Monday, March 28, 2011

Singapore's headlong march to a total fascist state.

Ladies and Gentlemen,

Lee Kuan Yew of Singapore is driving the country headlong into fascism. And in that process it is taking it headlong into the bog.

The signs of fascism is all very evident and in recent times ever more so. Only a few days ago, the Straits Times, a state controlled newspaper there (by the way all papers are state controlled) reported that Singapore civil servants are now being posted to the different constituencies to work with the government members of Parliament, something which would have been unheard of in any other democracy, where the civil service is always expected to be completely neutral in politics.

Even before this latest action, Singapore has all along had the elements of a fascist state which extols the principle that all organs of state and power work with one mind. We already have this today. The newspapers are state controlled, the judiciary takes orders from the Lee Kuan Yew family, all forms of open criticism is denied, protests are illegal, demonstrations are illegal and the only way to succeed in life is by joining and supporting Lee Kuan Yew's Peoples Action Party.

A comparison with Hitler's Germany places Germany in at least an arguably sounder position than Singapore. Germany after the first world war was in shambles when Hitler came along and promised economic salvation, to which many Germans went along, whereas Lee Kuan Yew, Singapore's dictator does not appear to have any excuse at all for his insistence on a fascist state. In his case, the only justification he has, even though he does not want to admit it, is to ensure him and his family remaining in power eternally.

And we now see the damage that this persistent demand for fascism on his part is doing to Singapore. We have been reading the daily reports of Lee Kuan Yew's new politicians who are being fielded at the elections and who will invariably win and would be running your government. The sight of some of these men and women is indeed alarming.

Only yesterday, a 27 year old Chinese Singaporean woman, whom no one has ever heard before has been paraded as one of the new leaders of the new government. She has no political experience, no leadership qualities whatsoever, no knowledge of any political theory or practice whatsoever except of course her desire to enrich herself by serving the Lee Kuan Yew government. If she has one quality, I expect that to be the ability to say and do anything that Lee Kuan Yew demands, anywhere anytime ,day or night. Otherwise her head is empty.

In the same vein as this political aspirant, Singapore style, many others have been brought out by Lee Kuan Yew and their faces paraded. I for one would find it very unpleasant to live under a regime with such men and women who have no idea about anything except to please Lee Kuan Yew running my life!

One such person for the Lee Kuan Yew team comes as a surprise. He is a former Malaysian Northern Ireland doctor who will be the latest face in the PAP. But why does he want to be part of this government which has been discredited and disgraced as nothing more than a dictatorship. Is he not aware that it has no free press, no human rights, a politicized judiciary which would be prepared to say anytime that 2 and 2 is 25 or any other number that Lee wants to hear? Would one not expect such an educated man such as this to join the opposition instead and try to bring about some justice and freedom to the people. Or is it that he sees it as the greatest oppurtunity to enrich himself in the process.

Looking at the runners in this election, I can tell you that it is Singapore which is suffering under such mediocrity. They very fact that Lee Kuan Yew has to rely on such 27 year old dummies shows that he is finding it extremely difficult to find anyone even remotely capable willing to join his bandwagon, a bandwagon that has been disgraced and discredited.

And the lack of talent is not only with the PAP but also with the opposition, but this time for another reason. People who are qualified, educated and experienced fear to enter opposition politics because of what Lee Kuan Yew will do to them, leaving only a few brave souls who are prepared to martyr themselves for Singapore.

I can tell you Singapore is made up of a multi fold number of talented people who would have served the people in government. But they fear Lee Kuan Yew which ensures their silence and withdrawal from any political activity. In fact the vast majority of them are no longer in Singapore choosing instead to live in the West where they are free.

And what is left is this 27 year old woman who has joined politics to sing Lee's praises, and to tell you what to do.

Am I not glad I got out.

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

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

Saturday, March 19, 2011

Law Society of Singapore vs Gopalan Nair. Waiting for the elections to be over.

Ladies and Gentlemen,

May I please ask the President of the Singapore Law Society who expectedly takes his orders orders from his Singapore Dictator Lee Kuan Yew, in that one party Stalinist state, what has happened to my long awaited disbarment from the Rolls of lawyers in Singapore?

The incident that occasioned the Law Society disciplinary proceedings against me occurred in Singapore in May 2008, for Heavens Sake! It is going to be 3 years very soon! What sort of a disciplinary proceedings is that, where one has to wait 3 years to be disbarred!

Anyone reading this blog post who does not know the unique Singapore system where on the outside there are proclamations of freedom and democracy but in the inside it is a one party Stalinist state, would have thought I am crazy for almost looking forward to being disbarred in Singapore!

But you see my disbarment in Lee Kuan Yew's Singapore is a fiat accompli. As I now stand here in California, I am as good as disbarred in Singapore. Never in Singapore's history has anyone got away after even the slightest criticism of their judges. If you ever criticize, no matter how justified you may be, you would be taken to task. If you apologize, perhaps a slightly lower punishment. If not that is the end of you.

In my case I refuse to apologize. Why should I, when I did no wrong. In any case I am in California and Mr. Lee Kuan Yew and his Prime Minister son can take their disbarment and shove it up, you know where.

Mr. Lee Kuan Yew is very angry man. You see, he does not usually encounter someone like me. Anyone within Singapore in these circumstances would have crawled before him, ate humble pie and bent over backwards all at once or in sequence, it does not matter.

But I live in a free country, California, USA. Freedom somehow emboldens you. It gives you strength, which is drained in an island such as Singapore.

What makes him even more angry is the fact that I continue writing these blogs, and of all people in the world, it reaches Singaporeans. They can see that there is at least one man out there in California who is prepared to show his middle finger to Lee Kuan Yew, as I do now, and as I in fact did when I met him in the Singapore court room in May 2008 when he and his employee Judge Belinda Ang Saw Ean were lynching poor Chee Soon Juan.

Singaporeans and I know that I am going to be disbarred in that island, that is as sure as the sun rises; it does not matter I had every right to do what I did, which was no more than criticism.

But I am going to tell you why they have not proceeded with the hearing before the court yet, even after nearly 3 years. One reason is of course because they are now in a bind. They don't know what to do. They face a very stubborn opponent, Gopalan Nair, who simply refuses to roll over and act dead. And when all this blows up into the open, there is going to be egg on the face, not on mine but on the Singapore dictatorship.

Another reason now is because the general elections are just about to be held. It will not be very good for the voters to be reminded once again just before elections that their judges are corrupt and beholden to the Lee Kuan Yew family by disbarring me. It may even persuade a few voters to choose the opposition instead, although it is true that Lee can if he wants just stuff the ballot boxes.

So I am sure my disciplinary hearing before the 3 judge court will be heard immediately after the elections, not just now.

That is how eerily predictable court cases are especially when it has something to do with criticizing Lee Kuan Yew' judges in Lee Kuan Yew's Singapore.

I will point this out to the State Bar of California as another example of Singapore's corrupt legal system and their corrupt judiciary. The State bar of California requires reporting of any order of discipline against me even outside California.

It is a pleasant irony that these actions by Singapore intended to hurt me, is turning out to another welcome prize that I can use to expose their Fascist regime as another example of using the law as a tool to stifle legitimate dissent and criticism.

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

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

Friday, March 18, 2011

Singapore Straits Times: "More Singaporeans heading Down Under for Studies"

Ladies and Gentlemen,

It is easy to appreciate that anyone experiencing the freedom of life in the West would never want to return to repression. Burmese students who manage to come to the US never return to Burma and Communist Chinese students never return to China. So too with Singaporeans.

And this brain drain from Singapore will continue as long as citizens have to live under the clutches of the Lee Kuan Yew family afraid to act or speak or do anything independently for fear that the dictator will be displeased.

Singapore's state controlled newspaper the Straits Times of March 19, 2011 reports "More Singaporeans heading down under for studies". The story reads "Figures from the Australian government indicate that 10,000 Singaporeans are now enrolled in universities there at all levels".

This is very bad news for Lee Kuan Yew's government. He has managed to go on so far with a docile submissive Singaporean who would remain quiet even if he orders them not to speak at all, because of their deeply entrenched fear that cuts across the island.

But these figures continue to show that Singaporeans are increasingly unhappy to live in these stifling circumstances. If given a chance, just as a survey among young people not too long ago had shown, they would prefer to live in the West.

And in the case of this newspaper report, it is not just the 10,000 students that Singapore would lose just for Australia alone. It is ten times that number because these 10,000 once they enjoy the freedoms of the west, will persuade their family members and siblings to join them.

And their family and siblings will persuade their friends and acquaintances to leave as well. 10,000 will soon become 100,000 just for Australia alone. And then what about Singapore students leaving for Canada, the UK and the US?

And keeping in mind Singapore is a tiny island with no more than just 3 million native born citizens, a fraction of the size of even Bombay, this news has to be a death knell for them.

And this crippling brain drain coupled with the almost non existent birth rate and the aging population can mean only this. Lee Kuan Yew and his bully boys have misjudged the ground completely.

With these foreboding figures, he will simply have to make do with a transient foreign population given instant citizenship for short periods while educated real native born Singaporeans leave his island in disgust.

It is impossible for me to know how much this blog Singapore Dissident has had an impact in heightening this brain drain but even if it had any effect at all, I must claim success.

Lee Kuan Yew will be left very soon to enact laws to prevent Singaporeans from going abroad to study. He would have no other choice with these huge numbers leaving.

Although such measures may help stem the tide of emigration for the moment, it is a double edged sword. It may instead create a panic among Singaporeans and instead of stopping the brain drain, it will probably turn it into a flood, if it has not already become one.

When that time comes, Singapore will be left only with ignorant local coolies blindly obeying Lee's every order and foreigners running the show.

I am sorry for the comparison but surely here is Singapore's Nero, Lee Kuan Yew fiddling, while Singapore disappears.

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

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

Wednesday, March 16, 2011

Singapore, 2nd class citizen in your own country

Ladies and Gentlemen,

Singapore is a very small country with a small population of some 3 million local born inhabitants. Any leader faced with a daunting challenge of making a country of such a tiny place would be able to appreciate it's limitations. For one, without any natural resources, he would have realised that it is the people who is his only asset, nothing else.

And if he had to progress, he would have done it at a pace it can sustain given it's limitations of size and small population, ever making sure that it should be the Singaporean in the driving seat of management, not some foreigner.

Today if you walk at any time during office hours in down town Singapore you see Caucasians in their ties, long sleeve white shirts looking formal and important under the burning midday sun, on all the walkways while local Singaporeans drool at them with envy on their good fortune. Not for a moment is anyone unsure as to who are the bosses, it is these foreign executives; not Singaporeans.

Had Lee Kuan Yew been honest, given these limitations, he would have ensured that their future country should be run by Singaporeans, not any foreigner; that Singaporeans should be have the necessary qualifications to run it, not any foreigner; and if they do not have it just yet, the country should wait until they are trained.

At all times any competent leader would have made sure that Singapore should be run and managed by Singaporeans, not by foreigners, and any expansion of the economy should be at a pace sustained by Singaporeans.

And most importantly the people should have an opportunity to have a voice in it's destiny. They should be allowed to speak without fear, to question without fear, and they should be told of decisions being made on their behalf and an opportunity to object if unhappy.

Singapore's dictator for the last 50 years, Lee Kuan Yew, appears to have missed the point by a mile. He expanded the economy without regard of who is in charge of it.

He expanded the financial sector and brought in boatloads of foreigners experienced in international business and banking to run the industry, while Singaporeans who did not have the skills are left working under these foreigners.

Of course the economy expanded and profits were being made but the ones responsible for this are not the under-skilled Singaporeans, it is the British bank executives with the skills Singaporeans do not have.

It is not only in the financial sector that these foreigners rule, it is also in the legal field and every other highly specialized field you can imagine.

You have today these foreigners who bring the expertise from their countries to Singapore temporarily to make a profit themselves. Singaporeans do not benefit at all from their temporary presence except collaterally.

As far as the Singaporean is concerned he is nothing but a spectator in this economy which has become far bigger than what it was supposed to be thanks to these foreigners.

Could someone have done it differently, I say yes. He would have understood that Singaporeans are the ones who should have the preference, not foreigners.

He would have realised that had there been democracy, the local Singaporean would have felt wanted and appreciated. His views would have been heard. There could have have been many others with a larger brain than the Lee Kuan Yew family with much brighter ideas for the country.

With collective thinking, instead of all thinking monopolized by the Lee Kuan Yew family, and every other challenger put in jail or bankrupted, who is to tell how far ahead Singapore would have gone instead of what it is now.

Had there been a minimum wage law and a social welfare net for the disadvantaged, Singaporeans would have remained in Singapore, rather than leaving the country. They would have had families and children.

A universal free education policy through tertiary stage, would have given everyone greater skills and ability to think and do better for the country, than the present population who do not even appear to know that there is such a thing as human rights.

Lee Kuan Yew could not see any of this.

What we have to day is a disjointed, incongruous and dysfunctional government and country. The economy depends on foreign workers both managerial and in every other sphere, and without them the island would collapse.

The areas of industry that matter most are in the hands of foreigners, while Singaporeans work under them in inferior positions. Singaporeans in this set up are never going to get the skills to run the show themselves.

Furthermore you have a dissatisfied, silenced population who are looking out to leave the country as soon as possible in disgust.

And every single Singaporean lives in fear of his government for what they can do to him if he dares protest.

These circumstances do not instill confidence in me. Of course the state controlled media in Singapore has an unlimited supply of confidence.

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

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

Tuesday, March 15, 2011

Singapore plans to raise productivity, but how?

Ladies and Gentlemen,

As far as you can see the average Singaporean only knows white collar work.

Either he is a professional or he is a clerk in some multinational company pushing paper for some foreign CEO in an high rise office block in downtown Singapore.

As far as you can see, there are no Singaporean carpenters, motor mechanics or welders.

All of them are foreign workers on dirt cheap wages. Singaporeans don't know how do do any of these things. Singaporeans can also be security guards at luxury condominiums in Orchard Road.

The truth of the matter is there are no skilled or semi skilled blue collar Singaporean workers. Every single one of them is a foreigner on a work permit working long hours for peanuts for Singaporean employers who abuse them with the Singapore government's blessing.

Suddenly the government mantra has been to raise productivity among Singaporean workers by raising the foreign worker levy (Don't bank on low cost foreign labor, Goh Chock tong, Straits Times March 16, 2011).

Would anyone care to ask him how you suddenly produce a Singaporean a welder overnight by increasing the levy of foreign workers! This talk by Singapore's multi million dollar minister is just so much nonsense, simple as that.

There are no Singaporean welders and if you raise the levy for foreign welders, you only hurt the businesses for having done nothing wrong.

This great plan of Goh Chock Tong to increase productivity by increasing foreign worker levy would be as successful as being able to make the pigs from the farm in Pongoll fly. They won't and neither would raising foreign worker levy suddenly produce Singaporean welders.

Lets face it, Singapore has no hope other than to continue employing foreign labor. The fault lies with the government once again as is always the case with Fascist one party states. They simply did not have the ideas which the rest of the Singapore civil society had about the way to go about these things.

For one, they could have thought of building sufficient technical schools providing hands on work training for the trades, they could have thought of paying decent wages for a decent days work and they could have allowed the thinking to be done by the people of Singapore instead of monopolizing it.

Now it is too late. You are simply not going to get enough Singaporean blue collar workers no matter what you do. You are simply not going to get enough local lawyers because you discredited the law by state sanctioned abuse through corrupt judges like Belinda Ang Saw Ean. You are also simply not going to get enough professionals in any walk of life because they would prefer to leave Singapore entirely.

With or without an increase of foreign worker levy, Singapore will be populated by foreign workers in every sphere of activity while the local born Singaporeans will die, emigrate and vanish without enough babies.

The sooner they realize this the better.

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

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

Monday, March 14, 2011

Has Singapore's foreign born population overtaken the local?

Ladies and Gentlemen,

The harm which the Lee government has done by bringing boatloads of foreign workers into Singapore, which happens to have the second lowest birth rate in the world and almost the highest rate of emigration, is simply unstoppable and irreversible.

It is simply too late for Lee and his multi million dollar family and friends to do anything about it now. It is just as if the car has been put into reverse and the gear has locked.

It will be interesting to watch what real native Singaporeans can or will do when their population shrinks from small to nothing, when recently arrived foreigners outnumber the locals, when what we knew of being truly Singaporean has become a faded memory.

In Dubai, the local population of Emiritis is just 5%, thats all. It is almost impossible to see a real Dubai person in Dubai. You are more likely to see an Indian a Pakistani or an Englishmen.

When that point where foreigners are in the majority, Singapore will lose it's competitiveness and will sink into oblivion. Singapore does not have the unlimited financial support of the likes of Abu Dhabi's oil money to keep it going as does Dubai.

And that will be the end of Lee Kuan Yew's Singapore.

And when that point of no return happens, it will be proving once again what history has taught us all along, which is, the inherent weakness of dictatorships.

This thing would never have happened if Singapore was a democracy with a vibrant civil society because there would have been more than sufficient voices warning of the impending doom in pursuing such a policy.

But the Lee Kuan Yew family would have nothing of contrarian voices. He thought he knew everything, just as all dictators are, and it is especially in such a case that Lee Kuan Yew knows nothing.

Now it is too late for anyone to arrest the decline, not for Lee Kuan Yew's PAP or not even for the opposition. And the fault for this lies equally with the opposition for not standing up to Lee Kuan Yew peacefully or otherwise to save the island.

Now all we have to do is to sit back and watch the inevitable collapse of the edifice that once was. No amount of effort is ever going to either increase the birth rate or to arrest the unstoppable flow of Singaporeans to the West.

Humpty Dumpty had a fall, and nothing will put him back again.

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

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

Singapore, not a place for any self respecting individual

Ladies and Gentlemen,

No self respecting human being, no mother who wants upright young sons and daughters, no one who has even the slightest of humanity or kindness should ever think of living in Lee Kuan Yew's Singapore.

I was born and lived most of my life in Singapore. I joined the Workers Party of JB Jeyaretnam's time and actively agitated for democracy and freedom.

I stood for 2 national elections in 1988 and 1991 for which I was persecuted by Lee's administration. I was suspended from practice for 2 years and convicted of contempt of court for making a political rally speech. I should know what I say.

Singapore is no place for any decent human being. You see that everywhere in Lee Kuan Yew's Singapore.

Let's look at Singapore's legal profession. First of all it has no more than 3,000 lawyers a totally inadequate number for city state of 5 million people.

The government is aware of the problem but is unable to do anything about it.

The legal profession is so discredited as seen as nothing more than a terrified bunch of men and women in black clothes completely incapable of furthering their client's interests, in the event Lee Kuan Yew disapproves.

Singapore has a constitution which guarantees fundamental human rights of speech expression, association and due process. But Lee Kuan Yew allows none of it, arresting anyone who spoke in public or peacefully protesting or criticising the government, who will suffer jail time, bankruptcy and defamation actions.

Every lawyer knows that these actions are an abuse of process, illegal and violate the Constitution. They also know that the Constitution is supreme and has to be upheld.

Yet no lawyer, not a single one, dares to challenge this fascist government on these blatant violations. There is no public outcry from lawyers raising these injustices.

There are no protests to speak of this. Singapore lawyers simply are incapable of being lawyers like anywhere else because they have to contend with Singapore's superman Lee Kuan Yew who does not want anyone to question anything he does, including his blatantly violating the Constitution.

In these circumstances how could any decent human being with any self respect or human dignity be expected to live like this, let alone practice law, and yet this is how lawyers in Singapore live their pathetic lives, looking away from the injustices they should be concerned about and pretending to live as if they can see nothing wrong.

This sort of an existence demeans your spirit, your humanity and turns you into a a lesser human being and a useless lawyer; the price of practicing law in Lee's island.

Consider Lee Kuan Yew's police force. Policemen and women in uniform who are sworn to uphold the law are told to go out and arrest peaceful protesters who have harmed no one and are just doing what they have a right to do under the constitution.

If they had any decency, would have some pangs of conscience for this injustice against their fellow citizens.

Yet they close one eye, and do the dirty work to please their boss, Singapore strongman Lee Kuan Yew and his family. They could have instead just walked out, refused to do the dirty work and told Lee Kuan Yew that he could go out and do the work himself.

But no, they don't, otherwise they would lose their jobs and the measly salary they get for it. Disgraceful men in uniform doing disgraceful work.

You then have the Civil Service who are told to demote civil servants just because they were seen with opposition sympathisers. You have the Internal Security Department of the police, Lee Kuan Yew's private eye, who monitor everyone in Singapore and report on their movements.

If they are seen to have connections with the opposition, they are terminated from their jobs, their families victimized in every which way possible and made to suffer their whole lives.

These men in Lee's internal security department must know they are doing wrong, they know they are hurting their fellow men, but they do it anyway. It is the only way for them to make a living.

Singaporeans see great injustice before their very eyes. Yet they have become numbed and insensitive and incapable of reacting.

For instance, there is hardly any social security. You see very old tottering men and women, grandfather and grandmothers, who should be living in comfort in their old age collecting crockery from food stall tables where Singaporeans have just eaten.

Any decent human being would have gone up to Lee Kuan Yew's palace and demanded that these senior citizens be given help or else. But Singaporeans are no longer capable of showing any caring for their fellow citizens. They have lost their humanity.

You have laws in Singapore which permit racial discrimination, laws that permit employers to pay any amount they want or nothing at all, laws that do not allow even a single day off work for Filipina maids, laws that allow employers to confiscate the passports of foreign workers, laws that allow any Singapore employer to deport any foreign worker with or without cause.

It is a country that has people who would simply walk away even if a man was dying before them. No one cares in Singapore because Singapore's supreme leader Lee Kuan Yew is that way, he does not care.

All he does care is retaining power for himself and his family members and anything you do to upset that will land you in serious trouble in his country.

One does not have to live this deplorable way anywhere else, not in Australia, not in New Zealand, not in Canada, not in USA and not in Europe. The lawyers in Australia do not have to live lives as if they never heard of the Constitution because they fear their politicians.

The policemen in Canada do not have to go around arresting peaceful protesters because their Prime Minister disapproves of peaceful protests.

You don't see tottering old grandmother and grandfathers in New Zealand cleaning plates and cutlery in food stalls in Auckland.

You can live like a decent human being in Canada, a life of dignity, humanity and human kindness; not the disgraceful way they live in Singapore. A mother can be proud to bring up a son in Canada, while she should be ashamed if she ever had a son like the ones in Singapore.

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

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

Sunday, March 13, 2011

Singapore state controlled television's censored news

Ladies and Gentlmen,

What else can we expect anyway in the Fascist state Singapore anyway, a state controlled TV with one sided news, with only state approved political opposition allowed to speak and real political opponents banned completely.

This is what happened on the program aired on state television on Feb 27, 2011 by Channel News Asia, a state controlled news agency, on the show Talking Points discussing the impending general elections.

Other than a Lee Kuan Yew approved woman from Channel News Agency who was asking the questions, there was Kenneth Jeyaretnam, the late Jeyaretnam's son from the Reform Party, Indranee and Palmer from Lee Kuan Yew's PAP, Goh Meng Seng from the NSP and Eric Tan from the Workers Party. The glaring party missing, which by now is not so glaring anymore, is Chee Soon Juan's Singapore Democratic Party.

In any other country which claims to have the rule of law and a respectable government, such a deliberate action to literally ban a legitimate political party from equal access to the state controlled media would have attracted an outcry.

It is clearly impermissible state discrimination against the party which has a right to contest the elections, and therfore should have equal access to the state controlled media.

I have been writing in these pages the clear injustice done to those who lawfully oppose Lee Kuan Yew's regime on a regular basis.

By now it is clear that the government no longer cares what others or it's own citizens think of them and by this failure to provide equal opportunity to the SDP, this government can no longer claim that these impending elections have even a modicum of fairness. It has lost all credibility whatsoever.

We know why Chee Soon Juan's party was excluded of course. He is going to speak his mind. He is going to ask the real questions and that is what Lee Kuan Yew and his family do not like.

Those present there, Kenneth Jeyaretnam and the others who claim to be opposition politicians are hardly that, otherwise they too would not have been invited to that government orchestrated choreographed show.

They were asked what was the issues in the coming elections. They played their part by skillfully skirting the real burning issues that faced Singapore and played very well to Lee Kuan Yew and his audience.

They said among other things, the question of large scale immigration, the question of the poor and how to help them etc etc. All very nice of course but they forgot the main questions that trouble any thinking citizen of Singapore, such as fundamental human rights.

It is like asking a starving man what he needs and he replies by saying clothes, a house, a car and such like, but never mentioning what he really needs, which is food.

Kenneth Jeyaretnam very carefully never raised any issue on the question of the denial of free speech and expression, the denial of the right of assembly, the lack of a free press, the brutality of punishments such as caning and hanging people for minor drug convictions.

Has it not occurred to Kenneth (I won't use his last name as I don't want to insult his illustrious father) that all these questions on immigration and other things are of no use at all when you don't have the right to speak freely, to assemble freely, to a free press? When you to have to live in fear, like Kenneth does?

But you guessed it correctly. He is not going to mention any of this because Lee Kuan Yew does not like it. And if Lee Luan Yew does not like it he does not stand a chance at all, he will become another JB Jeyaretnam which he does not want. So he and Goh Meng Seng and Eric Tan disgrace themselves by giving us a performance that comports with Lee's requirements.

Frankly I think Kenneth is going to win a seat. Even if he did not, Lee Kuan Yew would make sure of it by stuffing the ballot boxes. Lee knows he is not a threat. He would be an excellent window dressing for the PAP to show that there is one more opposition (sort of opposition) politician in Parliament other than the miserable 2, Low Thia Khiang and Chiam See Tong. With only 2 there, people are beginning to say, one party state, which is not very pleasant.

It is indeed a one party state with or without the presence of Kenneth Jeyaretnam in Parliament as an addition.

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

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

Saturday, March 12, 2011

Singapore becomes just a free for all business center.

Ladies and Gentlemen,

Singapore in essence is no different from an Emirate like Dubai. Although in theory Lee Kuan Yew is not the Emir of Singapore, from the way the island is run, in effect he is. Like a King he runs the country with absolute powers.

He controls everything including the state Treasury. His family is well taken care of and protected by him.

Since he can do anything he wants, he has placed his son, Lee Hsien Loong as Prime Minister while he has given himself the position of Minister Mentor. He can pay himself any amount he wants but has decided on the figure of $3.7 million a year, which is 5 times the salary of President Obama, each for himself and each of his family members.

In addition he and his family take as much as they please from the coffers of the state sovereign wealth funds, the GIC, Temasek Holdings and from the peoples savings fund called the CPF.

No one is allowed to question him on this money or what he does. Since he controls the judiciary and the police force, any open criticism of him or his family will instantly land you in serious trouble with the law. If you are a local, you would be put in jail and if you were a foreigner it will be jail in addition to deportation.

Although I can write this blog from California, USA pointing out this theft of state funds without any legal problems, being beyond the reach of his powers, had I written this from within Singapore, you can imagine what would happen to me.

In order to run the country, he needs an small elite of highly educated people. For this purpose he selects young students who are prepared to show absolute loyalty to him, takes absolute care of them with scholarships and generous state funding, and later gives them ministerial jobs at astronomical salaries, thereby securing their loyalty permanently.

These hand picked elite live charmed lives with high salaries, guaranteed job security and huge pensions which take care of them for life. In return they will do anything however disgraceful to please their Master, like Gadaffi's elite, including the jailing of critics and abusing the law.

As for the rest of the citizens, it is just a free for all. The government has no concern for you or for anyone else. The justification for such indifference is the warped argument that Singapore is run according to market forces.

What this means is that being native born Singaporean gives you no advantage over anyone else. In other words, any foreigner can come to your country and live in it as if it is theirs.

All they have to is to apply. Once in, they can apply for any job without any additional requirement. Any employer is free to employ anyone he wants.

In other words the employer can deliberately if he wishes, refuse to give any jobs to local Singaporeans and only employ foreigners and there is nothing you can do.

There are no laws against racial discrimination or discrimination against Singaporeans in employment. In other words if the employer wants, he can only employ Chinese nationals from mainland China and refuse jobs to Singaporeans.

There are no minimum wage laws. The employer can pay any amount of money he wants. The argument is, if you don't like it, you don't have to take the job. There is no unemployment insurance or social security for the disadvantaged. If you and your family are starving, it is your problem, not theirs.

Singapore is a business man's paradise, one reason for this being it's low tax rate. No matter from wherever in the world you are, you can apply to do business in Singapore, just as you can do so in Dubai.

Once you are there, you can employ anyone regardless of whether he is a local or a foreigner and terminate their services any time you want without any reasons.

Although Singapore has a Constitution, it is completely ignored. There is no freedom of speech, expression or assembly.

Anyone assembling or making speeches without a permit are instantly arrested and jailed. No one who has ever applied for such permits has ever received one.

The entire media and every newspaper is state controlled. Although you can purchase foreign publications, any criticism in them is immediately stopped, the newspaper is instantly sued and fined and if necessary removed from circulation.

Today Singapore just like Dubai does not have any distinctive character of its own. Except for Lee Kuan Yew's family members in Singapore and his selected elite, the people are from everywhere else, just as in Dubai you have the royal family and their elite on the one side and everyone else from Philippines to India to Pakistan to Egyptians who make up the rest.

Almost half the citizens of Singapore have only arrived within the last 5 years. These people are mainly from the neighbouring Asian countries such as China Burma Malaysia, India and the Philippines.

He makes sure he does not take any Afghans, Pakistanis or Muslims. He does not want any troublesome people. His favorites are docile Asians who will take any nonsense thrown at them.

The local native born population is fast declining and disappearing for a number of reasons. First, the birth rate is one of the smallest in the world meaning not enough babies are being born even to replace one parent. People are unhappy and are refusing to have families in the country.

Moreover, these silly market force arguments and the lack of the rule of law are making anyone capable of leaving the island to do so. It is expected that within the next 5 years, the foreign population will be larger than the local one.

Another major reason for the numbers leaving is the education in English which they receive making emigration to the English speaking West easy.

This system which Lee Kuan Yew has thought of is bound to fail. For one, there is insufficient numbers of core citizen population dedicated and loyal to Singapore to make it function.

Since there is no advantage being a Singaporean over a foreigner, many don't see any purpose in remaining and serving their country. Some do because of high salaries but they would have worked anywhere else if they got the same money.

Being Singaporean is for instance not the same as being a Finn in Finland, a Swede in Sweden or an Australian in Australia. Clearly being a Finn in Finland, you are treated better than a foreigner who is there.

Jobs have to be given to Finns first before anyone else. Finns have job security, benefits and health care better than a foreigner. Finns have no desire to escape from their country en masse as Singaporeans do from Singapore.

A Finn can be proud of Finland. Except for Lee Kuan Yew, his family and his elite ministers, there is nothing for an ordinary Singaporean to be proud of in a free for all market driven economy, which gives him no advantage above anyone else.

Under these circumstances it should not be surprising why Singaporeans are not having babies and they are leaving the island en masse. A few years ago Lee Kuan Yew went to the Western capitals of the world trying to persuade Singaporeans to return to Singapore.

Since no one did and the exercise failed, he has given up the endeavour and appears resigned to the fact that Singaporeans capable of leaving the island will.

For a long time up until recently, there have been numerous government programs to persuade Singaporeans to have more children. That too has not worked and we have heard nothing more about it.

They appear to have given up on that score too, resigned to the fact that the native born population will continue to shrink and disappear completely.

Which leaves the future Singapore completely made up of recent arrivals who are given almost instant citizenship. After a few years these instant Singaporeans too will return to their original countries while other new citizens from Asia become citizens and make a buck there while they can.

A sorry picture indeed for Singapore, which is inevitable. Unfortunately it is too late to do anything about it. Lee Kuan Yew made sure of the inevitable demise of Singapore the moment he meddled with the rule of law. Once people have no respect for the law, no country can ever recover.

Singapore today is ruled by fear. Fear never guaranteed the survival of any place. We see today Gadaffi using force to subdue his people. That too is bound to fail.

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

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

Thursday, March 10, 2011

Singapore's Lee Kuan Yew should learn from Mauritius.

Ladies and Gentlemen,

For the last 50 years Singapore's Lee Kuan Yew has justified his dictatorial and repressive rule, without fundamental human rights, without a free press and without basic human decency, by misusing the law and jailing and bankrupting his opponents, by claiming that such a regime is necessary for economic growth, without which the island will disintegrate.

Now it appears it is all a lie. And it is the similarly placed small Indian ocean island republic of Mauritius that has shown the world that, it can still achieve success without the need to descend to such depths of depravity as Lee Kuan Yew does in crushing dissent.

And what better example than Mauritius, a similarly small island with an even smaller population of just 1.3 million people off the coast of Madagascar.

Let me give you the astonishing achievements of Mauritius, an island without any natural resources, even worse off than Singapore geographically being far off the trade routes and sea lanes in the southern Indian ocean, which makes it's success even more admirable.

Mauritius provides free education from elementary school to university for all it's people. Singapore not only does not, it squeezes every penny out of it's citizens leaving many without any college education, because they cannot afford it, a terrible waste of human resources.

Mauritius provides free transportation for all its schoolchildren. Singapore does not and never will.

Mauritius provides free health care including heart surgery for all it's people. Singapore squeezes every penny out of you for health care and quite often elderly Singaporeans just die for lack of medical treatment.

Mauritius has a diverse economy, a democratic political system with a free press and where each and every fundamental right of human beings are jealously protected, where the right to public assembly and peaceful protest is both respected and encouraged, and where there is a multi party system in free and fair elections without the political harassment, victimization of political opponents that you see in Singapore.

In Mauritius the people are loyal and respect their government. In Singapore the people have only contempt for their leaders and their discredited judiciary and legal system.

In Mauritius 87% of people own their own homes freehold, while almost 90% of Singaporeans can only rent their apartments from the government under 100 year leases where the lease agreements permit the government to re-possess the apartment anytime and throw you out to the streets without having to give any reasons at all.

This fear of being thrown out to the streets, locked out of your apartment and you and your family becoming homeless, is one of the principle reasons why Singaporeans are never seen complaining publicly about their government.

Since independence the economy of Mauritius has grown at 5% every year even though they don't have any natural resources. From the time of independence their per capita income has grown from $400 to $6,700 today.

True, in per capita terms Singapore's is several times higher but those figures are obtained through grossly unequal wealth. If you include the money of the Burmese drug lords of several billions stacked in the island and combine it with the million dollar salaries of Lee Kuan Yew and his family, you will get large per capita incomes even if the poor were to starve, which explains these grossly distorted Singaporean figures.

And don't forget, Mauritius ministers do not pay themselves $3.7 million a year as Lee Kuan Yew and his family does. They have more decency than that.

Mauritius spends almost nothing in military spending because they know that in today's geopolitical scene, military spending is just a waste. Instead they use that money for useful purposes, such as education, health care and a sound social security net. Singapore on the other hand spends millions in military expenditure while negligible amount goes to social security or education.

The main difference in the political attitudes between Mauritius and Singapore is the realization by them that without natural resources, their only asset is their people and therefore the need to take good care of them, which explains why they go to great lengths to provide free education, health, respect human rights and the provision of generous social security. In other words, Mauritius treats their citizens with dignity. Singapore's Lee Kuan Yew on the other hand treats you like a coolie.

With such good care, the birth rate in Mauritius is about 5 times that of Singapore. In Singapore almost anyone capable of leaving the island is getting out for good.

There are hardly any suicides in Mauritius not because you don't have the high rise apartments as in Singapore but because the people are happy, whereas on average 2 people take their lives either by jumping off high rise buildings or throwing themselves onto oncoming trains. There is hardly any crime there and no one wants to leave the island.

Another reason why the 2 countries are vastly dissimilar, even though geographically similar, Mauritius a proud respectable island republic fiercely respecting human rights and Singapore a pariah republic whose judges collaborate with Lee Kuan Yew to abuse the law for silencing dissent is the man responsible for their countries.

In Mauritius, the first prime Minister was Seewoosagor Ramgoolam, a doctor of Indian descent who was influenced by Fabian values while in England for his education. Ramgoolam was a quiet man who believed that there has to be development but not without human dignity. Singapore on the other hand started off with Lee Kuan Yew whose famous words were that he had a hatchet in his bag which he would use to corner his political opponents in a cul de sac and disembowel them with it or some other nonsense like that.

Which is why Singapore developed the way it did, without human dignity or respect, into that ruthless unchristian uncharitable society where money was God and it did not matter that you hosted Burmese criminal thugs and Indonesian thieves as long as they had money, and where money laundering and prostitution is big business.

That is why Singapore is bound to fall, no question about it. Too many Singaporeans are refusing to live there and opting instead for the West. There are insufficient babies being born and the population is aging.

An economy the size of Singapore cannot last with 3rd rate imported labor as it is trying to do, while anyone who has any self respect or decency are all getting out.

I think the lesson to be learnt from Mauritius is that you can still achieve success with a little human kindness. Repression is not necessary for success.

The source of this blog is the article "The Greatest Country on Earth" in www.slate.com

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

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

Monday, March 7, 2011

Singapore's National Service injustice, young men should take to the streets

Ladies and Gentlemen,

Among the far too many blatant glaring injustices staring you in the face in Lee Kuan Yew's Singapore, one beats them all, National Service.

Incredible at it may seem, Singaporean young men are required to serve in the Army full time for 2 years and after that they are forced to remain in the country for 13 long years thereafter for mandatory reservist trainings, while foreigners are allowed to enter the country anytime and live and work there and leave anytime, without any such obligation!

The penalty against Singaporeans for refusing to either serve full time or remain in the country for the 13 year stint is jail which can extend to several years. The foreigners who breeze into the country anytime they want have no such obligation at all!

If you reflected a little on this bizarre arrangement, does it not strike you as discrimination. And what is even more incredible is that this state sanctioned discrimination is directed against Singaporeans in their own country while foreigners are given preferential treatment!

And consequent to this red carpet welcome for foreigners, the injustice against Singaporean young men does not stop there.

Foreigners do not have to go through any government recruitment process to show the unavailability of local workers for jobs. Any Singapore employer can choose a foreigner anytime over a Singaporean without having to give any reasons whatsoever.

And since foreigners are mostly from low cost impoverished countries mainly Communist China, they are always successful in finding jobs because Singapore employers prefer them over Singaporeans.

For one, they don't have to do national service reservist training for 13 years enabling them to work full time uninterrupted for their employer. Second, they work for less since their low cost expectations as well as their low living expenses, e.g. renting rooms while Singaporeans have their HDB housing and children's expenses; allow them to live far more cheaply than Singaporeans.

Even on the higher echelons of work, for executives and professionals, foreign especially White Europeans are preferred over local Singaporeans as the colonial mentality of Asian coolies looking up to their European masters still widely exists. Every office or workplace would want to have a few white faces if possible, as if that was a mark of superiority and respectability.

The adverse consequences of this hare brained policy extend far and wide. For instance, even a young Singaporean who has done his 2 year national service and goes abroad for an education is required to ask for deferments each year for his reservist obligation for 13 years.

And if after he completes his eduction and is unable or unwilling to return to Singapore, from that point he becomes a fugitive from the law. Anytime he ever returns to Singapore, it will be a one way ticket to Changi where Singapore's prison is located.

There are even more unjust situations. Regardless of how young a child was when his parents took him abroad to live, his national service obligations remains.

That is, at 18, he has to return to Singapore and spend 2 years in the Army, regardless of the fact that he cannot even remember Singapore having lived all his young life abroad, and when he has no desire to want to live in Singapore anyway.

Such young men become fugitives from Singapore for life. In their entire lifetime, if they ever step foot in Singapore, it is only prison for them.

And mind you these young men overseas are highly qualified and successful human beings, as their parents themselves are usually professionals which enabled them to go abroad.

Can you imagine the great loss of talent with this ridiculous national service policy. It not only deprives local Singaporeans of jobs, causing bitterness and discontent among Singaporeans in their own country, it also deprives Singapore of a vast talent pool of the highest quality, which is lost for good.

And this loss is intolerable especially since the country only has about 3 million native born population, a country so small that every single person should be cherished and encouraged to stay; instead they chase them away for good.

This is one area that is so unjust and unacceptable that I hope Singaporeans would rise up and publicly and peacefully protest against it. If you do, the protest will most certainly expand throughout the island, compelling this uncaring Lee Kuan Yew administration to look at you for once.

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

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

Sunday, March 6, 2011

Singapore's false elections

Ladies and Gentlemen,

Lee Kuan Yew's Singapore today is abuzz with election fever, an occurrence every 5 years, which always is a bygone conclusion; Lee Kuan Yew's PAP wins and the opposition loses.

This is something which Singaporeans know but the show, which it really is, is put up not so much for Singaporeans but the rest of the world, to hoodwink them into thinking Singapore is a democracy with regularly held free and fair elections contested by multiple parties. Nothing can be further from the truth.

Today, the state controlled newspapers and media is full of pictures stories and interviews of both Lee Kuan Yew's party's people and the opposition people talking to the voters and shaking their hands.

But in the opposition's case, except for a few faces such as Chee Soon Juan of the Singapore Democratic Party, who has been in the news more for the wrong reasons than right ones, being the preferred victim of Lee Kuan Yew's repression, the voters have largely never seen and never heard of all these people who have suddenly sprung up from nowhere demanding their votes!

Those interested in Singapore should be reminded of the impossible odds the opposition faces in Lee Kuan Yew's Singapore elections a task even more difficult than climbing Everest walking backwards.

First the newspapers and Media are all state controlled, which means everyday it only publicises Lee Kuan Yew politicians while the opposition is completely blacked out. As a result they are given no chance to develop or to garner any support.

Second, anyone daring to join the opposition and seriously challenging Lee Kuan Yew faces a dire and gloomy prospect, the prospect of total ruination, loss of jobs and victimization for himself and his family for life. Therefore it is no surprise that no one with any real ability or interest would dare to have anything to do with opposition politics.

Third, Lee's 5th column is very large. Many are planted by him not only in the real opposition parties such as that of Chee, but they also set up other political parties.

Those plants in existing opposition parties report on party activities, while those others who set up their own parties are deliberately left unharmed to give the impression that Lee does not go against the opposition. But in reality these PAP stooges pretending to be opposition do nothing at all throughout the 5 years between elections and only come out of the woodwork at election time for photo ops.

Fourth, he makes sure he sends the message that to really challenge him is to ask for trouble, with the late JB Jeyretnam being repeatedly sued and bankrupted and Chee Soon Juan suffering the same fate repeatedly. This is the Chinese saying of killing a chicken to frighten the monkeys which is why everyone is afraid to enter opposition politics or to have anything to do with it.

With the football field of elections tilted so completely to one side against the opposition, and with the opposition's players legs tied as well, is it any surprise that Lee Kuan Yew wins again and again for the last 50 years.

What annoys me the most is the way Lee goes through these theatricals every 5 years as if the Singapore population are not aware of what it really is. He thinks we are all a bunch of imbeciles.

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

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

Saturday, March 5, 2011

Lee Kuan Yew is Singapore's Gadaffi

Ladies and Gentlemen,

Singapore's disparate minuscule opposition should re-think their strategy. Otherwise not for a hundred years is anything going to change. The coming elections are not going to change anything.

Lee Kuan Yew is Singapore's Gadaffi. He will not step down as long as he breathes and neither will his son go away either. They and their PAP intend to stay no matter what. The sooner you see the light, the better.

Here are the reasons.

1. PAP candidates are far superior in qualifications as against any opposition candidate. The people can see that too.If given a choice, Singaporeans rather vote for a Presidents Scholar from Oxbridge than a Print Shop owner with 10th grade education.

This is reality whether you like it or not. And by an large, the best qualified political candidates would prefer the PAP of course for the immense wealth that they stand to gain by prostrating before their dictator.

At the same time, I am not saying that these men and women are decent. They are not. In fact they are bums, scums with no decency or morals at all. All of them are in it for the money, nothing else.

In fact the opposition candidates are far better human beings and would make great leaders of men. But as long as greed governs human nature, young men and women will pass exams and go to universities only to sell their soul to the devil and dictators.

And it is these people who would be elected, not the humble honest ordinary Singaporean who sacrifices his life for democracy and the opposition.

The opposition would never be able to attract the best (I mean in academic prowess) political candidates simply because to join the opposition is to accept suffering all your life at the hands of Lee Kuan Yew's men and who in his right mind would want that?

2. The PAP has been around for decades, ever since independence. They run the place. They are the ones with the experience.

I am not denying of course, and it is true, that politicians really need not know much about running anything, since it is the civil service that does it. But the problem is, the people do not know this.

They think the PAP politicians have the experience to run the country which the opposition do not. So, if I was an ordinary Singaporean thinking this, given a choice, whom would I choose? No question about it but the PAP as I will have greater security with them around, knowing the ropes.

3. For 50 years now Lee Kuan Yew and his friends in the government have created the infra structure of the country both physical and otherwise, the roads, the buildings, the civil service, you name it, it is them and no one else.

Do you believe even for a moment that he would willingly hand over control to some new government just because the electorate wished it? Never, not on his life. He is going to hang on as long as he can, and that is not going to happen anytime soon.

4. I have no doubt whatsoever that if need be, provided he has not already done so, he will just stuff the ballot boxes in the even that a "freak" (to use Lee's words) election results happen and the opposition gets any more than 3 or 4 seats. Or he will just abolish elections altogether and bring in marital law.

5. Lee is this way because he persuades himself into thinking that he and his PAP are good for the country and no one else will do, and that if there was a change of government, the country that he almost created would go the the dogs.

Of course there is not a single iota of truth in this. Singapore would have been successful with or without him, but he wants to see only his side of the picture, thereby thinking he has no choice but to cling on to power for the good of Singapore.

I think he actually believes that he is the savior of Singapore and that by letting anyone else govern, he will actually do harm to the baby he created, Singapore.

Actually, the truth also is that he retains control because there is big bucks in it, $3.7million a year in salary and much more secretly, but of course he won't admit that part.

6. He denies the opposition every single tool that they need for even a fighting chance at the elections. No free press, so opposition cannot put out their news.

No freedom of speech, so opposition cannot say their piece except for a few days at elections. His Judges ever willing to abuse the law to silence dissent. I can go on but you know what it is. The opposition has not a chance in the world.

7. The opposition does not have the organizational set up that is required to form a government. They have been suppressed so long that they never had a chance to really organize.

Issues have not been clearly set out, firstly because they cannot find anybody to work at it, and secondly because they don't have any money since the PAP prevents any form of fundraising from abroad. Locally they don't have any money because no one dares to give any since this may result in reprisals from Lee.

8. And yet knowing this, the opposition go on wasting their time and everyone elses in Lee Kuan Yew style elections.

I have said this again and again. By all means contest elections which is, believe me, not going to make any difference given the reality on the ground. What you need is protest, peaceful civil disobedience. You have no choice in this. If not for this, you will never get anywhere.

There is a strong likelihood civil disobedience will change things. A few protesters will attract others. The movement may grow. It would force Lee to be fair in the courts. He will be forced to stop discrimination, forced to be fair to the poor and needy and forced to change on the disastrous immigration and emigration policies and foreign labor.

I am not suggesting that civil disobedience will have no harmful effect, it would. There may be a disruption in business, in commerce and other things, but such adverse side effects are worth the effort in bringing about long term change, which would see a better Singapore than what it is today.

This message is for Singaporeans out there yearning for democracy and freedom. It is not going to happen at the elections. I can promise you that.

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

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

Friday, March 4, 2011

Splitting Singapore's opposition and losing the elections

Ladies and Gentlemen,

As Singapore prefers to call itself Uniquely Singapore, they have proved it right on, more than once.

Unique indeed for the only place in the world to criminalise chewing gum, which tortures by caning even overstaying visitors, executing teenage drug addicts caught with tiny amounts of heroin after mock trials and jailing people for not flushing toilets.

With the national elections approaching, one can add another feather to their cap in uniqueness, a political opposition that is so adept not in winning national elections but in roundly losing them.

For tiny Singapore with a land area consisting only of 26 miles across and 16 miles vertically, with a shrinking local born population of less than 3 million, with unstoppable massive emigration further depleting their already shrinking population and an almost non existent birth rate, you may be gratified to know there are no less than 2 dozen or so opposition parties legally existing there.

For an outsider not well versed in the uniqueness of that island, this should be a very encouraging statistic, indicating a high level of political interest among the citizenry.

But nothing can be further from the truth.

For want of a better description, these political parties are uniquely Singaporean.

In other words, they are nothing other than white elephants, who have literally no members, no platforms or ideology which no one would have known about unless it was election time every 5 years when they suddenly sprout out from the woodwork, make a few speeches here and there, roundly lose the elections and their deposits, and then go into hibernation for another 5 years for the next elections.

For a man like me who is clearly interested in Singapore politics, you will be surprised to know that except for the leaders of the Singapore Democratic Party and the Singapore Democratic Alliance with the lone opposition man there, Chiam See Tong, I not only do not know who the others are and neither do I care.

Except for the Singapore Democratic Party under the leadership of Chee Soon Juan, who we cannot deny is trying hard to advance the cause of freedom, and the other officers with him, frankly it is pointless wasting any time with any of the other parties.

We wish Chee Soon Juan well for not only being genuine and sincere in his cause. However frankly despite nearly 30 years having past since his entry into politics, there has not been any material increase in his support.

For one, there is no real change in those who make up his officers being none other than the same old faces, and except for Chee, his sister, and a couple of others in the committee, the others are merely workers who do what little needs to be done in the daily chores of the party.

Of course there have been a few new worthy entrants to the SDP, such as Wijeysingha who has a PhD in social studies, the son of the principle of my old school Raffles (not when I was there), but otherwise there is no real progress in the cause.

Although Chee is struggling under tremendous odds in Lee Kuan Yew's Singapore, no doubt about it and credit is well deserved and due, we cannot deny the same old faces at the same old parties and functions.

Of course we cannot forget the recent phenomenon of the Australian James Gomez, formerly of the Workers Party, who appears to have now become a stalwart member of Chee's SDP, writing political articles for them remotely from his home in Melbourne Australia, across the Coral Sea and another 1,000 miles beyond; but even with the Internet, it would be difficult for anyone to take him seriously in local Singapore politics.

I don't think the time has come, even today, for elected representatives to be chosen by a people across the oceans, internationally even with the Internet.

I suppose any self respecting Singaporean faced with such a question would have responded by saying that if Singapore was not good enough for him to live, he is not good enough to represent Singaporeans in Singapore either.

Simply holding a Singapore passport in Armenia or Australia is simply not good enough, which is what James Gomez is doing.

Chee's Party does put out an excellent website but surprisingly it has not produced any real progress at the base.

Except for Chee's SDP, the other list of so called opposition political parties in Singapore are neither political parties nor opposition either.

Recently we had 2 new entrants into this game of Uniquely Singaporean style opposition politics.

Chia Ti Lick, an attorney, who had all along been hanging around Chee's Singapore Democratic Party, and who happened to be my lawyer during my troubles with Lee Kuan Yew in 2008, woke up one day and suddenly, without any provocation whatsoever, proclaimed that he not only is going to form a new party but what is even more surprising, of the multitude of possible names in the world, he is going to call it the Socialist Front.

Now if that name is not a deliberate attempt on his part to persuade voters to keep as far away from him as possible, I cannot imagine what else was it's purpose.

Either Chia Ti Lick has completely gone off his rocker or he has never heard of the fall of the Soviet Union.

Socialist Front indeed.

The other new entrant to this game is Kenneth Jeyaretnam, the son of the late Jeyaretnam.

He claims to have studied in Cambrige, undoubtedly a good university, but it does not appear to have taught him any logic.

Surely his ideas are not any different from those of Chee's SDP, which is obviously the advance of democracy and freedom.

So then why not just join Chee, since Chee has already established his quite well, given the small size of the country instead of forming yet another political party and splitting the already minute number of opposition votes even further?

Except for Chee's SDP, about which I agree in principle, none of these other parties should ever been formed let alone be permitted to waste the time of the Singapore taxpayer.

Simply put, they are afraid to their bones as to what Lee would do to them if they questioned authority.

And this fear effectively paralyses them into doing nothing at all, except for a few days every 5 years at election time.

All they will do is to once again successfully split the already small number of opposition votes.

I am sorry but I have to say that this whole election process is simply 2 weeks of comic entertainment, nothing more.

I can assure you, under the present impossible circumstances, where every Singaporean lives in Lee Kuan Yew's government owned flats, from which they can be thrown out any time with or without cause; when the state controlled newspapers would only report one side of the story and not the other; when Lee's judges are anxiously waiting for orders to bankrupt anyone who dared to criticize; there is no way anyone will vote for them and even if they did, Lee would just ignore it.

And there is nothing you can do if Lee did just that.

You are once again going to have Unique Elections in Uniquely Singapore. If you are bored to death as I am, perhaps it is time for a Bacardi, or in the case of Chinese Singaporeans, a Mou Tai.

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

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

Wednesday, March 2, 2011

Singapore struggles with it's disappearing population

Ladies and Gentlemen,

All of Singapore's state controlled newspapers as well as all it's state controlled media carries one story again and again, lamenting it's fast disappearing population.

Today Singapore's birth rate is one of the lowest if not the lowest in the world, 1.16% which means a couple do not produce even one child among the 2!

With Lee's determination to expand the economy disregarding anything else by bringing in vast numbers of foreigners into the workforce, not only for work but also for settlement, he has managed to set into motion the seeds of Singapore's total decline.

These human imports are vastly inferior to the stubborn locals who not only refuse to have any children no matter how big the carrot, but what is worse, they are simply refusing to even get married.

Today, to quote an Australian, James Gomez, who writes frequently for the Singapore Democratic Party's blog, who has decided to keep his Singapore passport in order to contest the forthcoming elections as their Party candidate, for which I presume he will make a trip to Singapore for 2 weeks sometime in the near future; 4 in 5 people in Singapore are already foreigners and with the fast disappearing local population at the rate it is sinking, foreigners will form the majority of Singaporeans very soon, a transitory people in a transitory island.

And these foreigners or instant Singaporeans have no idea what Singapore is really about, without the culture and character of what had made local Singaporeans from its early days, from generation to generation.

And this does not augur well for the future of the island, how can it be, with 3rd rate foreigners, with no intention of sinking roots there, making up the majority of it's population.

And what is worse, these foreigners do not know any English being principally from Communist China.

And with this impending doom of a totally disappearing population, Lee Kuan Yew's yes-men, or minions, have been articulating various hare brained ideas to persuade Singaporeans to reproduce, such as paying them money and giving them longer paid maternity leave or tax breaks.

I understand Lee Kuan Yew's contemporary Muammar Gadaffi of Libya has been doing the same lately to appease his rebellious citizens without much success.

As a matter of fact since about 2 decades ago in Singapore, every one of these reproduction incentives have been tried and nothing has worked.

As if this was not bad enough, the rate of Singaporeans permanently leaving Singapore for settlement abroad has also been mounting leaving only Iraq and Libya today with higher rates of emigration, that is people escaping in hordes.

Either Lee Kuan Yew's minions, who are by the way paid millions of dollars for their loyalty to him, have not got it, or they are simply daft.

Anyone could see that paying more money did not persuade anyone to remain in distasteful conditions and neither did it produce more children, neither in Singapore or anywhere else.

Singapore's best and brightest continue to leave in hordes simply because it is undignified to live under the yoke of Lee Kuan Yew.

In a country where Lee Kuan Yew could abuse the law anytime to have you punished, such as he did to Chee Soon Juan, JB Jeyaretnam and I; where any attempt to assert your rights as a human being results in your victimization by the government for life, and where a peaceful successful life means your giving up your birth right to speak freely without fear, no one with any self respect and dignity would want to live such a life.

I am not sure who it was who said that you could live without bread, but you cannot live without dignity.

At least that is how I think life should be lived, and I am sure many others as the emigration figures out of Singapore speaks for itself.

Lee Kuan Yew is a silly man despite all that has been said about him.

He is a man who takes pride in boasting of his greatness, real or imagined, a sort of Don Quixote leaning against windmills.

He tells us ad nauseam in 3 hour long speeches how smart he was, how he defeated his political opposition single handedly, how he saw below the radar and had a sixth sense of this and that, and a whole lot of hogwash thereafter; leaving the listener not just bored to death but to go away thinking that all he cares for is his self preservation and nothing else matters.

Democracy does not matter to him, decency does not matter and goodness does not matter, only winning and crushing your opponents through fair means or foul.

Such a man does not instill confidence, he instills abhorrence and contempt.

And as long as there are running dogs in Singapore willing to do his bidding, just as Gadaffi has his, no one with any human dignity in him would want to live any where near a man such as this.

If this rubbish is all his minions can think of to help Singapore out of these difficult times, one can openly assume that they too, like Lee Kuan Yew are just out to fend for themselves, and Singapore can go to the dogs.

I can tell Lee Kuan Yew how to stop this mounting brain drain, how to have more Singaporeans have children and more marriages and families.

I can tell him how he can get happy people, because happiness is the answer to all these problems. Simply put, Singaporeans are not happy.

They don't feel secure.

They are not safe.

And without any of this they will not have babies and they will leave the country if they can.

To solve these problems he has simply to dignify the country itself.

He has to give it respectability which it has lost.

Today Singapore's legal profession and it's judiciary have been discredited and have lost all respect.

If you want Singaporeans to stay, reverse the damage that is done.

Bring back the rule of law.

Demand judicial independence and abolish political corruption in the judiciary.

Bring back respect for the judiciary.

Stop the victimization of your political opponents.

Order your civil service to stop this dirty business of unjustly punishing political opponents.

Allow freedom of the press.

Allow people to assemble and speak freely without threats of arrest and imprisonment.

And most importantly stop strutting around like a prize rooster bullying anyone in your way.

Which means stop being the tin pot tyrant you are and bring back credibility and respect to your state institutions.

If you did all this, in one stroke you would not only reverse the hitherto unstoppable brain drain but you would also persuade the thousands of good educated and skilled Singaporeans to return to their country which they left because of your arrogance.

But you know what, I am sure you are not going to do any of this.

Why, because if you did, you and your son, Saif Gadaffi, no Lee Hsien Loong, will no longer be in power.

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

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