Friday, November 28, 2008

Lee Kuan Yew losing his grip on power

Ladies and Gentlemen,

I was in prison in Lee Kuan Yew's Singapore from Sept 20, 2008 to Nov 20, 2008 for writing a blog post criticizing Singapore's Judge Belinda Ang for acting no better than an agent of Lee Kuan Yew and his son while presiding over the assessment of damages hearing from May 26, to May 28, 2008 in the case of Lee Kuan Yew against Dr. Chee Soon Juan.

While in prison, I read the book, "All the Shah's Men" by Kinzer. An excellent book which I strongly recommend. It describes how in 1953, the British and Americans conspired to depose a lawfully elected Prime Minister of Iran, Mohammad Mossadeq because he nationalized the prize of the British in Iran, the Anglo Iranian Oil company, with the excuse that if he was not deposed and replaced with the pro West Mohammed Reza Shah, the Russians will occupy Iran.

The methods used by the American CIA are almost identical to those of Lee Kuan Yew. For instance, the Americans discredited Mossadeq by printing and publishing articles discrediting him in Iran, calling him an unbeliever, a communist and even a Jew. Then they used corrupt judges to convict anyone with sympathies for Mossadeq with false charges. People who were sympathetic to Mossadeq were dismissed from their posts. They managed to get almost everyone in the Parliament to support their policies and to condemn Mossadeq. Finally they managed to get the Shah to sign fermans, a sort of edict, ordering Mossadeq to step down, which he did, and promptly replaced by the British and American puppet, the Shah of Iran.

These tactics of 1953 Iran are almost identical to those of Lee in 2008 except that it varies in degree only. But it should be clear to anyone that such dirty tactics of 1953 Iran cannot work in modern day Singapore of 2008, for the simple reason that today, we have the Internet. In 1953, when newspapers containing these falsities against Mossadeq, that were in fact written in Washington and London appeared the next day in Tehran, appearing as if they were written there, the people had no way of knowing otherwise. Without the Internet, they believed every lie put out to them in these smear sheets. The people being illiterate and ignorant had no way to disbelieve the false convictions by the false courts convicting Mossadeq's supporters.

But Lee today still uses these same dirty tactics to stay in power. He uses his courts as a weapon to destroy his political opponents from Jeyaretnam in the 60s to Dr. Chee in 2008. Yet he demands that everyone respect the legal system under pain of imprisonment and impoverishment. This is an untenable situation for him. Every Singaporean today, unless he is blind, is well aware through the series of well publicized political cases that there is no rule of law in Singapore. Yet he demands that people not say it as it is. What is left for Lee is one thing and one thing alone. Fear. His only tool is to instill fear throughout the people to silence them.

As for the state controlled media and the press, it is exactly the same as 1953 Iran. The papers on a daily basis call Dr. Chee a liar, a cheat and what not. But today, nobody believes a thing written in the Singapore press about Lee's critics. Today they have access to he Internet. They can read outside publications which tell a completely different story about Lee's critics. At they end of the day, no one believes the state controlled press of Singapore which demonizes Lee's opponents on a daily basis. In desperation to continue singing the same tune, Lee takes the foreign press to court to shut them up. But whether they are shut up or not, in the end, the effect on Singaporeans is just the opposite. All the more they disbelieve Lee and believe that the truth lies in his victims, not with Lee.

What is left is one thing and one thing alone. Fear. Fear to criticize. Fear to complain. Fear to speak your mind. You end up being a skilled exponent of "doublespeak" of Orwell's 1984. That is to say something when you believe something else. To say that Singapore has the rule of law, when you know it does not. To say that Dr. Chee is a crook, when you know he isn't.

I cannot see how this place can go on like this for long. The educated have already seen the dishonesty in this whole thing. So they pack up and leave for the west, particularly for Australia. They can afford to leave. They are English educated with tertiary education. They can go anywhere they want, so they leave.

The average man without a tertiary education may not see this, and so he may stay. But such citizens are not the essential workforce that Singapore needs. What they need is the brains for leadership. But alas, the brains know the truth and the truth is not conducive to Lee Kuan Yew.

I do not believe that Singapore can be governed this day and age by fear alone. As you can see, the government comes down very hard on critics by imprisoning them, impoverishing them and bankrupting them. Yet all this punishment is failing to deter more and more young men from coming out and openly condemning this dictatorial regime.

What will happen is this. As Lee finds that his critics increase in number, he will increase the punishments meted out to them. But I cannot see this working for him. In the end he will alienate even more Singaporeans to a point where they will not take this lying down and then there must be change. It is inevitable.

He has to know that 1953 colonial tactics cannot work in 2008 Singapore. The good news is, he does not appear to know this.

Gopalan Nair
39737 Paseo Padre Parkway, Suite A1
Fremont, CA 94538, USA
Tel: 510 657 6107
Fax: 510 657 6914
Email: nair.gopalan@yahoo.com
Blog: http://singaporedissident.blogspot.com/

Your letters are welcome. We reserve the right to publish your letters. Please Email your letters to nair.gopalan@yahoo.com And if you like what I write, please tell your friends. You will be helping democracy by distributing this widely. This blog not only gives information, it dispels government propaganda put out by this dictatorial regime.

15 comments:

Anonymous said...

Welcome back Mr Gopalan Nair! I knew for certain that you will come back swinging stronger than ever b4,after your experiences in LKY's S'pore. You are one determined and relentless braveheart fighting for the freedom of the land of your birth. Keep it up, my friend, best wishes and regards.
Mike Chan
29.11.08

Anonymous said...

Hey, you're right...
I'm just an average university undergraduate, and I'm already fearful of unintentionally saying the wrong things in my blog. What if I write an honest critique of the current system of governance, and get thrown in jail for it? What if a simple question gets taken for defamation? I don't even dare to use an account to post here, for fear that even such comments will be seen as "seditious."

Please don't be discouraged, as long as you believe in what you are standing for. We want to hear something other than the government line.

I can't wait to get out of Singapore. Wonder when I'll be able to earn enough to do that... Maybe then I'll be able to write freely without fear of reprisal.
Wish me luck!

Anonymous said...

Best of luck!

Anonymous said...

Yeah? So why did you succumb, prostrated yourself on all fours and torso to kowtow to the Emperor and pleaded guilty, and then went on to delete your posts, you stupid opportunistic Indian mamah!!!?

Spineless - just like all Indians, especially of the legal fraternity. Shame on you!

Anonymous said...

And you choose to live in the country where the corrupt CIA is from!!!

LOSER!!!

Russ said...

http://singapore-democracy.blogspot.com/


Check out my blog i put together on Lee's corruption of the system from day 1.

Anonymous said...

Nice to see your blog active again!

Nice to know you are safe and out of Stinkapore and out of Lee Regime!

Lucky you!

Keep writing pal! Good Luck!

Anonymous said...

Nice to see your blog active again!

Nice to know you are safe and out of Stinkapore and out of Lee Regime!

Lucky you!

Keep writing pal! Good Luck!

Anonymous said...

I am an admirer of Singapore's zero-tolerance for illicit narcotics. Is their suppression of opinion cut from the same cloth, I wonder? Because if it is then, is it also possible that critics of their courts may have some ulterior motives or allegiance to nefarious ties?

Anonymous said...

Dear Mr Coffman,

In case you haven't known, the Singapore government under Lee kuan Yew is an erstwhile business partner of EVERY BURMESE - Shan, Karen, whatever their ethnicity and whoever was the kingpin of the day in that wretched land
- dictator, junta, narco-king (from the retired Khun Sa down to the current world's top opium exporters, mostly descendants of Kuomintang veterans who escaped there after losing the war to the Commies bcak in 1949).

So, no, noself-respecting drug lord anywhere in the world would even dare dream of criticizing Harry Old Boy - for he's their greatest chummy buddy and Singapore their favorite LAUNDROMAT, money laundering center of choice!

Anonymous said...

Welcome back, Gopalan! It may interest you to know LKY underwent some pacemaker operation lately to reinforce his darkened heart. Not only is he losing his grip on his power, he is losing his grip on his heart too! Let prepare some condolences at hand, in the likeness of LHL and Goh Choke Tong!

Anonymous said...

Nair, in my opinion, you are a coward.

You lied your way to freedom and you dare to profess to be a champion for human rights?

It's people like you who mislead others into thinking you are such true souls and voices of the people of Singapore.

Frankly, I'm glad you are no longer a Singaporean.

Anonymous said...

Ha ha ha!

You are so spineless as to even filter our comments before posting!

Pathetic..

Russ said...

All these gutless wonders attacking you Gopalan are pathetic, they are probably Lee plants.

You had to appease Lee and his cronies while in Singapore or you would have been there for years or decades.

You put yourself through hell, had to sleep on hard concrete in solitary. You are a good and brave defender of the democratic principle. Cheers and don't let the bastards get you down!!!

Anonymous said...

CLASSIC SINGAPOREAN WHINER (TM).

...and here they go again - whining about not being able to whine enough.

Jesus Christ!!! They even complain about giving a SINGLE day-off to maids, slippery seats at train stations, and not putting South Asian Workers further into slavery (South Asian Workers in Singapore are thrown into quasi-prisons at remote islands at the request of whiners who don't want 'foreign workers' living on the same estate as them).

And this guy here is no different.

Ask him about what he really is fighting for.

Democracy to Singapore Whiners (TM) is just a facade.

Cash, Condo, Credit Cards, Clubs and Cars. These are what the Singaporean Whiners (TM) are all about.

The rest of us Singaporeans are proud of who we are, what our flag represents, and who our government is really fighting for.

We built this country, and not by the likes of Gopalan Nair.

He is a reject.