Gopalan Nair, the Singapore Dissident

last SG · 2007-09-11T17:13:02+00:00

What gives him the right to speak for Singaporeans ?

googoomuck SG

Haha...number one, we are number one again! Laughing

Originally posted by Poh Ah Pak:
[b]Letter from Associate Profesor George Dutton, University of California, Los Angeles.

Dear Mr. Nair,

Thanks for writing your blog to get the word out about what is going on in Singapore and the farce of a trial awaiting Chee Soon Juan. I am currently teaching an intro course on Southeast Asian Studies at UCLA (125 students enrolled), and will be lecturing tomorrow on censorship and political restrictions across the region, in which Singapore will feature prominently. Last week the class saw an excerpt from "Singapore Rebel" and so I appreciated your update on Mr. Chee so that I could share it with my class. I spent a year at NUS from 1987-1988, and so saw the ISA being applied at first hand, so to speak, and have tried to follow the situation in S'pore closely since then. Keep up the good work and I'll be following your blog with interest.

Best wishes,

George Dutton
________________________________________
George Dutton
Chair, Southeast Asian Studies IDP
Associate Professor, UCLA Dept. of Asian Languages and Cultures 290 Royce Hall Los Angeles, CA 90095

http://singaporedissident.blogspot.com/2007/11/letter-from-associate-profesor-george.html

GEORGE DUTTON
http://www.humnet.ucla.edu/humnet/ealc/faculty/dutton/[/b]

Poh Ah Pak SG

Singapore. Lee Kuan Yew finding it difficult to enforce unjust laws

Ladies and Gentlemen,

Both the law requiring a permit for a 5 person or more protest and requirement of a permit for a public speech law appear to be slowly dying a natural death. As expected.

Laws are only effective if people are afraid to violate them. If not, any government trying to enforce them begin to look silly. This is exactly what is happening in Singapore now.

Singapore's laws requiring a permit for even a peaceful protest of a gathering of 5 persons or more; in circumstance where permits even if applied for are never granted, are untenable. A contradiction in terms. Ridiculous.

I am referring to Dr. Chee Soon Juan's arrest on numerous occasions for breaking this law. He had previously, on numerous occasions dutifully applied for permits prior to the peaceful gatherings. Not even once has the government approved a single permit. Since he already knows that permits will not be granted, and since he needed to peacefully protest, he went ahead with his protests. He has been charged in court on multiple occasions for these Singaporean law violations, but not even once did he plead guilty. Instead to the government's chagrin and disappointment, at each time, he disputed the charges, tried the case, lost and willingly went to jail. This is not what Lee Kuan Yew had expected or wanted. He expected that Dr. Chee, like other Singaporeans in the past would promptly plead guilty, show remorse repentance and contrition, dutifully pay the fine, apologize profusely and cease and desist from the offending behaviour. But unfortunately for Mr. Lee Kuan Yew, Dr. Chee is determined to remain defiant and unrepentant for his various crimes.

This is throwing a wrench into the spokes for Mr. Lee Kuan Yew. He is now in a quandary as to what to do. Dr. Chee is not behaving according to his plans.

Same with the Public entertainment charges which are presently going on. Dr. Chee is not behaving the way Lee Kuan Yew would prefer. He is not willing to plead guilty. He is fighting the charges tooth and nail. What is more, he has already bought various books for reading material while in jail to which he is preapring himself to go! Lee Kuan Yew, as you can see is at a loss as to what to do with this tough nut, Dr. Chee. Dr. Chee has turned out to be a tough nut to crack.

And what is worse, Dr. Chee's determination to resist unjust laws is emboldening various others to emulate Dr. Chee. Numerous Burmese had protested, all in violation of the protest laws. None have been arrested. As you are aware, there is in the case of Dr. Chee's public speaking charge, 6 other charges remaining. Although the government had threatened to charge him, one case at a time with six more to go, it appears strong likelihood that the government will drop all remaining charges.

As to the 4 who protested outside the Istana against the Burmese junta, they were arrested and threatened with criminal charges. It now appears that the police will probably not proceed at all.

Last time I was in Singapore, I had seen a great many Singaporeans, educated young men and women, all ready and willing to protest on the various injustices and show no fear whatsoever.

Regardless of whether Minister for Police Wong Kan Seng (Wong Can Sing) can or cannot sing, one thing he has to know and it is this. The tide is turning. Singaporeans are beginning to pick up their courage. He should stop wasting his time trying to enforce these ridiculous laws, because he is beginning to look silly.

It is about time he and his master Lee Kuan Yew understood that times have changed. They are planning to protest the CPF laws, the million dollar ministerial salaries, the plight of the aged and the poor in the Singapore and various other unacceptable laws and policies.

So Wong Kan Seng. Braise up.

Gopalan Nair

http://singaporedissident.blogspot.com/2007/12/singapore-lee-kuan-yew-finding-it.html

Poh Ah Pak SG

Singapore government's total neglect of the poor

Ladies and Gentlemen,

The Sunday Times report of Dec 2nd 2007 reads "We can barely stay afloat, say low income folk". It is the story of yet another Singapore citizen, neglected by the Singapore government. Administrative assistant Noor Zeen earns $1350 (about US$800.00) a month and has not paid her utility bills for the past 4 months.

The reasons for Noor Zeen's financial difficulties many. One is that she is a divorcee being the sole breadwinner in her family which consists of her mother, her 8 year old son and her late aunt's 2 children, all of whom she has to support with her sole meager income. At the same time, inflation makes everything more expensive than before. These 2 contributing factors make it physically impossible for her and her family to survive in any reasonable manner.

Yet there is one more reason; a major one that causes her plight. That is the government's determined, and totally indiscriminate policy of bringing into Singapore huge numbers of migrant workers who depress local wages. Unlike Noor Zeen a Singapore citizen, born in Singapore and a true native of the country, foreign workers do not have HDB rents to pay, they probably do not have any dependants family members in Singapore, they do not have to pay school fees and they can live rough, while Noor Zeen with her children in Singapore cannot.

The Singapore government appears determined to make the plight of Noor Zeen and others in similar dire circumstances worse. And they appear to have no plans whatsoever to rectify the ever worsening situation.

The Singapore government pays it's ministers millions of dollars each year. They claim that if these astronomical sums are not paid to them they will turn corrupt. Therefore in order to prevent them becoming corrupt, they have to be paid these unacceptably huge salaries. A curious argument indeed, since should we not ask whether the payment of these sums is indeed corruption by itself without more!

In any case, my point is this. If these politicians who have seized power by dishonest means, such as the defamation actions against opposition politicians which we all know; should they not take a pay cut so that these Singapore citizens in dire circumstances can be helped. A fraction of the $3 million that each minister pays themselves can handsomely take care of the plight of the entire section of population who find themselves in the position of Noor Zeen.

If the government calibrates and controls the entry of foreign workers into Singapore, this would help to improve the situation of Noor Zeen because we can suspect, and quite correctly too, that Noor Zeen's salary would have been much higher, had it not been for foreigners who would have displaced Singapore workers in Noor Zeen's position, causing her to work for the pittance that she woks now. Had it not been for foreign workers, her salary would have been much higher.

Noor Zeen's unhappy situation makes her have to go to her MP for a handout, to keep her family alive. Compelling her, a Singapore citizen who has done no wrong, to go cap in hand asking for a handout is demeaning to her as a human and damaging to her morale and the morale of her children and family members. She should not be required to ask for handouts. This is an insult to her and her self respect.

What the government should do is this. They have to realize first that citizens who are given the tools to fend for themselves and given a chance to learn skills and succeed, develop their skills in their chosen disciplines and make a success of themselves, end up better human beings and better citizens. When people are neglected and are made to suffer, their morale is destroyed, they begin to hate their country and their leaders, they lose hope and eventually they turn into a greater burden to their country than if they were given some help to stand up proud as citizens.

And in order to to achieve this, the government should first realize that leaving society to market forces alone is not enough, especially market forces where disproportionate numbers of foreign workers are permitted to flood the market and take jobs at any price. Second, the government should realize and accept the fact that Singaporeans unlike foreigners come first and must be served first. In other words citizenship should have its privileges, I mean Singaporeans born in Singapore, not some mainland Chinese foreigner who was given citizenship on a fast track.

Third the government should realize that Singapore can complete in the world not just by depressed wages. It should compete with best quality, and with higher productivity. This way Singaporeans should enjoy a good standard of living and at the same time remain highly competitive. Singapore government had said that it is the Switzerland of the east. Well then look at Switzerland. It has very high wages, its citizens enjoy excellent state benefits and yet, they are one of the most competitive countries in the world.

Switzerland is so, because, unlike Singapore, it has an honest government, and honest politicians who do not make these silly dishonest arguments that unless they are paid $3 million a year, they will all turn corrupt. Switzerland believes that being a Swiss citizen has certain privileges, such as a minimum living wage, medial assistance for the needy and educational assistance. This makes a Swiss worker 10 times more productive and skilled than a Singaporean worker, making a Swiss citizen far more skilled and competitive over a Singaporean.

This makes a citizen of Switzerland proud to be Swiss. A well fed well trained and educated work force, that serves their country just as their country serves them. In other words a country that looks after its citizens is rewarded with a highly contented and loyal workforce able to compete with anyone in the world.

So please stop comparing yourselves with the Swiss or the New Zealanders, the British or the Americans. Burma is a country that is not too dissimilar to Singapore. Please do not insult the Swiss by claiming that you are like them.

I have noted with pleasure that the Singapore Democratic Party has acted where action was necessary as in the case of protesting the Burmese brutality. The SDP now should take the case of these poor and neglected Singaporeans who are left to suffer by this heartless government on the silly excuse that market forces alone is sufficient. The SDP should point out to this government that this alone is not enough.

There are those who are too old and incapable of learning a trade. It is not enough to give these people a mere $200.00 and told to fend for themselves, which they cannot. Children of low income families need assistance to lead a reasonably comfortable life since otherwise their education suffers. Large numbers of workers without any skills have to be trained and financial assistance should be provided for their training.

But the fundamental requirement before anything else is the need for this government to realize that the first thing is for the government to ensure that citizens have a right to live a normal decent life without having to beg. And when you demand that they beg, is when you will see a turning point in their patience. And at that point, they will take no more.

This Singapore administration is neglecting their duty to their people. It is time Dr. Chee and the SDP reminded the government of it.

Gopalan Nair

http://singaporedissident.blogspot.com/2007/12/singapore-governments-total-neglect-of.html

Poh Ah Pak SG

Singapore. Law Society of Singapore vs Pallichadath Gopalan Nair.

Ladies and Gentlemen,

About 1988, JB Jeyaretnam returned to Singapore from London jubilant. He was cleared of all wrong doing by the Privy Council of London, the highest court in England and Wales. He had been convicted by Singapore courts of criminal breach of trust and filing a false Affidavit while he was a bankrupt as a result of Lee Kuan Yew suing him for defamation in Lee Kuan Yew's compliant Singapore courts. He was also disbarred from practicing law.

JB Jeyaretnam had appealed his disbarment from practicing law to the highest court of appeal, the Privy Council in London. The Privy Council of London expressly stated JB Jeyaretnam was not guilty of any blame or any crime. He was completely vindicated.

They ordered the Singapore Bar to restore him to the Rolls as an attorney. But since Singapore law did not allow any appeal on the criminal charges to the Privy Council, they could only recommend, which they specifically did, that JB Jeyaretnm should ask for a pardon from the President of Singapore, and an express implication that such a request should be granted.

From the facts, it would have appeared very clear to any layman that JB Jeyaretnam was not guilty. In fact the Privy Council stated the Singapore courts had clearly abused their power by the following dictum: " By a series of misjudgements, JB Jeyaretnam and Wong Hong Toy had been fined and imprisoned"

The events surrounding this case are tortuous. I suggest the reader to read a background to it, which is widely available in the Internet. The case is "The Law Society of Singapore vs JB Jeyaretnam".

The reader should know that the parties to JB Jeyaretnam's case before the Privy Council were the Law Society of Singapore and JB Jeyaretnam. JB Jeyaretnam by this appeal was seeking to reverse his disbarment, ordered by the Singapore Law Society; and that he be allowed to practice law again.

The appeal to the highest court in London was still available at that time in attorney disciplinary proceedings, although no longer available now. The case involved the Law Society of Singapore and the Singapore courts disbarring JB Jeyaretnam from practice because he was convicted by the Singapore courts for the criminal offence of breach of trust and lying on an Affidavit. As I had said, it was trumped up, and as the English court had said, JB Jeyaretnam was not guilty at all.

On his return to Singapore, as the Privy Council had suggested, JB Jeyaretnam had dutifully applied to the President of Singapore for a pardon. At that time, around 1988, the Attorney General was Mr. Tan Boon Teck. Writing on behalf of the President of Singapore, Tan Boon Teck published a letter in the state controlled newspaper in Singapore, the Straits Times, arguing that he should not be given a pardon for the following reasons:

1. He had not shown any remorse repentance or contrition for the crimes he committed.

2. The Privy Council, other than having the power to reinstate him to the Bar had no business going around making comments on the criminal offenses, since they had no authority to decide on the criminal aspects.

3. That the Attorney General was given no opportunity to be heard before the London court, therefore the judgment was flawed.

During this time, 1988, I was an active member of the Workers Party. I was also in active law practice. Reading the Attorney General's preposterous claims, I felt duty bound, at least as a self respecting human that this should not go unanswered.

I wrote a letter to the Attorney General in my office stationary, Gopalan Nair Advocates and Solicitors, 03-04 Golden Mile Complex, Beach Road, Singapore. In that letter I asked him to explain the following:

1. Since the Lordships of the Privy Council had expressly stated that Jeyaretnam was not guilty of any crimes, why should he be expected to show "remorse repentance and contrition"? He was innocent! Innocent people need not show remorse etc!

2. Yes it is true that the Privy Council had no jurisdiction to deliver judgment on the criminal cases. But since the criminal cases will decide whether Jeyaretnam is a fit person to practice law, they have had to look at the criminal cases which they did. And having seen them, they find Jeyaretnam not guilty.

3. It was clear from what transpired at the Privy Council that the judges had expressly asked the lawyer representing the Law Society of Singapore whether the Singapore authorities were aware of the proceedings. Only after making sure from the counsel for the Law Society that the Singapore government was aware of the proccedings and did not make any application to intervene; did they proceed to hear the case.

In the light of these facts, I asked the Attorney General why did he claim that he was not "given an opportunity to be heard" when the facts clearly showed that he had every oppurtunity to be heard before the London court but chose not to appear.

The Attorney General's reply was prompt and brief. He wrote that he was not a party to the proceedings. And secondly, if I wanted answers I should ask JB Jeyaretnam.

I wasn't satisfied with his letter. I wrote again. This time I told him that unless he gave me satisfactory answers, I will publish the correspondence to the entire legal profession in Singapore.

To this letter, the Attorney General stated that I was "scurrilous" and that I had "leveled false accusations against him" and threatened" him and that he was going to report me to the Law Society for unethical conduct.

True to my threat, I had faxed my letters to him and his to me, to all the lawyers in Singapore. I believe even today, many lawyers still have that correspondence.

I was placed on disciplinary proceedings by the Law Society. Mr. Madan Dollattram T Assumull appeared for the Law Society. Mr. Jeyaretnam appeared for me.

As for my actions, JB Jeyaretnam was never my client. What I wrote was entirely as a layman. Nothing in what I said was unethical. I had merely asked questions and had distributed the correspondence. I had never falsely accused the Attorney General. I had merely said that if indeed, the events reported to have occurred before the Privy Council were true, then he had no basis to say that he was "not given an opportunity to be heard".

I understand that the Law Society had decided that there was no basis to proceed against me either. As the Legal Profession Act had a provision which was recently introduced to allow the Attorney General to insist on prosecution, above the decision of the Law Society, he exercised this right, compelling the Law Society to institute proceedings which they did.

The disciplinary proceedings were interesting. The disciplinary proceedings judge was Retired Judge Choor Singh. The court room was a disused room on the very top floor of Singapore Supreme Court.

The first day of hearing. Assomull comes in and says the Attorney General is not free. He has gone to China. He will only return a month later. Case continued for a month. We come back a moth later. Again same thing. Attorney General gone to Timbuktu or who knows where. Case adjourned 2 weeks. This went on a few times. You see, the purpose of the repeated continuances was perhaps to make me admit the charges. I on the other hand had no intention of admitting anything.

Finally the case begins. Assomull states his case. He conveniently hides the fact that the English Bar had given an opinion that had this happened in England, no action would have been taken. He instead produces an opinion from the Law Society of England that says, provided it can be shown that a lawyer deliberately accuses another of wrongdoing knowing it to be untrue, he can be punished. But the punishment is unlikely to be more than a reprimand.

These facts did not apply to me at all. I had said to the Attorney General was that, if indeed what had transpired before the London court was correct, then his assertion cannot stand. This was merely a request for information. Nothing more.

Then came my turn before the judge. Assomull began to ask the questions. This was my turn to be a Mandela at the Rivona Trial or I am prepared to die speech"...

http://singaporedissident.blogspot.com/2007/12/singapore-law-society-of-singapore-vs.html

Poh Ah Pak SG

Carrots for lawyers to stay in Singapore

Ladies and Gentlemen,

The "Today" paper, another state owned and controlled newspaper in Singapore in it's report "Carrots for Lawyers to Stay in Singapore" of Dec 07, 2007, says the Singapore government is now trying various methods to induce lawyers to remain in Singapore. Many of them are leaving the country for good.

The legal profession in Singapore is in a sad state. First, Singapore has the highest number of dishonest lawyers in the world, in relation to their size. The profession itself has not grown in the last decade, with numbers now still about 3,000. And yet, even with this small number, one reads almost every week that a lawyer has stolen his client's money, usually running into millions of dollars and absconded. In relation to it's size, and with such a staggering rate of embezzlement cases, there can be no doubt that it indeed has the highest number of dishonest lawyers for any country in the world.

The newspaper report in reference says the number of law firms have hardly increased, the number of lawyers have remained stagnant, the number of foreign firms have remained the same, and what is worst, more and more lawyers are leaving Singapore to work abroad.

This should come as shock, or should it? This is despite the fact that there is a serious shortage of lawyers in Singapore, which means very good salaries. And despite all the good news put out by the state controlled media of Singapore, as to how well the economy is doing, and a whole load of hogwash; foreign lawyers are not taking the bait, and neither are local lawyers.

And the deputy foreign minister who has had a legal education himself, Mr. Jayakumar, says he is going to fix the problem with paying more money, and permitting more foreign law firms to practice local law in Singapore, with the hope that they will hire more local lawyers etc etc.

Do we see a sign of desperation in the actions of Mr. Jayakumar?

I will say this to say to Mr. Jayakumar. The problem is not money or the lack of it. The problem is with him. The problem is in the law itself, or more correctly, the lack of it.

Singaporeans have lost faith in the law. They look upon the man who runs the country Lee Kuan Yew as nothing more than a crook himself. A man who will use all means available, especially illegal means to destroy his opponents, a man who uses suppliant judges to abuse the law to bankrupt his political opponents, a country where the ends justify the means, a country where Lee's orders are the law. In other words a lawless country. An unsafe country. A country where people live under the licence of the rulers.

Singaporean lawyers are well educated and well travelled. They know what is on the outside. They compare and contrast. In the end, regardless of the money, they feel a distaste in practicing law under such conditions. So they leave.

They leave Singapore not because they want more money; they leave because Singapore law, their judges and men such as the Deputy Prime Minister have been discredited. It has lost it's reputation and respect. So self respecting lawyers leave.

I can say this much to Mr. Jayakumar, the Deputy Prime Minister under Lee Kuan Yew. You can try as many carrots as you want. It is not going to work.

My advice to Mr. Jayakumar is this. If you want to retain good Singapore lawyers, you have to fix the rotting foundations first. Restore the rule of law. Restore the impartiality of judges. Ensure freedom of the press. Restore the independence of the civil service. In short turn Singapore into a democracy, which today it is not. And until you and your government is prepared to realize this, all the world's carrots will not make people stay. And neither will the stick.

For the moment, my prognosis of the state of the Singapore bar is bad. Very bad.

Gopalan Nair

http://singaporedissident.blogspot.com/2007/12/carrots-for-lawyers-to-stay-in.html

Poh Ah Pak SG

Governing Singapore

Ladies and Gentlemen,

Singapore is one place in the world where the population remains permanently content, or they seem to be. As can be seen by the lack of any protests or political demonstrations for the last 40 years. Tomorrow will be just like today. The trains will run as usual. The phones will ring as usual. Your mail will be delivered as usual. Just as the sun will rise tomorrow as usual. Just as the people will go about their work as usual.

Lest you think they are all happy and contented, they are not. They have a litany of grievances from high living costs and lack of social services. But whatever problems they have; they quietly suffer in silence. They will not, like other normal human beings in other countries start societies and political pressure groups to demand change. They appear unable to publicly show their pain.

This subjugated population is exactly what Lee Kuan Yew and his administration wants. This means they can do anything they want with total impunity. There are not going to be any consequences or repercussions to what ever they do. Surely, subdued and submissive Singapore should be any aspiring tyrant's dream.

There are 2 classes of people in Singapore. The rulers and the others who are ruled. Or those who drive and those who are taken for a ride.

The first set of people are the rulers. They are highly educated citizens, selected by Lee Kuan Yew to work for him with a promise and guarantee of almost unlimited amounts of money and a guaranteed future. When I say unlimited amounts of money, I mean exactly that. US$ 2.5 million a year and more. This is the salary of Singapore government ministers.

The downside is, the applicant has to promise to do anything that Lee wants however objectionable, unconscionable. So the particular candidate has to be not only well educated and capable, he also has to be a person who is prepared to compromise his conscience and principles. In other words, he has to be an opportunist, a person who is prepared to do or say anything for the right price. A person who is prepared to act unconscionably, if Lee demands it. A person with malleable principles.

People with a conscience would not want such jobs at any price, but unfortunately there are many who can be bought for the right price. And it is these people who rule the country. They consist of High Court judges who routinely bend and break the law to silence Lee's political opponents; Lee Kuan Yew's defamation lawyers who are willing to say anything in court in defense of their master, however outrageous, however illegal; Lee's bankruptcy office staff who have lots of work making Lee's political opponents bankrupt after the courts have ordered them to pay impossible damages; Lee's police commissioners who willingly breaks the law to arrest and harass his enemies; the crooked newspaper editors; the cruel heads of prisons; all highly paid minions of Lee, ever willing and ready for any dirty work. Since the money happens to be right.

These rulers live in private landed property. In lavish lifestyles. They have money stacked away in Singapore and all over the world. Their lives are protected and comfortable. In return, they have to be Lee Kuan Yew's enforcers and finish off the competition, by fair means and foul.

The other group of people are the ones who are ruled; or in other words, those taken for a ride. Let me call them ordinary people.These people live in government housing, HDB flats, comprising 99% of the population. They cannot afford private landed property like their wealthy rulers. All of them rent their HDB flats from the government on 100 year leases, which contain several clauses giving the government almost absolute right to do anything they want with these properties. This means the poor citizen is completely at the mercy of the government for his housing. If the government so wishes, they can be evicted anytime on to the streets, furniture fittings and all!

The ordinary people do ordinary jobs with normal salaries. Usually just enough for their family's normal upkeep. They may belong to unions in jobs they do, but to call it a union is a misnomer. The unions are all controlled by the government and they have no independent power. The union leaders are in fact working for the employers, not the worker. This may be astonishing but true.

In the event that they may have a grievance, they can complain to their Member of Parliament, but these politicians are really not representative of any citizen. They are afraid of Lee Kuan Yew and their job is to do what he wants. Not what the citizen wants. So the citizen can voice his grievances but whether or not anything is done is entirely up to Lee Kuan Yew and his selected rulers.

The aggrieved citizen can write to the press, but here again, there is no use. The press is owned and controlled by the government. Your letter will not be published by the press. And you cannot go to another newspaper in the country either, because all newspapers are owned and controlled by the government.

This aggrieved citizen will not be able to find any courageous journalist either because there are none in Singapore. In any case, if there ever was a true journalist prepared to tell the truth, he would have lost his job long ago! The newspapers publish propaganda. The news is censored to tow the government line.

You can try if you want to protest, but if you did, you will be arrested. Not only that, you will be fingerprinted, the government's information gathering apparatus would have discovered where you worked, how many children you have and what they do. In a second, your entire life history file would be opened. You may find suddenly that you have lost your job. You may be demoted in your job. Your children would be disadvantaged in their schools. Various negative happenings will occur in your life from then on. And you will know, it is because you had the temerity to protest against Lee Kuan Yew.

History is also a great teacher. You recall JB Jeyaretnam who was repeatedly sued, bankrupted and disbarred and lost everything because he challenged Lee Kuan Yew. You recall Francis Seow who had to escape Singapore for fear of being imprisoned for eternity. You recall Chia Thye Poh who was jailed for 32 years because he went against Lee Kuan Yew. You recall Tan Wah Piow who had to escape to England to avoid arrest. You recall the arrest and torture of 22 civil society activists labelled Marxist conspirators in 1987.

Then a chill goes down the spine of the ordinary citizen. He becomes afraid to question. He fears what befell Chia Thye Poh will befall him. So he lives in fear. He has no choice but to accept his fate. So he endures in silence. He tries to keep a low profile. He does his work. He then goes home to his family. He may complain about many things privately to his wife and family. But what more can he do? Nothing. His monotonous life goes on. While the rulers, the million dollar ministers, rule these ordinary citizens.

This is how it is done in Singapore.

You must have read the book 1984 by Orwell. Singapore is very much like what it is in 1984.

It is not to say that the ordinary citizen has no choice at all. He has. He can if he wants to emigrate and leave for Australia if possible. Many do. But most people prefer to live where they were born. With their friends and family. In familiar surroundings. It is natural. So these people live and endure in silence in Singapore. Then there are others. They do not have the skills to emigrate elsewhere. They have no choice but to stay and suffer in silence.

Then there are others like Dr. Chee Soon Juan who dare to fight whatever the odds. They are only a handful. They stay behind in Singapore. They fight. But they have to pay a very heavy price, with lost jobs, imprisonment and bankruptcy. These are admirable people. Great men and women. But many find it difficult to emulate them. They say the price is too high. These are the silent majority in Singapore. The ordinary citizen who suffers in silence and goes about his daily work quietly.

This is how Lee Kuan Yew governs. This is why, just as the sun rises tomorrow, the MRT train will run tomorrow without fail, and punctually and on time from Dhoby Ghaut to Yisun Central.

Gopalan Nair

http://singaporedissident.blogspot.com/2007/12/governing.html

Poh Ah Pak SG

Singapore. A country in imbalance.

Ladies and Gentlemen,

The political climate in Singapore is in imbalance. Government and the people are odds. It cannot go on like this. Some balance has to be struck.

The people of Singapore are almost unanimously against the Lee Kuan Yew and his government politicians. They dislike the high salaries that ministers earn while many of them hardly get by. They complain about the inability to withdraw their retirement funds. They complain about the ever escalating costs and prices, while their income, instead of increasing, decreases. The complain list is long.

The government on the other hand totally ignore the people's concerns. No use complaining to their local Members of Parliament since they too fear the government and are helpless to do anything.

The government on the other hand continue with their salary increases, paying themselves any amount they want, with ridiculous excuses. This government has come to stage where they are not concerned anymore whether their arguments in support of unpopular policies sound silly.

The people are completely disenfranchised. They no longer have any voice in the governance of their country. During the currency of the tenure of this government, they will do anything they want and no one can stop them.

Lee Kuan Yew wants to help only his own family members and his chosen supporters. In other words, this government practices nepotism. Lee Kuan Yew's family members, that is, his sons, his in laws, his cousins, their cousins, uncles and the entire family members and their relatives are placed in various government and quasi government positions with incomes in the millions. The blog sg_review has detailed tabulated account of who and where these family members are placed. No account is actually provided as to why these particular individuals are placed in these moneyed positions. Is it because of merit or is it because they are related to Lee Kuan Yew. Lee believes, as can be seen in these important and financially rewarding positions that blood is thicker than water, and therefore his safest bet to remain in power is the placing of his family in the right jobs.

As far as the rest of Singaporeans are concerned, he appears not to be interested. You can call the rest of Singaporeans the CPF lot. That is their retirement money is in the government ordered savings scheme of Central Provident Fund. Problem is, that now Lee is refusing to pay Singaporeans what they are entitled to by raising the age at which anyone will get anything is 85 years. Problem is, he as well as Singaporeans know that most will die before then!

And then there is all the other dictatorial policies. Singaporeans are denied a free press. So the people are deliberately told a bunch of lies each day by the state controlled newspapers. Same with the TV and radio, all just propaganda. The people are aware that they are a told a bunch of lies each day, and they don't like it.

Singaporeans are becoming more educated. They travel more. They prefer more freedom. A free press. A more spontaneous society rather than this tight lipped one. The want the right to assemble, the right to speak, the right to organize, just like any other human anywhere else. They dislike living under this all embracing control, this all embracing surveillance that they are kept under.

In the past, all they wanted was basic necessities, like food and shelter. Then they were peasants. Today they are no longer peasants. It is not enough if the trains run on time and the telephone works. They want more than that. They want to be able to think freely, to organize freely, to speak freely, to exchange ideas freely without the government constantly arresting people with such stupid laws such as requiring permits to speak in public.

Singaporeans are saying, we will speak when we want. Not by getting a permit first! The people are upset with this government wasting taxpayers money arresting Dr. Chee Soon Juan repeatedly just because he spoke in public. They are tired of these stupid laws as the Public Entertainments and Meetings Act. And so is Dr. Chee. Dr. Chee is going to speak whenever he wants. And so are so many others.

The people are getting tired of this stupidity and arrogance of this government. They no longer respect this government. They look upon this government as money grapping arrogant autocrats who are out there to look after their own interests, not the interests of the people. If any of these ministers tried to visit any ordinary Singaporeans home, they would probably not be welcome. I have heard that in the past, people from higher storey HDB flats have thrown water and filth over the heads of Ministers who were walking below in meet the people sessions.

I can go on. The people have lost faith in the judiciary, as being an organ out there to punish political opponents. They have lost faith in the police. They feel the police just unlawfully arrest political opponents. You have seen the videos of DSP Deep Singh of Tanglin Police Station harassing the SDP activists during the Burmese protests and Police Officer Michael Tan of the Special Operations Department abducting and kidnapping Chee Siok Chin and John Tan of the SDP in unmarked police vans and releasing them at a far off location for no reason at all! No crimes were committed by anyone.

The Civil Service has been discredited for similar reasons as being Government Party stooges instead of an independent and fair government office working for the interests of all Singaporeans. As a result more and more Singaporeans are refusing careers in the Civil Service resulting in the government having to increase their salaries even further to stem the tide of declining applicants.

At the same time, children are not being born even to a replacement level of the population. In tandem, more educated people are emigrating. They are particularly doing so in larger numbers now because of the government refusing to pay them retirement CPF monies. Therefore one way they can get their money is to emigrate and give up their Singapore citizenship. This is causing even more people to emigrate for good.

The entire blogsphere is anti Lee Kuan Yew and the Singapore government. There might be one or two blogs which are paid for by the government to say nice things about them, but even when they try, it becomes silly. Tell me, how can anyone justify a salary of $4 million dollars per annum for the Prime Minister without sounding silly. It is the same with all their other unpopular policies. It is not possible for any pro Singapore government blog to be taken seriously simply because everyone knows that they are writing that nonsense because they are paid to do so...

http://singaporedissident.blogspot.com/2007/12/singapore-country-in-imbalance.html

Poh Ah Pak SG

It is clear the Government of Singapore has weakened.

Ladies and Gentlemen,

It is clear the people's overwhelming dissatisfaction of the Lee Kuan Yew government has begun to have effect. It has weakened this clearly unrepresentative government.

Today certain things are clear. First, the PAP ministers have thoroughly alienated the entire population by paying themselves unacceptably huge salaries, in fact several times the income of the US president, even though they are fully aware that all Singaporeans deplore it. The Lee Kuan Yew ministers stand discredited in the eyes of all Singaporeans.

The Singapore judiciary stands thoroughly discredited in the eyes of Singaporeans, never mind how many times the Singapore Chief Justice swears Singapore has the rule of law. It became discredited the moment it's judges willingly allowed themselves to be used as tools of Lee Kuan Yew to eliminate the opposition. As was the case with JB Jeyaretnam, Tang Liang Hong, Dr. Chee Soon Juan and countless others.

The Singapore Legal Profession stands discredited when the President of the Law Society, Philip Jeyarentnam stood idly by while the judiciary was persecuting Lee's political opponents re: Dr. Chee, JB Jeyaretnam his father and countless others. In fact Lee Kuan Yew uses the Law Society and it permits itself to be used as a political tool of the government to destroy his opponents.

Singapore newspapers stand discredited. It has been ranked 154th least credible paper, similar to the likes of North Korea, by respected international organizations. Singaporeans have no respect for their press. They look at it no more than propaganda organs and look to the Internet for real news. But since international papers do not report on local news, Singaporeans realize with disgust that they are fed propaganda on a daily basis. They are angry that they are treated so.

Singapore parliament stands discredited. 82 of the 84 government members in Parliament are seen as nothing more than hand picked executives whose job is to merely parrot what they are told to do by the government. Singaporeans know that they have neither leadership qualities nor independence. They are merely PAP highly paid employees and not representative leaders at all. These PAP members have no shame or any self respect. They know it, and the people know it. The people are angry.

In fact every government organ is discredited and has become entirely political tools to carry out Lee's commands and parliamentary democracy has been entirely destroyed. It is pure and simple fascism. The government knows it and the people know it. Therefore, it has now come to a situation where this Lee Kuan Yew Administration runs the country in this distasteful manner, in total disregard of the entire Singapore population.

This situation is one that cannot last. In fact, as their actions are entirely and absolutely against the peoples interests, Lee Kuan Yew is finding it difficult to enforce it's laws and policies.

Take defamation of character actions for which Lee Kuan Yew government has become world famous. You know that just 10 years ago, even the slightest criticism landed a person in court, having to face Lee Kuan Yew's lawyer , the turbaned Sikh, with a pro Lee Kuan Yew judge, who would have found you liable at the blink of an eye, assessed damages at a million dollars and forthwith sent you to the cleaners.

But look at the situation now. Complete opposite. Dr. Chee Soon Juan's Singapore Democrat website criticizes the Lee Administration, daily, openly and directly without any fear. In spite of this open and direct criticism, which in the past would have attracted countless defamation actions, now seem unchallenged by Lee. The Sikh turbaned lawyer is not being deployed to polish off Dr. Chee for his various defamations which Dr. Chee defiantly continues to utter, defamations being used within the meaning of Lee Kuan Yew lexicon, not it's universally understood meaning.

Take the bloggers, hundreds of them, who openly defy Lee Kuan Yew. And among these opponents of Lee, many are prepared to identify themselves openly. I am referring to blogs such as that of Mr. Yap Keng Ho, whose blog Uncle Yap, repeatedly calls Mr. Lee Kuan Yew a cheat and a liar; Martyn See who was himself questioned by the police once, but yet fearlessly blogs in his Singapore Rebel, calling Lee Kuan Yew names which would never have been previously uttered in Lee Kuan Yew's Singapore. Yet Martyn See remains undeterred in his criticism of these million dollar ministers and Lee Kuan Yew appears unable or unwilling, never mind which, to finish him off. There are countless other bloggers who have begun to bravely identify themselves while calling Lee Kuan Yew ministers, dictators, thieves and charlatans. None of them have been arrested or sued.

Then we have the political activists who brazenly flout Lee's laws intended to silence criticism. I am referring to the 5 man protest law which calls for a permit if 5 or more protest. The Burmese protested en masse. Not 5 but 2oo. But no one was arrested. You will recall some foreign wives, much more than 5 in number, protested Burmese repression somewhere near Little India MRT station, Singapore. Their pictures of defiance was all over the blogs. They were not arrested.

I understand that persons have been distributing leaflets along Orchard Road containing anti PAP literature. They appear to be doing this openly. Brazenly. No one has been arrested.

The last I was in Singapore, last month, I personally came across scores and scores of Singaporeans who have decided to engage in various forms of anti PAP agitation. I am sure with the Singapore government's surveillance apparatus, they are aware of who these potential aspiring anti government elements are. But none of them have had any trouble so far, and yet, only 5 years ago, they would have all been arrested by now, called Marxist conspirators and promptly confined at Internal Security Department headquarters which stands not far from the horses at the Singapore Polo Club.

The more I think about it, the more the situation becomes clear. The truth is that at present, this government is running the country entirely, repeat entirely, against the wishes of the entire, repeat entire Singapore population. This sort of a situation may be possible in a country such as North Korea or Burma which really do not need the outside world. It is entirely untenable for a country such as Singapore which relies on international commerce.

Singaporeans are slowly and slowly becoming emboldened. Singaporeans are at the threshold of taking more immediate measures. I can see the anger of Singaporeans to transform from suffering in silence into active forms of opposition. The next step for Singaporeans can only mean street protests, distribution of leaflets to the public and other more urgent forms of action. And when that time comes, the time of the Lee Administration would also have come.

Gopalan Nair

http://singaporedissident.blogspot.com/2007/12/it-is-clear-government-of-singapore-has.html

Poh Ah Pak SG

Singapore. As the saying goes, strike while the iron is hot.

Ladies and Gentlemen,

If you are satisfied, like I am, and like the respected international organization Freedom House, that it is impossible to change the government in Singapore through elections, then this is the time to act. With peaceful protests.

Lee Kuan Yew has unashamedly said publicly, on repeated occasions, that he has "engineered" the system in such a way that his PAP are assured of victory in elections. His son, whom he had placed as Prime Minister had also said during the last elections that if more than 2 opposition members were elected, he will have to "fix" them, meaning that he will frame them up as wrongdoers and destroy them. Also that he will bribe Singaporeans to win their votes. Although neither Lee Kuan Yew nor his son has said this, as a logical extension to their willingness to engage in dirty tricks at elections, we can safely assume that they will rig the elections as well if necessary. In fact I will go so far as to say that I will not be surprised if they have been doing just this at every election the last 40 years!

So I at least believe, there is no way democracy can come about as long as Lee Kuan Yew and his administration are in office. There has to be another way. And that way is peaceful civil protests. Protests to tell this government that their million dollar salaries are unacceptable, their refusal to pay Singaporeans CPF retirement is unacceptable, their insistence that Singaporeans live until 85 before they are paid retirement is unacceptable, their world record rate of execution of criminals is unacceptable, their failure to control immigration is unacceptable, their abusing the judiciary to destroy political opposition is unacceptable! Unacceptable! Unacceptable! Unacceptable!

Protests are a sure way of telling any authoritarian administration, that business as usual is no longer acceptable. This form of political strategy is particularly effective in a country like Singapore, since the very next moment, the world will be aware that these injustices go on in the island republic. And such publicity will hurt these despots who rule the country so much so that they, for once will have to listen.

The present is most opportune time for civil protest. You have all these glaring injustices that go on. These are staring each one us in the face. We are hurting, badly hurting as a result. And this is the time for action.

Singapore's small built up congested with people situation makes protests particularly effective. It is impossible for the entire country not to know within minutes that a protest is taking place at any part of the small island. If your cause is just, and all these causes are just, there is no doubt that the government will have to take the people seriously.

And this is exactly why the government is terrified of the word "protests".

Also as Singaporeans are very law abiding and gentle, having been under the heel of Lee Kuan Yew for the last 40 years, there is no possibility whatsoever in the people becoming violent. If ever there was violence, it will surely be the actions of Lee Kuan Yew himself so as to blame peaceful Singaporeans that it was they who were responsible. Lee Kaun Yew, as you know is a dirty politician. But Singaporeans need not fear as they already know what underhand work he is capable of.

Singaporeans have continued to suffer in silence this far. It is time for them to say, we refuse to take this nonsense anymore.

And in this regard, the one political party which realizes this truth, the impossibility to change government through elections is the Singapore Democratic Party. They have publicly said this. And they are right.

There are moments when a political party has to decide, regardless of how it received in all quarters of the country, to act according to their conscience. To act on what is right. To act on what has to be done. And this is the moment, when the Singapore Democratic Party should do what has to be done. They should organize protests. They should distribute leaflets throughout the country calling for protesters to contact them. They should stand at street corners asking support. They should ask for donations from the public in defiance of the politically motivated House to House Street Collections Act. They should seek foreign donations. They should do anything and everything possible which is right in conscience, not necessarily right under Lee Kuan Yew's politically repressive laws; to move the people to protest against these blatant injustices.

I urge Singaporeans with any "testicular fortitude" (words borrowed from a Singaporean woman in Australia who wrote to me) and by the way I include women of courage too, to contact Dr. Chee Soon Juan and volunteer as peaceful protesters.

With your courage, you can turn Singapore into a better home for yourself and your descendants. It is an honorable task. Get down to it.

Gopalan Nair

http://singaporedissident.blogspot.com/2007/12/singapore-as-saying-goes-strike-while.html

Poh Ah Pak SG

The ugly Singaporean

Ladies and Gentlemen,

The average Singaporean stands out from others elsewhere; as a people overly afraid of authority, in many cases insecure and unwilling to stand on principle, when principles are called for.

The cause for this unfortunate Singaporean trait is none other than Lee Kuan Yew himself. The founding father of Singapore as he is called, turned out to be a very bad role model, and since it is him that has been at the helm these last 40 years, Singaporeans have learnt very bad lessons. In trying to be like him, Singaporeans have turned out, by and large to be a heartless, soulless people, without compassion or principles and driven primarily by greed.

Look at Lee Kuan Yew. During these last 40 years, having made countless speeches and very long speeches at that, sometimes extending to several hours, not to be undone by President Sukarno, former President of Indonesia also well known for marathon speeches, the underlying message in each of them has always been the same. How he outsmarted and outwitted his hapless political enemies by various dirty tricks and cunning; and how proud he was of himself.

Lee Kuan Yew prides himself in how he was always one step ahead of his competition, how he managed to neutralize a critical press by dirty tricks, how he managed to imprison Lim Chin Siong and Chia Thye Poh, how he brow beat the Chinese Middle School students, how he managed to destroy the kampongs and erected HDB flats, how he had to finish off President Devan Nair, how he managed to detect the dishonesty of Francis Seow in time to pack him off to the ISD prison, how he finished off the then student Tan Wah Piow and so on and so forth.

Oh, you must not forget Lee Kuan Yews famous hatchet speech. About 2 decades ago, in Parliament he made his famous "hatchet" speech, which JB Jeyaretnam used as the title for his book "The Hatchet Man of Singapore". In the speech, Lee Kuan Yew said he always carried a bag, and in that bag, he always kept a hatchet. According to him, if politician crossed him, he will first challenge him to a fight. He would lure him to a back lane, which formed a cul de sac, so as not to let his victim escape, and there he will draw his hatchet and kill him. This speech clearly shows the thinking of this man; the founding father of Singapore. It sums it all.

A megalomaniac, too big for his shoes, Lee claims he did all this for the good of Singapore. But then you can also ask whether there was another reason. Was it for the good of himself?

Lee believes these are his accomplishments. If indeed they are, they appear more the accomplishments of a ruthless power hungry tyrant, more at home among gangsters, than that of a human being of conscience. There is no greatness, at least for me, in a man who uses dishonest means and dirty tricks, and in instances extreme cruelty, to destroy his opponents. These are acts of a desperate political tyrant; not the acts of a great statesman; and the last thing that any honest parent should wish is for his son to turn out as another Lee Kuan Yew.

But yet, regrettably, it is Lee Kuan Yew who turns out to be a role model for a great many Singaporeans. So many try to emulate him and encourage their children to follow. Since he is seen as a person who has become rich and wealthy by destroying the opposition, parents send their children to his PAP organizations so that they too will be able to get rich and wealthy in the same distasteful manner. These people are quite willing to do and say anything to please him; and like him, destroy innocent people just because they happen to be the opposition; because it is profitable to do so, and profit is God.

Large sections of Singaporeans have completely lost their core principles of humanity; emulating Lee Kuan Yew who has none. They appear totally lacking in compassion. Government leaders who think in the same unkind way that Lee Kuan Yew thinks, have no qualms to pay themselves millions while the less fortunate Singaporeans live in poverty; for less than $400.00 per month! Since Lee Kuan Yew has no compassion, they too have no compassion for the poor. Compassion is no longer in vogue in Singapore; since Lee Kuan Yew, their leader has none.

Since Lee Kuan Yew has no respect for the rule of law, his judges too, like him have none. They abuse the law on a daily basis, without a tinge of conscience, to find innocent defendants guilty.

They feel nothing at all in ordering Dr. Chee to pay half a million dollars merely because he asked Goh Chok Tong for an accounting of the promises of several million dollars to President Suharto by Lee Kuan Yew!

They feel no shame at all to order JB Jeyaretnam to pay another half million just because he alleged the PAP Indian MPs were not taking care of Singapore Indians. Even if you try very hard, even if you were under the influence of an opiate, you will still not be able to convince yourself that these were in fact defamations! Yet these judges are prepared to do this on a daily basis. Just like Lee Kuan Yew who would have no qualms either.

Courage is one quality that is almost universally lacking in Singapore. Men and women, human beings consider courage a quality to be acquired and cherished. Men, at least men in places other than Singapore, believe it an admirable quality to act according to your conscience and to refuse unconscionable acts; even it means loss of employment or other discomfort.

In other places, courageous righteous men are respected and are abundant. In Singapore on the other hand, only money appears to matter. Courage, honor and integrity appear to have no place at all.

In Singapore, you can see this despicable characteristic in many. There is an Indian Sikh with a turban, a lawyer who unashamedly does defamation cases whenever called upon by Lee Kuan Yew to sue his various political opponents. What is shameful about this individual is that he knows even before he steps into the courtroom that his client will win even though he knows that the law is clearly against his client since no defamation has in fact occurred.

He knows that the judge has already been ordered to favor his client and what is more, the quantum of damages, that is the million dollars, has already been decided; all this even before the parties have stepped into the courtroom! And this is how, this Sikh lawyer makes a living without any qualms, day in and day out. In trying to emulate his leader Lee Kuan Yew, he has succeeded in becoming a thoroughly unprincipled human being; a human being for whom the only thing that matters is money.

This Sikh lawyer is but one example of the hundreds and thousands of Singapore government employees and leaders; they all have lost their soul and like their master Lee Kuan Yew, integrity and honor does not factor into their daily lives.

And then there are the masses of ordinary Singaporeans. We can call them CPF Singaporeans since they are subject to CPF contributions, which means they have to make monthly contributions to the government for their retirement, but in fact, this government will not let them have any money at all! These are Lee's forgotten people. These are people that Lee takes for a ride; and a people that sadly are prepared to be taken for a ride.

These are the fearful people. People who are afraid to question, afraid to criticize, afraid to speak, afraid of their shadows. As for these people, Lee Kuan Yew will do anything he wants to them with impunity. And while Lee Kuan Yew ill treats these people, Lee Kuan Yew's cronies who are paid millions seems to be entirely at peace with their conscience.

You have the Lee Kuan Yew elite, paying themselves millions, greedy, selfish, without any integrity, honor or human compassion. You have also the down trodden, the poor who have lost all courage to stand up against these tyrants, lacking self respect or courage. This is what I mean by the ugly Singaporean.

They have all turned out to be Lee Kuan Yews or a version of it!

Gopalan Nair

http://singaporedissident.blogspot.com/2007/12/ugly-singaporean.html

Poh Ah Pak SG

The unintended negative consequences for Singaporeans under dictatorial rule.

Ladies and Gentlemen,

It is always best in any society to allow the people a say in the governing of their country. This way, ideas clash, new ideas are thrown up, and society advances, because everyone is thinking, and everyone contributes. Each citizen feels important. That his views matter. He is interested in his country. He wants the best for it. This way the country advances. Everyone benefits.

Sadly, not so in Singapore. Since in Singapore, we have a superman. At least that is what he thinks. I am of course referring to Lee Kuan Yew. As far as he is concerned, only he has a brain. And with it he will govern. He will employ or co-opt other successful people into his government with inducement of high salaries. These men, who are after money, join him, and primarily they will carry out his ideas and policies. Everyone else in the country is required just to comply with his orders. After all they are "digits" as he has referred to them. It is not necessary for them to think. All they have to do is to obey.

But you see, this sort of top down government will always face unintended obstacles. Reason being, they do not have the benefit of the thinking of everyone in the country.

These are some of the multitude of difficulties faced in this dictatorial form of government.

First, many years ago, Lee felt that there were too many people. Singaporeans, he said should have only 2 children. They complied. The government succeeded beyond their expectations. Result, too few children. Now, the government wants more people. The population is shrinking. So they are asking people to procreate more. But they are not taking the bait, despite all sorts of inducements. The government set up a matchmaking department. It resulted in a total failure. With all the stresses that Singaporeans face, having babies is not a luxury they can afford! So, they import immigrants from India and China.

The Malays on the other hand have had no problem having babies. They have at the least maintained the replacement level of reproduction. Since Lee Kuan Yew wants Singapore to remain a Chinese country, he is left with no choice but to bring in increased numbers of Chinese from China to keep up with the Malay numbers. Sadly for Lee, it appears that even the Chinese immigrants have no desire to remain permanently in Singapore, or to have children.

So it appears that Lee's plan of Singapore being Chinese permanently will not work. It is going to revert to being a Malay country as it originally was. I say to the Malays, congratulations and go for it. Have as many babies as possible, and show this old Lee that he is not superman after all.

Then the double whammy hurting Lee Kuan Yew. Singaporeans are emigrating. This is despite the daily propaganda being put out by the state controlled press, that Singapore is in fact the best spot in the world. All the coaxing and persuasion does not appear to work. The educated are leaving.

Singapore has about 3,000 lawyers. This small number has remained constant and is even declining. For a commercial city of 4 million, you need 4 times this number. But no use, the lawyers are leaving the profession and new ones are not joining. Why, because Singaporeans realize that there is no rule of law, that Lee abuses the law for his private ends, the law has become into disrepute and no one wants to be a part of it.

To encourage more to stay in the profession, Khattar Wong and Partners, a government connected law firm has offered both money and incentives for new applicants into the profession. Alas, again, no one is interested. It is true, after all, that once a legal system loses it's respect and credibility, as in Singapore's case, it is difficult to recover.

The Chief Justice and Mr. Jayakumar, the Minister for law both hoped that Singapore would become an international legal hub for the settlement of disputes, something like London. Unfortunately, Singapore is not London. London has the rule of law. England knows it. The world knows it. At the same time, the world also knows that the Singapore judiciary is routinely used by Lee Kuan Yew to sue and bankrupt political opponents. No; foreigners are not coming to Singapore to use their legal services.

And the pathetic state of the law, or the lack of it, in Singapore, was clearly made known to the world when the International Bar Association held it's annual meeting is Singapore. If ever there was any one left thinking that Singapore had the rule of law, that person has found out the truth, thanks to Dr. Chee Soon Juan. He succinctly made it very clear that the rule of law does not exist in Singapore; that the law courts are there for the pleasure of the Lee Administration. And those international lawyers have taken back to their countries, this knowledge that Singapore lacks the rule of law.

Lee told the world that Singapore is going to be a biotech hub, among the various other hubs that it was or was aspiring to be. A transport hub. An education hub. An arts hub. Etc Etc.

Alas none of it is happening.

Biotech has failed in Singapore. Not one but several international world renowned scientists who were lured to Singapore with grandiose promises have all left, the last being the creator of Dolly the cloned sheep. I suppose, they felt it uncomfortable to be doing scientific research in a country that denies its citizens their human rights.

As for the education hub, Warwick University, a British university decided it wanted nothing to do with Singapore. Reason, no fundamental human rights or freedoms. You cannot be educated, they said, unless you have freedom.

The transport hub was also another failure. Kuala Lumpur is much cheaper and better. Moreover the whole idea of transport hubs is dead. No reason to fly from Taipei to Singapore and then on to Chennai. Now you can fly direct to Chennai. The Boeing 777 has seen to it.

Arts hub? You must be joking. How does one have art, without freedom? Are you going to perform and keep looking over your shoulder to see if Lee Kuan Yew is upset! Arts hub died even before it was born.

Lee Kuan Yew recently attended some college in Singapore to meet the students. As expected there he gave his, I am sure he was thinking, his earth shattering speech. The students of course quietly listened. At the end, he asked them if there were any questions. None. They as Singaporean students are terrified of him. How could they ever have such courage even to ask a question! What happens if Lee did not like the question? The end of his career! So danger lurks. Best not to ask any question. Safety lies in not being heard, and if possible not being seen! Mind you, this is Singapore.

I understand the electronic industry in Singapore has died a natural death. Costs too high. They are manufacturing now in China.

I also understand that Singapore has got its 10th millionth visitor. So perhaps this is where Singapores future lies. A great big amusement park and shopping center. So perhaps Lee Kuan Yew should now open more colleges to train people in the hospitality industry.

At the same time, I understand Singapore is investing it's money, or rather the people's money in various investments abroad through Tumasek and the GIC. In order to do so, they need a constant infusion of money. Problem is, the money is running out. CPF is now refusing to pay as promised. The government is constantly increasing the prices of its HDB 100 year leasehold premises to exorbitant levels; I suppose to squeeze more money from their citizens.

But in the end, this will not work either. There will come a time when the people will just not be able to afford servicing their exorbitant rents they pay for the leasehold premises.

So you see, it is one problem after another. Just because this government thinks they know best, and your opinions do not matter one bit.

Gopalan Nair

http://singaporedissident.blogspot.com/2007/12/unintended-negative-consequences-in.html

Poh Ah Pak SG

Singapore. A hub for white collar crime.

Ladies and Gentlemen,

Only some months ago, we read of David Rasif, a Singapore attorney who stole $12 million of his clients money and absconded. He remains missing till today. He may be is some tax haven in some corner of the world enjoying the stolen money; with no qualms whatever. I mention his case only because it is a record. The highest amount embezzled by any lawyer in Singapore's history.

But attorney Mr. Rasif is not alone among attorneys in crime in that island. Despite the fact that the entire population population of lawyers in that island of about 4 million people, and there are only 3,000 lawyers, anyone reading the Singapore press regularly will notice there is at least one attorney a month stealing their client's money and making off with it. The size of the amounts, stolen is alarming. Usually it runs into several millions but as of late even petty amounts like $30,000.00 are being stolen. It is as if Singapore lawyers no longer consider embezzlement of client's funds a crime!

It is not only embezzlement. There are a series of cases, almost on a daily basis, of lawyers bribing clients for cases, bribing policemen and other forms of professional misconduct.

At the rate lawyers in Singapore continue to steal, it is slowly getting the name of the most dishonest set of lawyers in the world, relative to the size of the profession, numbering only 3,000.

But lawyers are not the only ones running off with moneys entrusted to them. Everyone has heard of the corruption in the National Kidney Foundation where TT Durai, a PAP supporter had stolen large amounts of money and has been convicted for it. Yet it is well known in Singapore that he is unlikely to go to jail, as he is within the inner circles and a collaborator of the ruling PAP and Lee Kuan Yew. It is expected that the judges who are themselves beholden to the ruling party will in all probability give him a slap in the wrist, let him off, and the government will continue employing him in one position or another with high pay.

Then we have both the Chairman and the wife of the same organization who were caught laundering the money in Hong Kong. At the same time, while the lawyers continue to embezzle with astounding success, the others too are in the stealing game. A series of managers of charitable organizations have run off with the money in the charities' accounts. This has been a regular occurrence for some time.

The latest case of the ex-condo manager who ran off with $200,000 was reported in the Singapore press of Dec 26, 2007 headed "Ex-condo managing agent believed to have made off with $200,000". It refers to a woman Amutha Perumal who managed 4 condos in the Selegie Road area and Hougang who had left Singapore about a year ago with the money. Both herself and the money remains unrecoverable.

I have only referred to these embezzlement cases. There are also numerous cases of theft corruption tax evasion and all sorts of other white collar crime almost on a daily basis. This runs entirely contrary to the repeated mantra in the Singapore state controlled press that Singapore is a safe and law abiding country. Far from it. In fact it is the white collar crime hub in South East Asia; getting top spot especially for having the highest number of dishonest lawyers.

This bad name that the legal profession has acquired must have serious deleterious effect on the ability of lawyers to attract and retain business clients to whom financial fidelity in lawyers is important. This bad name goes a long way in dissuading anyone from dealing with Singapore lawyers when money is involved. At the rapid rate at which lawyers scoot off with their client's money, what guarantee is there that they will not do it them.

One can safely say to a large extent, the Singapore legal profession has been discredited as far as financial integrity is concerned.

There may be many reasons for this trait of dishonesty which has begun to run among Singaporeans but one major reason is Lee Kuan Yew himself. If he is the man at the head of the country, then he is setting a very bad example. And people are saying that if it is all right for Lee Kuan Yew, then it should be all right for them. Which reminds me, there was a Chinese cooking show on television here in Northern California, hosted by the Master Chinese Chef Mr. Yan, which was called "If Yan Can Cook, So Can I". Singaporeans in Singapore could possibly be saying "If Lee Can Steal, So Can I".

Lee Kuan Yew himself is seen as a thief. I am of course talking of his paying himself $3 million a year in salary and the several other millions he takes without telling anyone. This is theft. And he is a thief. And so is his son who he has appointed Prime Minister who pays himself the same or even more. We never know how much. His son, by doing this, is also a thief. And so are all the other friends and minions of his to who he distributes his largess generously. They are all thieves. There is no other better word to describe them.

Now if indeed, if such crooks actually govern the country, what do you expect the ordinary people to think? Well, they naturally say, that if theft is good enough for Lee Kuan Yew the Minister Mentor, then it is good enough for me.

So larceny, embezzlement and fraud becomes a way of life. This becomes part of the Singapore psyche, part of Singapore mindset, part of Singapore philosophy. And it is only going to get worse. In fact, although some are getting caught, they appear not too concerned. As I write; a lawyer, one among the 3,000 is serving a long sentence in Changi prison. Several years. His name is Colin Cains. I knew him when in Singapore. He seemed to me then a regular human being. I never knew the other side of him. I know of another Malay lawyer whose name slips my mind. I knew him too. He too will spend a long time in that prison. It is almost impossible to fathom, why ordinary normal attorneys in Singapore have suddenly become thieves and crooks.

We have had a number of spokesmen from government departments trying to brush off any criticism by saying there are thieves in every country. That may be true, but not at such great numbers as happens in Singapore. Mind you, Singapore has only about 4 million people. Only 3,000 lawyers. Yet despite such small numbers, there is almost one lawyer a week stealing money, involved in corruption or other forms of misconduct. So it is not a normal phenomenon of normal human frailty. It is almost as if, stealing money is the right thing to do, if you have a chance! It has become a uniquely Singapore phenomenon.

As I said, the country is run by a bunch of crooks. Crooks who take your money when they want, sue you for defamation if your protest and imprison you if persisted in criticism. It is a country run by an unprincipled lot, Lee Kuan Yew and company, who do whatever they want, anytime they want. These people turn out to be bad examples of what humanity is supposed to be. And regrettably many Singaporeans are learning their bad ways.

Gopalan Nair

http://singaporedissident.blogspot.com/2007/12/singapore-hub-for-white-collar-crime.html

Poh Ah Pak SG

The completely disenfranchised Singaporean

Ladies and Gentlemen,

By now every Singaporean must know this. How they live? What Singapore will become? What businesses will be attracted from abroad? What trading policies will be adopted? Will immigration be increased or decreased? What sort of immigrants will come? After off shore bankers are invited, who ease will be? Singaporeans have no say in any of this. In fact, you do not know what Singapore will be tomorrow. Lee Kuan Yew and his friends in government will decide these things for you, just as they have done the last 40 years. All you have to do is just follow instructions like an obedient Singaporean. This is, whether you like it or not. This is your pathetic life in Singapore.

Singapore constitution requires elections to be held every 5 years. The elections are stage managed by Lee and his friends. You are powerless to install your chosen representatives. In any case, for the last several elections, almost half the seats were uncontested. Lee's party comfortably walked over to victory. And they will again. And if not they will stage manage it. And win again.

The 84 representatives in Parliament know this as well. They are aware that there is nothing they can do. Mr. Palmer, a PAP MP had asked certain questions on the welfare of lower income citizens recently in Parliament. This was reported in the Singapore state controlled press. That question and answer session too was stage managed. Mr. Palmer on his own in fact had no questions whatsoever. The question that he asked in Parliament was because Lee and his friends, Palmer's superiors, told him to ask that question. The idea here is to hoodwink you into thinking there is representative government. That MPs ask questions on behalf of the poor. But that happens only in real democracies. Singapore is not a democracy. It is a dictatorship pretending to be a democracy.

These question and answer sessions is a pretence to make you think parliamentary democracy exists. In fact it serves no purpose at all. Singapore would continue running the same way it has done for the last 40 years with or without these theatrics of parliamentary debates. In fact, I am sure Lee himself considers these parliamentary sessions an utter waste of time. But it is something that has to continue to perpetrate this charade of parliamentary democracy.

So just like this poor obedient PAP MP Mr. Palmer, all the other 82 PAP MPs are the same. The questions they have to ask in Parliament is all told to them beforehand. They then go into Parliament and like a theatrical performance read out the questions that they are told to ask. The answers too are predetermined. Even before they step into the Singapore Parliament, they already know what questions are to be asked, as well as the answers to those questions!

Please don't even for a moment think that what goes on within Singapore Parliament is in fact representative democracy. It is play acting. It is a theatrical performance. Where these hand picked PAP politicians; handpicked by Lee Kuan Yew, go through the motions of a parliament sitting. No such thing really happens.

The PAP MPs themselves are unwilling, actually unable, to represent you. They are powerless. They know it and Lee knows it. You can raise your problems with them. But in doing so, remember, there is nothing much they can do for you. If it pleases Lee, he may do something; otherwise nothing.

The newspapers in Singapore are, as you know, wholly owned and controlled by Lee Kuan Yew. Their job is to play the same game that Lee Kuan Yew plays; that is to pretend that it is a democracy. So on their part, they will tell stories that this MP said this or that. Well, the truth is, they can say as much as they want. Lee still rules alone single handedly. He is the dictator.

The trade unions play the game too. The game of pretence. They say they are defending the workers. In fact nothing of the sort happens. They are there to pay the wages which the government thinks ought to be paid. In any case, only a few occupations are unionized. By and large the entire Singapore working population is not protected at all. Whether they are paid living wages or starving wages is entirely, as the government has said, up to market forces.

Today we see foreign workers coming in. Today immigration is encouraged. Banking is encouraged. So bankers come to Singapore. Gambling is encouraged. So casinos are built. How many foreigners there are now, only God knows. The newspapers cannot be trusted. Their job is to print government propaganda. Whether now the foreign population has exceed the native born Singaporean, we do not know. Perhaps it has. Is this sort of immigration a good thing? Your views do not matter. The government has decided. So it will be done.

And similarly, if the government decides tomorrow that these policies are wrong, Lee will change them. You as a citizen are not part of the equation. Your views do not matter at all. All decisions are made by Lee Kuan Yew, his son and his friends in government. Please remember this sad fact, in this so called first world country, as Lee Kuan Yew claims it is. He has even written a book with this title, that is First World. Whether you in fact believe it be a first world country, he, Lee Kuan Yew does not care in the least. To summarize what he thinks of you, it is this. To him, you are a "digit". He has said this in Parliament.

You have no say about immigration. You have no say about wages. You have no say in the direction Singapore is taking in business, in commerce, in social services, in wages, in infra structure, in construction, in brainwashing; you have no say about anything in your country. The sooner you realize it the better.

Question is, are you prepared to let this continue? If not, the time is now for you to do something. It is criminal on your part to let your country be ruined by this man Lee Kuan Yew. And also, it is miserable and demeaning to live a life over whose destiny, you have no control. You are not the master of your destiny in Singapore. Lee Kuan Yew is the master.

Act on it now. Waiting for the elections in 2011 will achieve nothing. The elections itself is drama. Theatrics. In Malay, such as theatrical performance is called Wayang. What is happening now is a wayang. And you are having no part to play in it.

Gopalan Nair

http://singaporedissident.blogspot.com/2008/01/completely-disenfranchised-singaporean.html

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