee's judge Belinda Ang Saw Ean while she sat in judgement in the defamation case of Lee Kuan Yew against Chee Soon Juan. When I decided not to take it lying down and challenged them, the news of it spread throughout the world which caused them unimaginable embarrassment not to mention huge disaffection within Singapore.
After I was deported from Singapore, instead of keeping quiet and leaving them alone, I have continued to expose their injustices and repression by the Singapore government and their compliant judiciary, when they were so peeved by this that they were forced to commence proceedings to have be disbarred as a lawyer in Singapore.
But because they now realize that the consequences of their actions would be alienating more Singaporeans and a further loss of their reputation, they appear now to be dragging their feet.
Even though my arrest happened in Singapore in May 2008, even up till now, 3 full years after the incident, they haven't even fixed a date for the disbarment hearings!
The long delay by Lee Kuan Yew and his courts is not because the case against me is so complex that it takes more time, it is simply because they now find themselves in a quandary once again. They don't know what to do. On the one hand, they fear the backlash of criticism and embarrassment having me disbarred; on the other they would lose face if they did nothing.
Another aspect that I have been repeatedly writing about is the need in Singapore for public protests. I have pointed out that these laws which criminalize peaceful protests and peaceful assemblies and other forms of lawful activism are illegal under the Constitution.
I have also pointed out that as the situation is in Singapore now, dissent is impossible as the entire media, the police and the courts are controlled by the government.
I have also said that the Singapore government is now so embarrassed both locally and abroad by their iron fisted rule to date and that there is such widespread and growing disaffection within Singapore that if indeed anyone protested, it is unlikely that the government would in fact arrest anyone.
And even if they did, the consequence of that would be even more alienation among the population.
In fact the government has already gone soft.
I recall from memory that a number of people were arrested for some form of protest but none was ever punished. I recall a HDB (government owned apartment block) resident who deliberately flew the Singapore flag upside down; nothing happened to him. He was arrested but promptly released.
Only last year a young man drew graffiti on a sign in front of Parliament cursing Lee Kuan Yew and his son, the Prime Minister; he was arrested but nothing further happened to him (remember vandalism carries the penalty of caning).
In Geylang some walls were vandalized with faeces and slogans but the culprit was let off Scot free. In this blog I had written of a handful of people seen demonstrating outside the library in Toa Payoh, next to the fountain, with pro democracy placards. They were seen being taken away by the police but even the incident was never reported and I only came to know of it through reliable sources.
An observer who is not accustomed with the extent of repression by the Singapore government so far would be surprised by my writing about seemingly minor incidents which in a western country would not have attracted even a second look. But we are not talking about some western country but about Lee Kuan Yew's Singapore where even the slightest criticism can land someone in jail, like I did; that is, so far.
But it seems it is all changing, thanks to the Internet. Lee Kuan Yew and Sons have so long got away with anything they want, but today, thanks to the Internet, they find it is no longer possible to dismiss their citizens they way they have always done.
I make this call again to the people of Singapore. Cast aside your fear. The one who should be fearing is not you but Lee Kuan Yew and his sons and cronies. That is why they have finally been forced to call a commission on ministerial salaries. I can promise you they have not done this because they have suddenly become kinder and more compassionate, they have done it because they know they cannot disregard their people any longer.
I can promise you that if you protest in public demanding your rights, Lee and company will not arrest you, not because they cannot but because they know that they will suffer more than you, if they did.
Peacefully protest at street corners, alone or in a group, hold up placards, chant slogans for democracy, distribute leaflets, stand on pill boxes and make speeches, agitate, agitate, agitate.
Singapore is yours. Do it. And as you slowly begin your peaceful protests others will join.
The US is today on the side of those seeking freedom. The days of propping up dictators like Mubarak, Ben Ali, Assad and Lee Kuan Yew and Son are gone. Today Mubarak is going to be tried and facing jail or execution. The US has shown no interest in protecting him and neither will the US protect Lee or his son if it is shown that the people have risen.
One of the reasons why Lee and Sons will not arrest you is because of this blog Singapore Dissident. I have written many times over how unjust and corrupt Lee Kuan Yew's judiciary and his legal system is.
The Lee Kuan Yew government is now disgraced discredited and embarrassed over their legal system, which has been clearly exposed. And because of the widespread knowledge that this blog has been able to spread across Singapore, they are now truly helpless and can no longer act the brazen way they have done so far.
This is your moment. Seize the day.
Gopalan Nair
Attorney at Law
39737 Paseo Padre Parkway, Suite A1
Fremont, CA 94538, USA
Tel: 510 657 6107
Fax: 510 657 6914
Email: nair.gopalan@yahoo.com
Blog: http://singaporedissident.blogspot.com/
Your letters are welcome. We reserve the right to publish your letters. Please Email your letters to nair.gopalan@yahoo.com And if you like what I write, please tell your friends. You will be helping democracy by distributing this widely. This blog not only gives information, it dispels government propaganda put out by this dictatorial regime.
Today we read in Singapore's state controlled press that Lee Kuan Yew's son's ruling party in government, the PAP, has for the first time formed a special committee to look into ministerial salaries.
Singapore's ministers are the highest paid government leaders in the world, even though they are one of the tiniest of countries, a very small island with 5 million people. Yet, their ministers are each paid about 5 times what the President of United States or the combined annual incomes of all the European leaders.
Since Singapore is in effect a dictatorship and completely under the grip of Lee Kuan Yew or his son whom he appointed Prime Minister, up till recently, they have managed to ignore the cries of indignation of it's people over this and other brazen injustices.
After all the Lee family controls everything, the media, the police, the judges, the courts, the newspapers, the unions and the list goes on. In fact simply, everything.
If a government can control everything in the island, what need do they have to listen to it's people. After all if you complain too much, you can be arrested and jailed or bankrupted as the situation dictates.
But we see now that finally, the government is loosening it's grip and has finally agreed to look into Ministerial income, not because Lee Kuan Yew and Sons have finally embraced democracy but because the resistance from the people for accountability has been steadily mounting that they find it impossible to ignore any longer.
It is people power that has finally forced Lee ans Sons to face reality at least for once. Every single opposition political party and across the Internet, people have been crying foul on ministerial salaries. One web site, Melanie Hewitt, that has been particularly loud on this issue comes to mind. They have been writing non stop on this disgraceful theft of Singapore's wealth or simply corruption by it's ministers.
This blog Singapore Dissident too have been repeatedly writing about the outrage over this daylight robbery of millions of dollars being siphoned off by the Lee family and their friends at the top, merely by the expedient of calling it a salary.
What has finally made the Lee Kuan Yew government's willingness to reconsider this theft of public money is the Internet today. People all over Singapore and throughout the world have been reading this theft and corruption, which I am sure was why their vote share in the recent elections dropped to the lowest in Singapore's history, a mere 60%, with the unprecedented loss of one GRC of 5 seats in Parliament and another Single Member constituency, 1 seat, making a loss of 6 seats in all.
I reckon they realise their name is now so badly tainted, both locally and internationally that unless they did something they are going to lose everything.
Singapore Dissident is gratified and takes credit for Singapore's decision to reconsider ministerial salaries. Lee and Son's decision to listen to their people for the first time is caused in no small measure by the writings in this blog which is widely read in Singapore and across the world.
I would ask not only that ministers salaries be cut to an mount commensurate to the size and population of Singapore; but also that the the ministers be made to account for these unconscionable salaries and be compelled to return the amounts taken; and that they be charged for corruption and criminal breach of trust, tried and be sent to jail. And as for Lee Kuan Yew being 88, I urge you to move fast so that he is not allowed to do a Pinochet( the Chilean) on us, by dying before his case comes to trial.
Another example of Lee Kuan Yew being forced to loosen his grip is Alan Shadrake, the British author who was jailed for writing a book critical about Singapore. Although Lee's judge Loh Sze Onn, nothing but a newly appointed errand boy, was quick to blidly do his master's bidding and pass judgement upon him of imprisonment, once Shadrake appealed and when slowly but surely the injustice of that case permeated throughout the world, Lee's Singapore has become paralysed with indecision, unable to decide one way or another.
Although it has been more than a year since Sahdrake was arrested in Singapore, he continues in a limbo in the island, with passport confiscated, unable to leave, while Lee and his courts decide what to do.
In this blog I have written repeatedly about the injustice being done to him, a blog which is being read throughout Singapore and across the world. At the same time the Internet has been splashing the news of it across the world from human rights organizations to embassies and governments.
In my own case, Lee and Sons made the mistake of imprisoning me in Singapore for a blog post I wrote here in 2008 critical of Lee's judge Belinda Ang Saw Ean while she sat in judgement in the defamation case of Lee Kuan Yew against Chee Soon Juan. When I decided not to take it lying down and challenged them, the news of it spread throughout the world which caused them unimaginable embarrassment not to mention huge disaffection within Singapore.
After I was deported from Singapore, instead of keeping quiet and leaving them alone, I have continued to expose their injustices and repression by the Singapore government and their compliant judiciary, when they were so peeved by this that they were forced to commence proceedings to have be disbarred as a lawyer in Singapore.
But because they now realize that the consequences of their actions would be alienating more Singaporeans and a further loss of their reputation, they appear now to be dragging their feet.
Even though my arrest happened in Singapore in May 2008, even up till now, 3 full years after the incident, they haven't even fixed a date for the disbarment hearings!
The long delay by Lee Kuan Yew and his courts is not because the case against me is so complex that it takes more time, it is simply because they now find themselves in a quandary once again. They don't know what to do. On the one hand, they fear the backlash of criticism and embarrassment having me disbarred; on the other they would lose face if they did nothing.
Another aspect that I have been repeatedly writing about is the need in Singapore for public protests. I have pointed out that these laws which criminalize peaceful protests and peaceful assemblies and other forms of lawful activism are illegal under the Constitution.
I have also pointed out that as the situation is in Singapore now, dissent is impossible as the entire media, the police and the courts are controlled by the government.
I have also said that the Singapore government is now so embarrassed both locally and abroad by their iron fisted rule to date and that there is such widespread and growing disaffection within Singapore that if indeed anyone protested, it is unlikely that the government would in fact arrest anyone.
And even if they did, the consequence of that would be even more alienation among the population.
In fact the government has already gone soft.
I recall from memory that a number of people were arrested for some form of protest but none was ever punished. I recall a HDB (government owned apartment block) resident who deliberately flew the Singapore flag upside down; nothing happened to him. He was arrested but promptly released.
Only last year a young man drew graffiti on a sign in front of Parliament cursing Lee Kuan Yew and his son, the Prime Minister; he was arrested but nothing further happened to him (remember vandalism carries the penalty of caning).
In Geylang some walls were vandalized with faeces and slogans but the culprit was let off Scot free. In this blog I had written of a handful of people seen demonstrating outside the library in Toa Payoh, next to the fountain, with pro democracy placards. They were seen being taken away by the police but even the incident was never reported and I only came to know of it through reliable sources.
An observer who is not accustomed with the extent of repression by the Singapore government so far would be surprised by my writing about seemingly minor incidents which in a western country would not have attracted even a second look. But we are not talking about some western country but about Lee Kuan Yew's Singapore where even the slightest criticism can land someone in jail, like I did; that is, so far.
But it seems it is all changing, thanks to the Internet. Lee Kuan Yew and Sons have so long got away with anything they want, but today, thanks to the Internet, they find it is no longer possible to dismiss their citizens they way they have always done.
I make this call again to the people of Singapore. Cast aside your fear. The one who should be fearing is not you but Lee Kuan Yew and his sons and cronies. That is why they have finally been forced to call a commission on ministerial salaries. I can promise you they have not done this because they have suddenly become kinder and more compassionate, they have done it because they know they cannot disregard their people any longer.
I can promise you that if you protest in public demanding your rights, Lee and company will not arrest you, not because they cannot but because they know that they will suffer more than you, if they did.
Peacefully protest at street corners, alone or in a group, hold up placards, chant slogans for democracy, distribute leaflets, stand on pill boxes and make speeches, agitate, agitate, agitate.
Singapore is yours. Do it. And as you slowly begin your peaceful protests others will join.
The US is today on the side of those seeking freedom. The days of propping up dictators like Mubarak, Ben Ali, Assad and Lee Kuan Yew and Son are gone. Today Mubarak is going to be tried and facing jail or execution. The US has shown no interest in protecting him and neither will the US protect Lee or his son if it is shown that the people have risen.
One of the reasons why Lee and Sons will not arrest you is because of this blog Singapore Dissident. I have written many times over how unjust and corrupt Lee Kuan Yew's judiciary and his legal system is.
The Lee Kuan Yew government is now disgraced discredited and embarrassed over their legal system, which has been clearly exposed. And because of the widespread knowledge that this blog has been able to spread across Singapore, they are now truly helpless and can no longer act the brazen way they have done so far.
This is your moment. Seize the day.
Gopalan Nair
Attorney at Law
39737 Paseo Padre Parkway, Suite A1
Fremont, CA 94538, USA
Tel: 510 657 6107
Fax: 510 657 6914
Email: nair.gopalan@yahoo.com
Blog: http://singaporedissident.blogspot.com/
Your letters are welcome. We reserve the right to publish your letters. Please Email your letters to nair.gopalan@yahoo.com And if you like what I write, please tell your friends. You will be helping democracy by distributing this widely. This blog not only gives information, it dispels government propaganda put out by this dictatorial regime.
Monday, May 23, 2011
Singapore law is an ass
Ladies and Gentlemen,
If any country is worth it's salt, they should at least be able to enforce their laws. Singapore is unable to enforce their laws which makes it an ass. Singapore law is an ass.
When I visited Singapore in 2008, I was charged with insulting a public servant, which is, Judge Belinda Ang Saw Ean for writing a blog post in this blog, about her flagrant bias as a judge during the Lee Kuan Yew, Chee soon Juan defamation case.
I was arrested tried convicted and sentenced to 3 months in jail. The purpose of punishing me was obviously to prevent Singaporean readers from reading any criticism by me, about their judges.
The judge in my trial, Kan Ting Chiu, clearly stated my offense to be very serious and therefore the need for a harsh sentence of 3 months imprisonment.
Related to this case, also in 2008 in Singapore I was brought to court again charged with contempt of court for statements I had made in court in another earlier case.
I admitted the charges and apologized in return for their not further punishing me. I also undertook in open court not to write any further criticism about them or their judges ever again in my life. The purpose of this case, once again, was obviously to stop me from ever criticizing them so that Singaporeans will not be influenced by my writings.
But immediately after leaving Singapore, at the first opportunity, I have not only continued to criticize the judge in question which occasioned my being sent to prison for 3 months, Belinda Ang Saw Ean, I have done it many times over and with even greater force.
Furthermore I have repeatedly pointed out that the entire Singapore judiciary is corrupt, as was seconded by the International Bar Association recently in their report. I have given detailed instances of how the Singapore judiciary disgracefully distorts the law in favor of the Lee Kuan Yew government, which therefore discredits it completely.
Furthermore I have retracted the apology I had given to the judge in the contempt case and deliberately violated the court's order by repeating my accusations against the Singapore judiciary and re-posting blog posts in this blog which they had earlier ordered me to take down. And these actions have been clearly stated in this blog, which is being read by a large section of the Singapore population as well as their government.
Therefore if the intent of the Singapore government in all these actions was to prevent Singaporeans from reading what I write, it is very clear that I am deliberately thwarting their purpose.
Not too long ago, presumably angry at what I am doing, they have commenced in absentia disciplinary proceedings against me to have me disbarred in Singapore, which I am sure will happen very soon. To that end they have been doing a great deal of work and expending a large amount of time and money to make their disciplinary proceedings look legitimate.
But it should be quite clear to them that even if I am disbarred from practicing law in Singapore, which I am sure is going to happen, I have no intention of stopping my writings which will go on as they do now.
So has anyone ever asked the Singapore government whether they are serious of enforcing their laws or are they quite willing to allow anyone outside their jurisdiction to break their laws any which way he wants, and that their laws will be enforced only within Singapore and violations however serious, such as mine will go unpunished if the perpetrator is outside Singapore.
I think many would agree that the recent elections where the share of votes for the government dropped to just 60%, the lowest level in Singapore's entire history, was partly due to this blog's large readership in the country. From the statistics provided by Google, from May 2009 up till now, this blog has been visited 226,290 times by Singapore readers alone, followed by the United States, Europe and countries all over the world.
I would have thought that if indeed I was breaking Singapore's laws as they claim by repeatedly insulting their judges, any other country intent on enforcing their laws would have taken real steps to stop me. There is the avenue of extradition, through a request by them to the US government pointing out that Gopalan Nair is wanted by them for serious criminal offenses and that I should be handed over.
Particularly serious is also my deliberate breach of an undertaking given to their judge not to repeat any criticism about them or their judges and my re-posting blog posts which I had taken down under the court order.
From their failure to do anything, and their helplessness to stop these blog posts from being read in Singapore, and helplessly having to sit and watch as I continue to write about their judiciary which is nothing more than an extension of their government and the abject lack of the rule of law, only shows that Singapore law is an ass.
Singapore is simply unable to enforce their laws outside Singapore, which clearly goes to prove that their legal system and their judges have lost all respect and credibility and this blog will further increase the disaffection by Singaporeans against Lee Kuan Yew and his party, heighten emigration by Singaporeans to western countries, and increase even further the opposition's popularity in Singapore.
Gopalan Nair
Attorney at Law
39737 Paseo Padre Parkway, Suite A1
Fremont, CA 94538, USA
Tel: 510 657 6107
Fax: 510 657 6914
Email: nair.gopalan@yahoo.com
Blog: http://singaporedissident.blogspot.com/
Your letters are welcome. We reserve the right to publish your letters. Please Email your letters to nair.gopalan@yahoo.com And if you like what I write, please tell your friends. You will be helping democracy by distributing this widely. This blog not only gives information, it dispels government propaganda put out by this dictatorial regime.
If any country is worth it's salt, they should at least be able to enforce their laws. Singapore is unable to enforce their laws which makes it an ass. Singapore law is an ass.
When I visited Singapore in 2008, I was charged with insulting a public servant, which is, Judge Belinda Ang Saw Ean for writing a blog post in this blog, about her flagrant bias as a judge during the Lee Kuan Yew, Chee soon Juan defamation case.
I was arrested tried convicted and sentenced to 3 months in jail. The purpose of punishing me was obviously to prevent Singaporean readers from reading any criticism by me, about their judges.
The judge in my trial, Kan Ting Chiu, clearly stated my offense to be very serious and therefore the need for a harsh sentence of 3 months imprisonment.
Related to this case, also in 2008 in Singapore I was brought to court again charged with contempt of court for statements I had made in court in another earlier case.
I admitted the charges and apologized in return for their not further punishing me. I also undertook in open court not to write any further criticism about them or their judges ever again in my life. The purpose of this case, once again, was obviously to stop me from ever criticizing them so that Singaporeans will not be influenced by my writings.
But immediately after leaving Singapore, at the first opportunity, I have not only continued to criticize the judge in question which occasioned my being sent to prison for 3 months, Belinda Ang Saw Ean, I have done it many times over and with even greater force.
Furthermore I have repeatedly pointed out that the entire Singapore judiciary is corrupt, as was seconded by the International Bar Association recently in their report. I have given detailed instances of how the Singapore judiciary disgracefully distorts the law in favor of the Lee Kuan Yew government, which therefore discredits it completely.
Furthermore I have retracted the apology I had given to the judge in the contempt case and deliberately violated the court's order by repeating my accusations against the Singapore judiciary and re-posting blog posts in this blog which they had earlier ordered me to take down. And these actions have been clearly stated in this blog, which is being read by a large section of the Singapore population as well as their government.
Therefore if the intent of the Singapore government in all these actions was to prevent Singaporeans from reading what I write, it is very clear that I am deliberately thwarting their purpose.
Not too long ago, presumably angry at what I am doing, they have commenced in absentia disciplinary proceedings against me to have me disbarred in Singapore, which I am sure will happen very soon. To that end they have been doing a great deal of work and expending a large amount of time and money to make their disciplinary proceedings look legitimate.
But it should be quite clear to them that even if I am disbarred from practicing law in Singapore, which I am sure is going to happen, I have no intention of stopping my writings which will go on as they do now.
So has anyone ever asked the Singapore government whether they are serious of enforcing their laws or are they quite willing to allow anyone outside their jurisdiction to break their laws any which way he wants, and that their laws will be enforced only within Singapore and violations however serious, such as mine will go unpunished if the perpetrator is outside Singapore.
I think many would agree that the recent elections where the share of votes for the government dropped to just 60%, the lowest level in Singapore's entire history, was partly due to this blog's large readership in the country. From the statistics provided by Google, from May 2009 up till now, this blog has been visited 226,290 times by Singapore readers alone, followed by the United States, Europe and countries all over the world.
I would have thought that if indeed I was breaking Singapore's laws as they claim by repeatedly insulting their judges, any other country intent on enforcing their laws would have taken real steps to stop me. There is the avenue of extradition, through a request by them to the US government pointing out that Gopalan Nair is wanted by them for serious criminal offenses and that I should be handed over.
Particularly serious is also my deliberate breach of an undertaking given to their judge not to repeat any criticism about them or their judges and my re-posting blog posts which I had taken down under the court order.
From their failure to do anything, and their helplessness to stop these blog posts from being read in Singapore, and helplessly having to sit and watch as I continue to write about their judiciary which is nothing more than an extension of their government and the abject lack of the rule of law, only shows that Singapore law is an ass.
Singapore is simply unable to enforce their laws outside Singapore, which clearly goes to prove that their legal system and their judges have lost all respect and credibility and this blog will further increase the disaffection by Singaporeans against Lee Kuan Yew and his party, heighten emigration by Singaporeans to western countries, and increase even further the opposition's popularity in Singapore.
Gopalan Nair
Attorney at Law
39737 Paseo Padre Parkway, Suite A1
Fremont, CA 94538, USA
Tel: 510 657 6107
Fax: 510 657 6914
Email: nair.gopalan@yahoo.com
Blog: http://singaporedissident.blogspot.com/
Your letters are welcome. We reserve the right to publish your letters. Please Email your letters to nair.gopalan@yahoo.com And if you like what I write, please tell your friends. You will be helping democracy by distributing this widely. This blog not only gives information, it dispels government propaganda put out by this dictatorial regime.
Sunday, May 22, 2011
Singapore disqualifies political opponents from running
Ladies and Gentlemen,
The recent Singapore national elections are clearly flawed because the state has disqualified certain citizens they don't like from standing for office.
They do this by using the country's judges to criminalize certain targeted individuals without cause or bankrupt them. Being fined above a certain amount, which is very low by the way, a mere $2,000 I believe, or a prison sentence of as low as 3 months can disqualify an individual. Disqualification also applied to bankrupts.
On the face of it, even though these thresholds for disqualification appear on the low side, these laws are justified as no country in the world wants criminals and those incapable of looking after their finances sitting in Parliament.
But you see that is not the case at all in Singapore. Take the case of the well known political opponent of Lee, Chee Soon Juan. Chee has not been able to stand for elections for several years now, as well as the last one this year, because he has been repeatedly fined above the limits set for qualification, repeatedly sent to jail and bankrupted. According to Lee Kuan Yew and his laws, Chee is a criminal and a bankrupt and therefore unfit to run.
But in truth, Chee is not a criminal at all, far from it. In fact he is, what one would call him anywhere else, an exemplary model citizen.
The numerous occasions when he was fined and imprisoned, sent to jail and bankrupted were all because he exercised his rights under the Constitution. He had peacefully protested the injustices of the PAP and the Lee family and he had written about it, resulting in his inability to pay the monstrous damages awards of millions of dollars, jailed and bankrupted.
Lee Kuan Yew uses his judges to selectively target his political opponents whom he considers threats to his power, who willingly create these false criminal charges and defamation of character lawsuits instituted by Lee Kuan Yew, and have them disqualified from running for public office.
Chee Soon Juan is a citizen of Singapore and under the Constitution entitled to hold public office. By the Singapore government disqualifying him from standing for elections, the entire national elections 2011 has been tainted by gross impropriety and fraud and therefore of no real effect in law or fact.
These elections should be nullified.
Chee is not the only one who has been disqualified. Gandhi Ambalam, the Chairman in Chee's party was also unable to run this time because he too had taken part in a number of peaceful protests against the government and as a result fined and jailed by the courts for an amount or time just enough to have him disqualified. Amabalam is not a criminal, far from it. But he is Lee's political opponent who therefore has to be removed from politics.
Yap Keng Ho, is another such person disqualified also for the same reason, peaceful protests. I know that a number of others too are in the same boat, disqualified for merely standing up to Singapore's Lee Kuan Yew and his government.
Every one of these men and women disqualified from standing for office would have run if they could and what is more, they could even have won.
But even if that is not so, the very fact that honest decent citizens are disqualified from running for office for nothing more than legitimate lawful acts guaranteed under the Constitution makes the entire elections just held null and void ab initio and of no effect.
And the first thing I would do, if I was one of the 6 opposition recently elected into Parliament would be to demand an explanation from Lee Kuan Yew and his son the Prime Minister to explain their actions. And if no satisfactory explanation is provided I would not stop there. I would stand outside Parliament holding up a placard and peacefully protest demanding an explanation.
I suppose if I did that, Lee Kuan Yew would have me charged in court, imposed a sufficient fine and threw me out of Parliament.
Gopalan Nair
Attorney at Law
39737 Paseo Padre Parkway, Suite A1
Fremont, CA 94538, USA
Tel: 510 657 6107
Fax: 510 657 6914
Email: nair.gopalan@yahoo.com
Blog: http://singaporedissident.blogspot.com/
Your letters are welcome. We reserve the right to publish your letters. Please Email your letters to nair.gopalan@yahoo.com And if you like what I write, please tell your friends. You will be helping democracy by distributing this widely. This blog not only gives information, it dispels government propaganda put out by this dictatorial regime.
The recent Singapore national elections are clearly flawed because the state has disqualified certain citizens they don't like from standing for office.
They do this by using the country's judges to criminalize certain targeted individuals without cause or bankrupt them. Being fined above a certain amount, which is very low by the way, a mere $2,000 I believe, or a prison sentence of as low as 3 months can disqualify an individual. Disqualification also applied to bankrupts.
On the face of it, even though these thresholds for disqualification appear on the low side, these laws are justified as no country in the world wants criminals and those incapable of looking after their finances sitting in Parliament.
But you see that is not the case at all in Singapore. Take the case of the well known political opponent of Lee, Chee Soon Juan. Chee has not been able to stand for elections for several years now, as well as the last one this year, because he has been repeatedly fined above the limits set for qualification, repeatedly sent to jail and bankrupted. According to Lee Kuan Yew and his laws, Chee is a criminal and a bankrupt and therefore unfit to run.
But in truth, Chee is not a criminal at all, far from it. In fact he is, what one would call him anywhere else, an exemplary model citizen.
The numerous occasions when he was fined and imprisoned, sent to jail and bankrupted were all because he exercised his rights under the Constitution. He had peacefully protested the injustices of the PAP and the Lee family and he had written about it, resulting in his inability to pay the monstrous damages awards of millions of dollars, jailed and bankrupted.
Lee Kuan Yew uses his judges to selectively target his political opponents whom he considers threats to his power, who willingly create these false criminal charges and defamation of character lawsuits instituted by Lee Kuan Yew, and have them disqualified from running for public office.
Chee Soon Juan is a citizen of Singapore and under the Constitution entitled to hold public office. By the Singapore government disqualifying him from standing for elections, the entire national elections 2011 has been tainted by gross impropriety and fraud and therefore of no real effect in law or fact.
These elections should be nullified.
Chee is not the only one who has been disqualified. Gandhi Ambalam, the Chairman in Chee's party was also unable to run this time because he too had taken part in a number of peaceful protests against the government and as a result fined and jailed by the courts for an amount or time just enough to have him disqualified. Amabalam is not a criminal, far from it. But he is Lee's political opponent who therefore has to be removed from politics.
Yap Keng Ho, is another such person disqualified also for the same reason, peaceful protests. I know that a number of others too are in the same boat, disqualified for merely standing up to Singapore's Lee Kuan Yew and his government.
Every one of these men and women disqualified from standing for office would have run if they could and what is more, they could even have won.
But even if that is not so, the very fact that honest decent citizens are disqualified from running for office for nothing more than legitimate lawful acts guaranteed under the Constitution makes the entire elections just held null and void ab initio and of no effect.
And the first thing I would do, if I was one of the 6 opposition recently elected into Parliament would be to demand an explanation from Lee Kuan Yew and his son the Prime Minister to explain their actions. And if no satisfactory explanation is provided I would not stop there. I would stand outside Parliament holding up a placard and peacefully protest demanding an explanation.
I suppose if I did that, Lee Kuan Yew would have me charged in court, imposed a sufficient fine and threw me out of Parliament.
Gopalan Nair
Attorney at Law
39737 Paseo Padre Parkway, Suite A1
Fremont, CA 94538, USA
Tel: 510 657 6107
Fax: 510 657 6914
Email: nair.gopalan@yahoo.com
Blog: http://singaporedissident.blogspot.com/
Your letters are welcome. We reserve the right to publish your letters. Please Email your letters to nair.gopalan@yahoo.com And if you like what I write, please tell your friends. You will be helping democracy by distributing this widely. This blog not only gives information, it dispels government propaganda put out by this dictatorial regime.
Saturday, May 21, 2011
Singapore's Lee Kuan Yew insults our intelligence, Ting Pei Ling.
Ladies and Gentlemen,
Lee Kuan Yew's PAP have been so long in power that today they couldn't care less what you think, even if they get a silly child to rule over you. I am of course referring to Ting Pei Ling, the 27 year old Chinese woman (more a childish girl than anything) who has been recently elected into Parliament to govern over the residents of Marine Parade GRC.
In no other country would a government insult the intelligence of their citizens by doing this, but after all in Singapore, they can do anything they want. So whether you like it or not, this 27 year old girl is now going to sit in Parliament and talk about great things on your behalf, even if she has nothing much in her head.
Marine Parade GRC is a group constituency which means about 5 political constituencies combine as one and stand together, which means that if a party wins, they take all 5 seats and if not they lose all.
One of the people standing in it was Goh Chock Tong, the former Prime Minister and now a Senior Minister. As the chances of the government winning with a strong candidate such as Goh is good, Lee's PAP included this woman Ting Pei Ling in the group since had she stood alone, her chances of winning would have been slim.
Ting Pei Ling as I mentioned is a Chinese Singapore woman. You can see several images of her on the Internet, appearing more like a child than a woman of 27. This is natural among the Chinese as even grown women look no older than children, also their women being less bodily endowed than Western, Indian or Malay women of that age. To guess, I believe it is because of the general dislike of milk among the Chinese whereas Indian and Westerners drink a great more of it.
Ting Pei Ling other than just being 27 years of age does not appear to have any great accomplishments. Firstly I am not sure how a 27 year old woman can possibly have the knowledge or experience to sit in Parliament and represent Singaporeans. Before the sudden announcement by the PAP, which is always the case, no one had ever heard of this child.
It has been reported that she was some sort of a manager and had studied for a degree of some sort from the National University of Singapore. She has been a member of Lee Kuan Yew's PAP and has helped out at their offices at the constituencies for some years.
But there is one important piece of intelligence that points to her selection. She is married to the secretary of the Prime Minister, Lee Kuan Yew's son. So if one could guess this 27 year old woman's selection who does not appear to have any particular ability one way or another, it is probably nepotism; her connection to Lee Kuan Yew's son's office.
But it is not just her, every single person selected by the PAP to rule over you does not appear to have any political ability or experience one way or the other. And none of them showed any interest in it either, except for a few days or months before the elections. They are usually all scholars from good universities either local or abroad on scholarships, and immediately thereafter fielded as politicians to speak in Parliament concerning your lives.
As for the opposition, the situation is no better. There are of course many in the island who not only have excellent credentials but are also very interested to lead Singapore, but of course there is one insurmountable problem, fear.
Lee Kuan Yew has made it very clear that he is not interested in any real multi party system, because according to him, if that was the case, he cannot rule effectively.
Examples of the hounding and merciless persecution of Chee Soon Juan and erstwhile JB Jeyaretnam is still fresh in their minds. Very soon, I will be disbarred for having the audacity to criticize one of his judges. If I ever step into Singapore, I will undoubtedly be re-arrested.
All these examples of the Chinese chicken being killed to frighten the Chinese monkeys has been very effective (from the Chinese saying, kill a chicken to frighten the monkeys)
So the result is no one dares to openly challenge the Lee Kuan Yew oligarchy, no one appears to care for politics in Singapore expect those who want to profit themselves by joining the PAP, which leaves sycophants and toadies like this small woman to speak for you in your Parliament.
Of course, it is your choice. If you don't mind being insulted this way, stay on in Singapore and do nothing. Otherwise pack up your bags and leave to some other country where you would be shown some respect or else even better cast off that fear and stand up like real men and women.
I am attaching a video link on Ting Pei Ling. I promise you, you will be shocked.
There were many others showing her complete silliness but they appear to have been taken down, undoubtedly through fear of what Lee Kuan Yew may do to them or even threats.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=B_6x_5J78Rs
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Dw8AUD3Mxpc&NR=1
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=c3GSjvYG76Q&NR=1
Gopalan Nair
Attorney at Law
39737 Paseo Padre Parkway, Suite A1
Fremont, CA 94538, USA
Tel: 510 657 6107
Fax: 510 657 6914
Email: nair.gopalan@yahoo.com
Blog: http://singaporedissident.blogspot.com/
Your letters are welcome. We reserve the right to publish your letters. Please Email your letters to nair.gopalan@yahoo.com And if you like what I write, please tell your friends. You will be helping democracy by distributing this widely. This blog not only gives information, it dispels government propaganda put out by this dictatorial regime.
Lee Kuan Yew's PAP have been so long in power that today they couldn't care less what you think, even if they get a silly child to rule over you. I am of course referring to Ting Pei Ling, the 27 year old Chinese woman (more a childish girl than anything) who has been recently elected into Parliament to govern over the residents of Marine Parade GRC.
In no other country would a government insult the intelligence of their citizens by doing this, but after all in Singapore, they can do anything they want. So whether you like it or not, this 27 year old girl is now going to sit in Parliament and talk about great things on your behalf, even if she has nothing much in her head.
Marine Parade GRC is a group constituency which means about 5 political constituencies combine as one and stand together, which means that if a party wins, they take all 5 seats and if not they lose all.
One of the people standing in it was Goh Chock Tong, the former Prime Minister and now a Senior Minister. As the chances of the government winning with a strong candidate such as Goh is good, Lee's PAP included this woman Ting Pei Ling in the group since had she stood alone, her chances of winning would have been slim.
Ting Pei Ling as I mentioned is a Chinese Singapore woman. You can see several images of her on the Internet, appearing more like a child than a woman of 27. This is natural among the Chinese as even grown women look no older than children, also their women being less bodily endowed than Western, Indian or Malay women of that age. To guess, I believe it is because of the general dislike of milk among the Chinese whereas Indian and Westerners drink a great more of it.
Ting Pei Ling other than just being 27 years of age does not appear to have any great accomplishments. Firstly I am not sure how a 27 year old woman can possibly have the knowledge or experience to sit in Parliament and represent Singaporeans. Before the sudden announcement by the PAP, which is always the case, no one had ever heard of this child.
It has been reported that she was some sort of a manager and had studied for a degree of some sort from the National University of Singapore. She has been a member of Lee Kuan Yew's PAP and has helped out at their offices at the constituencies for some years.
But there is one important piece of intelligence that points to her selection. She is married to the secretary of the Prime Minister, Lee Kuan Yew's son. So if one could guess this 27 year old woman's selection who does not appear to have any particular ability one way or another, it is probably nepotism; her connection to Lee Kuan Yew's son's office.
But it is not just her, every single person selected by the PAP to rule over you does not appear to have any political ability or experience one way or the other. And none of them showed any interest in it either, except for a few days or months before the elections. They are usually all scholars from good universities either local or abroad on scholarships, and immediately thereafter fielded as politicians to speak in Parliament concerning your lives.
As for the opposition, the situation is no better. There are of course many in the island who not only have excellent credentials but are also very interested to lead Singapore, but of course there is one insurmountable problem, fear.
Lee Kuan Yew has made it very clear that he is not interested in any real multi party system, because according to him, if that was the case, he cannot rule effectively.
Examples of the hounding and merciless persecution of Chee Soon Juan and erstwhile JB Jeyaretnam is still fresh in their minds. Very soon, I will be disbarred for having the audacity to criticize one of his judges. If I ever step into Singapore, I will undoubtedly be re-arrested.
All these examples of the Chinese chicken being killed to frighten the Chinese monkeys has been very effective (from the Chinese saying, kill a chicken to frighten the monkeys)
So the result is no one dares to openly challenge the Lee Kuan Yew oligarchy, no one appears to care for politics in Singapore expect those who want to profit themselves by joining the PAP, which leaves sycophants and toadies like this small woman to speak for you in your Parliament.
Of course, it is your choice. If you don't mind being insulted this way, stay on in Singapore and do nothing. Otherwise pack up your bags and leave to some other country where you would be shown some respect or else even better cast off that fear and stand up like real men and women.
I am attaching a video link on Ting Pei Ling. I promise you, you will be shocked.
There were many others showing her complete silliness but they appear to have been taken down, undoubtedly through fear of what Lee Kuan Yew may do to them or even threats.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=B_6x_5J78Rs
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Dw8AUD3Mxpc&NR=1
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=c3GSjvYG76Q&NR=1
Gopalan Nair
Attorney at Law
39737 Paseo Padre Parkway, Suite A1
Fremont, CA 94538, USA
Tel: 510 657 6107
Fax: 510 657 6914
Email: nair.gopalan@yahoo.com
Blog: http://singaporedissident.blogspot.com/
Your letters are welcome. We reserve the right to publish your letters. Please Email your letters to nair.gopalan@yahoo.com And if you like what I write, please tell your friends. You will be helping democracy by distributing this widely. This blog not only gives information, it dispels government propaganda put out by this dictatorial regime.
Friday, May 20, 2011
Singapore, a dictatorship under the guise of a democracy
Ladies and Gentlemen,
If there is one country in the world that has successfully managed to hoodwink everyone into thinking it is a democracy when in actual fact it is either a dictatorship or at best an oligarchy, it has to be Singapore.
Singapore has all the outward trappings of a democracy. It has a Parliament, to which every 5 years there are elections to fill it's sets. There are 9 days of hustings where political hopefuls are permitted to make their speeches.
There is a Constitution where every single human right befitting any democracy is found. Criminal defendants are given open trials where they are permitted to call their witnesses and cross examine the government.
There are several newspapers and several TV channels in different languages. Singapore law has provisions that require the law of England to be it's basis. On the walls of their court houses, you see numerous high sounding adages both in English and Latin which espouse and praise the rule of law.
But you know what, every instance above has a catch to it. If you look underneath the surface, you see something entirely different, more like a Stalinist one party state. It is surely not a democracy that is practiced in that island. It is a dictatorship and at best an oligarchy.
As for it's Parliament, the PAP has a long list of hopefuls willing to offer themselves as candidates at elections, not because any of them care much for any Singaporean but because it is a highly lucrative profession; PAP politicians earn millions and their careers whether in or out of Parliament is secured for life. You can call them mercenaries or opportunists, disgraceful men and women who would do anything for a buck.
As for the opposition political camp there are hardly any takers. Opposition politics in Singapore can be harmful to your health. Lee can come after you and if that happens you are finished like Chee Soon Juan. So opposition politics is under served except for a handful of men and women with superhuman courage.
So much for the fraud Singaporean Parliament, Lee Kuan Yew style.
As for elections every 5 years, election candidates are only given 9 days to campaign. You can't do very much in 9 days, surely. Since Lee deliberately makes it so short, the whole election exercise is discredited providing no meaningful opportunity to move the citizens.
Then you have a Constitution which although gives you your freedoms, at every single right which you are given by the right hand, it is taken away by the left. You have the right to freedom of speech but you have to apply for a permit before you do it. You have the right to assemble but you have to apply for a permit before you do it. You have a right to a free press but in reality they are all state controlled. You have the rule of law but every single judge works not for the law but for Lee Kuan Yew.
At criminal trials, there is no proscription against illegal search and seizure, no right to a counsel when arrested, no right against coerced confessions, no juries but judges who are beholden to the Lee Kuan Yew family. In the end you don't have criminal trials in the island, you have show trials and all those lofty writings on the court house walls are simply just nonsense.
In court cases there is a pecking order of how much justice you are going to get. If you are the elite such as Lee Kuan Yew's sons and his family members, they are above the law. For them it is paradise.
Just below, you have the other elites, the high rankings government servants, rich foreigners and bank managers. They too would get excellent treatment from the courts. They are usually not punished at all, and even if they do get punished, no more than a slap in the wrist.
Then you have the ordinary masses, which Lee calls "digits". They can be dealt with any way the state wants. After all they have no clout and their existence on this earth is of no concern to Lee and his family.
Below them are the people who are harshly treated. In this group are Lee Kuan Yew's political opponents. In this group there are Chee Soon Juan, Tang Liang Hong and myself among others.
This is the group that Lee uses, through his courts to demonstrate the ancient Chinese practice of killing a chicken to frighten all the monkeys, the chicken being the hapless victim Chee Soon Juan or Gopalan Nair, and the monkeys being his citizens.
The trick is to harshly punish the poor chicken so that none of his monkeys would dare to give him any trouble. This is the Singaporean fear factor, a trick which he has successfully employed over the years against every single one of his political opponents, so much so that the law has been completely discredited and the people have been turned into frightened rabbits.
As for it's newspapers, as there are so many, the unwary observer would have thought that there was a free press with various newspapers in healthy competition for readership. You only have to look deeper when you will find that every single newspaper is owned by Singapore Press Holdings and it in turn is owned and controlled by the government. Singapore's Pravda or Izvestia.
All this skillful maneuvering and adjusting to look like a democracy but in fact carry on as a Stalinist one party state has taken it's toll.
There are no real politicians to speak of. On the one side you have the Lee Kuan Yew PAP opportunists. On the other hand, except for a handful of brave souls like Chee Soon Juan, the rest are so afraid that they only dare to show their faces once every 5 years for the elections and thereafter say and do nothing for fear of attracting Lee's wrath.
There are no real political theories espoused by anyone. Are they conservative,. capitalist or socialist and if so to what extent. What are the underlying principles of the government? Is to educate their people to the fullest possible extent so they can participate as members of a democracy or is it to keep them ignorant of their rights so Lee can ride roughshod over them as he does now?
For any country to be strong and stable with the ability to achieve greatness, it has to have integrity and it has to educate their citizenry which can play their part in the advancement of their society and their country.
But what Lee has managed to do to to instill so much fear in people that you have only 2 kinds in Singapore, those who try hard to join them and do what they want because it is profitable and the rest of the population who have just switched off because it is too dangerous to get involved.
This is not the way ahead.
Gopalan Nair
Attorney at Law
39737 Paseo Padre Parkway, Suite A1
Fremont, CA 94538, USA
Tel: 510 657 6107
Fax: 510 657 6914
Email: nair.gopalan@yahoo.com
Blog: http://singaporedissident.blogspot.com/
Your letters are welcome. We reserve the right to publish your letters. Please Email your letters to nair.gopalan@yahoo.com And if you like what I write, please tell your friends. You will be helping democracy by distributing this widely. This blog not only gives information, it dispels government propaganda put out by this dictatorial regime.
If there is one country in the world that has successfully managed to hoodwink everyone into thinking it is a democracy when in actual fact it is either a dictatorship or at best an oligarchy, it has to be Singapore.
Singapore has all the outward trappings of a democracy. It has a Parliament, to which every 5 years there are elections to fill it's sets. There are 9 days of hustings where political hopefuls are permitted to make their speeches.
There is a Constitution where every single human right befitting any democracy is found. Criminal defendants are given open trials where they are permitted to call their witnesses and cross examine the government.
There are several newspapers and several TV channels in different languages. Singapore law has provisions that require the law of England to be it's basis. On the walls of their court houses, you see numerous high sounding adages both in English and Latin which espouse and praise the rule of law.
But you know what, every instance above has a catch to it. If you look underneath the surface, you see something entirely different, more like a Stalinist one party state. It is surely not a democracy that is practiced in that island. It is a dictatorship and at best an oligarchy.
As for it's Parliament, the PAP has a long list of hopefuls willing to offer themselves as candidates at elections, not because any of them care much for any Singaporean but because it is a highly lucrative profession; PAP politicians earn millions and their careers whether in or out of Parliament is secured for life. You can call them mercenaries or opportunists, disgraceful men and women who would do anything for a buck.
As for the opposition political camp there are hardly any takers. Opposition politics in Singapore can be harmful to your health. Lee can come after you and if that happens you are finished like Chee Soon Juan. So opposition politics is under served except for a handful of men and women with superhuman courage.
So much for the fraud Singaporean Parliament, Lee Kuan Yew style.
As for elections every 5 years, election candidates are only given 9 days to campaign. You can't do very much in 9 days, surely. Since Lee deliberately makes it so short, the whole election exercise is discredited providing no meaningful opportunity to move the citizens.
Then you have a Constitution which although gives you your freedoms, at every single right which you are given by the right hand, it is taken away by the left. You have the right to freedom of speech but you have to apply for a permit before you do it. You have the right to assemble but you have to apply for a permit before you do it. You have a right to a free press but in reality they are all state controlled. You have the rule of law but every single judge works not for the law but for Lee Kuan Yew.
At criminal trials, there is no proscription against illegal search and seizure, no right to a counsel when arrested, no right against coerced confessions, no juries but judges who are beholden to the Lee Kuan Yew family. In the end you don't have criminal trials in the island, you have show trials and all those lofty writings on the court house walls are simply just nonsense.
In court cases there is a pecking order of how much justice you are going to get. If you are the elite such as Lee Kuan Yew's sons and his family members, they are above the law. For them it is paradise.
Just below, you have the other elites, the high rankings government servants, rich foreigners and bank managers. They too would get excellent treatment from the courts. They are usually not punished at all, and even if they do get punished, no more than a slap in the wrist.
Then you have the ordinary masses, which Lee calls "digits". They can be dealt with any way the state wants. After all they have no clout and their existence on this earth is of no concern to Lee and his family.
Below them are the people who are harshly treated. In this group are Lee Kuan Yew's political opponents. In this group there are Chee Soon Juan, Tang Liang Hong and myself among others.
This is the group that Lee uses, through his courts to demonstrate the ancient Chinese practice of killing a chicken to frighten all the monkeys, the chicken being the hapless victim Chee Soon Juan or Gopalan Nair, and the monkeys being his citizens.
The trick is to harshly punish the poor chicken so that none of his monkeys would dare to give him any trouble. This is the Singaporean fear factor, a trick which he has successfully employed over the years against every single one of his political opponents, so much so that the law has been completely discredited and the people have been turned into frightened rabbits.
As for it's newspapers, as there are so many, the unwary observer would have thought that there was a free press with various newspapers in healthy competition for readership. You only have to look deeper when you will find that every single newspaper is owned by Singapore Press Holdings and it in turn is owned and controlled by the government. Singapore's Pravda or Izvestia.
All this skillful maneuvering and adjusting to look like a democracy but in fact carry on as a Stalinist one party state has taken it's toll.
There are no real politicians to speak of. On the one side you have the Lee Kuan Yew PAP opportunists. On the other hand, except for a handful of brave souls like Chee Soon Juan, the rest are so afraid that they only dare to show their faces once every 5 years for the elections and thereafter say and do nothing for fear of attracting Lee's wrath.
There are no real political theories espoused by anyone. Are they conservative,. capitalist or socialist and if so to what extent. What are the underlying principles of the government? Is to educate their people to the fullest possible extent so they can participate as members of a democracy or is it to keep them ignorant of their rights so Lee can ride roughshod over them as he does now?
For any country to be strong and stable with the ability to achieve greatness, it has to have integrity and it has to educate their citizenry which can play their part in the advancement of their society and their country.
But what Lee has managed to do to to instill so much fear in people that you have only 2 kinds in Singapore, those who try hard to join them and do what they want because it is profitable and the rest of the population who have just switched off because it is too dangerous to get involved.
This is not the way ahead.
Gopalan Nair
Attorney at Law
39737 Paseo Padre Parkway, Suite A1
Fremont, CA 94538, USA
Tel: 510 657 6107
Fax: 510 657 6914
Email: nair.gopalan@yahoo.com
Blog: http://singaporedissident.blogspot.com/
Your letters are welcome. We reserve the right to publish your letters. Please Email your letters to nair.gopalan@yahoo.com And if you like what I write, please tell your friends. You will be helping democracy by distributing this widely. This blog not only gives information, it dispels government propaganda put out by this dictatorial regime.
Subscribe to:
Posts (Atom)
