Singapore Dissident

Lee Kuan Yew "orders" Singaporeans to "fly the Singapore flag."

2009-07-17T19:07:00.000-07:00

Ladies and Gentlemen,

In most countries it is up to the people whether they fly their national flag on special days of the it's history. They may want to show their loyalty by this. But even those who are deeply loyal, may not think it necessary. It is matter of choice. And surely you will not be punished if you don't. Second, in most countries their governments don't have to make a deliberate effort to persuade their citizens to do this.

Not so in Singapore. In Singapore's state controlled newspaper the Straits Times on line edition of July 15, 2009, Lee Kuan Yew's dictatorship has prominently put out a notice headed "Fly the Singapore flag", urging their citizens to fly the island's flag during the country's fortcoming national day celebrations. Odd as it is for any government to go out and deliberately ask their citizens to do this, since this is always a personal choice and not legally mandatory; in Singapore it is even worse, since when the government puts out any "request" such as this in their state controlled media, it is usually not a "request", it is in fact an "order".

In Singapore, unlike anywhere else, even though the flag denotes the country and not any political party or government; because Lee Kuan Yew, Singapore's dictator has been ruling the country uninterrupted for the last 50 years, the flag in effect personifies not Singapore but Lee Kuan Yew and his government. Therefore, in Singapore, when you fly the national flag, you are showing your loyalty not to Singapore but to Lee Kuan Yew and his family for ruling over you. This "order", to fly the Singapore's flag in his state controlled newspaper is a demand that you show your appreciation particularly for him, his family and his government.

And what if you refused after this demand has been put out in the newspaper? Singapore being a country run on fear, that is fear of Lee Kuan Yew and what he will do to you if you oppose, the people fear government agents going around the island marking the names of those who do not fly the flag. Next thing, these "ungrateful citizens" may lose their jobs, they may lose their pensions, they may lose their career promotions, their children might be thrown out of schools, and a litany of misfortune may happen to them.

Even though these terrible things may or may not happen to these flag refusers, the fear itself is sufficient for them to do as they are told. Surely it is not hard to fly the flag. So why take the risk of Lee Kuan Yew's ire by your refusal?

In Singapore, it is hard to live as men and women with free will, because you don't have it. Everything you do, including the apartment that you live in, depends on the patronage and good will of the supreme Lee Kuan Yew and his family. They virtually own each and every "digit" (what Lee Kuan Yew has called the citizens of his country) of a Singaporean.

It is easy for me, from the comfort of my home in California to ask Singaporeans to have more backbone and refuse to fly the flag, because it will be a clear signal to Lee Kuan Yew and his family that you want them out. But as you are prisoners of the dictator Lee Kuan Yew in his island, it would be wrong to expect too much from you.

If there are those who despite these dangers still refuse to fly the Singapore national flag during national day celebrations, I would think you rightfully deserve the Victoria Cross or some other medal for bravery beyond that normally expected of a soldier in battle!

Salute.

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.

Singapore. More weird laws

2009-07-15T23:04:00.000-07:00

Ladies and Gentlemen,

For someone living in the United States, some of the happenings one reads in the island of Singapore would seem very weird indeed.

Let me tell you what happened. Singapore's state controlled newspaper the Straits Times on line edition of July 16, 2009 has this story "Man charged over banners". It is abut Mr. Zeng Guoyuan, 55 years of age, who coincidentally I had met before when he contested the national elections there as a Workers Party candidate. The newspaper report claims he had pasted 2 pictures of the recently captured escaped prisoner Mas Selamat, one on a wall of a shop at MacPherason with the words "dead" written on it; another on the wall of a shop at Toa Payoh. A week later sometime in December 2008, he is alleged to have pasted another similar picture of the man on the same wall with a "charge Sheet", whatever that is.

It is also alleged that he refused to turn himself in a few times to Tanglin Police Station.

From here in California, I or anyone else in the United States would probably ask "What is the big deal"? OK, the man pasted a picture on some walls. If you don't like it just take it down! But why go the trouble of arresting him and charging him in court. What has he done after all? Killed 10 people? What is the point of arresting him and charging him in court for that, and what is more, making it headline news in Singapore's state controlled press?

We know that Singapore has some very odd laws, the most famous one being criminalizing chewing gum! Now we have this. It is major offence that will result in your being charged in court and your case made the headline news in that island if you so much as posted a picture on any wall in Singapore.

Or is this man being singled out for punishment and shame because he was a member of the Worker's Party and not Lee Kuan Yew's party?

If you are a thinking person within the island, take my advice. Get out of that island. It is a weird place. But contrary to what you may think, according to the regime of Lee Kuan Yew in Singapore, it has the best legal system in the world! Well, if you own and control the entire media in the country like Lee Kuan Yew does, you can say anything you want whenever you want.

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.

Singapore. A welcome refuge for Indonesian fraudsters

2009-07-14T21:13:00.000-07:00

Ladies and Gentlemen,

It has been reported in the Jakarta Post of June 24, 2009 and July 13, 2009 of the sightings in Singapore, of 2 Indonesian criminals on the run from justice in Indonesia. In the first report of June 24, 2009, Joko Soegiarto Tjandra had defrauded banks of millions and had been sentenced to 2 years imprisonment as well as a restitution fine of US$54 million. However before he could be apprehended, left Indonesia for Port Morsbey, New Guinea and then arrived in Singapore. Singapore authorities have been officially told of his presence there but have not taken any steps for his arrest or repatriation.

In the July 13, 2009 report, Anggoro Widjojo had bribed a former legislator in the house of Representatives for a radio communication contract with the forest ministry for which he got the contract worth US$12.72 million. He was arrested, convicted and sentenced to four and a half years in jail, but managed to flee to Singapore. Singapore authorities however not only refused to arrest him, but have totally refused the demands of repatriation.

This practice of refusing to hand over convicted criminals to a neighbouring country, thereby frustrating their criminal justice system is thoroughly unacceptable especially when done to a so called friendly neighbouring country. This sort of behaviour does nothing to further neighbourliness among neighbouring countries, fostering instead ill will and disharmony.

As a Singaporean by birth, it shames me to see my country behaving in such a brazenly shameful way. It may be true for a country that has lost it's means of survival to resort to desperate measures. It is true that Singapore has lost most of it's financial reserves and is suffering from unprecedented joblessness. But this sort of behaviour is going a bit too far, even for a bankrupt country. Harbouring millionaire bank cheats from neighbouring countries because you can use their money is a lowly disgraceful means of living.

Lee Kuan Yew, stop it now. Return these fugitive criminals back to Indonesia. At least show a modicum of respectability. Don't stoop so low as to be another North Korea.

What will you do next? Start printing fake American money?

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.

Singapore. The final demise of the institution of Parliament.

2009-07-13T22:17:00.000-07:00

Ladies and Gentlemen,

As if it was not bad enough already, with 82 out of 84 members of a so called Singapore Parliament, supposedly a representative body, coming from Lee Kuan Yew's party, we now have to have totally unrepresentative people there called Nominated Members (nominated by Lee Kuan Yew himself) to be speaking there!

Speaking for whom? And about what?

Are Singaporeans so ignorant as to not even realize the island is supposed to be a Parliamentary democracy! And have you nothing to say!

The Singapore island Parliament, even if you wanted to be as kind as possible, is inescapably a clown show, period. And Lee Kuan Yew is now literally treating you as no better than "digits" as he has confessed truthfully for once.

Anyone with eyes should be able to see what I see. It is literally factually and in reality, a one party dictatorship. There can be no other description of it in the English language.

Which brings me to a movie that I watched "Around the World in 80 days" when in the end, Phileas Fogg walks into London's Reform Club with a woman and his butler Passpartout. For over a hundred years since the beginning of the Club no woman has ever set foot in it! When the club members saw the woman in the club, aghast in horror, this they said must be the end of the British Empire!

In Singapore, Parliamentary Democracy is dead. Finally dead. What you have is undiluted unmitigated dictatorship.

Heil Mein Fuhrer Hitler (no Lee Kuan Yew)! Deutchland (no Singapore) uber alles!

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.

Singapore. The need for a leader to move the people.

2009-07-12T18:53:00.000-07:00

Ladies and Gentlemen,

This is a message to Dr. Chee Soon Juan. The disadvantaged in Singapore have been oppressed for so long; brainwashed into submission so long; silenced into a paralysis so long, that they are unable to stand up for their rights anymore. A person from the outside has to stand up and lead them. And that person is Dr. Chee Soon Juan.

I ask Dr. Chee Soon Juan to do it now. What are you waiting for? Is not the suffering of those in the one room flats, the suffering of those displaced by foreign workers into unemployment, the suffering of the minorities not enough. How much more have they to endure before someone who has the courage to lead them to step forward and march to Lee Kuan Yew's palace and demand answers to their questions? Demand answers to their suffering.

You are in the best position to do it. Your actions are credible and will be so. Can you not see this dictatorship bringing Singapore down steadily without any real agenda at all? Can you not see the Lee dictatorship behaving as if there was no real problem among the poor of Singapore?

Lead them now. Organize a mass protest of the poor. You will have sufficient numbers for it, with this appalling state of affairs in Singapore.

Those who know Singapore already know the great sacrifices you have made. We respect you for it. And we know that if there was anyone in Singapore who can bring about change there, it is you. Noone else.

Dr. Chee, do it for Singapore. Now.

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.

Singapore a "third world" country in every way.

2009-07-12T13:51:00.000-07:00

Ladies and Gentlemen,

How does one judge a country as "first world"?. I suppose, a country that upholds the rule of law, a country with free and fair elections, a country that upholds human rights of free speech and expression, a country that has a free press, a country that does not discriminate against any section of it's people, a government that is accountable to the people, a government that does not engage in corruption by calling the money a salary; these are some of signs of a civilized first world country.

Not forgetting of course the foremost of signs of a free country, a country with a free press; Singapore being ranked one of the countries with the least free press in the world. All the newspapers there are both owned and controlled by Lee Kuan Yew and his family. The internationally respected free press monitor, Reporters Sans Frontieres of France has placed the island so far down the list, next to Sudan and Eritrea!

Lee Kuan Yew, Singapore Island's strongman had not too far back written a book claiming in it that the country is first world. It is true that he has managed to build a number of skyscrapers along the waterfront like in Hong Kong, an excellent infra structure of roads and supplied clean water and electricity to households. In addition he has managed to make it free of litter by imposing harsh laws for the slightest indiscretion and criminalized the chewing of gum, which the outside world erroneously thinks is punishable with caning! But are these any indication it is a developed 'first world" country? hardly.

You have to have lived in Singapore to know what it is like I do. It is a country with no rule of law, where it is routinely abused to punish the government's critics. A country without free and fair elections where Lee Kuan Yew and his party has been continuously returned to power at every single election without interruption for the last 50 years since 1959! Same as Cuba! Any potential parliamentary candidate critical of the government or Lee Kuan Yew is sent to jail through willing judges. It is a country where the judges, all of them, have no shame at all; shamelessly using their position to please Lee by punishing his opponents.

Singapore is a country not run by rule of law but by law. That is, whenever the government feels the slightest threatened by their people, they pass a law to criminalize it, like what they have done recently under the Public Order Act where all protests, even peaceful ones are criminalized. Singapore's recently appointed Tamil Minister of Law, K Shanmugam and Wong Kan Seng, Minister for Home Affairs, Lee Kuan Yew's cousin, willingly abuse the law to please him.

It is a country that has no laws against racial discrimination, which means the Chinese majority in the country blatantly discriminate the Malays and Indians in jobs, benefits and every other way possible. Even the government itself openly discriminates them by denying jobs in the public sector, positions in the armed forces and security sensitive occupations.

It is a country, despite having only 4.5 million people, with a land area of less than one third the size of New York City but yet pays their leaders salaries that are, believe it or not, five times the salary of the US President. They do it openly and shamelessly. In any other country, it would be called by it's correct name, "corruption"; but in Singapore, an island that is in essence owned by Lee Kuan Yew and his family, it is called "salaries".

And none of these grievances can be openly challenged by the people, because, as you correctly guessed it, Lee Kuan Yew will punish you if you did!

Tell me, what sort of a country is that? First world?

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.

The hidden ugly side of Singapore

2009-07-07T20:44:00.000-07:00

Ladies and Gentlemen,

An interesting personal account of Lee Kuan Yew's "island paradise". Something that Lee Kuan Yew tries very hard to keep under wraps from foreign governments but surfaces nevertheless. Mind you, a huge section of Singaporeans live this way. But what is frightening is this; there is no hope for them out of the poverty; with no skills no education and no financial assistance from the million dollar Singapore ministers. My gratitude to Vijay Kumar and to Singapore Democratic Party for posting it and for permission to use it.

I hope many more concerned people like Vijay Kumar would expose the uncaring and heartless million dollar Singapore dictators.

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.

Tuesday, 07 July 2009
Vijay Kumar
Malaysiakini (letter)

In between the glamarous buildings and shoppings complexes of this city state, there is huge suffering that the world has never seen. Something that the Singapore government or media will try to hide from the rest of the world. And this is the lives of 80 percent of 'true' Singaporeans who live in the republic's Housing Development Board (low cost) flats.

I, like many young youths, went looking for a better future in this Lion City of opportunity. After four years of working experience in Kuala Lumpur. It was my first experience outside Malaysia and I was very happy to be offered a job in Singapore with a basic salary of S$3,500.

Then, with huge hopes, I started looking for a master bedroom to rent being single. I finally got a master bedroom in Clementi for S$700 a month but only after being rejected by many other landlords for being Indian. The ensuing eight- month ordeal that I spent in this HDB flat really opened my mind to what Singapore is for those who can't earn.

It made me ask if this is the type of development that I ever wanted in my country Malaysia. This is the first time that I felt gifted to be born in Malaysia. Anyway, I lived with a family of three (husband, wife with one daughter) who rented out their master bedroom to me while they slept in the common room.

It was a three-room flat (but unlike in Malaysia, a three-room flat has only two bedrooms). I did not believe it was the master bedroom that I was staying in until I went into the other room and saw that there is no attached bathroom there. I was given a bed and a mattress and also two fans. Then I noticed that the couple with their daughter sleeping on the floor with a thin mattress in the other room. Not even a fan in that room.

Both husband and wife are born Singaporeans and were employed. It was after one month that I realised that the daughter was not going to school regularly and most of the time there would be a quarrel in the early morning between the father and daughter as there was not enough money to pay for the bus to go to school.

There were times when the daughter was very sick and father had no money to take her to see a doctor. It was a real pain in the heart to hear a small girl suffering through the thin walls of this HDB flat. It was unbelievable for me to see this happening in this ultra-modern city. It took me another two months to realise that what was happening in this flat was not an isolated case of urban poverty in Singapore.

It was every where in those HDB flats. There was a Chinese neighbour (an elderly man) and his son had no money to get a taxi to send his father to the clinic for daily diabetic wound-dressing. I soon understood that poverty in Singapore transcends racial boundaries. The whole family of my landlord got a shock that I own a car in Malaysia.

My landlord would keep pestering me every time I come back to Malaysia to bring my car over so that his whole family could go sightseeing in Singapore. In all my life, I never believed people in a developed country like Singapore would ever consider car ownership a privelege.

Three months later, one fine day, I came back home and realised that there was no electricity in the house. This time, my landlord did not have the money to pay for the utility bills. I was back in the Stone Age, using candles. This lasted for days until finally he borrowed money from somewhere and settled the bills.

My landlord as a person I have known during that period never come back drunk or looked like a gambler. He had to pay for his mother's medical expenses, that much I know. This was the time in my life when I learned what is was like to live in that poor quality HDB flat, drying clothes in the rooms and listening to what the couple talked about in the next room via the thin walls.

It was this time in life that made me to think, 'Is this what I want Malaysia to be? For those who talk great or look up to Singapore's success, have they ever come and lived in Singapore like I how I did? Have you seen a HDB flat and how it looks like?

Bring your whole family for a dinner using public transport and then rush to catch the last bus. Is this what a 10% growth rate a year is about that we want boast? Does this growth figures mean anything in the first place? Do we want to open our country to expats so that they can progress at the expense of our own Malaysians?

Do we want to 'progress' to a level that even our children can't buy a house in our own land? Last, I ask myself. Do we Malaysians look at GDP growth as the only measure to choose our government or are we much more matured than that? Achievement at whose expense?

http://www.malaysiakini.com/letters/107799

The Punch and Judy show in Lee Kuan Yew's Singapore Parliament goes on.

2009-07-06T21:34:00.000-07:00

Ladies and Gentlemen,

Lee Kuan Yew, Singapore's intolerant leader has successfully managed to remove even the remotest resemblance, if there ever was, of representative government in his Parliament. For a start, there are only 2 opposition politicians there, albeit being only pretenders who are careful about what they say so as not to offend the dictator. The entire remaining 82 members in the house are there to sing his praises. With this disgraceful situation, where everyone can see it being nothing more than a one party dictatorship, his efforts to hoodwink the world into thinking it is a model democracy is failing. So he does the next best thing. Which is to make a fool not only of his subjects but the entire world audience by faking a representative Parliament.

In his state controlled press the Straits Times online edition of July 7, 2009, there is an article titled "9 NMP names submitted". This is what it means. Even though the Constitution of Singapore calls for a representative government in Parliament, in total contempt for it, he has selected 20 to 30 citizens whom he feels will ask some political questions in Parliament which he will approve before hand, and thereby give the impression of genuine political debate. Of course you rightly guessed who these selected speakers are, none other than Lee Kuan Yew sympathisers of course, who are not there to further any citizen's interests but their own; that the right patronage and connections naturally bring.

Singaporeans who are aware of this shameless chicanery will rightfully ask who these Nominated Members are speaking for in the first place; not them since they did not elect them. And therefore they have no right to be speaking for them, let alone in Parliament, not having been elected by anyone.

And who are these selected clowns (Nominated Members of Parliment) anyway? There is a former sportswoman Joscelyn Yeo aged 30. Calvin Cheng 33, a fashion manager, Audrey Wong 41, an arts manager etc. No one is bothered about any of these individuals and neither does anyone care.

If they were intending to represent the people in Parliament, then why have they not stood for elections especially when they would almost certainly win being Lee Kuan Yew's bootlickers. You know why this is the case of course. Any real opposition candidate would be sued for defamation, criminally charged, bankrupted and impoverished, not necessarily in that order. And yet, even though winning is almost a guaranteed certainty in Lee Kuan Yew's Singapore, these individuals have no desire to stand up to it. Despite lacking any political interest or even the slightest civic consciousness of any sort, they are chosen to go to Parliament and speak a lot of nonsense, on your behalf, which everyone cares nothing about!

Lee Kuan Yew is becoming a joke. So is his Parliament and so are his obedient clowns who do the clown show in his Parliament.

If asked about all this, I think Singaporeans should say as they have always done "I do not know, and I do not care." These handpicked Lee Kuan Yew's clowns can do all the talking they want. They would be talking to themselves.

And the Singapore watchers reading this would be alerted once more to what Singapore really is; a one party Lee Kuan Yew dictatorship trying very hard to fool everyone into thinking the island is not what everyone knows it is. Lee Kuan Yew's nonsense is not fooling anyone anymore.

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.

Singapore Island. Lee Kuan Yew's sidekick, Tamil minister K Shanmugam, can say any rubbish he wants to his helpless subjects.

2009-07-05T21:31:00.000-07:00

Ladies and Gentlemen,

If you read the article in Singapore's state controlled newspaper Straits Time's online edition of July 6, 2009 titled "Meritocracy not quota. That's affirmative action the Singapore way" you may think Lee Kuan Yew's recently handpicked Minister for Law is advocating affirmative action for his oppressed Tamil Singapore brothers and the equally oppressed Malays there. In fact, sorry to disappoint you, it was not the case at all!

With a newspaper which is owned and controlled by his government, what else did you expect? He can say any nonsense he wants with total impunity. The paper belongs to his boss, Lee Kuan Yew. And since this newspaper has been judged to be no more independent than the newspapers of Omar Al Bashir's Sudan or Eritrea by the international monitor Reporters Without Borders, it really makes no difference what they say, since they have no reputation at all. The world totally ignores what it says, and they (Lee Kuan Yew and his hand picked Tamil minister) don't care one bit what anyone thinks either. They know the Singaporean "digit" as Lee Kuan Yew calls his people are completely powerless to complain.

So what you have here is a newspaper article about what this Tamil Lee Kuan Yew's recently handpicked Minister has said; where in fact he has said nothing at all!

The article starts off by stating that about a decade ago, he had advocated affirmative action for Malays. But how this fact has any relevance to the rest of the article, except to mention that recently some Malay Singaporean was made a General in the Singapore Army (what his actual job duties are, we will never know, perhaps distributing the paperwork in the office!).

And finally we are told the truth. There is not going to be any change at all. According to him, things are going to be the same, and people are going to advance based on merit. If only this was true!

What is true is what we see. The Malays and Indians continue to be discriminated in the workforce by Chinese employers who demand a knowledge of Chinese for the job, when in truth none is necessary. In fact there was an comical but tragic nevertheless, incident, where the Indian in fact knew Chinese but when the employer discovered this, placed yet another requirement; knowledge of ancient Ming Dynasty caligraphy, and on this impossible requirement the Indian linguist naturally failed!

Just ask any Malay or Indian in Singapore. Blatant unashamed racial discrimination goes on before the very eyes of this Tamil, Lee Kuan Yew's poodle, K Shanmugam. If he had any decency, he should help his downtrodden Tamil brothers and sisters in Singapore in Serangoon Road to ensure they receive some modicum of fairness from the Chinese majority, instead of having to sleep on alleyways in Buffalo Road and Norris Road, high on traditional Chinese 100% proof spirit!

And coming to the word majority, if the Singapore Malays had their way, the Chinese in Singapore would not be majority at all, but would have been relegated a long time ago to being a very small minority.

Look at the facts. The Malays procreate and at a much faster rate than the Chinese, where every Chinese couple have either no children (too much stress, or unable to have sex, I don't know which) or at most one child. Take the Malay families. Every family has a full compliment of 3 to 5 children, and they should be very proud of it. And if this Singapore tyrant Lee Kuan Yew and his one party government had complied with the Singapore Constitution which demands equality between the races, the Malays would now be the majority race in Singapore, the Indians coming in a close second and the Chinese would have been a distant minority.

But this did not happen. Lee Kuan Yew, an ethnic Chinese himself, in blatant violation of the Singapore Constitution, brought in and continues to bring in disproportionately large numbers of Chinese from mainland China to ensure the Chinese continue to make up 75% of the Singapore population, in total violation of the rights of Malays and Indians.

And the discrimination against the Malays is particularly hurtful as they were the true sons of Singapore. They were there before anyone else. They were there before the British colonials brought in the Chinese and Indians.

And now this recently appointed minister in Lee Kuan Yew's dictatorship has the cheek to talk about meritocracy, when what he is actually saying is this. He intends to continue the discrimination of his government against his own Tamils and Malays as long as he is comfortable in his million dollar ministerial job, thanks to the continued patronage of his master, Lee Kuan Yew.

I really wonder why he is being employed at all, if all he can say, as in this case is to, in fact, say nothing at all!

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.

Singapore Island's Lee Kuan Yew. Clutching at straws in desperation.

2009-07-05T13:22:00.000-07:00

Ladies and Gentlemen,

Singapore's Dr. Chee Soon Juan has posted in his blog, Singapore Democrat, http://www.yoursdp.org/ of Sunday, 05 July 2009 headed "Breaking news: Did YouTube censor film on PAP?".

It tells about YouTube blocking, presumably at the behest of Lee Kuan Yew's Singapore the video "One Nation Under Lee" from being watched in Singapore. It can still be watched outside Singapore.

The video is obviously hurting Lee by it's exposure of the tyranny in the island. Unfortunately for Lee, the proverbial cat has been out of the bag a long time ago.

Many thousands all over the world have already watched it before this blocking, so any real effect of this is minimal. If you are outside of Singapore, it still can be watched.

I understand from Dr. Chee's blog that you could still watch it through other means and of course, he will always send you a CD if you need one. Please contact him for a complimentary copy.

The point I wanted to make is to show Lee Kuan Yew's desperation in persuading YouTube to take this action. The truth is, his government and Singapore is crumbling at his feet and he hits out any way he can, hoping it would make some difference.

But believe you me, it will not. The foundation of his government is rotten at the core and is crumbling. And nothing he does now can make any difference.

You know what I mean. The population is declining; no babies. 2 out of 3 students who go abroad for an education never return.

The people are angry with Lee Kuan Yew making his son, Prime Minister, who see this as shameless nepotism. He does not permit a free press.

Singaporeans are angry seeing innocent people such as Dr. Chee being sent to jail for peaceful protests. They look upon Lee's Ministers and supporters such as Wong Kang Seng as money and power greedy men who oppress the people. The people imports from China and India do not match up to Singaporean emigres whom they are intended to replace.

None of them want to set up home in Singapore anyway. Lee Kuan Yew has made enemies of neighbouring Malaysia and Indonesia from whom he receives no assistance. The huge public sector in Singapore will soon eat up whatever remains of Singapore's savings which is being depleted by the day. Need I go on?

Today if there is anyone such as Judge Belinda Ang Saw Ean who still backs the Lee Administration, this is what I will tell them. You are backing the wrong horse. This administration will fall and fall soon. And the one clear sign of this is Lee Kuan Yew trying to block the viewing of the video "One Nation Under Lee".

The maker of the video, Seelan Pallay has been called up for police investigation. He has mocked and sneered at them and remains defiant. What more signs do you need?

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.

Running Singapore Island by controlling information.

2009-07-04T21:12:00.000-07:00

Ladies and Gentlemen,

Lee Kuan Yew's one party state is really run by controlling information. In the island, all newspapers, the entire media is state controlled.

Every journalist, every reporter, ever newsreader, every TV and radio worker takes orders from Lee Kuan Yew's agents.

Only news that is approved for public dissemination reaches the Singapore islander. No one is allowed to publish or publicize anything unless it is cleared by state censors.

Singapore's Ministry of Communications and Information is the island's propaganda department.

Through this Ministry of Propaganda, the island's Ministry of Communications and Information, the minds of Singaporeans are controlled, so as not to permit any thought adverse or detrimental against the one party state and its supreme ruler Lee Kuan Yew and his son.

Another George Orwells’ 1984.

Any foreign newspaper or media found to be critical of the one party state is successfully sued, fined and refused circulation within the island, as what had happened to Wall Street Journal and the Far eastern Economic Review last year, not forgetting the long list of foreign newspapers that have been punished this way for decades.

This leaves the local Singaporean islander powerless to read anything neutral critical of the state apparatus, except the propaganda churned out.

The islanders can receive blogs and writings through the Internet which are neutral but the fear is so compelling, many are even afraid to read these things, lest they are found out by the unseen eyes and ears of the state, and punished.

Singaporeans are terrified to publicly oppose the one party administration. The blogs that circulate openly indentifying the owner are all praise of the leader, Lee Kuan Yew, his son and his one party state apparatus.

Those who are critical do not dare to identify themselves doing so incognito.

Only 3 people in the entire island of 4.5 million people dare to oppose the government openly through their writings but they have been punished so much and so many times by the Supreme leader Lee Kuan Yew that they no longer care.

They are Dr. Chee Soon Juan in his blog Singapore Democrat, Mr. Yap Keng Ho in his blog Uncle Yap and Robert Ho who writes as himself. It is well known in psychology that a man reaches a certain point of pain and punishment that from that point he no longer cares. That is the case with these 3 people here.

I too write critically. But Lee Kuan Yew can do nothing as long as I am not in Singapore making me effectively beyond the reach of his clutches, that is, his corrupt police force and his corrupt judiciary.

But with the complete lack of investigative journalism, where the entire journalistic profession has sold themselves lock stock and barrel to the supreme leader Lee Kuan Yew, what is the real news then?

For instance, what has happened to the legal profession there?

In my post here of June 30, 2009 titled "Law Society of Singapore Island refuses to disclose the number of lawyers" it appears the number of lawyers has declined perhaps to below 2,500, an unsustainable number for a country with 4.5 million people and engaged as they say in international commerce and finance!

In order not to embarrass themselves, they rather remain silent than state the number of lawyers remaining in the profession.

Since this fact of declining lawyer population there is not only embarrassing but also detrimental to the island's unchallenged self-claim that it is a banking center (since no one is allowed to challenge it), Lee Kuan Yew's hand picked Tamil Minister for Law had with great fanfare, declared that the requirements for foreign Singapore lawyers to practice there has been made easier, and therefore there will be a flood of them returning to Singapore.

In saying this, the handpicked Tamil Minister did not believe in it one bit. He knew the real reason why no one wants to practice there is because there is no longer any rule of law but rule by dictate; Lee Kuna Yew's dictate.

And therefore, making it easier to practice there would not make anyone return when they had left not because the rules to practice were difficult but because they were thoroughly disgusted with it.

Without an independent press, it is, as you can see impossible to know the truth. Are there 100 lawyers there today, or are there 2,000? No one can tell.

About a year ago there was a newspaper report revealing the great loss in manpower from the Singapore civil Service.

Since then, nothing further has been said about it. Today we do not know what the number of Singapore civil servants there are.

It appears the highly skilled and educated upper echelon are all leaving and many are leaving the country entirely, preferring to emigrate overseas to countries such as Australia.

It appears that they no longer want to live in a one party state ruled over by Lee Kuan Yew and his son, a country that lacks individual human rights and self respect.

But it is impossible for us to find out one way or another the truth or otherwise of what actually happens in the organization.

You see, it is the same throughout the island and with every single happening there. The news is controlled, calibrated and twisted to tell you what the government thinks you should hear, and no more.

And with it is the totally unacceptable situation in a country where the people, many of them, being overseas educated and demanding of democracy, the two don't meet.

Lee Kuan Yew's demand that he rule over them like obedient children and their desire to live as free agents is irreconcilable and un-resolvable. And with this impossible situation, the islanders have begun emigrating en masse.

For the moment, Lee Kuan Yew, the dictator manages to continue with false information being fed to his people by the state controlled media. But my question is how long? The system is rotting from it's foundation so rapidly that you can expect a sudden collapse in the not too distant future.

That is why I say if you are smart enough, pack up now and leave with your children. Lee Kuan Yew is managing it now, but only just.

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.

Law Society of Singapore Island refuses to disclose the number of lawyers!

2009-06-30T22:27:00.000-07:00

Ladies and Gentlemen,

A couple of years ago, it was reported in the Singapore press that the number of lawyers there with an island population of 4.5 million was no more than 3,500! Even with this small number, what was alarming was the number of lawyers there was shrinking with time, not increasing! In fact, the report said, 10 years ago there were more lawyers than what they had in 2007.

The number of 2500 now, guessing the shrinkage, is obviously inadequate for a country with a population of 4.5 million and claiming to be a financial hub! The principle reason is ( as any Singapore watcher will agree) the lack of human rights in the island; the erosion of the rule of law by Lee Kuan Yew, the dictator, interfering in the administration of justice and using it as a political tool to destroy his opponents.

Wanting to know what the number of lawyers in Singapore were now, I sent an Email to the Law society of Singapore. They have refused to answer. My guess, as anyone's guess would be, is this. The number of lawyers have shrunk even further and it would embarrass the Law Society to reveal the number. So they keep quite. Appended below is the exchange of Emails.

Communication 1, Gopalan Nair to Law Society: Article on Singapore lawyers
Friday, June 26, 2009 6:50 AM
From: "Gopalan Nair"
Add sender to Contacts
To: shawn@lawsoc.org.sg

Hello,

I am the author of Singapore Dissident, a political blog on Singapore. I am writing an article on Singapore lawyers. Kindly let me know how many lawyers have practicing certificates at the time of writing in Singapore.

Thank you.

Gopalan Nair

Communication 2, Law Society to Gopalan Nair Re: Article on Singapore lawyers
Our Ref: LS/3/GEN.pq(06-70)/09-11/ST)
Friday, June 26, 2009 7:40 AM
From: "Shawn Toh"
Add sender to Contacts
To: "Gopalan Nair"
Cc: "communications"

Dear Mr Nair,

I refer to your email dated 26 June 2009 appended below.

Statistics for the number of lawyer holding practising certificates as at September 2008 is published on our website at www.lawsociety.org.sg > About Us > General Statistics.

The exercise for applications for practising certificates for Practice Year commencing 1 April 2009 has just ended a few weeks ago and the Society is currently in the process of collating and preparing the relevant statistics. Updated statistics will be uploaded on the Law Society website when available.

Regards
Shawn Toh

Senior Assistant Director
Communications & Membership Interests
The Law Society of Singapore
39 South Bridge Road S(058673)
Tel: 6530 0238 Fax: 6533 5700
email: shawn@lawsoc.org.sg
web site: www.lawsociety.org.sg
Supporting www.singaporelaw.sg

Communication 3, Gopalan Nair to Law Society: RE: Article on Singapore lawyers
Our Ref: LS/3/GEN.pq(06-70)/09-11/ST)
Friday, June 26, 2009 5:07 PM
From: "Gopalan Nair"
Add sender to Contacts
To: "Shawn Toh"

Hello Shawn Toh,

Thank you for your Email. However what you say is troubling. If the exercise for filing new practicing certificates ended on April 1, which is nearly 2 months since, are you still saying they are still trying to organize the figures? This is difficult to accept, especially since Singapore is always trying to show they work at lighting speed efficiency.

What appears from public discussion is that the lawyer population is not only shrinking, it has in fact got below the 2,000 mark! The perceived reason is political interference in the legal process and the weakening of the rule of law. I do not know if this figure of 2,000 is true, an amount totally insufficient for a country the population size and business nature of Singapore.

What I suspect is that this is indeed the case, and you are trying to conceal this fact to avoid embarrassment.

I would be grateful if you answer this in the interests of not only of the Singapore public but also any outsider who may want to have anything to do with your legal system or country.

To be fair to you, I will be publishing this correspondence and your reply or the absence of it in the Singapore Dissident, my blog.

Thank you very much.

Gopalan Nair

Communication 4, Law Society to Gopalan Nair: RE: Article on Singapore lawyers
(Our Ref: LS/3/GEN.pq(06-70)/09-11/ST)
Monday, June 29, 2009 5:50 AM
From: "Shawn Toh"
Add sender to Contacts
To: "Gopalan Nair"
Cc: "communications" Dear Mr Nair,

I refer to your further email of 27 June 2009 appended below.

The annual practising certificates renewal exercise ended on 30 April 2009 and not on 1 April 2009 as you have stated.

The Law Society only publishes the statistics once a year around the period of August/September every year together with its Annual Report. You may therefore wish to look out for the next update on our Law Society's website which is scheduled to be in September 2009.

Regards

Shawn Toh
Senior Assistant Director
Communications & Membership Interests

The Law Society of Singapore
39 South Bridge Road S(058673)
Tel: 6530 0238 Fax: 6533 5700
email: shawn@lawsoc.org.sg
web site: www.lawsociety.org.sg
Supporting www.singaporelaw.sg

Communication 5, Gopalan Nair to Law Society: RE: Article on Singapore lawyers
Our Ref: (LS/3/GEN.pq(06-70)/09-11/ST)
Monday, June 29, 2009 6:59 AM
From: "Gopalan Nair"
Add sender to Contacts
To: "Shawn Toh"
Hello Shawn Toh,

Thank you for your response, which I honestly did not expect. Your response is troubling. Am I taken to understand that the practicing certificate exercise ended on April 30, 2009. That your organization publishes the statistics once a year, that is in August/ September 2009. Therefore between the period April 30, 2009 to August/ September 2009, a period of at least 3 months, you or no one in your organization knows how many lawyers have practicing certificates! That you must wait until August/ September, a period of 3 months, before you or anyone else can know how many lawyers practice in Singapore! I understand, and I am sure you agree that Singapore does not have more than 3,000 lawyers or so, by the count last year! And all this difficulty that you have is just for this small number.

And I must go away and wait for August/ September 2009 to get this figure and in the meantime, my article on the declining legal profession in Singapore has to wait.

Am I am right in saying this? I understand Singapore is unique, and you are effectively proving it once again.

Will you surprise me again and respond to this? Thank you.

Gopalan Nair

Communication 6, Gopalan Nair to Law Society: RE: Article on Singapore lawyers
Our Ref: LS/3/GEN.pq(06-70)/09-11/ST)
Tuesday, June 30, 2009 8:49 PM
From: "Gopalan Nair"
Add sender to Contacts
To: "Shawn Toh"

Please let me know if that is the end of the correspondence. I intend to write the blog on this now. Thanks

Communication 7, Law Society to Gopalan Nair: RE: Article on Singapore lawyers
Our Ref: LS/3/GEN.pq(06-70)/09-11/ST)
Wednesday, July 1, 2009 12:53 AM
From: "Shawn Toh"
Add sender to Contacts
To: "Gopalan Nair"
Cc: "communications" Dear Mr Nair,

Thank you for your email.

The Law Society has nothing further to add. The statistics on the Singapore’s legal profession will be updated on our website in September 2009 as scheduled.

Regards

Shawn Toh
Senior Assistant Director
Communications & Membership Interests

The Law Society of Singapore
39 South Bridge Road S(058673)
Tel: 6530 0238 Fax: 6533 5700
email: shawn@lawsoc.org.sg
web site: www.lawsociety.org.sg
Supporting www.singaporelaw.sg

From the above correspondence either the Law Society of Singapore does not know how many lawyers practice law there or the number is so low, they are embarrassed to tell you. You may decide which is true!

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.

Goh Chock Tong's fear is real.

2009-06-29T22:40:00.000-07:00

Ladies and Gentlemen,

Yesterday, I had written about Goh Chock Tong's disappointment over the serious brain drain of young educated Singaporeans to Western Countries. In fact the numbers that leave are not just every 2 out of 3 graduates of Singapore high schools going abroad to study. There is ten fold multiplier effect which causes the relatives, families and friends of the overseas Singaporean to join him abroad, thereby swelling the figures that leave ten fold.

This huge brain drain of the talented from Singapore must be quite obvious to Goh Chock Tong and his friend Lee Kuan Yew.

Students born brought up and educated in Singapore would know nothing other than Singapore, a place where they have to cram for their studies, where they fear to speak openly against the government, where their Asian culture of submission to authority makes them incapable of questioning authority and where on the whole they live a cowardly introverted fearful submissive lives.

But when they go to Australia for instance, they suddenly begin breathing a whiff of fresh air. The country is open, the people speak openly without fear of anyone, the newspapers are free to publish the truth, they are free to publicly protest and criticize and where the people are generally happier and more contented. Suddenly, the Singaporean export, falls in love with Australia. If only he had known earlier, he says, he would have left Singapore long ago. But, sadly, he did not know. But better late than never, now he knows. And he begins to hate Singapore for what it is, he begins to hate the tyrant Lee Kuan Yew who made him live like the dummy all these years, and he is glad he is free of that steamy intolerant crowded island.

And he transmits this message to all his relative and friends in Singapore. He tells his parents in Singapore to join him in Australia, he tells this to his brothers and sisters, to his relatives and friends. And then the family, the relatives, their friends tell it to theirs and so on, and the chain cumulative effect gets under way.

From the initial student who had gone abroad to study, you now have scores of others who have similarly left Singapore thanks to him.

This is what we call the multiplier effect. And this is what is happening. And this is draining Singapore of it's talent. And this is something Goh Chock Tong or his master Lee Kuan Yew can do nothing to stop.

Lee Kuan Yew can of course turn Singapore into another Cuba or North Korea sealing it's borders to prevent escape. Unfortunately for him if were to do that, it will only precipitate the calamity even further.

He did appear dejected in the picture in the Straits Times. It is quite clear that he has reason to be. This is what happens to all dictatorships. Their arrogance catches up to them.

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.

Lee Kuan Yew's son to Singaporeans: If you don't have a job, become a bus driver.

2009-06-29T22:03:00.000-07:00

Ladies and Gentlemen,

I am not sure if you read not too long ago in the Singapore's state controlled press the Straits Times where Lee Kuan Yew's son, the Prime Minister had suggested in these days of job losses that they should try working as bus drivers as there were many vacancies. Are you not seeing a touch of desperation there?

We have also seen a series of articles in the press where the government claims to be re-training workers. But re-training to what? How do you re-train a 50 year old security guard who recently lost his job? And what are these industries that need him anyway?

The niches have all failed. The port has failed, no cargo. Tourism has failed, declining tourists. Singapore Airlines has failed, not competitive. Computer industry has failed, no business. Law has failed, corrupt judges. What is there left?

With the unstoppable brain drain and with a bad reputation for human rights and lack of judicial independence, Singapore is hurting in all directions.

If there is no industry that is viable since the government has run out of ideas and the people are afraid to become entrepreneurs for fear of offending Lee Kuan Yew, will someone tell me what all this re-training is about? What, re-training to be bus drivers?

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.

Singapore's District Judge Toh Yung Cheong, an enemy of the people

2009-06-29T20:45:00.000-07:00

Ladies and Gentlemen,

Attached below is an article from the Singapore Democrat, the blog of Dr. Chee Soon Juan's Singapore Democratic Party. As you will probably know, Dr. Chee Soon Juan has already been bankrupted by Lee Kuan Yew, Singapore's dictator, not being able to pay the several hundred thousands of dollars he was ordered to pay him through trumped up defamation charges and court judgements which were bent by corrupt judges.

This is another example of Lee Kuan Yew's judges who bend over backwards to please him by unjustly punishing his opponents in the Singapore courts.

While this disgraceful judge Toh Yung Cheong denies justice to Dr. Chee Soon Juan to please his master Lee Kuan Yew, he is at the same time being an enemy of the people and the state of Singapore. He is, like his colleagues at the Singapore bench, bringing Singapore legal system into disrepute in the public eye.

It is shameless judges like these who successfully contribute to the decline and eventual fall of Singapore, a country now well known as a place where law is what pleases Lee Kuan Yew.

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.

Chee in Taiwan for in-law’s funeral, judge rescinds warrant of arrest
Monday, 29 June 2009
Singapore Democrats

District Judge Toh Yung Cheong had issued a warrant of arrest for Dr Chee Soon Juan who is presently in Taiwan for his father-in-law’s funeral but rescinded it earlier today. Judge Toh issued the warrant last Wednesday, 24 June 2009, the day the hearing for the trial over the WB-IMF protest in 2006 was to resume.

Dr Chee did not appear in court that day as he had left for Taiwan four days earlier because his father-in-law was dying.

He had applied for an adjournment before he left but Judge Toh rejected the request and ordered that the hearing proceed as scheduled. Dr Chee then asked to see Mr Toh in person but was told that the Judge was on vacation.

He then asked to see the Pre-Trial Conference Judge Mr Liew Thiam Leng to make the urgent application. Judge Liew refused. The SDP leader then asked to see the Duty Registrar but was told that this was not possible.

Dr Chee had earlier obtained clearance from the Official Assignee to travel to Taiwan. The OA’s office had rejected a similar application in 2006 to see his ailing father-in-law.

Co-defendants Mr Gandhi Ambalam and Ms Chee Siok Chin made another appeal to see Mr Toh on Dr Chee’s behalf on Monday, 22 June but the Judge refused to see them.

When the trial resumed on 24 June, another appeal was made. The Judge again rejected this and issued a warrant of arrest for the SDP secretary-general. The rest of the defendants were told to return to court on 26 June.

In the meantime Dr Chee’s father-in-law passed away on 25 June.

The judge was informed about this when parties went back to court on the 26th. The defence asked on Dr Chee's behalf that he be allowed to stay on to attend the funeral. Again Judge Toh refused. "The warrant of arrest still stands," he ordered.

Dr Chee explained that his request was not unreasonable and that he would have to stay on in Taiwan to see through familial obligations. He would face the consequences upon his return. He just wanted to make arrangements to ensure that his children would be brought home safely should he be arrested at the airport.

This morning, however, Judge Toh reversed his decision and cancelled the warrant. He told the defendants that the court had not asked for the documentary proof of the death when it should have. Due to this oversight and now that he had been furnished with the proof, the Judge decided to withdraw the warrant of arrest for Dr Chee.

New dates will be picked for the on-going trial.

Emigrate to America

2009-06-28T22:01:00.000-07:00

Ladies and Gentlemen,

As a follow up to my last post, a retort to Goh Chock Tong's lament on the exodus of the talented out of Singapore, as an California lawyer specializing in immigration, these are the avenues for those wanting to move to USA.

As Goh Chock Tong seemed particularly depressed in his photo in the on line edition of Straits Times in the article, June 28, 2009 "Strong Wings Deep Roots. SM Goh urges schools to retain their emotional bonds to Singapore" over the huge and growing brain drain of Singapore students to overseas countries, I thought I should write this article to help those who wish to leave for America. It is a good thing for capable Singaporeans to leave Singapore. It is a dictatorship which denies you even the basic human rights. And by leaving, you help weaken this dictatorship even further. When you go abroad with your family and children, support and help the Singapore political opposition in any way you can from where you are. Do your part to topple this dictatorial one party state for a new beginning for Singapore. Please remember that by leaving, you are helping to bring down this dictatorship in a big way.

American immigration unlike Canada or Australia is not based on the point system where an applicant is selected based on his qualities such as education and given the green light to move there. Here, the person qualifies based on family relationship; based on a job offer from a particular employer; he is admitted as a refugee fleeing from persecution; or through what is known as a annual lottery. The following is a brief explanation of each category.

1. The easiest way to immigrate is the annual lottery, but as the name suggests, there is no guarantee that anyone will get it. The lottery opens each year around September or October (please check the dates) for about a month. The thinking behind this method of getting a Green Card (permanent residence) is to permit those from countries which do not have sufficient immigrants in the US to come here. The correct designation of this visa is the Diversity Visa. Nationals of Canada, the UK, India, China, Mexico and the Philippines are ineligible as there are sufficient immigrants here. Nationals of the rest of the world are eligible. The qualification is only that you have at least "O" Levels (for Singapore). The chances of getting it is pretty good since Singapore is a small country and the region itself stands a good chance. The application process is very simple, merely filling up a form which can be downloaded. Please check the US Government websites such as that of the US Citizenship and Immigration Services and the US State Department. If you need my help, send me an Email.

2. If you have a husband/wife who is a US citizen; if you are under 21 and have a US Citizen parent; if your son is a US citizen, you can immigrate immediately.

3. Other categories that take a longer time to immigrate: husband/wife of green card holder; married son/daughter of American citizen; unmarried child, any age, of Green card holder; married son/daughter of US citizen and lastly brother/sister of US citizen.

4. You can go as a student and upon graduation, get a job as a non immigrant professional (H1B Visa) and then get your employer to file a green card for you. Caveat, it is getting harder to get these cases approved with the recession but nevertheless obtainable. Only thing is the Immigration Service is asking far more questions than they did before.

5. Anyone who has been persecuted for his political opinion etc can obtain refugee status. It is easier to enter the US as a visitor and then apply here than to make the application at the US Embassy Singapore.

6. With the US Singapore Free Trade Agreement, anyone investing a reasonable sum in a business here can enter the US as a trader/investor. The amount is not fixed but based on common sense. The most common route is for candidates to buy a franchise eg. Subway sandwiches, Postal Annexe, which requires very little investment eg $50,000.00. The applicants and his family can move here. The spouse of the principle applicant can work anywhere but the applicant is restricted to the business. The dependant children are entitled to go to public schools and treated as local students. Caveat, this is not an immigrant visa and does not lead to a green Card, but the duration is indefinite. As will be explained below, if the applicant later has savings of $500,000.00 it can be converted to a Green card.

7. Green card through Investment. If you have $500,000.00 to invest, free, and not encumbered, you can get a Green Card without any effort. There is the same sort of investor visa for Canada, Australia and New Zealand.

There are many other variations of the above but these are the principle means of moving to the US. Remember the clear distinction between non immigrant visas and immigrant visas. The 2 don't meet except for Treaty Trader/ Investor, and non immigrant professionals.

There are the other possibilities for Australia Canada and New Zealand, all English speaking countries based on the British model, all countries where your children can aspire to be anything they want, their full potential realized. They will grow up independent robust young men and women with courage, conviction and strong personal ideals. They will not turn out like the frightened Singapore children lacking confidence or a purpose in life. Although it may seem insignificant, milk is drunk in good qualities here and readily available and cheap, which means they will be strong with strong bones and good teeth; not like the weaklings in Singapore both bodily and in spirit.

And they very likely would turn out with some burning passion to change the world. They may turn out wanting to restore the rights of the Palestinians, they might want to help those in Dafur against the aggression of Sudan, they might want to join
Greenpeace and sail out in small boats in the Pacific to disrupt Japanese whaling vessels, they might climb and tie themselves to trees to save them being felled by loggers to save the endangered spotted owl.

Or they might even turn out like Gopalan Nair and write a blog, among other activities planned, in his effort to bring down the Singapore dictatorship, in collaboration with his freedom loving friends in the island. They might even criticize a judge in Singapore and get arrested and thrown in jail!

I think they are all good things that your children might want, which they will never pursue as frightened children living in fear of Lee Kuan Yew in Singapore island. Whatever they may be, their lives will never be like the cowardly boring and uneventful lives that Singapore children live. I hope that you will not want to deny your children that.

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.

Singapore's Goh Chock Tong visibly disappointed with brain drain

2009-06-27T23:50:00.000-07:00

Ladies and Gentlemen,

Singapore's state controlled newspaper the Straits Times online edition of June 28, 2009 has the article "Strong Wings Deep Roots. SM Goh urges schools to retain their emotional bonds to Singapore".

It shows a picture of him, looking down, clearly dejected, disppaointed. You have to look at his face.

He was speaking to 1000 guests at the 70th Anniversary of Chung Cheng High School where he said one out of three top students’ of the school who went overseas for an education never returned. What he said was true except for the fact that the figures were wrong. Very probably 2 out of every 3 students never returned.

One of them was I, Gopalan Nair. I had gone abroad for an education but did return only to be charged in court for contempt of court and being suspended from practicing law for 2 years. In 1991 I left for good and have never returned except for pleasure visits which eventually ended in my imprisonment for 3 months last year and a permanent prohibition from entering Singapore.

I have written about this many times in this blog. Emigration of the educated and skilled has progressively increased over the years that it is now an unstoppable flood with as many as 1000 a month taking up overseas permanent residence and 1000 a year giving up their citizenships. These émigrés not including the students who do not return is so large and continues unabated that it is now seriously affecting the ability of this country to survive. They have been trying to bring in replacements to cover the loss from Communist China and India but any right minded person can tell immediately that it will not work. These human imports are second rate for 2 reasons, first they would have preferred to go to Australia and failing that choice Singapore, and secondly, they have no intention of ever making Singapore home. No loyalty at all, only financial gain matters. Their other failures are a lack of English and ignorance of the British system of government that Singapore is supposedly based on. No European, American or Australian would want to make their home here, if they had any decency about them.

Goh Chock Tong deliberately feigns ignorance as to why this is happening when the reasons are staring him in his face. Why should any capable young man or woman with a good education or skills and with a bit of decency and principles about him want to stay in a country which:

1. Has no freedom of speech or expression?
2. Has no independent press?
3. Has a Lee Kuan Yew who pays himself $3 million a year and gives similar amounts to his son, after making him Prime Minister and pays the same obscene sum to every one of his good friends.
4. Where he abuses the law and shamelessly orders his judges such as Belinda Ang Saw Ean to order his political opponents to pay hundreds of thousands of dollars to Lee Kuan Yew for doing nothing but criticize?
5. A country which has turned entirely into robots unable to think or speak openly for fear of defamation actions brought on by Lee Kuan Yew through corrupt dishonest lawyers such as Davinder Singh?
6. A country which the International Bar Association has said has no rule of law or any independent judges?

There are a few dishonest men and women who would be prepared to stay but which mother of her son, or which young man or woman, if he had any decency would want to live the shameful lives that opportunists such as Lee Kuan Yew's defamation lawyer Davinder Singh lives, or like his corrupt judge Belinda Ang Saw Ean?

Almost every suggestion that Goh chock Tong makes in the article is downright ridiculous, as if he has no care whatsoever that Singaporeans too have a mind of their own. Let me give you the examples.

For instance, he says they should sink roots here even if they leave for good! Isn't that the height of incredulity! What, leave for good and yet sink roots in Singapore! How is that possible, Mr. Goh Chock Tong? Then he goes on to utter more gibberish and drivel, such as saying that Singaporeans should be like geese that migrate in winter but return in summer. Yes, Mr. Goh, that is what geese do. But we are not talking about geese. Human beings can’t live in 2 places. If they have gone, they live elsewhere. Not in Singapore.

And then he tries to appeal to their good nature, urging them to remember where they got their education and therefore they should be grateful to Singapore. But is Mr. Goh not forgetting something? Is it not the duty of the government, just as the duty of any other government, to provide an education? And if so, why should any student be grateful for what they are entitled to anyway? And besides, is he going to say that Singaporeans had a good education? Hardly. I went through Singapore education. It is bad. It instills fear in children, not courage and curiosity for learning. It dwarfs a child's development and turns children into young robots. It is good to know that many children from Singapore do manage to go abroad despite the poor education they get. Education is not just book learning; it also includes the development of character, which Singapore students’ lack. Australian, New Zealand, British and American children get much better education than the mediocre Singapore system.

I have personally contributed to the brain drain by what had happened to me. In the 1980s I was punished as a lawyer in Singapore for no other reason but being a critic of the dictatorship in Singapore. I was charged for contempt of court for making an election rally speech at the 1991 Bukit Merah elections for suggesting that the Subordinate Court judiciary should be free of control by the Legal Service Commission, so as to give the impression of impartiality. Nothing wrong in what I said, but Judge Sinnuthuray at the behest of Lee Kuan Yew fined me $8,000.00 and costs. Next, when I questioned the Attorney General Tan Boon Teik about his statement over the late JB Jeyaretnam which were false, I was subjected to disciplinary proceedings and suspended from practicing law for 2 years. Both these cases were given extensive coverage in Singapore’s state controlled press so as to frighten similarly minded lawyers from ever challenging Lee and company.

What do you think the effect of these cases had on the Singapore population, and especially on the legal profession? Immediately after the publicity of my cases in the Singapore press, I personally know that more and more Singapore lawyers began leaving the profession, mainly to Australia. Can anyone blame them? The Singapore legal system's reputation had sunk rock bottom. Lee Kuan Yew wanted to make it known that it was he who was master, not the law. Did you expect any honest lawyer to remain after this in Singapore?

Then there were the series of cases against the late JB Jeyaretnam and the ongoing never ending cases against Dr. Chee Soon Juan; the arrest of the "Marxist Conspirators", as Lee calls them; the series of cases against the foreign press; then my imprisonment? You see the people including young men and women are not blind or shielded from this injustice that goes on there on a daily basis. An educated man would want to be able to engage in an intelligent debate and not fear imprisonment for it. Singapore is no place for an honest decent educated person. Neither is it for their families and their children. It is no place to bring up children, period.

It may be fine for the likes of people such as Davinder Singh who does it for money, but how many good parents would want their children to end up like him?

My concern and interest lies with the people of Singapore, not with this one party dictatorship. My advice to parents and young men and women in schools is this. If you have the chance to emigrate, do it. In Singapore, you will never be able to achieve your full potential. It is a one party state dictatorship with Lee Kuan Yew running the show together with his son placed there by him. If you want to succeed in it, you have to do whatever the father and son say. If you are prepared to live like that, fine. If not, get out now. And my best wishes to you. You would have made the right decision by leaving.

Singapore is s silly country. With a silly government. You would be wasting your time with it.

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.

Singapore, an island run out of ideas

2009-06-25T23:25:00.000-07:00

Ladies and Gentlemen,

You would not be wrong if you had said, Singapore is a place run on false presences. It has managed to go on so far, but what about tomorrow? One has to wonder if that is possible.

The whole idea of the dictatorship is to depict an aura of efficiency and respectability which is all being debunked slowly but surely as nothing but a smokescreen.

Take for instance the gleaming high rise office blocks that line the waterfront. From the outside it all looks fine but have you looked inside? I have heard that half the offices are empty. Just shored up. No business. All the tenants had moved out. The maintenance of the buildings are beginning to suffer, as the landlords are running into losses. This side of the picture you see, is cleverly concealed from you, while you are left looking at the jazz and glitter from the outside. By now you must know, there is no way that anyone would know the truth unless you went around looking for yourself. Singapore island does not have investigative journalism or a free press. You are told what the government wants you to know. Not dissimilar to North Korea.

Then we had a sustained drumbeat from the dictatorship that Singapore had pride in the rule of law and was therefore a prime location for international arbitration. Finally, bad luck for the dictatorship, it all backfired for them when the International Bar Association had their meeting in Singapore in 2006. The irony was that the dictator's lieutenant, the former Minister for Law Jayakumar had worked hard to persuade the organization to go there for their annual conference hoping that it will give the island added prestige and legitimacy. What happened was just the reverse. Instead of praising the island's legal system, upon realizing what it really was, they wrote a 72 page scathing attack on it's judiciary. They said the judiciary was not independent and there was no rule of law! That put a complete damper on their hope of it ever becoming a center for arbitration. In fact after the report was published, a few of the foreign law firms packed up and left. If that was not bad enough, Singapore's legal profession continues to, believe it or not, shrink; not expand! The suspicion is, it has no more than 2500 lawyers now, completely inadequate for an island with 4.5 million people.

In their desperation, which they suffer very frequently now, K Shanmugam, Lee Kuan Yew's recently selected Minister for Law went through the motions of remedying the problem by shortening the training period of overseas lawyers, claiming this will cause a flood of lawyers returning to Singapore! Pipe dream once again. And the dishonesty about it is, he himself knows this meagre change will change nothing. Just imagine, trying to hoodwink Singaporeans into thinking that just because the training period is shortened, overseas Singapore lawyers who had left Singapore in disgust at the total absence of the rule of law, will all now come back merely because the training period is shortened! Well, the fact is no one has come back, and not only that increasing numbers of lawyers are leaving Singapore for good and newer entrants to the profession are absent.

Another oddity; there is the government arranging periodic meetings of selected individuals from business and industry to come up with new ideas or niches for business. The all encompassing fear of their government by Singaporeans has all but completely shut out their entrepreneurial spirit, leaving them capable only of waiting for government instructions. Since this has been the case all along in the past, and as all the earlier niche areas, the port, airport and biotechnology have all failed; they have now to come up with new niches. But with the country receiving a very bad grade in international eyes for lack of human rights and other violations, anything they want to do internationally is becoming progressively difficult. And now, they are desperately trying to persuade the people to exercise their independent thought process; which alas the people are incapable of doing.

If you take a trip to Singapore this is what you will see. Vast numbers of taxi drivers. Vast numbers of cooks selling cooked food everywhere. Security guards all over the island guarding the banks and condominiums. Thousands upon thousands of young women working in the offices and as sales girls (this number is vast diminishing as foreign businesses leave the island). Thousands upon thousands of young men and women working with the Singapore government as policemen, clerical officers and such like.

This vast number of jobs, are unskilled dependant largely of foreign businesses remaining in Singapore to provide employment. With this deep recession, foreign businesses are leaving which means thousands upon thousands are thrown out of work. None of these people have any skills to stand on their own. For instance a man without any education and only knows who to work as a guard cannot be expected to become an entrepreneur tomorrow.

Then there are the professionals. Those among them who are prepared to sell their conscience for the pleasure of the dictator find jobs that please Lee Kuan Yew such as Singh of the Bankruptcy Office who works hard to make the dictator's opponents bankrupt; Judge Belinda Ang Saw Ean who does her work of awarding one half million dollars against anyone who has criticised Lee Kuan Yew or Judge Judith Prakash who will send you off to jail merely for wearing a T Shirt with a picture of a kangaroo in judge's robes. As to whether she is in Singapore or left the country, I cannot say. The honest professionals who refuse to sell their souls to the devil find themselves having no choice but to leave the country for good.

This flood of professionals leaving the country leaves only the unskilled workforce, incapable of independently earning a living; being capable of surviving only if someone gave them a job. With the number of unskilled jobs progressively declining, the numbers of the unemployed are continuing to increase.

With the massive losses in the public assets due to mismanagement by the government, and with very little hope that the assets would grow due to the complete breakdown of international financial machinery, it is unlikely that whatever money is left is sufficient to maintain the massive public sector workforce and the infra structure. With insufficient money to pay the huge public sector workforce, there will be even more unemployment.

The Singapore tin pot tyrant's major mistake was to destroy the credibility of the organs of state such as the judiciary. With the entire island being aware of the complete lack of the rule of law and the intense fear that they have to speak up openly, the entrepreneur spirit is dead. There will continue to be massive unemployment and massive emigration. With insufficient educated skilled people in the country, and Chinese mainland human imports not being qualified enough as replacements, there is no hope for this island. I don't think so.

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.

Seelan Palay not only mocks Lee Kuan Yew, he flaunts it with glee!

2009-06-24T20:57:00.000-07:00

Ladies and Gentlemen,

You have to read the article in the Singapore Democrat,http://www.yoursdp.org/, Dr. Chee Soon Juan's website, who is Lee Kuan Yew's enemy number one, "Seelan Palay under investigation for One Nation under Lee" of June 25, 2009.

What you will see is the beaming face of Seelan Palay, a Singapore human rights activist, grinning from ear to ear with delight, immediately after he attended a police station in the island republic, accused of allegedly insulting the Singapore dictator or something equally silly as expected of Lee Kuan Yew and his minions.

The film as you will see is not only completely innocuous, it is a very truthful account of the human rights violations and injustices perpetrated by the strongman against his people in the island.

As is routine practice there, Lee Kuan Yew's police are yet again going after a young man who is merely showing non violent peaceful dissent against his one party rule. This time, the dictator's police are interrogating human rights activist and film producer, Seelan Palay, for privately showing this film on May 17, 2008 at a hotel; a film which he personally produced and directed. The film was, to say the least, critical of the strongman and the way he runs the country. It can be freely watched on Internet youtube.

The article itself narrates verbatim the policeman's questions and Seelan's mocking, defiant answers. To almost all the questions put to him by the policeman, he not only refuses to answer, but appears to ask the police to go to Hell! The comedy of it all is not only his willingness to show his smiling face just after his police interrogation session, as if he had just knocked out the policeman in a boxing match; he goes on to mock and sneer him by publishing the questions and answers verbatim, telling the public that he cared two hoots for this police officer or for his master Lee Kuan Yew!

It is this sort of reaction from the people, who are expected to live in fear and obedience, that intolerably peeves Lee Kuan Yew, Singapore's supreme strongman. In the past, Lee Kuan Yew's "digits" (this is what he has called Singapore citizens) whenever he arrests or questions them, froze with fear and immediately rolled over in submission. But now, quite often, when he abuses the law to silence them, the reaction appears the opposite. They no longer appear cowed and submissive, silenced and kicked into oblivion; instead they appear overjoyed at making Lee Kuan Yew look silly, by smiling and celebrating, as if they had just gone to a party!

The reaction to Lee's strong handedness appears changing . Instead of being ashamed, frightened and going away quietly, they are literally laughing at Lee Kuan Yew; telling him very clearly that he has a stupid set of laws (laws that deny fundamental human rights), and they have not the slightest of respect for it.

Dr. Chee Soon Juan, the human rights fighter, of the Singapore Democratic Party has been bankrupted and punished in more ways than one. Instead of quietly going away, he continues to expose the dictatorship for what it is, an intolerant dictatorship, by writing daily in his blog which is now read by almost every Singaporean who can read! And all Lee can do is to look silly and stand idly by. It seems, he has finally given up going after Dr. Chee Soon Juan.

Recently we had a number of young activists who were sent to jail because, believe it or not, they wore T Shirts emblazoned with a picture of a kangaroo in the vicinity of the High Court Singapore (the Kangaroo T Shirt Case). Lee Kuan Yew's compliant judge Judith Prakash appears to have been offended and she sent the 3 people to jail. I understand this woman is not taking any more cases and is in the process of leaving for Australia for good! Perhaps she can't take the heat anymore. She has now been known the world over as the "Kangaroo Judge". How appropriate that she is going of all coutnries to Australia, the only place in the world with kangaroos!

But I have digressed. What I should have said was that after the 3, John Tan, Izrizal and Shafi, the "kangaroo T shirt culprits" were released from Lee Kuan Yew's prison, the Queenstown, they were garlanded by a welcoming party and were seen singing songs and carried about as if they had just won first prize in the lottery! I understand they sang some kangaroo songs, filmed all of it and put in on Youtube. You can see their jubilation and merriment on the Internet.

It has been the same for each and every human rights activist which Lee Kuan Yew routinely sends to jail for violating his completely illegal laws; laws intended not to uphold the rule of law but to squarely break it.

You would recall that I myself was sent to jail for 3 months for pointing out the bias of judge Belinda Ang Saw Ean. When I was released from that prison, there was the usual welcoming party but since I had an American passport, I was whisked off to Singapore Immigration in a prison van. Otherwise I too would have had the opportunity for some merriment and party outside the prison.

Lee Kuan Yew's trying to intimidate guys like Seelan Palay is becoming a joke. No one cares for his politically motivated laws to stifle dissent. It is strange that his million dollar ministers do not see this. The dictator has for too long tried to abuse his powers to silence his people. Now they don't care anymore.

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.

Turning poor Singaporeans into beggars.

2009-06-22T21:05:00.000-07:00

Ladies and Gentlemen,

Singapore state controlled newspaper, Straits Times, has admitted, which is not very often when the news is bad; that a large swathe of the population are in dire financial straits. Of course, so are most of the other countries in the world in this terrible global recession, but there is one difference. Most developed countries have an established and fair system of social welfare where the poor are given financial help according to established guidelines and family size. The payments are intended to ensure the citizen and his family are able to live basic lifestyles expected of normal human beings. In Singapore, which Lee Kuan Yew claims to be first world, on the other hand, the established welfare payments are so little, it is insufficient even for a decent 3 meals a day, let alone for anything else.

With no money or food to speak of, the poor have no choice but to go to their Members of Parliament to beg for handouts, with the lines of the poor getting longer and longer each day. In order to get help, the citizen has to tell his sad story to his Member of Parliament, which is invariably a Lee Kuan Yew's man, who then decides in a few minutes, if he gets anything if at all. There are no fixed criteria as to the amount of assistance, the Member of Parliament having complete discretion whether to give anything, or nothing at all.

And if he does get anything, which is your guess or mine, the dictator makes sure of getting maximum political capital out of it. The event, where the MP hands out the few dollars or a bag of rice, will be given maximum publicity in the state controlled press, with pictures of the Member of Parliament giving the money or food to the recipient. And then the article would claim that the recipient had said that he loves Lee Kuan Yew and his Member of Parliament so much; they are both the kindest humans that ever lived and how eternally grateful he is etc. etc. The idea of course is to show the Singapore public how charitable, benevolent and kind hearted Lee Kuan Yew and his men are, even if the handout was no more than a couple of dollars or a bag of rice.

What is thoroughly unacceptable and offensive in the way charity is dished out there is this. In other countries the poor are allowed to retain their dignity. If they are unemployed or in financial straits, they can go to a particular government department where their means are tested, according to an established scale, and receive financial assistance. Both the recipient of the aid and the general public do not see any shame in this. It is accepted government responsibility to ensure the all citizens and their children can live at a comfortable basic lifestyle without having to lose their self respect. The rich and able accept their responsibility to those less fortunate by giving their fare share in taxes. Everyone realises there is no shame in being poor, it is a temporary circumstance. Things do get better and everyone is taken care of. Both the poor and the rich have a healthy respect for each other and so does the government. In respectable countries everyone has a stake for the welfare of all.

Singapore is quite the reverse. There is no self respecting dignified way to get financial assistance. In that island, the poor are compelled to plead with the dictator's politicians for financial assistance. In fact they are reduced to being no better than beggars. In the Singapore system, whether they get anything, depends entirely on their Member of Parliament. If they are good in crawling and sobbing, they might get a trifling something. Since their MP has no obligation to pay anyone, numerous complaints can be heard secretly that the government only gives their supporters assistance and not the others. Also the poor Malays and Indians who they claim are discriminated by the Chinese dominated government can be heard to say that they were denied aid.

It is well known in Singapore that thousands upon thousands of families have lost their jobs and have no income. And having families and children to feed, the poor have no choice but to literally try their chances begging their Members of Parliament.

The poor having to beg their politicians instead of a lawful right to assistance as in the developed countries demeans them, destroys their self respect and human dignity. Not only is their self esteem destroyed, their children too end up in the vicious cycle of poverty, crime and desperation.

If this government is serious in what they say, to provide financial assistance to the poor, then they have to be honest about it. The poor should only have to go to government offices and fill up the necessary forms for assistance as human beings would do; and they should be paid decent comfortable unemployment assistance sufficient to maintain themselves and their families, without having to beg for it. This whole idea of having to stand in line before their Members of Parliament has to be be stopped. And this dictator should stop making political capital out the poor among us with drumbeat and fanfare, taking pictures of the MP handing out a few dollars or bags of rice, and splashing it across the state controlled newspapers. Such actions shames them before their fellow citizens.

My message to Lee Kuan Yew, Singapore's dictator is this. Stop making political capital out of the less fortunate among us. You look very bad doing it, especially when you pay yourself 5 times the salary of the US President.

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.

Singapore islanders and the brave Iranians.

2009-06-21T00:20:00.000-07:00

Ladies and Gentlemen,

Tehran, until recently, was on fire, as could be seen splashed across TV sets across the world, men and women protesting in the thousands against the recent national elections which secured President Ahmedinijad another term of 4 years. Why is it, that young Iranian men and women today, bravely challenge the establishment, demanding democracy, publicly protesting despite the dire consequences to their life and limb; whereas the people of the tiny island state of Singapore are so afraid to do anything at all throughout their history, despite glaring similarities? They both live under dictators, Ahmadinijad in Iran, Lee Kuan Yew in Singapore. They both are denied their human rights. They both stand to to be tortured and jailed if they criticized their government (in Iran much worse than in Singapore). Yet the Iranian young man stands out like a lion whereas the Singaporean lives as a terrified mouse.

You know the painful facts in Singapore. When the small island's government ministers pay themselves the highest salaries in the world, 5 times what the American President gets, the poorer sections of the people are unable to feed themselves 3 meals a day, why do they not protest these injustices?

Why do they not do anything when they are denied the right to peaceful protest, a right guaranteed under the Constitution? Why do they not do anything to stop the abuse of the law for the government's political ends? Why do they stand idly by and watch when their fellow citizen, Dr. Chee Soon Juan is persecuted before their very eyes by Lee Kuan Yew's agent Judge Belinda Ang Saw Ean in ordering him to pay $400,000 in fines, for mere criticism? Why did they not do anything when the late JB Jeyaretnam was hounded in the courts for 3 decades by imprisonment, impoverishment and bankruptcy and finally death? Have they no honor, no shame, no decency, no human compassion, no nothing?

Do they not have even one percent of the manhood of the young Iranian in Tehran? I have always wondered this.

I too was a native Singaporean. Born there, went to school there. But thankfully I was never like the submissive locals. I was, to use the example here, another troublesome Iranian, thank God.

In the 1980s while a lawyer in Singapore, the Attorney General defended the Singapore President's decision (based on his advice) that JB Jeyaretnam was not entitled to a pardon for his criminal convictions firstly because he was not given an opportunity to be heard at Jeya's appeal in England and secondly because he had not shown remorse for his crimes. The Attorney General Tan Boon Teik lied when he said this. As a man, and a citizen of Singapore I felt a burning need to expose this lie. Keeping quiet would have been unforgivable cowardice. I realized of course the dangers involved in my challenging the Attorney General. But regardless, I had to do what was right. I had to challenge him on his statements. You know what happened to me after that. I was falsely accused of unethical conduct, and suspended from practicing law for 2 years by Lee Kuan Yew's courts. I had earlier left Singapore for good.

In my decision to challenge the Attorney General, I was behaving no different than the young Iranian men who had taken to the streets in protest. Just like them, I too knew the dangers of challenging the Lee Kuan Yew government. I might have been arrested, I might have been disbarred from law or a number of other things could have happened to me. But regardless of the dangers, I had to act. Just as the Iranian young men and women who protest, it simply was the right thing to do.

Last year in May, I went back to attend the Lee Kuan Yew vs Dr. Chee Soon Juan defamation trial. It was nothing more than a show trial. A farce. Judge Belinda Ang Saw Ean, the presiding judge was prostituting her office, shamelessly abusing the law by awarding her benefactor Lee $400,000.00, believe it or not. It was a shameful travesty of justice. After observing the disgrace, I had published it to the world in this blog on May 31 2008, for which I was immediately arrested and held in the island, and eventually sent to prison for 3 months. All in all, I had to spend 6 whole months in Singapore. Sure, there was no need for me to criticize her. No one was forcing me to do it. I also knew that I may be arrested and all sorts of harm could befall me. But just like the young Iranian man who protests in Tehran knowing he is inviting danger, I went ahead to write my blog. To the fearful average Singaporean, my actions were crazy just as he would have thought the actions of the Iranian protesters. But there are people, like me and like the Iranian protesters who feel that certain actions are worth taking because it was simply the right thing to do. The average Singaporean who lives in fear, does not appear to understand this. For them, living in fear of authority is a thoroughly normal and acceptable way to live.

Only yesterday the Singapore state controlled paper the Straits Times reported that 70 young Iranian students from National University and Nanyang University Singapore protested at Singapore's Hong Lim Park, in support of the protests in Iran despite knowing that not only them but their relatives in Iran may suffer harm. Yet they do it, whereas no Singaporean would have even imagined it.

And it is this cowardice and fear that the Singaporean dictator uses to remain in power; pay himself any amount of money he wants and deny the people even a modicum of self respect. As the saying goes, if this is what Singaporeans want, then this is what you get.

And the whole mindset of the tiny island nation is weird. According to the dictatorship of Singapore, I am a criminal. So was the late JB Jeyaretnam who had opposed Lee Kuan Yew. Dr. Chee Soon Juan, Lee Kuan Yew's bete noire, is not only a criminal according to him, he is also a cheat, a thief and a thorough miscreant and hooligan! Another criminal, according to the Lee dictatorship was Francis Seow another of Lee's dissenters and so was Tang Liang Hong who escaped to Australia.

The good law abiding people of Singapore, according to the Singapore dictator, are the ones who quietly live in their government owned apartments without complaining about anything, and quietly going about their daily lives as non entities.

If you have lived in Singapore for long enough, Alice In Wonderland would not be very funny any more!

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.

Lee Kuan Yew's son, looking for niches

2009-06-17T23:16:00.000-07:00

Ladies and Gentlemen,

A few days ago, there was a report in Singapore's state Controlled press the Straits Times where Lee's son, the Prime Minister was calling on Singapore islanders to look for niches; industries where the island can profit from. Traditionally the niches were the sea port, the airport, tourism and more recently biotechnology; all areas where the island economy has taken a tailspin. Singapore Airlines, the other niche has posted losses of millions and laid off half of their aircraft.

But what is surprising in this tiny island state of Singapore where chewing gum is banned, where the Ministers pay themselves several million of dollars a year as salary with no complaint whatsoever from their people and where you can be jailed for peaceful protests is this; why should the Prime Minster be urging them to come up with niches! Could they not think for themselves?

If you have lived in Singapore as long as I have, you will know the answer. For over 50 years the people have been told the government would do all the thinking for them, they will build flats for them, they will provide jobs, they will build hospitals and all the locals have to do is just accept their lives, jobs, the apartments, everything the government provides, and more importantly, submit to their rulers as obedient children.

With this long standing obedience, the people have literally lost their independence of thought. Lee provides the houses, jobs and ever possible thing you can think of. Well, this was in the past, where the world order was different. Where the small island could sell itself as a cheap assembly line workforce for foreign multi nationals. Those days have gone, the money laundering business has been exposed, the world now knows the judges are used as as Lee's political tool, foreign airlines have shown they are both better and cheaper than the Singapore carrier and worst of all, Singapore has outpriced itself from competition. The small island's niche has gone and the ministers who are paid 5 times the salary of the US President have run out of ideas.

And now finally they have no choice but to ask their citizens to think, but sadly for them, they have lost that ability a long time ago.

Asking them to find niches for Singapore is not going to work. Singaporeans now, believe it or not, are unable to think for themselves. 50 years of fear and obedience to this government has finally killed it.

And that I think is the greatest reason this island will fail. The people, even though they are by and large literate in the English language, are not part of the equation in government.

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.

Singapore island. The boxing match.

2009-06-14T13:08:00.000-07:00

Ladies and Gentlemen,

Singapore Stadium.

Singapore heavyweight boxing match of 10000 rounds. In this corner weighing 2000lbs the undefeated Singapore island national champions for the last 50 years:
1. Lee Kuan Yew the dictator who governs through fear
2. His son, the Prime Minister, Lee's sidekick
3. Lee Kuan Yew's minions, Wong Kan Seng, Vivian Balakrishnan etc.
4. His other minions, the PAP Members of Parliament etc.

In the other corner weighing 10,000 lbs,
1. Dr. Chee Soon Juan, political opposition leader who stands for truth justice and democracy
2. His supporters and political activists
3. Gopalan Nair from Fremont, California
4. The majority of Signaporeans who oppose the dictator's rule, standing for freedom and justioce
5. The thousands of Singaporeans abroad who are waiting for the dictator's regime to collapse
3. The interantional media who are dying for every oppurtuunity to expose the fascist regime.
4. The thousands of human rights organizations abroad who daily expose the truth about Siganpore from under the veneer of respectibility
5. The local and interantional blogging community who fight to expose this distatorship.

Who do you think will win?

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.

Singapore Island. The standoff.

2009-06-13T23:35:00.000-07:00

Ladies and Gentlemen,

The standoff between the democracy activists and the Singapore Island dictatorship of Lee Kuan Yew continues. There are 19 human rights activists who are now on trial in Lee Kuan Yew's courts for staging a peaceful protest, the "Ta Boleh Tahan" (meaning we cannot take it anymore) in 2006 in front of Singapore's make believe Parliament. Except for 3 of the 19 who pleaded guilty for personal reasons, the rest remain defiant in their determination not to succumb and give this government a run for their money.

Lee Kuan Yew's ever willing Attorney General Walter Woon finds himself in a quandary. With the earlier trials against other peaceful protesters which had all backfired resulting in the government getting very bad publicity throughout the world for human rights violations for jailing peaceful protesters, they find the prospect of sending these 16 peaceful protesters to jail in this case would tarnish their already damaged reputation even further. Lee Kuan Yew's enforcer, Walter Woon would rather let all these protesters go for damage control if they would only plead guilty, but they are simply refusing to budge.

In the meantime, with this government not knowing what to do, they keep postponing the case, as if they rather keep the day of reckoning as far away as possible. As for these brave young men and women, they on their part refuse to let up, no matter how long the government keeps postponing the case. And the one that actually suffers the most are the island's taxpayers, as their money is being wasted in this totally unnecessary court case which simply refuses to end.

The message from this case should be very clear. This dictatorship has finally realized that there is a very high price to pay in the damage to their international image if they are seen repeatedly to throw peaceful protesters in jail. Each time they do it, it is picked up by the international press who relish the opportunity to paint this government in as bad a light as they can; not surprisingly since Lee Kuan Yew repeatedly sues them in his courts for no rime or reason.

In this standoff between Singapore's human rights activists and Lee Kuan Yew, Mr. Lee appears now to be suffering from prosecution fatigue. He is now beginning to realize that abusing the law to jail peaceful protesters does not appear to deliver the desired results. Too many of these prosecutions against these innocent men and women tends to be counter productive, it angers the general public which see the government as bullies who go about punishing innocent victims.

One example is the recent arrest of human rights activist Seelan Pallay and Kai Xiong who had demonstrated in front of the ministry of Manpower about 4 months ago, in support of Burmese nationals who were being deported. It appears that until today, the police have not taken any action against them, since nothing has been reported in the press. So finally, this government has seen the light, it seems. Prosecuting them and sending them to jail would only tend to show this government even further as the ruthless intolerant fascist government that it is.

At the present moment, this government finds itself hard put to charge anyone for any new peaceful protest incidents. They appear to have learnt their lesson finally which is, it hurts their image more to abuse the law repeatedly. There comes a point where fear turns to hate, and that is the point which this dictatorship has reached.

So with the standoff now ongoing with these human rights activists and this dictatorship which relies on fear to stay in power, I feel that from this point on, Singapore's freedom fighters have the upper hand in peaceful protests. This government has finally become powerless. So seize the moment. I think you have the upper hand now.

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.

To Singaporeans, a lesson to learn from Tehran

2009-06-13T20:18:00.000-07:00

Ladies and Gentlemen,

All over Tehran, the people have taken to the streets. They are crying foul at the election results giving victory to hardliner Mahmoud Ahmadenijad. They claim the elections were rigged. They are prepared to protest all over the country demanding justice, even if it means arrest, imprisonment and torture. They are Iranians and they love Iran.

You Singapore islanders. Learn from the brave citizens of Tehran. Stand up to your rights. Take to the streets of Singapore and demand justice from the dictator Lee Kuan Yew. Do it if you love Singapore like the brave young Iranians who love Iran.

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.