Ladies and Gentlemen,
The Lee government of Singapore and the people of Singapore cannot
be further apart from where they are now. And with time, something
has got to give. Either the people would show their unhappiness in
more robust ways than they do now, or this government has to accept
reality and democracy. Whatever it is, the present status
quo cannot last.
Lee Administration by their everyday actions have made it clear
that they are not concerned about what the people think. If not,
which politicians anywhere in the world, in their sane minds, would
think of paying themselves salaries of $3.7 million per year each,
which happens to be the salary of the Prime Minister of Singapore
and his father Lee Kuan Yew, each! Despite
knowing full well that every Singaporean is fuming mad about this
shameless theft of Singapore's assets, they do it anyway,
regardless of the people's wishes!
Then you have the poor. About a third of the population are earning
less than $2,000.00 per month. Yet the HDB
house rent has gone up to several hundred dollars a month;
deliberately increasing food prices and denying any responsibility
by blaming foreign countries for it; deliberately refusing to pay
the old people their CPF retirement payments
as required by law; totally neglecting the old and the unskilled
Singaporean; deliberately lowering their wages by bringing peasants
from Bangladesh and India who will work for $400.00 per month.
These Indian peasants and others can live in their countries for
$100.00 per month, therefore the $400.00 they get in Singapore is a
windfall; whereas for the Singaporean, this is not a living wage at
all.
As a result of the government's total neglect of the realities in
Singapore, the poor are driven to suicide, living in void decks
because they cannot afford to pay rent. On the other hand, these
impoverished peasants from India and other places live rough; 25 to
a HDB room; since their only concern is to
send their entire salaries to their impoverished relatives in India
and other parts of the Third World. Unlike them, the Singaporean
has rent to pay, electricity bills, transport costs and children to
send to school, all of which costs a lot of money. They cannot live
on $400.00 per month. They cannot compete with cheap labor Indians.
Not being able to survive, they are driven to suicide.
This government is not not only misguided, they are downright
determined not to budge from their ridiculous philosophy, which is
this. Their philosophy, which also happens to be a cunning way for
them to deny any basic assistance to their needy citizens, is this.
They say, conveniently for them in the circumstances; that any
welfare payments to the poor will result in their becoming lazy and
unproductive. Therefore no help will be given to those unable to
support themselves.
The people know that this excuse, not to give any assistance to the
poor, is not genuine. They see it as a deliberate attempt to ignore
their plight. We have seen the world over where caring governments
who provide a lending hand to the needy, does not necessarily
create a dependant population.
Instead the people appreciate and are grateful to their
governments, learning new skills and improving themselves and
turning out in no time to be valuable proud upstanding members of
their societies. Whereas, in Singapore, as the government is
determined not to help anyone, the poor starve or are forced to
wait at tables in HDB food courts, or reliant
upon their children if they can.
This breeds bitterness and hatred in the hearts of the aged poor
against this government; which in the end, will only cause further
instability, lack of productivity and the eventual fall of this
uncaring government. The French Revolution comes to mind. King
Louis just like the Lees failed to understand his subjects.
This government fails to understand that it serves no purpose to
tell an old uneducated Chinese woman of 58 to go out and learn new
skills. She cannot. She is illiterate. It is
too late for her. If the government does not help, she cannot be
saved. She too is a human being. A Singapore citizen. The Prime
Minister pays himself $3.7 million. Giving her a reasonable sum
every month will not change anything. It will not result in the
decline and fall of Singapore. He can pay a small portion of the
$3.7 million. It will not hurt him even a bit. There is no
compassion or even wisdom on the part of this government. None at
all.
In the end, the government is helping the illiterate peasant from
India. Instead they should be helping the old Singaporean
woman.
And all these grievance cause a divide which cannot be resolved.
The government and the people are at odds. The situation is
untenable.
Who are the rich? They form a very small number. Just as in the
military junta of Burma, they are all connected to the government.
These are the Ministers, the judges, the presidents of large
government linked companies, the top civil servants, the editors of
the state controlled newspapers, the commissioners of the police
and such like. The poor is the rest of society, made up of the
ordinary civil servants, the ordinary policemen, the ordinary
office worker and the ordinary factory hand. The former are paid
millions. The latter are paid $2,000.00 or less a month.
And these Singapore poor are kept at bay, from attacking the rich,
through fear. Fear of loss of jobs, fear of retribution, fear of
libel suits, fear of benefit loss, an all embracing fear like a
blanket which lies over this entire island.
But now you see cracks in this standoff. On March 15, 2008 at 2 pm,
the Tak Boleh
Tahan protest was successfully held by 50
determined people in front of the heartless Parliament House, which
is responsible for their misery. It was a protest against rising
food prices. These proud admirable courageous men women and
children stood hand in hand, peacefully crying for justice while
Lee's police came to arrest them. Undaunted, defiant, encouraged
with truth on their side, one by one they went, dragged to waiting
police vans in front of countless aghast outraged Singaporean
passers by, without resistance, to be arrested and put on
trial.
There is no doubt about it. These 50 are going to be 500 next. The
tolerance level of the poor is has already reached. There is no
doubt about it. The government of Singapore is no longer
representative. It has begun to rule by force. Not by law. The time
has come for action. And with action, there can only be one
outcome. And you know what that is.
Gopalan Nair
http://singaporedissident.blogspot.com/2008/03/great-divide-lee-kuan-yew.html