January 29, 2010
Once upon a time, Singaporeans are proud citizens of their own
country under the leadership of the capable and charismatic Lim
Chin Siong who spoke up fearlessly for the common folks in the
streets.
Everything were to change on a fateful day in 1962 where Lim and
his colleagues from the opposition Barisan Sosialist were hauled up
and detained under the Internal Security Act (ISA) without
trial.
With the opposition crippled, the PAP went on the win the
election in 1963 and subsequent elections from then on and with
each single electoral victory, they consolidated their power and
extended its influence to almost every institution in
Singapore.
Today, there is not a single institution in Singapore, be it the
media, police, trade unions, grassroots organizations, or civil
society which is left untouched by the PAP.
Hitler, Lenin, Stalin and Mao would have been proud of their
erstwhile successor Lee Kuan Yew in their graves – for he had
surpassed of their accomplishments of establishing complete
authority and control over a nation under the guise of
democracy.
Over the years, Singaporeans had their civil and political
rights curtailed and robbed from them one by one.
In the past, a gathering of more than 5 people is illegal; today
even a solo protest is outlawed. Singapore used to have a vibrant
media landscape with a few major papers; they are all owned by one
single news agency SPH now which is controlled indirectly by the
PAP.
All the grassroots organizations are de facto PAP’s branches in
the community as admitted by Lee himself recently when he boasted
ashamedly to a delegation of officials from China that “all CCs,
CCCs and RCs are part of the PAP.”
The police has become the security apparatus of the ruling party
to clamp down on political dissent. While Singaporeans were
arrested and jailed for legitimate political activities such as
distributing flyers in public, police stood idly by and allowed
foreigners to protest on our own soil.
With no opposition in parliament and no credible alternative in
sight, Singaporeans have little choice but to lend their support to
the PAP year after year.
After the 2006 general elections, the PAP leaders gave
themselves an astronomical pay rise and threatened to leave for the
private sector if Singaporeans do not accede to their demands. (not
that they can anyway).
Lee claimed that without paying him and his subordinates
millions of dollars a year, the country will lose billions of
dollars under an “incompetent” government.
A year later, Singapore’s sovereign wealth funds GIC and Temasek
lost a few billion dollars in failed overseas investment, but both
Lee and his daughter-in-law remain in charge of our nation’s
coffers to this very day.
Only then did we realize that we are no longer citizens of
Singapore, but “lesser mortals” as pointed out rightly by a PAP MP
Charles Chong.
There are two classes of people in Singapore – the ruling elites
and the rich who benefit the most from the nation’s economic growth
during the last decade and the “lesser mortals” who have to slog
hard like dogs day in and out just to feed themselves.
It is hardly surprising that Singapore’s income gap between the
rich and poor has widened over the past few years while the
standard of living has dropped for ordinary Singaporeans – the rich
are getting richer and the poor are getting poorer.
Again, Singaporeans have little choice but to stick to the PAP
because Lee warned that if we do not so do, our wives and daughters
will become maids in other countries.
We have been turned into a flock of sheep following our leaders
blindly wherever they lead us to, be it heaven or hell. One Senior
Minister described himself and his colleagues as “lions” leading
us, but the reality is – they are no more than sheep themselves
being led through their noses by the only “lion” permitted to exist
in Singapore.
Singaporeans trust the PAP to give them another overwhelming
“mandate” in the 2006 elections after which Prime Minister Lee
opened the floodgates to immigrants and the sheep found themselves
being swarmed by jackals, rats and vultures.
Being pushed to the brink with nowhere to go, even sheep will
protest. To their dismay, the PAP will hear no more of their
whining and they are now relegated to being “donkeys” according to
the words of one PAP member.
That’s all Singaporeans have evolved from citizens to lesser
mortals to sheep and donkeys in less than one generation.
Lee Kuan Yew said in a recent interview with the National
Geographic magazine that if Singaporeans do not have the “spurs
stuck in their hide”, it is our problem.
Which animal has the thickest hide in the world?
Singaporeans must have the thickest “hide” in the world for
after all the ruling party has done to trample on their rights,
dignity and egos, they will still return it to power in the next
election.
As Lee himself said lately, Singaporeans must be “daft” if they
have the temerity to cast a protest vote against him and his party
in the next election. He cannot have put it more succinctly.
After all, the grand “forecaster extraordinarie” has
predicted that the PAP will win the next two elections hands
down.
When happens next?
The PAP will no longer exist by then for their name will be
changed to FAP or “Foreigner Action Party” which will finally
complete the evolutionary journey of the hapless, pathetic and daft
Singaporean.
