Ladies and Gentlemen,
After all the late Singapore dictator Lee Kuan Yew had all the answers. After all he claimed to have transformed a fishing village of Singapore (never mind it was the most prosperous and advanced port city in all Asia in the 1950s) into the skyscraper city that it is today. And as expected in all dictatorships, his son runs the place after his father died.
Well what would Lee Kuan Yew's son do if he is to be made Prime Minister of Greece to sort out their problems?
His principle objective would be to destroy all opposition and turn Greece into a dictatorship like Singapore. After all what better system can there be to run a country?
So I suppose the first thing to do is to introduce Singapore style Internal Security Act in Greece. Which means like in Singapore, he can arrest any Greek and throw them in jail indefinitely without trial. That should surely frighten the Greeks and stop their incessant complaining.
The second thing would be to abolish the free press and introduce legislation on the lines of the Singapore Newspapers and Printing Presses Act. Which means abolish the Greek free press and replace it with a state controlled press like they have in Singapore and North Korea. Lee's son would probably warn all journalists to publish only articles approved by the PAP Greek government and any journalist not following orders is to be thrown in the clinker. So in Greece under the PAP the news would be always good as in Singapore. The subject matter of Straits times Greek edition would be something like this daily, as is the case in the Singapore edition, 5 up skirt photo cases, 5 molestation cases, 3 articles of advice from Ministers that Greeks should behave themselves in the Athens subway, and 1 case of a Greek doctor who overcharged his patient. Nothing more than that. The Greek journalists would be advised that like in the Singapore version, the less news that is put out there the better.
And then of course like in Singapore, I suppose you have to break all independent trade unions. In their place like in Singapore, henceforth a Greek minister would be in charge of unions and members are warned that they should not expect any wage raises as it would discourage foreign investment. Of course to make it as rosy as possible for foreign investors, the Greek minimum wage would henceforth be abolished and employers would be permitted to pay $0.50 cents per hour if they want.
A very important part of wage and union regulations would be to criminalize any strikes or work stoppage. Greek workers would, like in Singapore, be seriously warned that if they ever went on strike, they would be imprisoned for an indefinite period. This will teach the Greek worker not to lazy and become hard working like Lee's Singapore slaves.
A most important step that has to be taken is to completely dismantle the Greek constitution. Like in Singapore, never mind the Constitution referring to such things as freedom of speech. Henceforth there would be no more freedom of speech expression assembly. Simply no nothing. If any Greek tries to protest again, he has to be jailed and would be lucky if he escapes caning.
While this is being done, Lee Kuan Yew's son, the new Greek Prime Minister would prepare his marketing flyers to attract foreign companies to invest in Greece. It will mention that Greece is the most attractive place for investment. There is no minimum wage, workers cannot strike and they can be dismissed anytime the employer pleases. Surely this would attract foreign investors as it does in Singapore.
Lastly the population of Greece has to be changed. According to the late Lee Kuan Yew, the best among the human race are the Chinese. They are hardworking, obedient and most of all are unaware of human rights. Therefore they won't be holding placards demanding free speech. The Greeks like the Indians and Malays of Singapore are not only lazy but a troublesome bunch. So from henceforth they are going to import Chinese from Communist China in the plane loads into Greece and turn the locals into a minority like in Singapore.
And most importantly abolish the independent Greek judiciary and appoint Kangaroo courts and place Kangaroo judges as in Singapore. And anyone criticizing Lee Kuan Yew's son would be promptly prosecuted by the Greek Attorney General and bankrupted as well with a million dollar penalty.
And of course Lee Kuan Yew's son as the new Prime Minister of Greece would now be paid $3.7 million in official salary as in Singapore and a further undisclosed number of millions every year. Not only for him but all his family members and relatives who would now assume all ministerial positions. And if anyone objected, he would be brought before the newly appointed Kangaroo courts and sued for defamation and promptly bankrupted.
That should teach the Greeks to behave for once. Only one problem. This sort of nonsense would not work in Greece. For one simple reason. In Greece there is a population of men, not mice. Whereas in Singapore you have a population of monkeys or sheep who would accept anything thrown at them because they are simply afraid. And Greeks are not afraid. If Lee Kuan Yew's son tried this nonsense there, they would shove the stake into his backside the next minute, Greek style.
Gopalan Nair
Attorney at Law
A former Singaporean by birth
But now a proud American citizen
Fremont California USA
Tel: 510 491 8525
Email: nair.gopalan@yahoo.com
Facebook: www.facebook.com/singapore.dissident
Sunday, July 19, 2015
Something about me. Chasing a dream.
Ladies and Gentlemen,
I wasn't the ordinary boy in Singapore. I was fascinated from a young age, as I still am, of adventurers who climbed unclimbable mountains, crossed the treacherous oceans and died trying. My heroes, as any boy would I imagine, were these extraordinary men who lived extraordinary lives.
But the lives of the generation of my parents and others at the time in Singapore was nothing like extraordinary. Most of them like my parents were immigrants, mine from India and others from China and a few from other places. For my parents generation, survival alone was enough. Climbing mountains and conquering the waves were for Englishmen and others more fortunate who lived in Europe and the West.
Of course for me, being lucky just to have 3 meals a day and go to school was all that was possible. To even think of such pursuits such as sailing the world was simply impossible. I would not even be able to enter a yacht club let alone being able to sail.
But one adventure was possible even though it meant absolute lunacy or total recklessness at the time considering my circumstances. And that was leaving Singapore, a third world country at the time, with no prospects whatsoever and travel to the paradise that was England and the West like what it appeared in the Hollywood movies and TV which was available for me in Singapore. Lo and behold, how wonderful it was to be like a cowboy in California riding horses and all the glitter and gold there was out there.
I always wanted to go the West and to paradise, which I imagined was out there. I was 23 years old, and just competed national service. Although I did very well in my O levels, I had failed miserably at my A levels. I had nothing to hope for in Singapore in my circumstances.
In the meantime, my elder sister had married an Indian who worked for the British forces in Singapore. With the pullout of British forces east of Suez and Singapore after the 1968 British elections, my brother in law opted to go to England with my sister. My mother followed leaving me in Singapore. I had applied and had been accepted at Bradford College in Bradford West Yorks to study A levels. But my plans to go to England were dashed by the denial of a student visa for England because of the presence of my mother and sister there. They thought I had immigrant intent and would not return after my studies.
If there were a single event that forced me to take, to some, almost that reckless decision to move to Europe alone without anyone or any money, it was my watching 2 movies that I love to this day. One was Lawrence of Arabia with Peter O'Toole and Omar Sharif and the other was the James Bond movie, You Only Live Twice. Lawrence does the impossible, crossing the Namib desert to reach Aqaba which he was told was impossible. And in the James Bond movie, the song which says you only live twice and let your dream come true affected me greatly. Why not live your dream and make it come true.
And then realizing that I cannot go to England minus the visa, I am doomed to live a mediocre life like any other boy in Singapore till I die. That was impossible to accept. Then again what is the worst that can happen to me if I go the Europe without anything, I might die, but at least I would have died trying. This was my thinking at the time which made me do what I did.
So in April 1973, I finally decide I am going and that was that. I didn't tell my mother or my sister in England or my brother in Singapore. They didn't want me to go. I was just going and that was that. Since England was no longer possible I had written to a Mount Allison University in New Brunswick Canada and got acceptance to study business. It was a university which accepted O levels for entry. The plan was to go to Germany first, work for some time, earn enough money and then travel to Canada in September that year. At that time Germany did not require visas for Singapore passports and they did not need a return ticket.
It was all fantasy but then what's wrong with some fantasy?
With a one way ticket to Brussels Belgium , on Sabena Belgian Airlines stopping at Bangkok Bombay, Athens, Vienna and Brussels, with a one day lay over in Brussels and the next day, Lufthansa from Brussels to Frankfurt.
I remember sitting in Singapore's Paya Lebar airport in a suit and tie, 23 years old, my bags already on board and waiting for the announcement to board. I must admit I had a panic attack and cold sweat. It was the moment, and the moment had finally come. Should I board the aircraft or should I call it off. But then it was too late to change my mind anyway. My bags were already on board. The die was cast. What in Heavens was I doing just going to Europe like that without knowing what is going to happen next. I had just $500.00 in my pocket.
Anyway to cut a long story short, I did manage somehow. It is known as schrwarz arbeit in German, which translates as "black work". In other words I was working illegally without a work permit. My plans for Canada didn't work out, and I was running short of money. I had the address of the Singapore embassy in Brussels, as Germany at the time did not have one. I could if desperate go the Singapore embassy in Belgium and request they repatriate me back to Singapore. But this wasn't necessary. I told my mother I was in Germany. She then filed an immigration appeal in the Leeds Immigration Tribunal against the decision of the British High Commission Singapore denying me the visa. I won. The British Consulate in Frankfurt issued me the student visa and I traveled by train to England. It was the Transalpino Express which came from Vienna Austria to Frankfurt calling at Wiesbaden Mainz Koblenz Bonn Cologne Liege Brussels Ghent St Peters and Ostend Belgium. And the Channel crossing by boat to Dover England
I was jubilant. I succeeded after all. the adventure was successful. I passed the A levels, was awarded a local authority grant to study law at Hull University and the Bar finals in London, became a lawyer and returned to Singapore, a country's politics about which I was totally ignorant.
I thought that Singapore politics was like any other country. Like England. One could work hard and climb the ladder. Little did I know that Lee Kuan Yew's Singapore was not what I thought it was. It wasn't a case of working hard and climbing the ladder. It slowly dawned on me that working hard was only one part of the equation. The other more important part was your willingness to support a totalitarian regime despite the fact that it runs contrary to your core beliefs and conscience. Just like joining the Communist Party under Stalin or the Nazi party under Hitler.
In realized that in order to succeed, you have to accept the fact that you have no individual human rights. No right to free speech expression assembly or any other beliefs that you may have as a result of your education. Great men are those who stood by their conscience and principles. But in Singapore anyone who stood by his conscience is punished and branded a criminal, while Lee Kuan Yew's bootlickers sycophants and spineless followers are made leaders and placed on a pedestal. Like Samuel Butler's Erewhon, an imaginary island, where being sick was a serious crime while stealing is not.
It simply did not make sense to me. And being the way I am, I simply refused to be another Lee Kuan Yew Singaporean specimen. So I decided to fight them openly. I joined the Workers Party (not to be confused with the present Workers Party who are merely the government's minions) and openly campaign against the regime. I contested 2 elections. I was repeatedly sued and charged with criminal offenses obviously in an attempt to bring me in line, which they failed.
And then I decided I had enough. I am not going to waste my time in a country where the people appear content to live as slaves. Since I refuse to be a slave, I simply did not fit in an island of slaves, which Singaporeans are content with.
And then my second adventure, the United States, and California in particular. Doing some research, I knew that United States is the quintessential democracy. The entire country is kept together by a document held sacred almost as it was the word God, the Constitution. It was not just another statute but a document which every single American swears by which they respect and cherish. This to me appeared how men should live, the courage to believe in certain principles and even the courage to die for it.
So I travelled to the United States with a few thousand dollars and a tourist visa. The plan was to find a job, settle myself and bring my family over. Unfortunately getting a job was not as easy as I thought. Many Americans have very little knowledge of Singapore or British qualifications. And furthermore, not knowing anyone here made getting a job impossible. But I had a second option. I was persecuted by Lee Kuan Yew in Singapore for my political beliefs and that gave me a possibility of asylum. I applied for and got asylum. And then of course was my getting licensed as a lawyer. I had to pass the Bar. And California Bar exams are the most difficult among the entire 50 American states.
But since I always thought I was superman, after all I had made it all the way to Europe, and to England, became a lawyer all on just $500 when I left, surely the California bar exams is not going to stop Gopalan Nair. So I studied. It took me a few tries before I succeeded but I nevertheless did. I was in the clouds. Here I was that small boy in Singapore who had watched Lawrence of Arabia and James Bond, and packed his bags and made it across the world and survived.
I have been practicing law in Fremont California for 20 years now. It is a miracle that I have managed to keep going at the Bar, someone who had come from nowhere and competing with Americans born a bought up here in their own turf. I practice mostly immigration law. It is a practice similar to that of an English barrister. I work alone and do the cases that I get with a secretary to make the client appointments and do the books.
American practice is somewhat different from the English. In England to be a barrister, you have not only to pass the bar but also serve pupillage, a sort of apprentiship for at least a year before you go on your own. In America there is no such requirement. The moment you pass your Bar, you can put out your shingle and practice. In other words you get thrown in the deep end immediately while in England you get some training before that.
A life such as mine can be lonely at times. You get the case, you read up the law if necessary and you do it. I file immigrant petitions for relatives, students and the whole litany of other categories. I file asylum applications and work for companies who want to move people from some other country to the US. I represent illegals from Mexico Guatemala Nicaragua El Salvador who are caught at the US borders of Texas and Arizona. I represent deportation cases where immigrants or aliens are caught committing serious crimes. And then I do some criminal work both in state and federal courts especially in cases involving undocumented aliens since my knowledge of immigration law comes in handy in their subsequent immigration proceedings. And then there are the usual family law cases that come my way.
The lure of the law for me is strong as it is for anyone. One reason being that the law is a bottomless well. There is so much to learn that one can go on forever and each case can be a challenge other than the routine ones. Of course the main reason why I enjoy the law in America is because I have hope. I don't need to tailor my opinions and principles to correspond those of President Obama. I can call Obama a liar if I want and still succeed at the American bar, something I cannot do in Singapore.
That alone is all the reason for me to love America.
I haven't sailed the oceans single handed, and neither have I climbed the mountains. But in a way my life has been an adventure of sorts no different than if I had stood on the summit of Everest. Adventure can taker many forms and my journey is nothing short of that great adventure, thanks to Lawrence of Arabia and James Bond's You Only Live twice. Of course I was also born with a sense of adventure unlike the timid souls you have in Singapore today, thank God.
The average Singaporean today is nothing short of a spineless coward. They live their lives which is governed the powers up there, which is a small family of the Lees who control their lives, yet they are powerless to stand up and object. Unlike the Greeks who stand up against the mismanagement in their country, the Spaniards the Italians the Argentines and brave young men who dare to stand up and be counted, the Singaporean is consumed with cowardly fear and his courage extends only to writing anonymous complaints in Facebook or to write anonymous comments in this blog. They are nothing more than sheep in an island where decisions are made for them which they willingly accept. A shameful people in a shameful island. Although I was born there, I am proud to say I am not part of it.
Gopalan Nair
Attorney at Law
Former Singapore
Now proud American citizen
Tel: 510 491 8525
Email: nair.gopalan@yahoo.com
Facebook: www.facebook.com/singapore.dissident
I wasn't the ordinary boy in Singapore. I was fascinated from a young age, as I still am, of adventurers who climbed unclimbable mountains, crossed the treacherous oceans and died trying. My heroes, as any boy would I imagine, were these extraordinary men who lived extraordinary lives.
But the lives of the generation of my parents and others at the time in Singapore was nothing like extraordinary. Most of them like my parents were immigrants, mine from India and others from China and a few from other places. For my parents generation, survival alone was enough. Climbing mountains and conquering the waves were for Englishmen and others more fortunate who lived in Europe and the West.
Of course for me, being lucky just to have 3 meals a day and go to school was all that was possible. To even think of such pursuits such as sailing the world was simply impossible. I would not even be able to enter a yacht club let alone being able to sail.
But one adventure was possible even though it meant absolute lunacy or total recklessness at the time considering my circumstances. And that was leaving Singapore, a third world country at the time, with no prospects whatsoever and travel to the paradise that was England and the West like what it appeared in the Hollywood movies and TV which was available for me in Singapore. Lo and behold, how wonderful it was to be like a cowboy in California riding horses and all the glitter and gold there was out there.
I always wanted to go the West and to paradise, which I imagined was out there. I was 23 years old, and just competed national service. Although I did very well in my O levels, I had failed miserably at my A levels. I had nothing to hope for in Singapore in my circumstances.
In the meantime, my elder sister had married an Indian who worked for the British forces in Singapore. With the pullout of British forces east of Suez and Singapore after the 1968 British elections, my brother in law opted to go to England with my sister. My mother followed leaving me in Singapore. I had applied and had been accepted at Bradford College in Bradford West Yorks to study A levels. But my plans to go to England were dashed by the denial of a student visa for England because of the presence of my mother and sister there. They thought I had immigrant intent and would not return after my studies.
If there were a single event that forced me to take, to some, almost that reckless decision to move to Europe alone without anyone or any money, it was my watching 2 movies that I love to this day. One was Lawrence of Arabia with Peter O'Toole and Omar Sharif and the other was the James Bond movie, You Only Live Twice. Lawrence does the impossible, crossing the Namib desert to reach Aqaba which he was told was impossible. And in the James Bond movie, the song which says you only live twice and let your dream come true affected me greatly. Why not live your dream and make it come true.
And then realizing that I cannot go to England minus the visa, I am doomed to live a mediocre life like any other boy in Singapore till I die. That was impossible to accept. Then again what is the worst that can happen to me if I go the Europe without anything, I might die, but at least I would have died trying. This was my thinking at the time which made me do what I did.
So in April 1973, I finally decide I am going and that was that. I didn't tell my mother or my sister in England or my brother in Singapore. They didn't want me to go. I was just going and that was that. Since England was no longer possible I had written to a Mount Allison University in New Brunswick Canada and got acceptance to study business. It was a university which accepted O levels for entry. The plan was to go to Germany first, work for some time, earn enough money and then travel to Canada in September that year. At that time Germany did not require visas for Singapore passports and they did not need a return ticket.
It was all fantasy but then what's wrong with some fantasy?
With a one way ticket to Brussels Belgium , on Sabena Belgian Airlines stopping at Bangkok Bombay, Athens, Vienna and Brussels, with a one day lay over in Brussels and the next day, Lufthansa from Brussels to Frankfurt.
I remember sitting in Singapore's Paya Lebar airport in a suit and tie, 23 years old, my bags already on board and waiting for the announcement to board. I must admit I had a panic attack and cold sweat. It was the moment, and the moment had finally come. Should I board the aircraft or should I call it off. But then it was too late to change my mind anyway. My bags were already on board. The die was cast. What in Heavens was I doing just going to Europe like that without knowing what is going to happen next. I had just $500.00 in my pocket.
Anyway to cut a long story short, I did manage somehow. It is known as schrwarz arbeit in German, which translates as "black work". In other words I was working illegally without a work permit. My plans for Canada didn't work out, and I was running short of money. I had the address of the Singapore embassy in Brussels, as Germany at the time did not have one. I could if desperate go the Singapore embassy in Belgium and request they repatriate me back to Singapore. But this wasn't necessary. I told my mother I was in Germany. She then filed an immigration appeal in the Leeds Immigration Tribunal against the decision of the British High Commission Singapore denying me the visa. I won. The British Consulate in Frankfurt issued me the student visa and I traveled by train to England. It was the Transalpino Express which came from Vienna Austria to Frankfurt calling at Wiesbaden Mainz Koblenz Bonn Cologne Liege Brussels Ghent St Peters and Ostend Belgium. And the Channel crossing by boat to Dover England
I was jubilant. I succeeded after all. the adventure was successful. I passed the A levels, was awarded a local authority grant to study law at Hull University and the Bar finals in London, became a lawyer and returned to Singapore, a country's politics about which I was totally ignorant.
I thought that Singapore politics was like any other country. Like England. One could work hard and climb the ladder. Little did I know that Lee Kuan Yew's Singapore was not what I thought it was. It wasn't a case of working hard and climbing the ladder. It slowly dawned on me that working hard was only one part of the equation. The other more important part was your willingness to support a totalitarian regime despite the fact that it runs contrary to your core beliefs and conscience. Just like joining the Communist Party under Stalin or the Nazi party under Hitler.
In realized that in order to succeed, you have to accept the fact that you have no individual human rights. No right to free speech expression assembly or any other beliefs that you may have as a result of your education. Great men are those who stood by their conscience and principles. But in Singapore anyone who stood by his conscience is punished and branded a criminal, while Lee Kuan Yew's bootlickers sycophants and spineless followers are made leaders and placed on a pedestal. Like Samuel Butler's Erewhon, an imaginary island, where being sick was a serious crime while stealing is not.
It simply did not make sense to me. And being the way I am, I simply refused to be another Lee Kuan Yew Singaporean specimen. So I decided to fight them openly. I joined the Workers Party (not to be confused with the present Workers Party who are merely the government's minions) and openly campaign against the regime. I contested 2 elections. I was repeatedly sued and charged with criminal offenses obviously in an attempt to bring me in line, which they failed.
And then I decided I had enough. I am not going to waste my time in a country where the people appear content to live as slaves. Since I refuse to be a slave, I simply did not fit in an island of slaves, which Singaporeans are content with.
And then my second adventure, the United States, and California in particular. Doing some research, I knew that United States is the quintessential democracy. The entire country is kept together by a document held sacred almost as it was the word God, the Constitution. It was not just another statute but a document which every single American swears by which they respect and cherish. This to me appeared how men should live, the courage to believe in certain principles and even the courage to die for it.
So I travelled to the United States with a few thousand dollars and a tourist visa. The plan was to find a job, settle myself and bring my family over. Unfortunately getting a job was not as easy as I thought. Many Americans have very little knowledge of Singapore or British qualifications. And furthermore, not knowing anyone here made getting a job impossible. But I had a second option. I was persecuted by Lee Kuan Yew in Singapore for my political beliefs and that gave me a possibility of asylum. I applied for and got asylum. And then of course was my getting licensed as a lawyer. I had to pass the Bar. And California Bar exams are the most difficult among the entire 50 American states.
But since I always thought I was superman, after all I had made it all the way to Europe, and to England, became a lawyer all on just $500 when I left, surely the California bar exams is not going to stop Gopalan Nair. So I studied. It took me a few tries before I succeeded but I nevertheless did. I was in the clouds. Here I was that small boy in Singapore who had watched Lawrence of Arabia and James Bond, and packed his bags and made it across the world and survived.
I have been practicing law in Fremont California for 20 years now. It is a miracle that I have managed to keep going at the Bar, someone who had come from nowhere and competing with Americans born a bought up here in their own turf. I practice mostly immigration law. It is a practice similar to that of an English barrister. I work alone and do the cases that I get with a secretary to make the client appointments and do the books.
American practice is somewhat different from the English. In England to be a barrister, you have not only to pass the bar but also serve pupillage, a sort of apprentiship for at least a year before you go on your own. In America there is no such requirement. The moment you pass your Bar, you can put out your shingle and practice. In other words you get thrown in the deep end immediately while in England you get some training before that.
A life such as mine can be lonely at times. You get the case, you read up the law if necessary and you do it. I file immigrant petitions for relatives, students and the whole litany of other categories. I file asylum applications and work for companies who want to move people from some other country to the US. I represent illegals from Mexico Guatemala Nicaragua El Salvador who are caught at the US borders of Texas and Arizona. I represent deportation cases where immigrants or aliens are caught committing serious crimes. And then I do some criminal work both in state and federal courts especially in cases involving undocumented aliens since my knowledge of immigration law comes in handy in their subsequent immigration proceedings. And then there are the usual family law cases that come my way.
The lure of the law for me is strong as it is for anyone. One reason being that the law is a bottomless well. There is so much to learn that one can go on forever and each case can be a challenge other than the routine ones. Of course the main reason why I enjoy the law in America is because I have hope. I don't need to tailor my opinions and principles to correspond those of President Obama. I can call Obama a liar if I want and still succeed at the American bar, something I cannot do in Singapore.
That alone is all the reason for me to love America.
I haven't sailed the oceans single handed, and neither have I climbed the mountains. But in a way my life has been an adventure of sorts no different than if I had stood on the summit of Everest. Adventure can taker many forms and my journey is nothing short of that great adventure, thanks to Lawrence of Arabia and James Bond's You Only Live twice. Of course I was also born with a sense of adventure unlike the timid souls you have in Singapore today, thank God.
The average Singaporean today is nothing short of a spineless coward. They live their lives which is governed the powers up there, which is a small family of the Lees who control their lives, yet they are powerless to stand up and object. Unlike the Greeks who stand up against the mismanagement in their country, the Spaniards the Italians the Argentines and brave young men who dare to stand up and be counted, the Singaporean is consumed with cowardly fear and his courage extends only to writing anonymous complaints in Facebook or to write anonymous comments in this blog. They are nothing more than sheep in an island where decisions are made for them which they willingly accept. A shameful people in a shameful island. Although I was born there, I am proud to say I am not part of it.
Gopalan Nair
Attorney at Law
Former Singapore
Now proud American citizen
Tel: 510 491 8525
Email: nair.gopalan@yahoo.com
Facebook: www.facebook.com/singapore.dissident
Sunday, July 12, 2015
It is useless to fight for democracy for Singaporeans. They are simply too afraid to demand their rights.
Ladies and Gentlemen,
It is simply useless for anyone to fight for democracy for Singaporeans. Why, because Singaporeans simply do not want it. This wasn't clear to me over the decades until recently when I finally realized it is simply hopeless. You can take a horse to water, you simply can't make him drink.
If there are Singaporeans who seek democracy, their willingness to fight for it only extends to writing anonymous complaints on Facebook or the Internet. Or for a handful of protesters to go to the government designated secluded spot of Hong Lim Park, a patch of grass no bigger than 100 feet by 100 feet to silently hold signs while covering their faces. The totalitarian dictatorship of Lee Kuan Yew's son simply ignore all this and they (the government) continue on their merry ways, as if nothing happened.
And then there are those who erroneously believe that they have to wait for the next elections, held every 5 years, to throw this government out and bring in their paradise, not knowing of course that firstly Lee Kuan Yew's son has made sure he will always win or if not he will have his proxies to do his bidding. And even assuming the unthinkable happens and they get thrown out, no government coming in would willingly create a democracy obviously because it is much easier to rule through Fascism as now.
If you did not already know, let me tell you what it is. Singaporeans, or the vast predominantly ethnic Chinese society, are literally slaves. You can criticize as much as you want within limits, the limits being the government is not really threatened. Otherwise you face defamation action in Kangaroo courts where there is no rule of law, you stand to be fired from your job, your career prospects are eternally destroyed and you are as good as history. You not only know this dire fact, the government goes out of their way to remind you that they don't practice the rule of law and Roy Ngerng who criticized has lost his job and he will soon be bankrupted with a million dollar defamation award, not intended to make him pay of course, since after all they know he doesn't have a million dollars. It is instead intended to destroy him for life.
Let me also remind you of the other stark basic realities under which you live. You have no constitutional rights, no free speech, no freedom of the press, no right to protest, no right to assembly, no right to protest except at a secluded government designated 100 feet square grass patch called Hong Lim Square provided they give you permission.
Obviously Singaporeans are happy to live this way. The ordinary Singaporean, 80% of whom are ethnic Chinese have had no complaint living this way for the last 50 years or so under this Fascist regime. Frankly, if you do not care about your individual liberties and do not believe that the government is accountable to you and not the other way round, life can be quite pleasant. If you are not a threat to them, for the most part they leave you alone, to find a job and mind your own business. And then there are those who are a growing number seek opportunity and success by being sycophants and bootlickers of the fascist regime. They stand a chance of being selected for high office and unimaginable wealth. It is the same in China where you work for the Communist Party and achieve high office and bribes through their Peoples Liberation Army connections.
If you did not know, the Singapore government is the most corrupt in Asia if not in the world. Lee Kuan Yew and now his son pay themselves no less than $3.7 million a year officially. Besides this they siphon off even more millions secretly. This corruption and nepotism does not extend to just the Lee family but throughout their government including all ministers. In any other society, the people would be up in arms against this, but Singaporeans simply do not have the courage to stand up to this corruption.
Singapore is no different from Communist China. There are beautiful skyscrapers built everyday and Chengdu and Shanghai have excellent infra structure and beautiful spaces. In Singapore too the infra structure and the city is beautiful. The commonality between China and Singapore is this, you get to live in a beautiful city but you have no part in deciding how it is run. In China if you complain too much the Peoples Liberation Army would probably shoot you. In Singapore you would be arrested, you lose your job and branded and victimized for life. You may be even locked up for life under detention without trial laws and probably even shot.
The ethnic Chinese society of Singaporeans appear to be quite happy to live in a society where their lives are decided for them and they simply mind their own business. This is not how the original makers of the Constitution intended which was based on a Western style democracy based on the Greek philosophy where the state is accountable to the people, not the other way round. Singapore today has transformed into a Chinese or Stalinist style system where you mind your own business and let the government decide what is best for you.
We have had proof of the islander's preference for the last 3 decades. JB Jeyaretnam the opposition politician came around and championed for rights. But when he was unjustly and illegally imprisoned and bankrupted and destroyed, Singaporeans had nothing to say, except perhaps writing on Facebook. There followed a series of transgressions of rights, from the Marxist conspiracy where innocent libertarians were jailed and tortured, Chee Soon Juan being simply ill treated and lately Roy Ngerng the blogger and 16 year old Amos Yee being persecuted. But Singaporeans can do nothing more beyond writing anonymous Facebook articles.
The Singapore government cannot be forced to restore democratic rights under the Constitution unless and until they are compelled to do it. Writing Facebook articles is not going to do the trick. The only way you can force this Fascist government to do the right thing is to have mass demonstrations to force their hand. This obviously the people of Singapore are either not prepared to do or too afraid to be more exact.
Therefore unfortunately the prognosis for this cowardly society is they have to continue to live the way they do, under this Fascist dictatorship, as they have done for the last 50 years. And no one including me can persuade them otherwise, because they simply don't want to or they are too afraid. One undeniable truth of history is this; nowhere in the world have people achieved freedom without the courage to fight for it. So far since 2006 I have been writing blogs in the hope that the people of Singapore can be persuaded to stand up for their rights. I now realize that this was all along a forlorn hope. You cannot force a horse to drink if he doesn't want to.
I have tried but it is useless. Perhaps sometime in the distant future, there may be some event that forces this predominantly ethnic Chinese society that has been so far subservient and cowardly to stand up for their rights. I say cowardly intentionally. Because they are not the way they are because they are ignorant. They are the way they are despite full knowledge they live as slaves. But I am not holding my breath on any possible change. But even if they do stand up eventually, surely it is not on my account.
Gopalan Nair
Attorney at Law
Formerly Singaporean, now American Citizen
Fremont California USA
Tel: 510 491 8525
Email: nair.gopalan@yahoo.com
Facebook: www.facebook.com/singapore.dissident
It is simply useless for anyone to fight for democracy for Singaporeans. Why, because Singaporeans simply do not want it. This wasn't clear to me over the decades until recently when I finally realized it is simply hopeless. You can take a horse to water, you simply can't make him drink.
If there are Singaporeans who seek democracy, their willingness to fight for it only extends to writing anonymous complaints on Facebook or the Internet. Or for a handful of protesters to go to the government designated secluded spot of Hong Lim Park, a patch of grass no bigger than 100 feet by 100 feet to silently hold signs while covering their faces. The totalitarian dictatorship of Lee Kuan Yew's son simply ignore all this and they (the government) continue on their merry ways, as if nothing happened.
And then there are those who erroneously believe that they have to wait for the next elections, held every 5 years, to throw this government out and bring in their paradise, not knowing of course that firstly Lee Kuan Yew's son has made sure he will always win or if not he will have his proxies to do his bidding. And even assuming the unthinkable happens and they get thrown out, no government coming in would willingly create a democracy obviously because it is much easier to rule through Fascism as now.
If you did not already know, let me tell you what it is. Singaporeans, or the vast predominantly ethnic Chinese society, are literally slaves. You can criticize as much as you want within limits, the limits being the government is not really threatened. Otherwise you face defamation action in Kangaroo courts where there is no rule of law, you stand to be fired from your job, your career prospects are eternally destroyed and you are as good as history. You not only know this dire fact, the government goes out of their way to remind you that they don't practice the rule of law and Roy Ngerng who criticized has lost his job and he will soon be bankrupted with a million dollar defamation award, not intended to make him pay of course, since after all they know he doesn't have a million dollars. It is instead intended to destroy him for life.
Let me also remind you of the other stark basic realities under which you live. You have no constitutional rights, no free speech, no freedom of the press, no right to protest, no right to assembly, no right to protest except at a secluded government designated 100 feet square grass patch called Hong Lim Square provided they give you permission.
Obviously Singaporeans are happy to live this way. The ordinary Singaporean, 80% of whom are ethnic Chinese have had no complaint living this way for the last 50 years or so under this Fascist regime. Frankly, if you do not care about your individual liberties and do not believe that the government is accountable to you and not the other way round, life can be quite pleasant. If you are not a threat to them, for the most part they leave you alone, to find a job and mind your own business. And then there are those who are a growing number seek opportunity and success by being sycophants and bootlickers of the fascist regime. They stand a chance of being selected for high office and unimaginable wealth. It is the same in China where you work for the Communist Party and achieve high office and bribes through their Peoples Liberation Army connections.
If you did not know, the Singapore government is the most corrupt in Asia if not in the world. Lee Kuan Yew and now his son pay themselves no less than $3.7 million a year officially. Besides this they siphon off even more millions secretly. This corruption and nepotism does not extend to just the Lee family but throughout their government including all ministers. In any other society, the people would be up in arms against this, but Singaporeans simply do not have the courage to stand up to this corruption.
Singapore is no different from Communist China. There are beautiful skyscrapers built everyday and Chengdu and Shanghai have excellent infra structure and beautiful spaces. In Singapore too the infra structure and the city is beautiful. The commonality between China and Singapore is this, you get to live in a beautiful city but you have no part in deciding how it is run. In China if you complain too much the Peoples Liberation Army would probably shoot you. In Singapore you would be arrested, you lose your job and branded and victimized for life. You may be even locked up for life under detention without trial laws and probably even shot.
The ethnic Chinese society of Singaporeans appear to be quite happy to live in a society where their lives are decided for them and they simply mind their own business. This is not how the original makers of the Constitution intended which was based on a Western style democracy based on the Greek philosophy where the state is accountable to the people, not the other way round. Singapore today has transformed into a Chinese or Stalinist style system where you mind your own business and let the government decide what is best for you.
We have had proof of the islander's preference for the last 3 decades. JB Jeyaretnam the opposition politician came around and championed for rights. But when he was unjustly and illegally imprisoned and bankrupted and destroyed, Singaporeans had nothing to say, except perhaps writing on Facebook. There followed a series of transgressions of rights, from the Marxist conspiracy where innocent libertarians were jailed and tortured, Chee Soon Juan being simply ill treated and lately Roy Ngerng the blogger and 16 year old Amos Yee being persecuted. But Singaporeans can do nothing more beyond writing anonymous Facebook articles.
The Singapore government cannot be forced to restore democratic rights under the Constitution unless and until they are compelled to do it. Writing Facebook articles is not going to do the trick. The only way you can force this Fascist government to do the right thing is to have mass demonstrations to force their hand. This obviously the people of Singapore are either not prepared to do or too afraid to be more exact.
Therefore unfortunately the prognosis for this cowardly society is they have to continue to live the way they do, under this Fascist dictatorship, as they have done for the last 50 years. And no one including me can persuade them otherwise, because they simply don't want to or they are too afraid. One undeniable truth of history is this; nowhere in the world have people achieved freedom without the courage to fight for it. So far since 2006 I have been writing blogs in the hope that the people of Singapore can be persuaded to stand up for their rights. I now realize that this was all along a forlorn hope. You cannot force a horse to drink if he doesn't want to.
I have tried but it is useless. Perhaps sometime in the distant future, there may be some event that forces this predominantly ethnic Chinese society that has been so far subservient and cowardly to stand up for their rights. I say cowardly intentionally. Because they are not the way they are because they are ignorant. They are the way they are despite full knowledge they live as slaves. But I am not holding my breath on any possible change. But even if they do stand up eventually, surely it is not on my account.
Gopalan Nair
Attorney at Law
Formerly Singaporean, now American Citizen
Fremont California USA
Tel: 510 491 8525
Email: nair.gopalan@yahoo.com
Facebook: www.facebook.com/singapore.dissident
Monday, June 29, 2015
Elections will not give any freedom to Singaporeans. As long as they live in fear as they do now, they will continue under the yoke
Ladies and Gentlemen,
The bad news for Singaporeans is this. As along as you continue to live in fear of your government, as you do now, elections will not give you any freedom. You will continue living under the yoke.
So Singaporeans in the Internet who are writing reams and reams in the hope for freedom through elections, it will never happen with a people like you who are afraid.
No government in the future in Singapore will willingly hand over power to the people. You can only get it if you take it. And since you are too afraid to do it, you will be forever slaves.
Let me remind Singaporeans once again. You are living no better than ignorant slaves under Lee Kuan Yew's son. Lee Kuan Yew's son and his friends in open shameless industrial scale corruption pays himself $3.7 million a year and much more secretly. With state controlled press, you get propaganda, not news. Your viewpoint will only be published if you are one of them. There is no free speech expression or assembly. The courts are Kangaroo courts who can put away any innocent man Lee Kuan Yew's son does not like. In sum total in Singapore you don't live as free men. You are simply a slave to be dealt with any way Lee Kuan Yew's son pleases.
Your cowardly fear under which you live is abundantly clear by your inaction. All you are capable of doing in Singapore is writing in Facebook and the Internet. And the government on their part has been ignoring it for years as they will continue to do. Your Internet criticism has no effect on them whatsoever as they continue to rule over you as your masters and you as slaves.
Today one thing that I know, that Lee Kuan Yew's son knows and worst of all you know is this fact; no matter what the government does to you, you simply do not have the courage to fight back, like the courage of the Englishmen, the Spaniards, the Frenchmen and all the other free men of the world. You lack an essential quality of human nature essential for freedom, basic courage. In essence, you are timid cowards. And as long as the government is aware of this fact, they are in no rush to give you any rights. You will remain as you are. That is common sense.
Even a future government will not give you any rights. Even if Chee Soon Juan of the opposition SDP is to form the new government, I doubt very much he will be in any hurry to hand over all your rights to you. Why, because it is much easier to rule over you if you have no rights and the government has all the power, as is the case now.
In the end timid souls like you don't deserve to live in freedom anyway. After all you are happy the way you are as it is.
I have realized I have wasted my time writing anti Lee blogs. Why? Because I thought that even a timid society such as you would be moved to stand up to the government if pushed to the wall. I now realize I was wrong. You are a people so afraid that you would do nothing even if Lee Kuan Yew's son raped your daughter before your very eyes. You are beyond redemption. I cannot help you. I will not be writing as often anymore, since it is no use at all. I might as well be trying to persuade a brick wall.
Gopalan Nair
Attorney at Law
Former Singaporean.
Proud American citizen
Fremont California USA
Tel: 510 491 8525
Email: nair.gopalan@yahoo.com
Facebook: www.facebook.com/singapore.dissident
The bad news for Singaporeans is this. As along as you continue to live in fear of your government, as you do now, elections will not give you any freedom. You will continue living under the yoke.
So Singaporeans in the Internet who are writing reams and reams in the hope for freedom through elections, it will never happen with a people like you who are afraid.
No government in the future in Singapore will willingly hand over power to the people. You can only get it if you take it. And since you are too afraid to do it, you will be forever slaves.
Let me remind Singaporeans once again. You are living no better than ignorant slaves under Lee Kuan Yew's son. Lee Kuan Yew's son and his friends in open shameless industrial scale corruption pays himself $3.7 million a year and much more secretly. With state controlled press, you get propaganda, not news. Your viewpoint will only be published if you are one of them. There is no free speech expression or assembly. The courts are Kangaroo courts who can put away any innocent man Lee Kuan Yew's son does not like. In sum total in Singapore you don't live as free men. You are simply a slave to be dealt with any way Lee Kuan Yew's son pleases.
Your cowardly fear under which you live is abundantly clear by your inaction. All you are capable of doing in Singapore is writing in Facebook and the Internet. And the government on their part has been ignoring it for years as they will continue to do. Your Internet criticism has no effect on them whatsoever as they continue to rule over you as your masters and you as slaves.
Today one thing that I know, that Lee Kuan Yew's son knows and worst of all you know is this fact; no matter what the government does to you, you simply do not have the courage to fight back, like the courage of the Englishmen, the Spaniards, the Frenchmen and all the other free men of the world. You lack an essential quality of human nature essential for freedom, basic courage. In essence, you are timid cowards. And as long as the government is aware of this fact, they are in no rush to give you any rights. You will remain as you are. That is common sense.
Even a future government will not give you any rights. Even if Chee Soon Juan of the opposition SDP is to form the new government, I doubt very much he will be in any hurry to hand over all your rights to you. Why, because it is much easier to rule over you if you have no rights and the government has all the power, as is the case now.
In the end timid souls like you don't deserve to live in freedom anyway. After all you are happy the way you are as it is.
I have realized I have wasted my time writing anti Lee blogs. Why? Because I thought that even a timid society such as you would be moved to stand up to the government if pushed to the wall. I now realize I was wrong. You are a people so afraid that you would do nothing even if Lee Kuan Yew's son raped your daughter before your very eyes. You are beyond redemption. I cannot help you. I will not be writing as often anymore, since it is no use at all. I might as well be trying to persuade a brick wall.
Gopalan Nair
Attorney at Law
Former Singaporean.
Proud American citizen
Fremont California USA
Tel: 510 491 8525
Email: nair.gopalan@yahoo.com
Facebook: www.facebook.com/singapore.dissident
Saturday, June 27, 2015
Singaporeans willingly live at the total mercy of their rulers. They happily live as slaves.
Ladies and Gentlemen,
Singaporeans live entirely at the mercy of their rulers today and for the last 50 years.
They are in effect slaves.
Their destiny can be controlled if necessary at any tine by their rulers and there is simply nothing they can do about it.
Government critics can be made imaginary criminals, put away and denied a livelihood. This fear is island wide forcing people to keep in line.
This state of affairs is not the fault of their government at all, it is themselves, because they simply cannot muster the courage to demand justice.
No government in the world today would voluntarily restrict their own powers, why should they? David Cameron would be licking his chops if he could get away with the British what the Lees are getting away with the Singaporeans but he can't. He knows the people would break down the door of No 10.
As long as they are incapable of holding their government to account, their government naturally simply do whatever they want, since there is no one to oppose them.
This state of affairs is simply paradise for any government like that of Singapore. Where in the world can they simply do anything they want and still get away with it because you have a totally subjugated, servile population that simply do not have the courage and shout "protest" even if half their kith and kin are skinned alive before their very eyes.
Surely this has to be paradise for any government. Other than Singapore, countries that enjoy this total choke hold over their people are few. They include Communist China, Cuba and North Korea and you could add Singapore.
The total power they hold over their people in Singapore is because firstly , the entire media is state controlled. Only the rulers have the right to say what you want, not you. If they let you say something in edge ways, it is because it is they who have let you, not because you have any right to state your mind.
Second the Constitution is completely negated. You have no right to speak in public, criticize in public, question authority openly, assemble in public or do any of this because they have all been made illegal.
Unlike in other democracies in the world, Singapore's rulers are not afraid of your ever challenging them because if you do they will arrest you and send you packing. They know this and you know this. This gives them complete free reign to do literally anything they want anytime regardless of whether you like it or not, period.
The police force is totally corrupt as well as are their judiciary who simply do whatever is told of them to destroy this government critic or that with fake criminal charges. In my case, as a practicing lawyer in that island from 1979 to 1991, which I am ashamed of looking back on hindsight, I was repeatedly charged with all sorts of allegedly disciplinary failings and constantly harassed.
The plan of course was to turn me into another obedient subservient unquestioning Singaporean like the others. In this way they can destroy your livelihood anytime simply because, to use Face book language, you are not their friend.
With a corrupt police force, a corrupt judiciary, no free press and no rights whatsoever, with powers to put you away anytime on imaginary crimes, Singaporeans are totally under the heel of their government, simple as that.
What is disgusting of the Singaporean is that all this did not happen overnight. It happened gradually from about the 60s. Lee Kuan Yew sometime or other devised a diabolical plan that for him to rule he has to control everyone and everything. So it happened gradually.
One day it was the press. Another day it was free speech. Behind the scenes it was the courts. And all this happened before the very eyes of the predominantly yellow skinned ethnic Chinese population of Singapore who simply accepted it wholesale.
By what are Singaporeans different from Frenchmen Englishmen or Americans?
I am sure if given a choice the French President would be licking his chops with glee if he had powers like that in Singapore, why is it not possible to do the same?
It is not because the French government is any better than that of Singapore.
It boils down entirely to this; Frenchmen are not Singaporeans. Frenchmen have balls, self pride and wish to live free and not under any Napoleon or Luis the IV. They are brave men. Singaporeans or the other hand have no balls and they have no courage, they have no self respect and would willingly live under any tyrant if the price is right.
The French are lions, the Singaporeans, predominately ethnic Chinese are no better than mice. That is the big difference.
Democracy is a set of rules equally applicable to the government as well as to the people. The government is required by rules to do certain things and not do certain things. And if they don't it is the people's right to hold the government accountable.
This is why the French government is afraid to deny the rule of law, because it they do, their people would be up in arms and bring them down. This is why you have democracy in France, in Spain, Portugal, England, Belgium, Flanders, Italy, Greece, Sweden, Flanders, the Orkney Isles, in Dublin.
The ones who are supposedly championing freedom in Singapore appear to me no more that disgraceful hypocrites. Lets call them Face book Internet freedom fighters. I say this because that is the only courage they appear to have, the courage behind a computer keyboard, nothing more.
And lets call them Teo Soh Lung and Company. Teo Soh Lung was a woman lawyer in the island who was unjustly jailed and tortured by fake criminal charges and eventually released. She has been denied a career, and is no longer a lawyer. She spends her time day in a day doing one thing alone, writing about how bad the government was and how badly she was treated. She has even written a book about her ordeal.
Granted, all very sad indeed. But can you do nothing else? Can you not organize a protest outside the Prime Ministers office and demand justice? For Heaves Sake can you not do anything else? It appears, unfortunately no. There are many like her, Teo Soh Lung and Company who just do the same thing day in and day out and after a few days, it just become boring.
For Heaves Sake has she ever thought of getting out of the repression and emigrating? Obviously not. Instead of that she wants to stay behind and just write the same old story. Perhaps in her warped sense of reasoning there is more pride in staying behind and be bullied than to get out and stand up like a human being.
Teo Soh Lung and Company: Gilbert Yeo who writes about his world travels and his self proclaimed charity to the poor; and several others.
All these years I did not realize that Singaporeans of course primarily the ethnic Chinese who form 80% of the population, pallid looking, yellow for lack of sun, weak in bones, body and spirit are not worth bothering as they willingly let their rulers abuse them like sexual perverts you see in porno magazines.
I feel ashamed to stand in the company of cowards like these cowardly computer keyboard freedom fighters of Singapore like Teo Soh Lung and Company of Singapore.
I would be proud to stand shoulder to shoulder with a brave Frenchman, a brave Englishman, a brave Scotsman, a brave Indian, a brave ethic Chinese from Hong Kong, a brave ethnic Chinese from the Tien An men square Beijing, a brave Croat who fought the Germans, a brave Spaniard in Plaza Major Madrid, a brave separatist from Northern Spain, a brave Italiano fighting Mussolini, brave Cubans who fought off both Batista and the Americans like Fidel Castro, and so on and so forth.
Unlike the cowards the Singaporean version of ethnic Chinese who willingly live under the heel of first Lee Kuan Yew, and now his son. It is a disgrace.
You are warned, if you write a criticism or comment, I will promptly delete it if you do this anonymously as is your shameful practice. State your correct name (not some fancy Kevin this or Kevin that like the ethnic Chinese in Singapore do), address and phone number. If you are a coward to even state your identity when you comment, you should not be commenting in the first place.
I will be posting this on Face book to which I am sure your Singapore government trolls will write the nonsense in response for want of any better. I will be occasionally checking on Singapore news entirely out of curiosity but I will not be writing anything about them since you are incapable of doing anything about it anyway.
It took me a long time to realize the futility of the Singaporean public meaning Teo Soh Lung and Company. I thought even Singaporeans will muster some courage if the situation got intolerably worse. I was wrong. Lee Kuan Yew's son could today rape the daughter of an ethic Chinese Singapore citizen before his very eyes and he would still be incapable of doing anything. I will not be signing off as a Singaporean in Exile. I am not a Singaporean. I am only a former Singaporean and today a very proud American who is ashamed of having even been born in an island of cowards like Singapore.
Gopalan Nair
Attorney at Law
Formerly Singapore citizen but ashamed of it.
Today a proud American Citizen.
Fremont California USA
Tel: 510 491 8525
Email: nair.gopalan@yahoo.com
Facebook: www.facebook.com/singapore.dissident
Singaporeans live entirely at the mercy of their rulers today and for the last 50 years.
They are in effect slaves.
Their destiny can be controlled if necessary at any tine by their rulers and there is simply nothing they can do about it.
Government critics can be made imaginary criminals, put away and denied a livelihood. This fear is island wide forcing people to keep in line.
This state of affairs is not the fault of their government at all, it is themselves, because they simply cannot muster the courage to demand justice.
No government in the world today would voluntarily restrict their own powers, why should they? David Cameron would be licking his chops if he could get away with the British what the Lees are getting away with the Singaporeans but he can't. He knows the people would break down the door of No 10.
As long as they are incapable of holding their government to account, their government naturally simply do whatever they want, since there is no one to oppose them.
This state of affairs is simply paradise for any government like that of Singapore. Where in the world can they simply do anything they want and still get away with it because you have a totally subjugated, servile population that simply do not have the courage and shout "protest" even if half their kith and kin are skinned alive before their very eyes.
Surely this has to be paradise for any government. Other than Singapore, countries that enjoy this total choke hold over their people are few. They include Communist China, Cuba and North Korea and you could add Singapore.
The total power they hold over their people in Singapore is because firstly , the entire media is state controlled. Only the rulers have the right to say what you want, not you. If they let you say something in edge ways, it is because it is they who have let you, not because you have any right to state your mind.
Second the Constitution is completely negated. You have no right to speak in public, criticize in public, question authority openly, assemble in public or do any of this because they have all been made illegal.
Unlike in other democracies in the world, Singapore's rulers are not afraid of your ever challenging them because if you do they will arrest you and send you packing. They know this and you know this. This gives them complete free reign to do literally anything they want anytime regardless of whether you like it or not, period.
The police force is totally corrupt as well as are their judiciary who simply do whatever is told of them to destroy this government critic or that with fake criminal charges. In my case, as a practicing lawyer in that island from 1979 to 1991, which I am ashamed of looking back on hindsight, I was repeatedly charged with all sorts of allegedly disciplinary failings and constantly harassed.
The plan of course was to turn me into another obedient subservient unquestioning Singaporean like the others. In this way they can destroy your livelihood anytime simply because, to use Face book language, you are not their friend.
With a corrupt police force, a corrupt judiciary, no free press and no rights whatsoever, with powers to put you away anytime on imaginary crimes, Singaporeans are totally under the heel of their government, simple as that.
What is disgusting of the Singaporean is that all this did not happen overnight. It happened gradually from about the 60s. Lee Kuan Yew sometime or other devised a diabolical plan that for him to rule he has to control everyone and everything. So it happened gradually.
One day it was the press. Another day it was free speech. Behind the scenes it was the courts. And all this happened before the very eyes of the predominantly yellow skinned ethnic Chinese population of Singapore who simply accepted it wholesale.
By what are Singaporeans different from Frenchmen Englishmen or Americans?
I am sure if given a choice the French President would be licking his chops with glee if he had powers like that in Singapore, why is it not possible to do the same?
It is not because the French government is any better than that of Singapore.
It boils down entirely to this; Frenchmen are not Singaporeans. Frenchmen have balls, self pride and wish to live free and not under any Napoleon or Luis the IV. They are brave men. Singaporeans or the other hand have no balls and they have no courage, they have no self respect and would willingly live under any tyrant if the price is right.
The French are lions, the Singaporeans, predominately ethnic Chinese are no better than mice. That is the big difference.
Democracy is a set of rules equally applicable to the government as well as to the people. The government is required by rules to do certain things and not do certain things. And if they don't it is the people's right to hold the government accountable.
This is why the French government is afraid to deny the rule of law, because it they do, their people would be up in arms and bring them down. This is why you have democracy in France, in Spain, Portugal, England, Belgium, Flanders, Italy, Greece, Sweden, Flanders, the Orkney Isles, in Dublin.
The ones who are supposedly championing freedom in Singapore appear to me no more that disgraceful hypocrites. Lets call them Face book Internet freedom fighters. I say this because that is the only courage they appear to have, the courage behind a computer keyboard, nothing more.
And lets call them Teo Soh Lung and Company. Teo Soh Lung was a woman lawyer in the island who was unjustly jailed and tortured by fake criminal charges and eventually released. She has been denied a career, and is no longer a lawyer. She spends her time day in a day doing one thing alone, writing about how bad the government was and how badly she was treated. She has even written a book about her ordeal.
Granted, all very sad indeed. But can you do nothing else? Can you not organize a protest outside the Prime Ministers office and demand justice? For Heaves Sake can you not do anything else? It appears, unfortunately no. There are many like her, Teo Soh Lung and Company who just do the same thing day in and day out and after a few days, it just become boring.
For Heaves Sake has she ever thought of getting out of the repression and emigrating? Obviously not. Instead of that she wants to stay behind and just write the same old story. Perhaps in her warped sense of reasoning there is more pride in staying behind and be bullied than to get out and stand up like a human being.
Teo Soh Lung and Company: Gilbert Yeo who writes about his world travels and his self proclaimed charity to the poor; and several others.
All these years I did not realize that Singaporeans of course primarily the ethnic Chinese who form 80% of the population, pallid looking, yellow for lack of sun, weak in bones, body and spirit are not worth bothering as they willingly let their rulers abuse them like sexual perverts you see in porno magazines.
I feel ashamed to stand in the company of cowards like these cowardly computer keyboard freedom fighters of Singapore like Teo Soh Lung and Company of Singapore.
I would be proud to stand shoulder to shoulder with a brave Frenchman, a brave Englishman, a brave Scotsman, a brave Indian, a brave ethic Chinese from Hong Kong, a brave ethnic Chinese from the Tien An men square Beijing, a brave Croat who fought the Germans, a brave Spaniard in Plaza Major Madrid, a brave separatist from Northern Spain, a brave Italiano fighting Mussolini, brave Cubans who fought off both Batista and the Americans like Fidel Castro, and so on and so forth.
Unlike the cowards the Singaporean version of ethnic Chinese who willingly live under the heel of first Lee Kuan Yew, and now his son. It is a disgrace.
You are warned, if you write a criticism or comment, I will promptly delete it if you do this anonymously as is your shameful practice. State your correct name (not some fancy Kevin this or Kevin that like the ethnic Chinese in Singapore do), address and phone number. If you are a coward to even state your identity when you comment, you should not be commenting in the first place.
I will be posting this on Face book to which I am sure your Singapore government trolls will write the nonsense in response for want of any better. I will be occasionally checking on Singapore news entirely out of curiosity but I will not be writing anything about them since you are incapable of doing anything about it anyway.
It took me a long time to realize the futility of the Singaporean public meaning Teo Soh Lung and Company. I thought even Singaporeans will muster some courage if the situation got intolerably worse. I was wrong. Lee Kuan Yew's son could today rape the daughter of an ethic Chinese Singapore citizen before his very eyes and he would still be incapable of doing anything. I will not be signing off as a Singaporean in Exile. I am not a Singaporean. I am only a former Singaporean and today a very proud American who is ashamed of having even been born in an island of cowards like Singapore.
Gopalan Nair
Attorney at Law
Formerly Singapore citizen but ashamed of it.
Today a proud American Citizen.
Fremont California USA
Tel: 510 491 8525
Email: nair.gopalan@yahoo.com
Facebook: www.facebook.com/singapore.dissident
Monday, June 22, 2015
I am disillusioned with Singaporeans. They simply do not want democracy
Ladies and Gentlemen,
I have been blogging with Singapore Dissident since 2006. My hope was with sufficient exposure to the lack of human rights in the island, I could make Singaporeans realize the lives they live under a dictatorship and would take some effort to reclaim their rights which they have lost. It was a forlorn hope. As the saying goes, you can take a horse to water, you can't make him drink. And the Singaporean horse simply refuses to drink no matter what you do.
Singapore today is destroyed. And the people have stood idly by while this has happened. The constitution is a dead letter. There are no rights whatsoever. No free speech, expression or assembly. No nothing. They live completely at the mercy of Lee Kuan Yew's son and his friends. And then there is open industrial scale corruption, where Lee Kuan Yew's son and his relatives and friends steal millions every year under their very noises. This corruption goes on. The Singaporean today is a minority in his own country. There are more foreigners , mainly Chinese PRC who treat the island as a temporary stay, like a hotel. And despite all this they have nothing to complain about. They let their island be destroyed under their very noses.
And then there are the watershed events of repression. In 1987 16 innocent Singaporeans were rounded tortured and jailed, in the Marxist Conspiracy, an imagination of then Prime Minister Lee Kuan Yew. Not a single Singaporean raised a finger in their support. In the 1980s JB Jeyaretnam was jailed and disbarred all because he opposed the Lees dictatorship. Not a single Singaporean stood up for him. Chee Soon Juan was repeatedly bankrupted through fake defamation of character actions, jailed and kicked out of his job. Not a single Singaporean stood up for him. Recently Roy Ngerng was sued by the disgraceful defamation of character by Lee Kuan Yew's son. Not a single Singaporeans has stood up for him. Even more recently Amos Yee 16 years old has bee arrested for insulting the recently deceased Lee Kuan Yew. No one has stood up for him.
While all this is happening, Singaporeans have been writing reams and reams in the Internet mostly anonymous. But beyond the courage to write on the Internet anonymously they have little else courage. The government on their part simply ignores what you write on the Internet and it appears they are no worse for it.
You do not hold a government accountable for their actions by just writing on the Internet. This is not enough. You have to have island wide protests to make it known to this government who is in charge, The people or them. As long as the government knows they can do whatever they want and get away with it, democracy makes no sense. In Germany the government knows that if they crossed the line, the Germans will not accept it. Nether the French nor the Belgians or English. But in the history of Singapore island they know that the people simply do not have the courage to stand up to their government except for writing anonymous articles on the Internet.
You can take your Internet articles and shove it up, you know where.
Any government chosen at the next elections would make no difference to the present, because the underlying fact that Singaporeans are either incapable or unwilling to stand up them them is proven by history. Just like the present government they would simply do whatever they want.
I have misunderstood the average Singaporeans. I was under the impression that they would prefer to live as free men. My experience with them has proved otherwise. In spite of writing almost everyday, sometimes 2 a day, it has made no difference on the Singaporean. The Singaporean, especially the ethnic Chinese version who form the vast majority in the island are quite prepared to live in bondage. They are not the Hong Kong Chinese who have a large dose of guts.
One can see the futility of it all. What is the point of writing blog after blog only for the average Singaporean do nothing except to write on Facebook?
Singaporeans would do nothing even if Roy Ngerng or the 16 year old Yee was skinned alive before their very eyes. I am not sure that a people like this would deserve democracy let alone someone like me trying to persuade them otherwise.
Gopalan Nair
Fremont California USA
I have been blogging with Singapore Dissident since 2006. My hope was with sufficient exposure to the lack of human rights in the island, I could make Singaporeans realize the lives they live under a dictatorship and would take some effort to reclaim their rights which they have lost. It was a forlorn hope. As the saying goes, you can take a horse to water, you can't make him drink. And the Singaporean horse simply refuses to drink no matter what you do.
Singapore today is destroyed. And the people have stood idly by while this has happened. The constitution is a dead letter. There are no rights whatsoever. No free speech, expression or assembly. No nothing. They live completely at the mercy of Lee Kuan Yew's son and his friends. And then there is open industrial scale corruption, where Lee Kuan Yew's son and his relatives and friends steal millions every year under their very noises. This corruption goes on. The Singaporean today is a minority in his own country. There are more foreigners , mainly Chinese PRC who treat the island as a temporary stay, like a hotel. And despite all this they have nothing to complain about. They let their island be destroyed under their very noses.
And then there are the watershed events of repression. In 1987 16 innocent Singaporeans were rounded tortured and jailed, in the Marxist Conspiracy, an imagination of then Prime Minister Lee Kuan Yew. Not a single Singaporean raised a finger in their support. In the 1980s JB Jeyaretnam was jailed and disbarred all because he opposed the Lees dictatorship. Not a single Singaporean stood up for him. Chee Soon Juan was repeatedly bankrupted through fake defamation of character actions, jailed and kicked out of his job. Not a single Singaporean stood up for him. Recently Roy Ngerng was sued by the disgraceful defamation of character by Lee Kuan Yew's son. Not a single Singaporeans has stood up for him. Even more recently Amos Yee 16 years old has bee arrested for insulting the recently deceased Lee Kuan Yew. No one has stood up for him.
While all this is happening, Singaporeans have been writing reams and reams in the Internet mostly anonymous. But beyond the courage to write on the Internet anonymously they have little else courage. The government on their part simply ignores what you write on the Internet and it appears they are no worse for it.
You do not hold a government accountable for their actions by just writing on the Internet. This is not enough. You have to have island wide protests to make it known to this government who is in charge, The people or them. As long as the government knows they can do whatever they want and get away with it, democracy makes no sense. In Germany the government knows that if they crossed the line, the Germans will not accept it. Nether the French nor the Belgians or English. But in the history of Singapore island they know that the people simply do not have the courage to stand up to their government except for writing anonymous articles on the Internet.
You can take your Internet articles and shove it up, you know where.
Any government chosen at the next elections would make no difference to the present, because the underlying fact that Singaporeans are either incapable or unwilling to stand up them them is proven by history. Just like the present government they would simply do whatever they want.
I have misunderstood the average Singaporeans. I was under the impression that they would prefer to live as free men. My experience with them has proved otherwise. In spite of writing almost everyday, sometimes 2 a day, it has made no difference on the Singaporean. The Singaporean, especially the ethnic Chinese version who form the vast majority in the island are quite prepared to live in bondage. They are not the Hong Kong Chinese who have a large dose of guts.
One can see the futility of it all. What is the point of writing blog after blog only for the average Singaporean do nothing except to write on Facebook?
Singaporeans would do nothing even if Roy Ngerng or the 16 year old Yee was skinned alive before their very eyes. I am not sure that a people like this would deserve democracy let alone someone like me trying to persuade them otherwise.
Gopalan Nair
Fremont California USA
Monday, June 15, 2015
Emergency prevented my coming to Johore Bahru. Apologies
Ladies and Gentlemen,
A sudden emergency prevented me from coming to Johore Bahru. I sincerely apologize to anyone who has been inconvenienced.
Regards
Gopalan Nair
Fremont, California
A sudden emergency prevented me from coming to Johore Bahru. I sincerely apologize to anyone who has been inconvenienced.
Regards
Gopalan Nair
Fremont, California
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