Singapore maintains strict radio silence over Lee Kuan Yew

Ladies and Gentlemen,

Singapore island's Lee Kuan Yew is often touted as the ultimate miracle man who somehow turned the island from a sleepy backwater into the 4th most prosperous place in the world, although the prosperity they are talking about refers only to the recently arrived Chinese millionaires who have recently defrauded state owned companies in Communist China hoping to park their money in the money laundering island hub.

But one would have thought that such an illustrious human being, nothing short of a God send to the island would have been the subject of much on going daily interest and news coverage especially since he is 92 years old and reportedly in poor health. Surely Singaporeans would (or at least should) be concerned as to his state of health and what would happen to their island if he is dead, but strangely enough they are not.

In fact, for several months now, the island's state controlled newspapers are all completely silent as to any news about him and the islander's have now been left completely in the dark as to whether he alive or dead, or at to whether he has turned into a bed-ridden vegetative piece of lettuce or whether he is running about playing football behind his colonial house in Oxley Road.

I can guess the reason for the lack of any media information in this case. The entire Lee Kuan Yew family who run the island and all his grovelers and bootlickers who are wallowing in opulence and luxury are terrified beyond their wits as to what misfortunes will befall on them and their wealth when their benefactor is gone. They are right. They should be afraid and rightly so.

As I have said in my last post, Lee Kuan Yew's Singapore island will have a hard time staying afloat once he is gone.

This is why. The island is run totally on his dictates which become laws through a rubber stamp parliament and not on any political theory that one can identify. Although it has a Constitution he has managed to in effect turn into a worthless piece of waste paper. Which therefore means for the island to function, without any established rules set down for anyone to follow, his dictates become law each time he proclaims it. For such a society to function, the leader has to be a sort of a King which the people obey out of respect or fear as the case may be, and whose dictates carry the force of law.

Although he is not in any legal sense a King, he has in fact become a de facto King of sorts on his throne for decades, that is from 1959 when he first took power. As long as the people obey him, the status quo in Singapore can go on without any major unraveling.

But the question is, what happens when he is dead. In societies where they have a living and working Constitution and the rule of law, they can seamlessly move from one government to another, or from the death of one leader to another without any major disruption, because society is not based on the dictates of one man but on a Constitution which sets out how the society is to be run.

These foundations such as the rule of law and the Constitution do not exist in the island. Lee Kuan Yew has routinely and openly abused the legal system and used it as a tool to destroy political opponents, so much so that the average man has lost all respect for it. The Constitution has been completely amended thereby reneging every single human right that had earlier existed.

In such dire and dangerous condition as the island now finds itself, without a respected legal system or a Constitution, once the 92 year old leader dies, unless the island produces another Lee Kuan Yew to replace the dead one, whom people can unconditionally obey as has been the case so far, the island will undoubtedly descend into complete chaos, mayhem and instability.

Today, we have his son whom he has placed in position as Prime Minister. Are we to assume that his son will be the new Lee Kuan Yew whom everyone will unconditionally obey and it will be business as usual? I am not so sure. It is difficult for any people to unconditionally obey any ruler when there is no foundation for his rule whatsoever; as I have said, no Constitution or no rule of law.

For instance, it will be difficult for him to justify the need to control the entire media by arguing that a controlled media is good and a free press is bad. Or it will be hard for him to argue that even a lone peaceful protestor has to be jailed just because Singapore law requires it when the law in this case is seen as an ass.

I am in fact surprised as to why Singapore islanders have so far taken this nonsense from the 92 year old dictator but strangely they have. But I have serious doubts that they will take this nonsense from his son especially because no one in their right mind has any respect for this character, some taking him no more than a clown who has come to where he is simply because of this father.

Without the rule of law and a system of government that people can respect, there will be clearly a void when the 92 year old man, who has not been heard of for some time dies. I guess to cushion the devastating consequences that will very probably follow his death, they would rather be silent on the subject to give an impression that his son is capable of running the show.

This is simply a case of burying their heads in the sand. This is simply living in denial. Despite strict radio silence, we can see the writing on the wall. The island of Singapore will find it imposable to continue with business as usual once Lee Senior is gone because there is no other Lee Kuan Yew to replace the dead one; and the son is simply no replacement. And without the rule of Law and a Constitution which the incumbent can follow, there is nothing in place other than a void.

His son is simply is no King.

This is why the government is maintaining strict radio silence. They are terrified as to what will happen when the 92 year old dictator kicks the bucket.

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

Singapore, brace for islandwide disorder and instability on 92 year old Lee Kuan Yew's death

Ladies and Gentlemen,

Astute Singapore watchers, would be particularly anxious about the island's immediate future. And when I say immediate, I mean tomorrow, next week or perhaps next month; it is as serious as that.

It is all about 92 year old Singapore strongman Lee Kuan Yew who has very cleverly placed every single person in authority in the island from among his family members both near and far. It is one big family wallowing in power, luxury and opulence. I suppose he subscribes to the axiom blood is thicker than water. From Teo Chee Hean to the President Tony Tan and everyone else is in some way related to the Big Boy. For obvious reasons the only ones who are not related to him are the Tamils, his Minister for Law, K Shanmugam and company. I suppose it is no harm allowing a few Tamils a few crumbs for the impression that they too are being cared for.

The problem with Singapore is this. Since 1959 Lee has continued to rule Singapore as if it was his alone to do whatever he wants with it. And during that entire time, he has successfully managed to hoodwink the Western world that the island was some sort of a miracle, all because he alone has all the ideas and the secret to create this miracle and that everyone else was an absolute idiot only capable of being nothing more than coolies.

Of course this is nonsense, but the Western world has managed to buy it and mistakenly believing that it is a secure place for investment. In fact it is just the contrary. Singapore is just a farce with no solid foundation whatsoever. How could a tiny island with no rule of law run by a bunch of Kangaroo judges, an island without any real constitution, a place which does not have the basics of human rights such as freedom of speech or expression be considered stable and sound.

If it has managed this far, it has done so either through the ignorance of those who deal with them or because the island is the only place that will accommodate the sorts that have any connection with it.

Take the case of millionaire investors who have bank accounts there. By and large they are from Communist China, thieves, most of whom have embezzled and defrauded state owned companies in their country.

Either through ignorance, convenience or because the island is willing to break internationally accepted transparency norms, banking and taxation laws and since they also speak Mandarin in the island, they consider Singapore convenient.

Also the island is a favorite location for Indonesian millionaire crooks who have similarly defrauded banks in their country. On the other hand, you would find it hard to see any millionaires from USA and Western Europe choosing Singapore, as they would much prefer tax jurisdictions in the USA like Delaware or Florida or places like the Isle of Man or even London; why because every one of these countries have the rule of law which gives you confidence that your money is safe.

The major problem in dictatorships is that everything and everyone depends on one man alone; in Singapore's case 92 year old Lee Kuan Yew who is about to kick the bucket any moment now. It is like what they say about Egypt; the Nile is Egypt and Egypt is the Nile. If the Nile is gone, so is Egypt.

The 92 year old Singapore dictator is now presumably in very bad health, and nearly as old as Nelson Mandela who is bed ridden. The circumstances in the tiny island would have been different if it had been a democracy, since there would have been many other political leaders with sufficient ground support to lead and form a government upon the death of their leader. Not so in Singapore. His son whom he has placed as Prime Minister is seen by most Singaporeans as no better than a clown, who would have gone nowhere except for the fact that he is the son of his father.

And below his son are all these hand picked minions who are each paid a million dollars each to run around trumpeting the father and son. All they are capable of doing is to follow orders like ever willing sycophants doing the drum beating and singing praises. They will do this as long as long as their 92 year old benefactor is still kicking, and once he is dead, they would simply leave to join their bank accounts which have already been safely repatriated to Switzerland and elsewhere.

To make matters worse, Singapore has an oversized economy for it's miniscule size. Mind you, it has only abut 2.5 million local born citizens with another 2.5 million foreigners. As if this was not bad enough, the relatively large foreign population continues to grow while the already miniscule local citizen numbers continue to shrink even further. And as is to be expected, foreigners would be the first to clear out at the slightest hint of insecurity.

It does not take much to create an island wide panic and total calamity throughout the island with a tiny population such as this. Moreover an overly large section of the economy of this tiny island comprises of foreign assets, not local.

As this assumed stability of the island is dependent entirely on Lee Kuan Yew being alive, I have no doubt that the moment he dies, which may happen even today or tomorrow, public confidence in the island will take a free fall.

Since his son does not appear to instill confidence within the island nor abroad, being seen as nothing more than an alter boy put in place by his powerful father, upon the elder's death, there will begin a steady flow of assets and cash out of the island, turning into a flood, and once that happens, it will inevitably lead to a run on the bank.

I don't see Singaporeans or foreign investors rallying around his inept son, who himself knows that he is who he is, just because of this father. You will probably see infighting among the ruling party itself, one section trying to displace another. And then you have the opposition trying to claim the void that has been created.

But Singapore is too fragile and too tiny a spot to withstand any of this. It is not Russia or the USA, large countries with large populations who can take all kinds of knocks and yet emerge like a Phoenix from the ashes. Singapore is too small, too tiny and too dependent on the outside to withstand even an iota of such instability. It simply cannot last. And like the ticking clock, the 92 year old dictator's life continues to ebb towards the fast approaching end.

The state controlled media is carefully keeping mum on the 92 year old's condition. Except for anecdotal reports on the Internet published anonymously out of fear, there is no news whatever of his medical or mental condition. It is anyone's guess if he is dying or not. And the fact that it is deliberately being kept a national secret raises the alarm that he already has one foot in his grave, if not both.

And this is the message that I have both for Singaporeans and foreigners who care anything of what happens to themselves and their money. With Lee Kuan Yew going to die any minute now, as should be expected of any 92 year old person, this is the moment to take your money now and clear out for good; foreign investors would be best advised to repatriate their Singapore accounts; and families with children should now emigrate to the West. Waiting for him to die may be too late. It takes very little for the entire stock market to collapse in a tiny island almost totally dependent on foreign investors.

Lee Kuan Yew has carefully made sure that his island has no leaders, except himself. Every single one of his bootlickers who prostrate before him are mere handpicked scholars with no leadership whatsoever. When the dictator goes, no one will bother to give them even a second look. An island without leaders is simply incapable of survival.

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

Singapore Lee Kuan Yew's prime minister son insults European youth

Ladies and Gentlemen,

Singapore island state controlled newspaper The Straits Times of yesterday carries the story "PM calls on young to give back to society".

He claims that "they (Singapore youth) are much better off than their counterparts in Europe". I wonder in what way? European youth live in democracies where they can speak their mind without worrying about Lee Kuan Yew or his son, they have human rights which includes the right to free speech, expression and the right to protest and change their governments through the ballot box. Also they are governed by rule of law and not through prosecutions in Kangaroo courts in his Singapore island.

He then says "there are millions of European youth who are done with their studies but cannot find work, a situation that will scar the rest of their lives". Really? When did Lee Kuan Yew's son become a psychologist other than his principle qualification of being the son of his father? He should know that Europeans live in Europe. And in Europe, there is democracy. And in democracy there are good times and bad, and at bad times they work to correct it.

Europe is not a fascist state like Singapore where we look to Lee Kuan Yew and his son to find us jobs and sit around like stupid children incapable of anything. For the son's information let me tell him that if I needed a job as an attorney in California, I find it myself. I don't have to look to President Obama to arrange a job for me. And if I can't find one, I try until I can. But in any case, I am not in a hurry to return to Singapore so that Lee Kuan Yew or his son can find a job for me.

The same goes for European youth. They are resilient and not your little children like Singaporeans are. If some are unemployed, they are not in a hurry to condemn their democracies, and neither are they making a bee line to Singapore so you can find them jobs, nor into the merciful arms of Lee Kuan Yew nor his son.

For the information of Lee Kuan Yew's son, I think he should know this. Despite your paradise island, the fact is that in a recent survey among Singapore youth, the vast majority surveyed had indicated that they would leave your paradise for a life abroad if given the chance. In fact I have no doubt that if Singapore youth were given a chance to move to the very same Europen countries which you despise, I am sure every single one would jump to it. And you might also want to know that while you are spewing this nonsense, under your very nose, your youth are emigrating in increasing numbers to the very countries that you mention, refusing to do national service by absconding and bad mouthing you, your father and your country at ever opportunity available.

No, it does not appear that you are appraised of reality. You must be smoking something, I am not sure what.

For the readers' convenience I am attaching below the article in the Singapore state controlled press, Straits Times.

Gopalan Nair
Attorney at Law
Fremont, California, USA

PM calls on young to give back to society

 

Published on Jul 07, 2013
2:46 PM

 

Prime Minister Lee Hsien Loong has urged Singaporean youth to give back to society as he noted how much better off they are than their counterparts in Europe. -- ST FILE PHOTO: LIM SIN THAI

By Rachel Chang

Prime Minister Lee Hsien Loong has urged Singaporean youth to give back to society as he noted how much better off they are than their counterparts in Europe.
Speaking at Teck Ghee Community Club on Sunday, Mr Lee said that there are millions of European youth who are done with their studies but cannot find work, a situation that will scar the rest of their lives.
Singapore is fortunately not in that predicament, he said, expressing his hope that the future will be even better through the collective effort of the Government and the community, especially those who have succeeded in life.
PM Lee was speaking at the launch of the "PAYM Loves Red" campaign, a two-month-long movement by the People's Association's youth wing to express patriotic pride in the lead up to National Day. Over 100 activities have been conceptualised and organised by 6,000 young people.

Singapore immigration only ethnic Chinese need apply

Ladies and Gentlemen,

If you look around you in Lee Kuan Yew's island which is tiny, completely built up, flat and with a population no less than about 5 million, you will see almost entirely Chinese faces. There were supposed to be some Indians and Malays in that supposedly multi racial island but you will be lucky if you see even one. Lee by the way is 92 and will probably kick the bucket either tomorrow or the day after.

With the island's dwindling population, of no less than 2.5 million local born citizens, Singapore  needed to boost immigration or otherwise it will disappear. But having decided on it, Lee Kuan Yew's Singapore had other considerations unlike other countries equal immigration policies.

USA for instance welcomes immigrants. The ones selected are the best people regardless of where they are from. You could be from Basutoland, I know it doesn't exist anymore, but if it did, and you fit the requirements, you are welcome. You could be from Mali, Namibia, the Fiji Islands or wherever it did not matter. Under the American constitution anyone from anywhere has equal chance of immigrating to the US. Which is why I, formerly a Singapore citizen, am now an American citizen.

But Lee Kuan Yew's banana republic has different considerations. For instance you could be a very highly qualified Afghani but it will be highly unlikely that you will be accepted. So will an Iraqi, or an Egyptian or Frenchman. Anyone of these people will be investigated thoroughly. They want to know if he has ever agitated for human rights. Whether he has ever been outspoken against tyrants and dictators. Is he a proponent for democracy (not very good). On the other hand if it is found that he is a soulless businessman who would care two hoots if Lee Kuan Yew caned his people, imprisoned innocent dissenters and deported bloggers like Gopalan Nair, then perhaps he stands a chance.

But on the whole, people from Western democracies are unlikely candidates, as there is a possibility that they may have some views about some things, like democracy for instance, which is trouble for Lee Kuan Yew and his obedient subjects.

The ones who manage to breeze into Singapore without any effort are usually the mainland Chinese preferably from the remote areas of China who do not only have no understanding of anything else except of how to earn a few bucks or perhaps Malaysian Chinese who have been discriminated against by their Malay government and out of gratitude will eat humble pie quietly under the Lee Kuan Yew dictatorship.

People with strong views are not welcome, period.

You can see why the Lee Kuan Yew government adopts this racially and personality based selective immigration policy. It is not intended to select the best immigrants globally into the island. The purpose is more sinister than that. It is to make sure that the sort of immigrants that come to Singapore are the ones who would quietly live their lives without giving Lee Kuan Yew and his dictatorship too may problems, that is, people who would not question authority. Whereas if he had allowed the educated Frenchman or the Afghan with strong opinions of how their government should be, Lee may have too many problems.

Can you imagine if he allowed too many Australians, Americans or Greeks to immigrate to his island (I am not suggesting that Australians Americans or Greeks would want to come to Singapore in the first place anyway), they may take to the streets to demand the abolition of the death penalty, the abolishing of cruel punishments like caning or demand an end to racial discrimination. And that would mean a harder time for Lee to rule with his iron grip.

Oh no, it is far safer to bring in unquestioning idiots from the rural areas of China or  Malaysia who would be quiet, do their work and not give too much trouble like some Australian would have done, or even as Gopalan Nair would do (although I was born in Singapore and am a citizen by birth but have since been deported for being too troublesome).

As a result of the insecurity of the about to kick the bucket 92 year old Lee Kuan Yew of Singapore, his tiny island has to make do with these unquestioning dumb immigrants, as a result of which the island's progress continues to be stunted unlike a situation where it gets the best from the world, a thinking educated immigrant.

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

Singaporeans. Are there any left?

Ladies and Gentlemen,

Only 6 months ago and before, Singapore's state controlled newspapers lamented almost daily on the mounting emigration rate running into thousands a year from their already tiny population of just 2.5 million or so native born citizens. What was even more alarming was that the numbers leaving for settlement in the West were the brightest among their citizens, men and women with education skills and money. For a tiny island with a tiny population, and with no natural resources, mass emigration at this rate is damaging beyond salvation. It is nothing short of a disaster.

You will recall that the government tried everything they could to stem the flood. Goh Chok Tong, Lee Kuan Yew's former handpicked Prime Minister called those leaving traitors and quitters in an attempt to shame them into staying. It did not work. Many articles were written in their state controlled newspapers urging, in fact begging Singaporeans to stay.

In desperation, Lee Kuan Yew's ministers including Goh Chok Tong and Lui Teck Yew and in fact Lee himself made their rounds to all the world's capitals where any Singaporean can be found to urge them to return. I remember about a year ago, Lui came to San Francisco and spread out lavish lunches in a top hotel, mind you at Singapore tax payers expense, to dine and wine the escaped Singaporeans presumably in the hope that in return for the free lunches, they may somehow decide to be nice and return to Lee Kuan Yew's  no-nonsense island.

Alas it appears, none of it worked. Overseas Singaporeans rebuffed every attempt to coax them back to Lee Kuan Yew's paradise. Why should they when they have tasted freedom in their new found countries. Why should anyone in their right mind think of going back to Lee Kuan Yew's dictatorship where he rules through Kangaroo courts, an attack dog police force and a state controlled media which dishes out propaganda on a daily basis.

The other problem which Lee daily publicized in the past on his state controlled newspapers was it's almost zero birth rate. There was almost no babies being born with Singapore having been declared having the world's lowest birth rate. This too is utter suicide for a tiny island with such a tiny population. And to solve the problem they resorted as is usual in dictatorships to such stupidity like showing soft porn movies late night on state television presumably in the hope that after watching it, you may decide to have sex with your wife and hopefully have a baby! I am not sure what happened to this stupid policy but like every other of their hare brained ideas, I guess that too died a natural death.

The other major headache for Lee Kuan Yew was that the predominantly Chinese population of Singapore who are traditionally averse to any military duty were trying very hard to avoid national service by sending their children abroad and making sure they did not return. We were told that barracks were becoming empty for lack of conscripts and in fact the very security of the island was being threatened by lack of manpower. This subject too previously on headline news is not not mentioned anymore.

The good thing about having a state controlled press is that you don't have to publish any bad news. I can only guess that as they have realized that every single Singaporean capable of escaping the clutches of the Singaporean dictator and his island has already left or if not, is in the process of leaving and there is nothing they can do about it.

Lee has realized that Singaporeans are simply not going to have babies and showing soft porn wasn't a good idea.

And since there is nothing they can do about it, and presumably, the local born Singapore population has already probably declined to less than 2 million with a majority in the island being a growing foreign population, perhaps they thought it best to just forget about the problem.

There is a word for this. It is called living in denial.

It is like being on the sinking Titanic and dancing the waltz. After all, if there is nothing you can do, why worry about it!

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

Singaporeans cannot remove the PAP goverment

Ladies and Gentlemen,

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

Singapore's authoritarianism impedes progress

Ladies and Gentlemen,

If there is one thing history has taught us from the Roman Empire to Chinese empires is this? Authoritarian societies always remain backward, while real democracies always advance. When the average citizen feels respected and his opinions count, is when the country surges ahead; while countries that treat their citizens as fools to be manipulated, are the ones who stay behind.

Nazi Germany was an exception. Although a dictatorship, it was able to mightily advance through violent oppression and repression. But history tells us that it would not last. In Nazi Germany's case their defeat in the war put an end to it. But otherwise, it would have petered away anyway. Such progress is merely ephemeral at best. It simply cannot last.

You see sustained progress in the countries that came out of the British Empire; USA, Canada, Australia, New Zealand. As for countries such as Nigeria and India which did not progress as well as the others, it has to be explained by their colonial overthrow of their masters. The new leaders of the colonies very often tried to retain the privileges and wealth that their former masters enjoyed. Rights such as freedom of speech, expression and the rule of law was compromised by greedy native leaders and the progress that should have come did not. On the other hand, countries such as the USA deliberately made sure that these rights are respected and safeguarded which accounts for their progress.

A society in which their people respect their civic institutions, a faith in the rule of law, a respect for free speech and expression and an understating that everyone has an equal opportunity as anyone else is crucial for a state's advancement.

Singapore lacks these qualities. In every sense the people have lost trust in their institutions. If the law can be openly abused to destroy political opponents such as JB Jeyaretnam and Chee Soon Juan, it is impossible to respect the legal system in the island. If the government decides to control all news media in the island you can no longer trust the news you read; is it propaganda or real? If the news media is used as a platform to silence critics by publishing defamation cases and threats to charge people for contempt of court, it loses all credibility whatsoever. If ethnic Chinese are given preferential treatment for jobs and housing over other citizens, non-Chinese feel marginalized and abandoned. If the path to success is trumpeting the ruling party and groveling, the government appears partisan and not fair to all. In the end, the average citizen no longer trusts his government treating them no better than confidence tricksters.  

In such a society, there is no incentive to try to achieve because it is not the best man who succeeds but the man who is prepared to grovel and sing praises. In such a society one is busier trying to please, not trying to invent and improvise.

The citizen feels ashamed of himself having to grovel and sing praises, just to advance. For example, Davinder Singh is a highly successful lawyer in the island, for the main reason of having represented Lee Kuan Yew in pursuing defamation cases which he has always won, not because he is an excellent lawyer but because its courts are Kangaroo Courts. The judges would have gave him judgment even before he stepped into the courtroom. Despite his success only in Singapore island thanks to his client Lee Kuan Yew, I am not sure how comfortable he would be among the Singapore public who would consider him no better than an outright ass kisser, devoid of any scruples whatsoever.

Such a society impedes progress. Large swathes of citizens are repulsed by such men and either simply withdraw from co-operation or even leave the country entirely. Losing such talent especially in a tiny island such as Singapore with no more than 2.5 million locals and fast declining is surely causing tremendous harm to the nation.

And the claim repeatedly put out by Lee Kuan Yew and his friends at the top that Singapore is a meritocracy is like saying North Korea is the most democratic country on earth. JB Jeyaretnam and Chee Soon Juan were impoverished and reduced to make a living selling books that they themselves wrote on the streets of Singapore for having dared to challenge Lee Kuan Yew and his son openly. The former was once a top flight litigator and the latter a brilliant neuro-psychology professor. If there is meritocracy, why were they reduced to this, not to mention the other thousands of victims known and unknown?

In the USA and the other developed countries, every citizen has respect for their system of government. You may not like what is going on but least you do not fear being arrested and thrown in jail for your opposition. There is rule of law and the basic human rights are treasured and protected. I would feel safe in a society such as that. I would be willing to give my best knowing that success does not require the tailoring of my thought process to conform to that of the government. I can safely be who I am and not lose hope. In Singapore I would have to be a chameleon. Think something but do another, all to make sure that I am still on the right side of Lee Kuan Yew and his powerful friends. It is not a life that one would willingly choose unless you are a Davinder Singh, Lee Kuan Yew's defamation lawyer.

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