Ladies and Gentlemen,
Singapore has an apartheid policy when it comes to public housing.
Almost 99% of Singaporeans live in high rise apartments belonging to the government agency the HDB.
This is because of scarcity of land in the tiny island resulting in the government forcibly acquiring huge swathes of land to house its overcrowded people.
These residents are all leaseholders renting their tiny apartments on a 99 year lease which the government conveniently refers to as ownership, which it is not.
But what is astonishing to any foreigner is the rule that Singaporeans are not allowed to live anywhere they choose in their HDB flats, a form of apartheid in housing.
The government has a rule that each of these government housing estates (which house 99% of the people) should reflect the racial percentages in the island.
Since there are 75% Chinese, about 14% Malays and the balance being Indians, each housing estate should also reflect these percentages, claiming that if people were allowed to live anywhere they want, it will end up as ghettos which is undesirable.
Therefore anyone wanting to lease an apartment from the HDB should first establish if they could secure it in a location of their choice.
Once 75% has been reached in any block, a Chinese would be disallowed from purchase there and similarly once 14% has been reached which would prohibit Malays and similarly for the Indians, about 8%, according to the percentages.
As you can see, the Chinese are not as badly affected as the Malays and Indians since each location has 75% set aside for them while of the other hand the Malays and Indians get the blunt end of the stick for obvious reasons.
This policy of racial segregation in housing compels Malay and Indian families to live apart because quotas have been filled resulting in one brother having to live at one end of the island and the other brother in the other end.
Furthermore even more punishing is the fact that when a Malay sells his flat, he will have to sell it to a Malay and not to a Chinese or Indian.
Since Malays are far fewer in numbers in their already tiny population, it may mean that he cannot sell his apartment for lack of a buyer or even if he finds one, may have to sell it at a greatly discounted price and lose money since there is no one else to buy.
Additionally Malays and Indians because of this policy are effectively also disenfranchised.
As a result of the forced segregation of their people, they are unable to form any majority in any area of Singapore thereby effectively depriving them of a chance to choose a political representative of their choice since in every constituency they are forced to be a tiny minority.
On the other hand Geylang was and is a popular Malay area. If Malays are allowed to reside in Geylang without restriction, they would naturally be able to elect a Malay Member of Parliament and very probably someone not from the ruling party.
Today as a result of these laws that force racial segregation on their people, the Malays are unable to do this and are effectively disenfranchised. They are forced to accept an ethnic Chinese politician whom they do not want.
It is unfortunate that the Malays of Singapore continue to take this punishment lying down. They are simply allowing the Chinese dominated administration to simply walk over them.
The Malays of Singapore should stand up now and reclaim the rights which they have. They should protest openly in the streets demanding that these racial quotas be immediately abrogated as it is a clear violation of the Singapore constitution which demands equality under the law.
There is no need to fear the government labeling those who protest as inciting racial hatred and fearing arrest because this is clearly not the case.
We are not against the Chinese Singaporeans because they are our brothers. But we are against the government because it is they who are deliberately denying us our rights.
Our fight is against the government, not against the Chinese. In fact I believe that any protest and demonstration that you organize against this policy would also receive the support of the Chinese because they too realize the injustice in this case.
I would ask the Malays and Indians to stand up against these unjust racial discrimination policies. Truth is on your side and so will the international community. There is no need to fear this government any longer.
Please do not obey the government and protest at Hong Lim Park conveniently designated by this government for protests. They have this law only because they don't want people to hear of your protest. You should protest where you should in this case, outside the HDB housing agency offices because they are the ones who are carrying out this injustice against you.
Don't be afraid.
Gopalan Nair
Attorney at Law
A Singaporean in Exile
Fremont, California USA
Tel: 510 491 8525
Email:nair.gopalan@yahoo.com
Sunday, September 29, 2013
Saturday, September 28, 2013
Singapore's very funny laws against demonstrations and protests
Ladies and Gentlemen,
For a long time, Singapore did not allow any demonstrations or protests even if peaceful.
The way this was accomplished is by requiring government permits to hold any protest while at the same time denying each and every application that was ever made.
It is therefore impossible to obtain a permit. And if you went ahead and held the protest without it, you will be arrested and it is no good arguing that even if you applied for the permit, they would not have granted it!
A very warped sense of reasoning here, but true. It is like saying you can't go to the movie unless you have a ticket. But then they never sell you the ticket!
As a result of this very convenient game that they play, opposition politician Chee Soon Juan was jailed multiple times for holding peaceful protests. Each time he complained that he did apply for this elusive permit but they never gave it to him!
His argument which was obvious, that it was useless applying for any permit since they were never granted were all peremptorily dismissed by Lee Kuan Yew's Kangaroo judges with eyes conveniently in blinkers. All that they were capable of doing was to parrot the ridiculous excuse ad nausem that since Chee did not have a permit, he was guilty.
I think the Lee Kuan Yew government finally realized that they were looking very silly by demanding permits when they were never granted, and thought of another equally silly plan.
This time they assigned a designated location in the island called Hong Lim Park in Singapore's Chinatown which was to be called Speakers Corner and henceforth limited types of protests or demonstrations would be allowed here without permits.
However the rule requiring permits anywhere else in the island still stood.
But once again the Singapore government were making themselves look very silly by allowing protests at Speakers Corner, a most ridiculous rule that anyone could imagine as you will see. Speakers Corner is in downtown Singapore, a short distance from the main business center, a mere square of grass and shaded with trees, a location which many never take much notice, except for some office workers who pass by at lunch time.
Just imagine a case where the workers of Sembawang Shipyard, a location in the north of Singapore island were contemplating protesting against their employer for unfair work practices. Of course the only sensible location at which they should protest is outside their work place, at Sembawang shipyard so that their employers can hear it. But according to Singapore's upside down reasoning, these workers who have a grievance against Sembawang Shipyard are not allowed to hold it there. The only place where they could do it legally is at Hong Lim Park about 15 or 20 miles away in the south of Singapore.
Can anyone tell what in Heaven's is the point of protesting against Sembawang Shipyard at Hong Lim Park 15 mikes away? And even if you did, would any onlooker have the remotest idea as to what you were doing at Hong Lim Park holding banners and placards with the name Sembawang Shipyard?
You don't have to be very smart to realize how stupid this rule is. But very strangely, Singaporeans who have been so thoroughly and successfully put through Lee Kuan Yew's world famous behavior training that their minds are entirely happy with such a rule and there appears to be no complaint whatsoever!
The other very clever trick they have conjured up is the idea of designating areas as "Gazetted Areas". According to their laws, whenever parliament designates locations as "Gazetted Areas" no one should demonstrate or protest there and any violator is promptly arrested.
Very conveniently, the very places where a citizen would want to protest are all conveniently "Gazetted". The vicinity of Lee Kuan Yew's palace at Clemenceau Avenue is gazetted. The outside of Parliament House is gazetted. The ground outside all embassies and consulates are gazetted. The outsides of all police stations are gazetted. In fact all areas where a citizen would most want to protest are all gazetted!
Consider Lee Kuan Yew's palace. If you were a citizen unhappy with the fact that Lee Kuan Yew and his son pay themselves 5 times the salary of the president of the United States and wanted to protest about this, you would probably want to stand outside his palace with a banner and shout "Down Down Thieves and Corrupt Dictators". It of course would make no sense for you to go to Hong Lim Park, miles away from where Lee Kuan Yew lives and shout "Down With The Dictator"! But that is exactly what the Singapore police want you to do!
Similarly if you wanted to protest against the high cost of government housing, your most sensible location would be outside Parliament House. But since Lee Kuan Yew has conveniently gazetted it too, you would be immediately arrested if you stood there. It would be all right if you went some miles away and stood at Hong Lim Park which obviously defeats the purpose.
You can see why Lee Kuan Yew has all these laws against protesting or demonstrating. If he can help it, he doesn't want anyone to protest, period. He is afraid that protests is the first step to toppling him from power. But since in the 21 century if he were to continue denying any form of protest he would be equated with the North Korean ruler Kim. So he does the next best thing. He allows you to do it where no one would ever know you protested.
It is indeed mind boggling that Singaporeans don't seem to mind any of this. In fact Singaporeans are not too keen to demonstrate at all, whether or not it is a gazetted area or whether or not it is Hong Lim Park.
In fact Singaporeans are a unique people. They appear to have no strong opinion about anything worth protesting about, ever.
Have you seen the citizens of London, New York, Jakarta, Athens or Madrid or for that matter anywhere else. The people of Spain are protesting against the austerity measures. So are the Greeks. Some Englishmen have protested to break with the EU. The Indians are protesting about the Kashmir issue. In Jakarta the Islamics are protesting for Sharia. But there is one place in the world where the people have absolutely nothing to protest about. You guessed it right. It is Singapore.
It is a one boring unique place where a person would be prepared to protest at Hong Lim Park 15 miles away from where he should rightfully be protesting, at Sembawang shipyard. It is a place where instead of protesting at Parliament House, you will stand at a location which has nothing to do with your cause at Hong Lim Park.
Singapore is one place in the world where brainwashing is so successfully accomplished that human beings will robot fashion, do anything that is demanded of them by their rulers.
Gopalan Nair
Attorney at Law
A Singaporean in Exile
Fremont, California USA
Tel: 510 491 8525
Email: nair.gopalan@yahoo.com
For a long time, Singapore did not allow any demonstrations or protests even if peaceful.
The way this was accomplished is by requiring government permits to hold any protest while at the same time denying each and every application that was ever made.
It is therefore impossible to obtain a permit. And if you went ahead and held the protest without it, you will be arrested and it is no good arguing that even if you applied for the permit, they would not have granted it!
A very warped sense of reasoning here, but true. It is like saying you can't go to the movie unless you have a ticket. But then they never sell you the ticket!
As a result of this very convenient game that they play, opposition politician Chee Soon Juan was jailed multiple times for holding peaceful protests. Each time he complained that he did apply for this elusive permit but they never gave it to him!
His argument which was obvious, that it was useless applying for any permit since they were never granted were all peremptorily dismissed by Lee Kuan Yew's Kangaroo judges with eyes conveniently in blinkers. All that they were capable of doing was to parrot the ridiculous excuse ad nausem that since Chee did not have a permit, he was guilty.
I think the Lee Kuan Yew government finally realized that they were looking very silly by demanding permits when they were never granted, and thought of another equally silly plan.
This time they assigned a designated location in the island called Hong Lim Park in Singapore's Chinatown which was to be called Speakers Corner and henceforth limited types of protests or demonstrations would be allowed here without permits.
However the rule requiring permits anywhere else in the island still stood.
But once again the Singapore government were making themselves look very silly by allowing protests at Speakers Corner, a most ridiculous rule that anyone could imagine as you will see. Speakers Corner is in downtown Singapore, a short distance from the main business center, a mere square of grass and shaded with trees, a location which many never take much notice, except for some office workers who pass by at lunch time.
Just imagine a case where the workers of Sembawang Shipyard, a location in the north of Singapore island were contemplating protesting against their employer for unfair work practices. Of course the only sensible location at which they should protest is outside their work place, at Sembawang shipyard so that their employers can hear it. But according to Singapore's upside down reasoning, these workers who have a grievance against Sembawang Shipyard are not allowed to hold it there. The only place where they could do it legally is at Hong Lim Park about 15 or 20 miles away in the south of Singapore.
Can anyone tell what in Heaven's is the point of protesting against Sembawang Shipyard at Hong Lim Park 15 mikes away? And even if you did, would any onlooker have the remotest idea as to what you were doing at Hong Lim Park holding banners and placards with the name Sembawang Shipyard?
You don't have to be very smart to realize how stupid this rule is. But very strangely, Singaporeans who have been so thoroughly and successfully put through Lee Kuan Yew's world famous behavior training that their minds are entirely happy with such a rule and there appears to be no complaint whatsoever!
The other very clever trick they have conjured up is the idea of designating areas as "Gazetted Areas". According to their laws, whenever parliament designates locations as "Gazetted Areas" no one should demonstrate or protest there and any violator is promptly arrested.
Very conveniently, the very places where a citizen would want to protest are all conveniently "Gazetted". The vicinity of Lee Kuan Yew's palace at Clemenceau Avenue is gazetted. The outside of Parliament House is gazetted. The ground outside all embassies and consulates are gazetted. The outsides of all police stations are gazetted. In fact all areas where a citizen would most want to protest are all gazetted!
Consider Lee Kuan Yew's palace. If you were a citizen unhappy with the fact that Lee Kuan Yew and his son pay themselves 5 times the salary of the president of the United States and wanted to protest about this, you would probably want to stand outside his palace with a banner and shout "Down Down Thieves and Corrupt Dictators". It of course would make no sense for you to go to Hong Lim Park, miles away from where Lee Kuan Yew lives and shout "Down With The Dictator"! But that is exactly what the Singapore police want you to do!
Similarly if you wanted to protest against the high cost of government housing, your most sensible location would be outside Parliament House. But since Lee Kuan Yew has conveniently gazetted it too, you would be immediately arrested if you stood there. It would be all right if you went some miles away and stood at Hong Lim Park which obviously defeats the purpose.
You can see why Lee Kuan Yew has all these laws against protesting or demonstrating. If he can help it, he doesn't want anyone to protest, period. He is afraid that protests is the first step to toppling him from power. But since in the 21 century if he were to continue denying any form of protest he would be equated with the North Korean ruler Kim. So he does the next best thing. He allows you to do it where no one would ever know you protested.
It is indeed mind boggling that Singaporeans don't seem to mind any of this. In fact Singaporeans are not too keen to demonstrate at all, whether or not it is a gazetted area or whether or not it is Hong Lim Park.
In fact Singaporeans are a unique people. They appear to have no strong opinion about anything worth protesting about, ever.
Have you seen the citizens of London, New York, Jakarta, Athens or Madrid or for that matter anywhere else. The people of Spain are protesting against the austerity measures. So are the Greeks. Some Englishmen have protested to break with the EU. The Indians are protesting about the Kashmir issue. In Jakarta the Islamics are protesting for Sharia. But there is one place in the world where the people have absolutely nothing to protest about. You guessed it right. It is Singapore.
It is a one boring unique place where a person would be prepared to protest at Hong Lim Park 15 miles away from where he should rightfully be protesting, at Sembawang shipyard. It is a place where instead of protesting at Parliament House, you will stand at a location which has nothing to do with your cause at Hong Lim Park.
Singapore is one place in the world where brainwashing is so successfully accomplished that human beings will robot fashion, do anything that is demanded of them by their rulers.
Gopalan Nair
Attorney at Law
A Singaporean in Exile
Fremont, California USA
Tel: 510 491 8525
Email: nair.gopalan@yahoo.com
Thursday, September 26, 2013
Singapore's make-believe unconstitutional government
Ladies and Gentlemen,
The best way to describe the Singaporean government is to call it a make-believe government. More a case of saying, what you see is not what you get. It is an island where ever since independence 50 years ago till today, the general understanding, although it is nowhere written, has always been Lee Kuan Yew and his PAP government is destined to rule over the people. The handpicked rulers will be scholars recently returned from abroad on government funded scholarships, and Lee Kuan Yew's relatives who have been handpicked by the ruling party.
Every five years there are elections to give simulated compliance to the Constitution but in reality those elected will always be scholars or relatives of Lee Kuan Yew. Elections don't mean anything. Those who are not from Lee's PAP or the simulated Workers Party opposition have no chance of winning. Today, his son is the Prime Minister and several of his relatives such as Wong Kan Seng, Home Minister are in office.
The Constitution is completely sidelined and flagrantly and brazenly violated. All the freedoms that people in any democracy would assume are all denied, including free speech, expression and assembly. There is no free press and Lee Kuan Yew and his family are above the law. As for the law courts, they have Kangaroo judges.
Since this doctrine of rule by Lee Kuan Yew family through handpicked ministers is nowhere written, it becomes impossible for anyone to know unless one finds this out through oftentimes painful experience. For instance, when I returned after my education in England to practice law in my country Singapore, I never knew that this was the way things were run. I naturally assumed that Singapore was a parliamentary democracy with the usual rights that citizens have. It only dawned on me much later that what you see is totally different in reality. In spite of all the good things written in the Singaporean constitution, it is nothing but a dictatorship or a fascist state.
And here lies the problem for Singapore island. Anyone who has any understanding of politics would know that it is not a democracy and one has to live literally as a slave accepting anything thrown at them without complaint from their masters. This results in a great many capable Singaporeans unwilling to live under such a system and despite the good roads, infra structure and clean running water, they simply clear out for settlement abroad.
And with these disgruntled Singaporeans who have left, which by the way are the most educated skilled and most importantly self respecting upright thinking individuals who have some self respect and a capability to survive anywhere in the world, those left behind are of two types. On the one hand you have the ignorant who have no idea of any rights and would be very happy to live under a monkey as long as they are fed. The former president of Singapore, Devan Nair, no relation of mine, had a term of them: Department Store Dummies.
The other type who stay behind are the opportunists who lack any self respect, have no ideas of their own and are in in it purely for the millions that Lee Kuan Yew pays them. These are the bootlickers and asslickers like the Deputy Prime Minister Teo Chee Hean and the Minister for Law, Tamil K Shanmugam. They are doing what they are doing, running around propping up the Lee Kuan Yew regime because it pays well. As a result you have an entire government of Ministers, top civil servants and military officers none of whom have any ideas of their own and are ever ready to give lip service to their masters for large sums of money, millions to be exact.
As a result of this selection process, the entire island is deprived of true leaders and the only ones you have are the ones who support the denial of the rule of law, the denial of any human right, using Kangaroo judges to silence dissenters, and people who simply run around parroting Lee Kuan Yew's mantra whatever that happens to be at any moment of time. In other words the entire government of Singapore comprises of mindless conformists who toe the line for the opportunity.
On the other hand if there was even a single Singaporean out there who felt that freedom happens to be a good thing and if he took out a placard and peacefully stood outside Lee Kuan Yew's palace to demand his ousting, he would be immediately arrested and locked up. The bottom line is, if you want to survive in Lee Kuan Yew's island, please don't have ideas of your own. Simply adopt whatever is the prevailing thinking and train your mind to accept it as the truth, a mental exercise that Singaporeans have taught themselves very well.
I am not sure if you read Orwell's 1984 where it is a very good idea to believe that you were really at war with Oceania even though only last week the war was with Eurasia. And it surely doesn't hurt to believe that Big Brother invented the airplane after all.
Such a system which demands submission under pain of punishment alienates a great many capable and able Singaporeans with independent ideas and passion, only to force them either to emigrate or to withdraw from co-operating with such a regime. Such as system is especially damaging to an island which has no more than perhaps 2 million local born citizens; and declining. For instance not for all the gold in the world would I want to do the job of the Singapore Law Minister where he has to justify laws which detain people without trial, arresting peaceful protesters or critics of the government and other equally obnoxious things. As Edward Rice Murrows was reported to have said, when you do this, you would have difficulty shaving in the morning (you would have to look at your own face).
In the end such as system cannot last. The foundation is unstable. It simply does not have the integrity needed to support any society for any period of time. All they can expect is to continue attracting young students without any moral fiber willing to sell their souls and their mothers, because it is profitable. At the same time much larger numbers of educated upright thinking young men and women with some pride and confidence simply clear out of the country in disgust. And as time progresses, you are going to have more and more weak minded crooked individuals ruling over you and anyone passionate about any thing would have long gone and cleared out.
In the end, you can build as many roads and skyscrapers as you want but without a strong foundation of thinking morally upright young men and women with a passion for what they believe in, and ideas, a tiny island such as this has no chance at all.
Gopalan Nair
Attorney at Law
A Singaporean in Exile
Fremont, California USA
Tel: 510 491 8525
Email: nair.gopalan@yahoo.com
The best way to describe the Singaporean government is to call it a make-believe government. More a case of saying, what you see is not what you get. It is an island where ever since independence 50 years ago till today, the general understanding, although it is nowhere written, has always been Lee Kuan Yew and his PAP government is destined to rule over the people. The handpicked rulers will be scholars recently returned from abroad on government funded scholarships, and Lee Kuan Yew's relatives who have been handpicked by the ruling party.
Every five years there are elections to give simulated compliance to the Constitution but in reality those elected will always be scholars or relatives of Lee Kuan Yew. Elections don't mean anything. Those who are not from Lee's PAP or the simulated Workers Party opposition have no chance of winning. Today, his son is the Prime Minister and several of his relatives such as Wong Kan Seng, Home Minister are in office.
The Constitution is completely sidelined and flagrantly and brazenly violated. All the freedoms that people in any democracy would assume are all denied, including free speech, expression and assembly. There is no free press and Lee Kuan Yew and his family are above the law. As for the law courts, they have Kangaroo judges.
Since this doctrine of rule by Lee Kuan Yew family through handpicked ministers is nowhere written, it becomes impossible for anyone to know unless one finds this out through oftentimes painful experience. For instance, when I returned after my education in England to practice law in my country Singapore, I never knew that this was the way things were run. I naturally assumed that Singapore was a parliamentary democracy with the usual rights that citizens have. It only dawned on me much later that what you see is totally different in reality. In spite of all the good things written in the Singaporean constitution, it is nothing but a dictatorship or a fascist state.
And here lies the problem for Singapore island. Anyone who has any understanding of politics would know that it is not a democracy and one has to live literally as a slave accepting anything thrown at them without complaint from their masters. This results in a great many capable Singaporeans unwilling to live under such a system and despite the good roads, infra structure and clean running water, they simply clear out for settlement abroad.
And with these disgruntled Singaporeans who have left, which by the way are the most educated skilled and most importantly self respecting upright thinking individuals who have some self respect and a capability to survive anywhere in the world, those left behind are of two types. On the one hand you have the ignorant who have no idea of any rights and would be very happy to live under a monkey as long as they are fed. The former president of Singapore, Devan Nair, no relation of mine, had a term of them: Department Store Dummies.
The other type who stay behind are the opportunists who lack any self respect, have no ideas of their own and are in in it purely for the millions that Lee Kuan Yew pays them. These are the bootlickers and asslickers like the Deputy Prime Minister Teo Chee Hean and the Minister for Law, Tamil K Shanmugam. They are doing what they are doing, running around propping up the Lee Kuan Yew regime because it pays well. As a result you have an entire government of Ministers, top civil servants and military officers none of whom have any ideas of their own and are ever ready to give lip service to their masters for large sums of money, millions to be exact.
As a result of this selection process, the entire island is deprived of true leaders and the only ones you have are the ones who support the denial of the rule of law, the denial of any human right, using Kangaroo judges to silence dissenters, and people who simply run around parroting Lee Kuan Yew's mantra whatever that happens to be at any moment of time. In other words the entire government of Singapore comprises of mindless conformists who toe the line for the opportunity.
On the other hand if there was even a single Singaporean out there who felt that freedom happens to be a good thing and if he took out a placard and peacefully stood outside Lee Kuan Yew's palace to demand his ousting, he would be immediately arrested and locked up. The bottom line is, if you want to survive in Lee Kuan Yew's island, please don't have ideas of your own. Simply adopt whatever is the prevailing thinking and train your mind to accept it as the truth, a mental exercise that Singaporeans have taught themselves very well.
I am not sure if you read Orwell's 1984 where it is a very good idea to believe that you were really at war with Oceania even though only last week the war was with Eurasia. And it surely doesn't hurt to believe that Big Brother invented the airplane after all.
Such a system which demands submission under pain of punishment alienates a great many capable and able Singaporeans with independent ideas and passion, only to force them either to emigrate or to withdraw from co-operating with such a regime. Such as system is especially damaging to an island which has no more than perhaps 2 million local born citizens; and declining. For instance not for all the gold in the world would I want to do the job of the Singapore Law Minister where he has to justify laws which detain people without trial, arresting peaceful protesters or critics of the government and other equally obnoxious things. As Edward Rice Murrows was reported to have said, when you do this, you would have difficulty shaving in the morning (you would have to look at your own face).
In the end such as system cannot last. The foundation is unstable. It simply does not have the integrity needed to support any society for any period of time. All they can expect is to continue attracting young students without any moral fiber willing to sell their souls and their mothers, because it is profitable. At the same time much larger numbers of educated upright thinking young men and women with some pride and confidence simply clear out of the country in disgust. And as time progresses, you are going to have more and more weak minded crooked individuals ruling over you and anyone passionate about any thing would have long gone and cleared out.
In the end, you can build as many roads and skyscrapers as you want but without a strong foundation of thinking morally upright young men and women with a passion for what they believe in, and ideas, a tiny island such as this has no chance at all.
Gopalan Nair
Attorney at Law
A Singaporean in Exile
Fremont, California USA
Tel: 510 491 8525
Email: nair.gopalan@yahoo.com
Tuesday, September 24, 2013
Singaporeans are groomed only as workers, not thinking human beings
Ladies and Gentlemen,
An observer of Singapore must have noticed something unusual. There are no strikes in the island, there are no protests peaceful or otherwise. Except for well regulated government licensed associations and societies, there are no organizations that want to any further philosophical views. There are no Communist parties, no Machiavellian Club, no Flat Earth Society, nothing. No Skin Heads, no Round Heads, no nothing.
Everyday is just like any other day. There is no unrest of any sort. The Singaporean goes about his work quietly and without fuss. Other than some hobbies, his mind is devoid of anything else. The most boring conversation you could ever have is with a Singaporean.
Some people like to lead, some like to ride and some like to be taken for a ride. The Singaporean falls into the last category.
The Singapore government is a professional organization. They have been chosen by the Lee family and placed in positions of authority and given a license to lecture to Singaporeans on how they should live, how they should treat others, that there should be racial harmony and so on and so forth, despite the fact that no one solicited their advice in the first place, and in reality they do not have any real authority over anyone, having been handpicked to their positions by the supreme ruler Lee Kuan Yew.
As for the Singaporean worker who is trained only for a job, he knows nothing about government or how the country is run. He does not care who is in charge and will obey anyone who happens to have the position. He does not care what is written in the newspapers or what these officials tell him, which he usually ignores. In fact most of the time, he doesn't even know who they are and even if he did, he doesn't care.
The ordinary Singaporean does not aspire for leadership of any sort and if he does, it is solely for financial gain. The professional politicians handpicked who happen to hold positions as Prime Minister and Ministers are only there for the money it pays, millions of dollars.
Young students who aspire to be millionaires do this by doing well in school and get recognized and selected for scholarships abroad. Once they graduate, they return to Singapore and are fielded in national elections where it is impossible for them to lose since their opponents are bankrupted and removed through defamation lawsuits in their Kangaroo courts. After they win elections they are promptly placed in positions of authority and are instantly transformed into leaders, with a license to rule and preach over their subjects.
Someone in a free democracy would find this sort of a system totally unacceptable. For one they wouldn't respect any of these scholar turned instant leaders since in truth they are not leaders at all. But in Singapore through the deliberate attempt at shielding the citizens from any knowledge of politics, government and civic responsibility, they are incapable of considering whether these leaders are worth their positions of authority.
The problems faced by societies such as these is that they need to be always ruled and are incapable of any leadership by themselves. They are also totally ignorant of what democracy means and the need for free and fair elections and principles such as the need for government to be accountable to the people.
Because of the way they are brought up and taught in schools, they are groomed into thinking it is perfectly normal for a human being to do exactly as they are told as long as they are provided the basic necessities of food and shelter. They are a people who are totally devoid of any ambition unless the ambition is to make money.
Such a society is on a dangerously weak foundation. An empowered population would be able to correct the excesses of any dictator that comes along but an enfeebled society such as this is totally helpless and in the mercy of bad leadership. They are unable to realize that true leaders emerge not because of how much money it pays but because they really want to further the interests of their society. True leaders are passionate people. Singaporeans leaders on the other hand are merely greedy.
This is what is lacking in a society such as this, which is, indifferent apathetic and ignorant.
Gopalan Nair
Attorney at Law
A Singaporean in Exile
Fremont, California, USA
Tel: 510 491 8525
Email: nair.gopalan@yahoo.com
An observer of Singapore must have noticed something unusual. There are no strikes in the island, there are no protests peaceful or otherwise. Except for well regulated government licensed associations and societies, there are no organizations that want to any further philosophical views. There are no Communist parties, no Machiavellian Club, no Flat Earth Society, nothing. No Skin Heads, no Round Heads, no nothing.
Everyday is just like any other day. There is no unrest of any sort. The Singaporean goes about his work quietly and without fuss. Other than some hobbies, his mind is devoid of anything else. The most boring conversation you could ever have is with a Singaporean.
Some people like to lead, some like to ride and some like to be taken for a ride. The Singaporean falls into the last category.
The Singapore government is a professional organization. They have been chosen by the Lee family and placed in positions of authority and given a license to lecture to Singaporeans on how they should live, how they should treat others, that there should be racial harmony and so on and so forth, despite the fact that no one solicited their advice in the first place, and in reality they do not have any real authority over anyone, having been handpicked to their positions by the supreme ruler Lee Kuan Yew.
As for the Singaporean worker who is trained only for a job, he knows nothing about government or how the country is run. He does not care who is in charge and will obey anyone who happens to have the position. He does not care what is written in the newspapers or what these officials tell him, which he usually ignores. In fact most of the time, he doesn't even know who they are and even if he did, he doesn't care.
The ordinary Singaporean does not aspire for leadership of any sort and if he does, it is solely for financial gain. The professional politicians handpicked who happen to hold positions as Prime Minister and Ministers are only there for the money it pays, millions of dollars.
Young students who aspire to be millionaires do this by doing well in school and get recognized and selected for scholarships abroad. Once they graduate, they return to Singapore and are fielded in national elections where it is impossible for them to lose since their opponents are bankrupted and removed through defamation lawsuits in their Kangaroo courts. After they win elections they are promptly placed in positions of authority and are instantly transformed into leaders, with a license to rule and preach over their subjects.
Someone in a free democracy would find this sort of a system totally unacceptable. For one they wouldn't respect any of these scholar turned instant leaders since in truth they are not leaders at all. But in Singapore through the deliberate attempt at shielding the citizens from any knowledge of politics, government and civic responsibility, they are incapable of considering whether these leaders are worth their positions of authority.
The problems faced by societies such as these is that they need to be always ruled and are incapable of any leadership by themselves. They are also totally ignorant of what democracy means and the need for free and fair elections and principles such as the need for government to be accountable to the people.
Because of the way they are brought up and taught in schools, they are groomed into thinking it is perfectly normal for a human being to do exactly as they are told as long as they are provided the basic necessities of food and shelter. They are a people who are totally devoid of any ambition unless the ambition is to make money.
Such a society is on a dangerously weak foundation. An empowered population would be able to correct the excesses of any dictator that comes along but an enfeebled society such as this is totally helpless and in the mercy of bad leadership. They are unable to realize that true leaders emerge not because of how much money it pays but because they really want to further the interests of their society. True leaders are passionate people. Singaporeans leaders on the other hand are merely greedy.
This is what is lacking in a society such as this, which is, indifferent apathetic and ignorant.
Gopalan Nair
Attorney at Law
A Singaporean in Exile
Fremont, California, USA
Tel: 510 491 8525
Email: nair.gopalan@yahoo.com
Monday, September 23, 2013
Singapore's new law to "hire locals first" will only help foreigners, not locals !
Ladies and Gentlemen,
The Singaporean state controlled newspaper Straits Times of Sept 23, 2013 has the story "Firms must show they tried to hire Singaporeans first" Please see http://www.straitstimes.com/archive/monday/breaking-news/singapore/story/firms-must-advertise-singaporeans-hiring-foreign-professionals-2013092
Believe it or not, Singapore till now does not have any laws to treat locals better than foreigners. Unbelievably, up till now, it is the only country in the world, where a foreigner can simply fly into the island, look up the papers for a job vacancy and get the job the very day, without any concern that there may be a hundred unemployed Singaporeans, with families to feed, equally qualified waiting for that very job!
And unbelievably, it is the only country among the so-called developed world, not being sure if the island qualifies as a developed country, where there is no minimum wage laws of any kind and anyone can be paid any amount by any employer, take or leave it.
And now this. The government claims, according to this report that "from August next year firms that want to hire foreign professionals must prove that they have tried to hire Singaporeans"
And that they have to advertise in "a national job bank" and that "firm with fewer than 25 or less" or those whose salaries are more than "$12,000.00 per month" are exempt.
All very nice but have they ever considered whether it will ever work?
I am principally a US Immigration lawyer with more than 17 years of experience and I should know a thing or two about hiring foreigners. And I will tell you that this rule or policy is simply hogwash, another of Lee Kuan Yew's red herrings that he occasionally throws when convenient. It will not help any Singaporean. If it does, foreigners will be the only beneficiaries of this harebrained policy. This is why:
1. In order for this rule to have any meaning, the country should first have minimum wage laws. Without this, in Singapore any employer can advertise a job at any salary they want. Therefore if any employer wanted to circumvent this law, the easiest thing to do would be to advertise the job at a very low wage rate. In this way they can easily eliminate any Singaporeans, who has to live in Lee Kuan Yew's HDB flat and send his children to school and pay the high cost of living. After that all they have to do is to claim no Singaporean applied and the job immediately goes to the foreigner.
And secondly and more importantly, the government should carry out wage surveys for different occupations and require employers to comply. For instance, California minimum wage may be about $8 per hour but the wage for a Software Engineer is around $60,000.00 a year, not minimum wage. On the other hand the prevailing wage of a hairdresser may be $40,000.00 a year. This requires the government or the private sector to put out prevailing wage figures for different occupations requiring compliance by employers.
For instance, a nurse assistant wage might be just $40,000.00 a year in the bay area of San Francisco, but you cannot get away with paying this to a Software Engineer whose job requires at least $60,000.00.
Unless you have these laws in place, a Singaporean employer could advertise a job at the nurse assistant rate for the Software Engineer and get away with it to employ the foreigner, who may well be prepared to accept it!
And what is even worse, without the need to pay a fair wage to every worker, the living standards decline and the worker as well as the state goes to the dogs, except of course Lee Kuan Yew family and his multi millionaire friends.
2. Second, they should be prohibited from conveniently placing onerous conditions. For instance you cannot advertise for a job and require proficiency in Mongolian which a Singaporean is unlikely to know. After that claim no locals applied and give the job to the Mongolian!
3. For this rule to work, the job has to be tied to the particular employer. As the situation is now in Singapore, I understand once you are certified for your employment pass, you can move from one job to another without further certification.
4. It makes no sense to exempt firms with less than 25 employees from this requirement. If this is the case small firms can continue to hire foreigners at the expense of locals thereby defeating the intention of protecting locals.
5. The functioning of the government agency enforcing this rule must be open to public scrutiny and any local who is denied a job which subsequently went to a foreigner should be provided a grievance filing mechanism for the employer to justify the hiring. Otherwise they could simply give the job to anyone they want without the local ever knowing that he has been taken advantage of.
6. And there should be a separate labor court where these cases are filed enabling the worker to take the offending employer to court and demand adequate relief.
7. And finally any of this would only work if you had the rule of law and basic human rights. In Singapore where none of this exists, the locals will not only continue to be at the mercy of the employers, they will continue to be the slaves of the their government as well; as they are now.
I am sure Lee Kuan Yew's son is going to do nothing to truly implement any of this. Once again this new rule ostensibly to protect the local worker is instead going to protect the foreigner, as it has always been the case in business friendly island. Once again in Lee Kuan Yew's Singapore where foreign millionaires whizz around in their Ferraris and the locals drool with envy watching them, business interests have won again and the locals have gone to Hell once again.
Gopalan Nair
Attorney at Law
A Singaporean in Exile
Fremont, California USA
Tel: 510 491 8525
Email: nair.gopalan@yahoo.com
The Singaporean state controlled newspaper Straits Times of Sept 23, 2013 has the story "Firms must show they tried to hire Singaporeans first" Please see http://www.straitstimes.com/archive/monday/breaking-news/singapore/story/firms-must-advertise-singaporeans-hiring-foreign-professionals-2013092
Believe it or not, Singapore till now does not have any laws to treat locals better than foreigners. Unbelievably, up till now, it is the only country in the world, where a foreigner can simply fly into the island, look up the papers for a job vacancy and get the job the very day, without any concern that there may be a hundred unemployed Singaporeans, with families to feed, equally qualified waiting for that very job!
And unbelievably, it is the only country among the so-called developed world, not being sure if the island qualifies as a developed country, where there is no minimum wage laws of any kind and anyone can be paid any amount by any employer, take or leave it.
And now this. The government claims, according to this report that "from August next year firms that want to hire foreign professionals must prove that they have tried to hire Singaporeans"
And that they have to advertise in "a national job bank" and that "firm with fewer than 25 or less" or those whose salaries are more than "$12,000.00 per month" are exempt.
All very nice but have they ever considered whether it will ever work?
I am principally a US Immigration lawyer with more than 17 years of experience and I should know a thing or two about hiring foreigners. And I will tell you that this rule or policy is simply hogwash, another of Lee Kuan Yew's red herrings that he occasionally throws when convenient. It will not help any Singaporean. If it does, foreigners will be the only beneficiaries of this harebrained policy. This is why:
1. In order for this rule to have any meaning, the country should first have minimum wage laws. Without this, in Singapore any employer can advertise a job at any salary they want. Therefore if any employer wanted to circumvent this law, the easiest thing to do would be to advertise the job at a very low wage rate. In this way they can easily eliminate any Singaporeans, who has to live in Lee Kuan Yew's HDB flat and send his children to school and pay the high cost of living. After that all they have to do is to claim no Singaporean applied and the job immediately goes to the foreigner.
And secondly and more importantly, the government should carry out wage surveys for different occupations and require employers to comply. For instance, California minimum wage may be about $8 per hour but the wage for a Software Engineer is around $60,000.00 a year, not minimum wage. On the other hand the prevailing wage of a hairdresser may be $40,000.00 a year. This requires the government or the private sector to put out prevailing wage figures for different occupations requiring compliance by employers.
For instance, a nurse assistant wage might be just $40,000.00 a year in the bay area of San Francisco, but you cannot get away with paying this to a Software Engineer whose job requires at least $60,000.00.
Unless you have these laws in place, a Singaporean employer could advertise a job at the nurse assistant rate for the Software Engineer and get away with it to employ the foreigner, who may well be prepared to accept it!
And what is even worse, without the need to pay a fair wage to every worker, the living standards decline and the worker as well as the state goes to the dogs, except of course Lee Kuan Yew family and his multi millionaire friends.
2. Second, they should be prohibited from conveniently placing onerous conditions. For instance you cannot advertise for a job and require proficiency in Mongolian which a Singaporean is unlikely to know. After that claim no locals applied and give the job to the Mongolian!
3. For this rule to work, the job has to be tied to the particular employer. As the situation is now in Singapore, I understand once you are certified for your employment pass, you can move from one job to another without further certification.
4. It makes no sense to exempt firms with less than 25 employees from this requirement. If this is the case small firms can continue to hire foreigners at the expense of locals thereby defeating the intention of protecting locals.
5. The functioning of the government agency enforcing this rule must be open to public scrutiny and any local who is denied a job which subsequently went to a foreigner should be provided a grievance filing mechanism for the employer to justify the hiring. Otherwise they could simply give the job to anyone they want without the local ever knowing that he has been taken advantage of.
6. And there should be a separate labor court where these cases are filed enabling the worker to take the offending employer to court and demand adequate relief.
7. And finally any of this would only work if you had the rule of law and basic human rights. In Singapore where none of this exists, the locals will not only continue to be at the mercy of the employers, they will continue to be the slaves of the their government as well; as they are now.
I am sure Lee Kuan Yew's son is going to do nothing to truly implement any of this. Once again this new rule ostensibly to protect the local worker is instead going to protect the foreigner, as it has always been the case in business friendly island. Once again in Lee Kuan Yew's Singapore where foreign millionaires whizz around in their Ferraris and the locals drool with envy watching them, business interests have won again and the locals have gone to Hell once again.
Gopalan Nair
Attorney at Law
A Singaporean in Exile
Fremont, California USA
Tel: 510 491 8525
Email: nair.gopalan@yahoo.com
Friday, September 20, 2013
Singapore Lee's iron grip over his people
Ladies and Gentlemen,
In Egypt today it is commonly said that the "Deep State" is where real power lies. And the Deep State is the military and all the major pillars of government, including the newspapers and the courts. Together they control Egypt and everything else in it.
In Singapore too, you have the Deep State which consists of the Lee Family, with Lee Kuan Yew's son the Prime Minister. They control the government and the elections by destroying political opposition through filing defamation of character lawsuits. In this way they alone decide who is elected into Parliament and who is kept out.
The courts are an extension of the government, ever willing to bend the law to remove troublesome politicians. Examples of political action by the courts include the removal of the late JB Jeyaretnam and the destruction of Chee Soon Juan.
The newspapers are beholden to the government. They are all state controlled and report only what they are allowed to report. The Newspapers and Printing Presses Act ensures that no news media is allowed to exist without state permission.
The island's military is selected for absolute loyalty to the government and especially to the Lee family. To prevent the unlikely event of the military turning against them, Gurkha policemen mercenaries are employed to guard the Lee family in the belief that Gurkha loyalty is beyond question.
All major companies in the island are state owned and controlled by the Lee family, their relatives, both near and distant cousins. The Companies Registry in the island keeps these records secret but an examination if made would show them to be their large shareholders and directors. This is corruption on a massive scale, since these companies were created with taxpayers money who see no part of the profits.
Singapore school teachers are specially selected for their political loyalty. They are told to avoid teaching subjects such as government and politics so as not to empower their young and to keep out any ideas of a rebellion. As a result the children go through schools trained only for their vocation but incapable of any thought beyond that, as if they were a programmed robot.
There is a large network of secret police lurking among the people whose duty is to report on any sign of trouble. Anyone showing any inclination at opposition politics is closely monitored and appropriately dealt with if the need arises.
Realizing that more and more young people are voting against the government despite all their efforts, it has become necessary for the government to control the opposition parties. In this way, a vote for the opposition is not necessarily adverse to their interests.
The Workers Party, an opposition party has seven members in parliament. But the chief, Loh Thia Khiang and the others are in reality working in support of Lee Kuan Yew's party. Truly, they have nothing to do with opposition politics. This is evident by this fact alone; in spite of being in Parliament for the last two decades, democracy has not advanced in the island one inch. In fact it has become even more totalitarian!
Loh Thia Khiang's very convenient agenda is merely to give the illusion of being opposition, nothing more. He knows, with seven members in Parliament, there is nothing much he can do anyway. He also knows that the moment he manifests any tendency to becoming real opposition, Lee will have him removed. So why not make the best of it. So he talks in Parliament about the huge salaries of the Ministers, the high costs of housing and other similar grouses, which the government promptly ignores, and then he goes home.
A man who really wanted change would not just stop at making speeches in parliament. He would have done much more. He would organized protest marches outside Parliament and sworn not to let up unless his demands are met.
Issues such as freedom of speech, expression and assembly, guaranteed Constitutional rights are not matters which one compromises upon. These are not a matters to just speak in Parliament and go home.
But Low does not do any of it.
Lee Kuan Yew has literally co-opted the Workers Party into his ruling Peoples Action Party. This way you can vote for as many Workers Party candidates at the next election. It is not going to make a dent in the government machinery.
As for the average Singaporean, his job is merely to serve the Lee Kuan Yew government as a worker in one of the many state owned companies, government or elsewhere in the island. His role stops there.
All lawyers in large firms, doctors in major hospitals and other professionals toe the government line. In return they are left alone to live their quite elitist lives. Any educated professional, academic or otherwise discerning thinking individual showing any opposition tendencies is promptly removed from his post and marginalized for the rest of his life. Realizing such activity is suicidal almost all professionals academics and other educated citizens simply keep quiet or better still join the Lee bandwagon.
The Deep State in Singapore is simply too strongly entrenched. No election can unravel the grip which the Lee family has over the island. All pillars of government and repositories of power are firmly in the grip of the Lee family and his friends. The military, the law courts, the newspapers and the business community will continue to make sure of that.
What the island needs is massive protests by citizens who feel strongly enough that unless they take action to empower themselves, to reclaim their lost power, they are destined to live for an even longer time under the Lee family's totalitarian police state.
Gopalan Nair
Attorney at Law
A Singaporean in Exile
Fremont, California, USA
Tel: 510 491 8525
Email:nair.gopalan@yahoo.com
In Egypt today it is commonly said that the "Deep State" is where real power lies. And the Deep State is the military and all the major pillars of government, including the newspapers and the courts. Together they control Egypt and everything else in it.
In Singapore too, you have the Deep State which consists of the Lee Family, with Lee Kuan Yew's son the Prime Minister. They control the government and the elections by destroying political opposition through filing defamation of character lawsuits. In this way they alone decide who is elected into Parliament and who is kept out.
The courts are an extension of the government, ever willing to bend the law to remove troublesome politicians. Examples of political action by the courts include the removal of the late JB Jeyaretnam and the destruction of Chee Soon Juan.
The newspapers are beholden to the government. They are all state controlled and report only what they are allowed to report. The Newspapers and Printing Presses Act ensures that no news media is allowed to exist without state permission.
The island's military is selected for absolute loyalty to the government and especially to the Lee family. To prevent the unlikely event of the military turning against them, Gurkha policemen mercenaries are employed to guard the Lee family in the belief that Gurkha loyalty is beyond question.
All major companies in the island are state owned and controlled by the Lee family, their relatives, both near and distant cousins. The Companies Registry in the island keeps these records secret but an examination if made would show them to be their large shareholders and directors. This is corruption on a massive scale, since these companies were created with taxpayers money who see no part of the profits.
Singapore school teachers are specially selected for their political loyalty. They are told to avoid teaching subjects such as government and politics so as not to empower their young and to keep out any ideas of a rebellion. As a result the children go through schools trained only for their vocation but incapable of any thought beyond that, as if they were a programmed robot.
There is a large network of secret police lurking among the people whose duty is to report on any sign of trouble. Anyone showing any inclination at opposition politics is closely monitored and appropriately dealt with if the need arises.
Realizing that more and more young people are voting against the government despite all their efforts, it has become necessary for the government to control the opposition parties. In this way, a vote for the opposition is not necessarily adverse to their interests.
The Workers Party, an opposition party has seven members in parliament. But the chief, Loh Thia Khiang and the others are in reality working in support of Lee Kuan Yew's party. Truly, they have nothing to do with opposition politics. This is evident by this fact alone; in spite of being in Parliament for the last two decades, democracy has not advanced in the island one inch. In fact it has become even more totalitarian!
Loh Thia Khiang's very convenient agenda is merely to give the illusion of being opposition, nothing more. He knows, with seven members in Parliament, there is nothing much he can do anyway. He also knows that the moment he manifests any tendency to becoming real opposition, Lee will have him removed. So why not make the best of it. So he talks in Parliament about the huge salaries of the Ministers, the high costs of housing and other similar grouses, which the government promptly ignores, and then he goes home.
A man who really wanted change would not just stop at making speeches in parliament. He would have done much more. He would organized protest marches outside Parliament and sworn not to let up unless his demands are met.
Issues such as freedom of speech, expression and assembly, guaranteed Constitutional rights are not matters which one compromises upon. These are not a matters to just speak in Parliament and go home.
But Low does not do any of it.
Lee Kuan Yew has literally co-opted the Workers Party into his ruling Peoples Action Party. This way you can vote for as many Workers Party candidates at the next election. It is not going to make a dent in the government machinery.
As for the average Singaporean, his job is merely to serve the Lee Kuan Yew government as a worker in one of the many state owned companies, government or elsewhere in the island. His role stops there.
All lawyers in large firms, doctors in major hospitals and other professionals toe the government line. In return they are left alone to live their quite elitist lives. Any educated professional, academic or otherwise discerning thinking individual showing any opposition tendencies is promptly removed from his post and marginalized for the rest of his life. Realizing such activity is suicidal almost all professionals academics and other educated citizens simply keep quiet or better still join the Lee bandwagon.
The Deep State in Singapore is simply too strongly entrenched. No election can unravel the grip which the Lee family has over the island. All pillars of government and repositories of power are firmly in the grip of the Lee family and his friends. The military, the law courts, the newspapers and the business community will continue to make sure of that.
What the island needs is massive protests by citizens who feel strongly enough that unless they take action to empower themselves, to reclaim their lost power, they are destined to live for an even longer time under the Lee family's totalitarian police state.
Gopalan Nair
Attorney at Law
A Singaporean in Exile
Fremont, California, USA
Tel: 510 491 8525
Email:nair.gopalan@yahoo.com
Wednesday, September 18, 2013
Singapore. A bald shameless nepotism. Lee Kuan Yew's son the Prime Minister
Ladies and Gentlemen,
If you were to say within Singapore island that the Prime Minister and his father Lee Kuan Yew are guilty of nepotism, you will not only be sued for defamation of character, you will also surely be found guilty by his Kangaroo courts and made to pay a great deal of money, if you have it. If you don't they will send you to jail. Unlike anywhere else in the world, in Singapore this result is certain. You can bet on it.
But as anyone can see from these facts, the Prime Minister were it not for the fact that his father is none other than Lee Kuan Yew, the 90 year old Singaporean strongman, would probably be quietly pushing a pen at the third floor offices of the Bank of China along Battery Road or even working at the Department of Mother Vehicles along Maxwell Road checking automobile license plates. I don't think a man such as this would have aspired or capable to any higher level.
He was born in 1952 when his father was already a successful politician in the British colony at a time when the Empire was unraveling. He went to school in the island, a nondescript boy who quietly went through his classes without much noise. In 1971 when he finished 12th grade, his father was already the Prime Minister for some years.
He started doing his national service this year. After 2 years he went to England on a government scholarship, naturally at government expense to study at an English University, where he never stood out as anyone with any independent ideas or any leadership qualities worth mentioning. He wasn't the president of the Save the Eagles Club, or The Flat Earth Society or even The Association to Rescue Unwed Mothers!
He appeared to be a person who would rather be left alone or someone who wondered what all the fuss was about in the world anyway. He completed his education, without anyone knowing or any fuss, and quietly returned to the coattails of his father the Prime Minister of Singapore.
He the rejoined the army, no doubt on his father's advice, and in world record time, a span of no more than 12 years, from 1971 to 1983, was promoted to Brigadier General. Henceforth the government and everyone else was ordered to address him as Brigadier General Lee or BG Lee for short. The idea of course was to make him look important.
For a Brigadier General, during this entire time, he never saw any active service, never served in the Congo against the rebels, and spent most of his time pushing paper. He was probably the most boring Brigadier General in the world! I recall that when a newspaper reporter had written that he was a very bad shot and could not shoot straight, the reporter was punished and removed from his post.
Then in 1984 he stands for elections in a constituency where either the votes were rigged and the ballot boxes stuffed or because the residents were all threatened by his father of dire consequences, he breezed through the elections. After this, in just 3 years his father makes him a Minister in 1987 and in 2004 when the incumbent Prime Minister, Goh Chock Tong was asked to step down, this man is sworn in as Prime Minister.
Beside his dull boring life dictated by his dull boring mind, anyone who took a look at him is not going to think otherwise. His entire life has been lived just as the son of his father going to school and passing exams. He doesn't appear in nothing else at all. I think if he was honest, he would have just one line in his resume, "Lee Hsien Loong, son of my father".
And this is why it must enrage anyone with any sense of pride and dignity to have to live in an island and be thrust upon with a man such as this as Prime Minister, let alone having to listen to his speeches in the state controlled press, on how to live. It is perfectly acceptable to be told by President Obama or David Cameron or some other leader of any real nation how things should be because they are leaders in their own right.
Obama became President not because his father was the USA's dictator, but because he had leadership, and was able to get his peoples support through hotly fought bitter elections. Such leaders deserve respect for none other reason than they are leaders. As for the Singapore Prime Minister, his only qualification is being his father's son.
Which is why many leave the island of Singapore. They simply don't allow you to tell these handpicked ministers who they actually are, because if you do, they will sue you and send you to jail. Rather than waste time and effort challenging meritless leaders such as these, better to just pack up and clear out.
These are not leaders. They are cowardly bullies, because they would sue you if you spoke.
Gopalan Nair
Attorney at law
A Singaporean in Exile
Fremont, California USA
Tel: 510 491 8525
Email; nair.gopalan@yahoo.com
If you were to say within Singapore island that the Prime Minister and his father Lee Kuan Yew are guilty of nepotism, you will not only be sued for defamation of character, you will also surely be found guilty by his Kangaroo courts and made to pay a great deal of money, if you have it. If you don't they will send you to jail. Unlike anywhere else in the world, in Singapore this result is certain. You can bet on it.
But as anyone can see from these facts, the Prime Minister were it not for the fact that his father is none other than Lee Kuan Yew, the 90 year old Singaporean strongman, would probably be quietly pushing a pen at the third floor offices of the Bank of China along Battery Road or even working at the Department of Mother Vehicles along Maxwell Road checking automobile license plates. I don't think a man such as this would have aspired or capable to any higher level.
He was born in 1952 when his father was already a successful politician in the British colony at a time when the Empire was unraveling. He went to school in the island, a nondescript boy who quietly went through his classes without much noise. In 1971 when he finished 12th grade, his father was already the Prime Minister for some years.
He started doing his national service this year. After 2 years he went to England on a government scholarship, naturally at government expense to study at an English University, where he never stood out as anyone with any independent ideas or any leadership qualities worth mentioning. He wasn't the president of the Save the Eagles Club, or The Flat Earth Society or even The Association to Rescue Unwed Mothers!
He appeared to be a person who would rather be left alone or someone who wondered what all the fuss was about in the world anyway. He completed his education, without anyone knowing or any fuss, and quietly returned to the coattails of his father the Prime Minister of Singapore.
He the rejoined the army, no doubt on his father's advice, and in world record time, a span of no more than 12 years, from 1971 to 1983, was promoted to Brigadier General. Henceforth the government and everyone else was ordered to address him as Brigadier General Lee or BG Lee for short. The idea of course was to make him look important.
For a Brigadier General, during this entire time, he never saw any active service, never served in the Congo against the rebels, and spent most of his time pushing paper. He was probably the most boring Brigadier General in the world! I recall that when a newspaper reporter had written that he was a very bad shot and could not shoot straight, the reporter was punished and removed from his post.
Then in 1984 he stands for elections in a constituency where either the votes were rigged and the ballot boxes stuffed or because the residents were all threatened by his father of dire consequences, he breezed through the elections. After this, in just 3 years his father makes him a Minister in 1987 and in 2004 when the incumbent Prime Minister, Goh Chock Tong was asked to step down, this man is sworn in as Prime Minister.
Beside his dull boring life dictated by his dull boring mind, anyone who took a look at him is not going to think otherwise. His entire life has been lived just as the son of his father going to school and passing exams. He doesn't appear in nothing else at all. I think if he was honest, he would have just one line in his resume, "Lee Hsien Loong, son of my father".
And this is why it must enrage anyone with any sense of pride and dignity to have to live in an island and be thrust upon with a man such as this as Prime Minister, let alone having to listen to his speeches in the state controlled press, on how to live. It is perfectly acceptable to be told by President Obama or David Cameron or some other leader of any real nation how things should be because they are leaders in their own right.
Obama became President not because his father was the USA's dictator, but because he had leadership, and was able to get his peoples support through hotly fought bitter elections. Such leaders deserve respect for none other reason than they are leaders. As for the Singapore Prime Minister, his only qualification is being his father's son.
Which is why many leave the island of Singapore. They simply don't allow you to tell these handpicked ministers who they actually are, because if you do, they will sue you and send you to jail. Rather than waste time and effort challenging meritless leaders such as these, better to just pack up and clear out.
These are not leaders. They are cowardly bullies, because they would sue you if you spoke.
Gopalan Nair
Attorney at law
A Singaporean in Exile
Fremont, California USA
Tel: 510 491 8525
Email; nair.gopalan@yahoo.com
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