Wednesday, December 21, 2011
Singapore. Desperate Singaporeans turn to violence. The caged animal syndrome
Ladies and Gentlemen,
One thing that appears to become alarmingly common in Singapore; unprovoked and unpredictable violence on the increase. Sometime ago, Singaporeans read of one disgruntled citizen, I remember his name as Mr. Yeo, who suddenly went up to his Member of Parliament at a Meet the People Session holding a can of paint thinner or gasoline I am not sure which, deliberately doused him with it, and set him alight, all in plain sight of hundreds of others who were there!
That MP suffered third degree burns and is permanently crippled as a result. He was lucky even to be alive.
A few days ago, I had read of another Singaporean who deliberately rammed his car into a number of police cars, was promptly arrested and jailed.
Several other citizens have sent threatening letters to their Members of Parliament threatening to kill them, all of them having been since arrested and jailed.
Today, the Singapore state controlled newspaper the Straits Times online edition has a story of a taxi driver who deliberately rammed his taxi into a number of other Comfort Delgado taxis and was duly arrested. He too will spend time in jail.
Also today, MP Seng Han Tong made an apology of sorts for publicly stating on a video that the nationwide train breakdown that just happened and the total breakdown of communication to get things right was because Malays and Indians who drove the trains did not speak good English. Seng on the other hand is an ethnic Chinese. But he fails to realize that his English was no better and from my observation, was worse than anyone's I ever met! Hardly intelligible even as English!(MP Seng Han Thong apologizes for SMRT staff comment, Straits Times, Dec 22, 2011). I am sure this has angered so many Indians and Malays that one should not be surprised if someone among them went straight to the nearest Lee Kuan Yew Member of Parliament tomorrow and gave him a real bashing.
Surely any reader can appreciate that this sort of unprovoked spontaneous violence among Singaporeans is similar to the behaviour of caged animals, who you would sometimes see trying to tear down the walls or bars of their cage, or crying out or roaring incessantly. It is obvious they do this because they are so desperate and hopeless in their cages that they react in this sort of unprovoked spontaneous violence in their hopelessness and desperation to get out.
This is what Singapore strongman Lee Kuan Yew fails to understand. If you deny human beings any resort to redress their grievance, they too, like the caged animals at some point, become desperate and hopeless and in their desperation, they lash out any way they can.
Singaporeans as the reader should be very well aware, live no better than caged animals in this sense. They live totally at the mercy of the Lee government and have no means of seeking redress for grievances.
For instance, the Singapore government, in their almighty powers can raise the HDB apartment rents anytime they want regardless of what the people think.
They can increase taxi rental charges and anytime they want regardless of how many lose their livelihoods and families and children suffer.
The courts can send anyone to prison for any amount of time which you cannot question.
The government can racially discriminate against any Malay or Indian which they do daily which again is unassailable.
In other words, you live entirely at the mercy of Lee Kuan Yew and his friends at the top who wield almighty powers over you, leaving you powerless, voiceless, disenfranchised, a piece of garbage, no better than a caged animal.
I am no psychologist but I believe that when man is pushed to the wall this way, they reach a point when they retaliate in unpredictable and sometimes violent ways. Which is what is happening to the average Singaporean, which it appears million dollar man Lee Kuan Yew and his friends do not appear to know.
In Western countries people are given rights and the means to challenge authority when they feel their rights are trammelled upon. This gives them a sense of security and peace of mind, because they know that the moment they are trodden upon by anyone, they have a grievance procedure in place to put the offender in his place. Singapore does not have this. It is a place where each and every one lives under license of Lee Kuan Yew and his friends. This is not the human way. It is the caged animal way, for want of a better description.
As time progresses, since Lee Kuan Yew is determined to think he is God himself, you are going to see more Mr. Yeos pouring gasoline over arrogant Members of Parliament, and bashing police cars for no rime or reason. They have begun to behave like caged animals, hopeless and desperate.
Gopalan Nair
Attorney at Law
Disbarred from practicing law in Lee's Singapore and refused entry to the island for criticizing Singapore's judiciary.
Actively practicing law in California and in good standing at the California Bar.
Member in good standing as a lawyer in England and Wales (Barrister).
39737 Paseo Padre Parkway, Suite A1
Fremont, CA 94538, USA
Tel: 510 657 6107
Fax: 510 657 6914
Email: nair.gopalan@yahoo.com
Blog: http://singaporedissident.blogspot.com/
Your letters are welcome. We reserve the right to publish your letters. Please Email your letters to nair.gopalan@yahoo.com And if you like what I write, please tell your friends. You will be helping democracy by distributing this widely. This blog not only gives information, it dispels government propaganda put out by this dictatorial regime.
By the way Dr. Chee Soon Juan of the Singapore Democratic Party is a psychologist. The reader could write to him on my prognosis, that of a layman which I am.
One thing that appears to become alarmingly common in Singapore; unprovoked and unpredictable violence on the increase. Sometime ago, Singaporeans read of one disgruntled citizen, I remember his name as Mr. Yeo, who suddenly went up to his Member of Parliament at a Meet the People Session holding a can of paint thinner or gasoline I am not sure which, deliberately doused him with it, and set him alight, all in plain sight of hundreds of others who were there!
That MP suffered third degree burns and is permanently crippled as a result. He was lucky even to be alive.
A few days ago, I had read of another Singaporean who deliberately rammed his car into a number of police cars, was promptly arrested and jailed.
Several other citizens have sent threatening letters to their Members of Parliament threatening to kill them, all of them having been since arrested and jailed.
Today, the Singapore state controlled newspaper the Straits Times online edition has a story of a taxi driver who deliberately rammed his taxi into a number of other Comfort Delgado taxis and was duly arrested. He too will spend time in jail.
Also today, MP Seng Han Tong made an apology of sorts for publicly stating on a video that the nationwide train breakdown that just happened and the total breakdown of communication to get things right was because Malays and Indians who drove the trains did not speak good English. Seng on the other hand is an ethnic Chinese. But he fails to realize that his English was no better and from my observation, was worse than anyone's I ever met! Hardly intelligible even as English!(MP Seng Han Thong apologizes for SMRT staff comment, Straits Times, Dec 22, 2011). I am sure this has angered so many Indians and Malays that one should not be surprised if someone among them went straight to the nearest Lee Kuan Yew Member of Parliament tomorrow and gave him a real bashing.
Surely any reader can appreciate that this sort of unprovoked spontaneous violence among Singaporeans is similar to the behaviour of caged animals, who you would sometimes see trying to tear down the walls or bars of their cage, or crying out or roaring incessantly. It is obvious they do this because they are so desperate and hopeless in their cages that they react in this sort of unprovoked spontaneous violence in their hopelessness and desperation to get out.
This is what Singapore strongman Lee Kuan Yew fails to understand. If you deny human beings any resort to redress their grievance, they too, like the caged animals at some point, become desperate and hopeless and in their desperation, they lash out any way they can.
Singaporeans as the reader should be very well aware, live no better than caged animals in this sense. They live totally at the mercy of the Lee government and have no means of seeking redress for grievances.
For instance, the Singapore government, in their almighty powers can raise the HDB apartment rents anytime they want regardless of what the people think.
They can increase taxi rental charges and anytime they want regardless of how many lose their livelihoods and families and children suffer.
The courts can send anyone to prison for any amount of time which you cannot question.
The government can racially discriminate against any Malay or Indian which they do daily which again is unassailable.
In other words, you live entirely at the mercy of Lee Kuan Yew and his friends at the top who wield almighty powers over you, leaving you powerless, voiceless, disenfranchised, a piece of garbage, no better than a caged animal.
I am no psychologist but I believe that when man is pushed to the wall this way, they reach a point when they retaliate in unpredictable and sometimes violent ways. Which is what is happening to the average Singaporean, which it appears million dollar man Lee Kuan Yew and his friends do not appear to know.
In Western countries people are given rights and the means to challenge authority when they feel their rights are trammelled upon. This gives them a sense of security and peace of mind, because they know that the moment they are trodden upon by anyone, they have a grievance procedure in place to put the offender in his place. Singapore does not have this. It is a place where each and every one lives under license of Lee Kuan Yew and his friends. This is not the human way. It is the caged animal way, for want of a better description.
As time progresses, since Lee Kuan Yew is determined to think he is God himself, you are going to see more Mr. Yeos pouring gasoline over arrogant Members of Parliament, and bashing police cars for no rime or reason. They have begun to behave like caged animals, hopeless and desperate.
Gopalan Nair
Attorney at Law
Disbarred from practicing law in Lee's Singapore and refused entry to the island for criticizing Singapore's judiciary.
Actively practicing law in California and in good standing at the California Bar.
Member in good standing as a lawyer in England and Wales (Barrister).
39737 Paseo Padre Parkway, Suite A1
Fremont, CA 94538, USA
Tel: 510 657 6107
Fax: 510 657 6914
Email: nair.gopalan@yahoo.com
Blog: http://singaporedissident.blogspot.com/
Your letters are welcome. We reserve the right to publish your letters. Please Email your letters to nair.gopalan@yahoo.com And if you like what I write, please tell your friends. You will be helping democracy by distributing this widely. This blog not only gives information, it dispels government propaganda put out by this dictatorial regime.
By the way Dr. Chee Soon Juan of the Singapore Democratic Party is a psychologist. The reader could write to him on my prognosis, that of a layman which I am.
The Singapore model
Ladies and Gentlemen,
World over governments wanting to stay in power through repression now have a new model to follow, "The Singapore model" which roughly goes as follows:
"Claim you have a free press but control the newspapers completely; claim you have the rule of law while making sure judges comply with government orders; claim you have human rights but deny your citizens any; claim you have freedom of speech but sue, bankrupt and imprison anyone who dares to criticize; claim you have freedom of protest and assembly but arrest and jail anyone who publicly assembles or protests; claim you have equality before the law but give special privileges to some but not others; claim all races are equal but Chinese are more equal than others" Singapore strongman Lee Kuan Yew's Singapore Model
Gopalan Nair
Attorney at Law
Disbarred from practicing law in Lee's Singapore and refused entry to the island for criticizing Singapore's judiciary.
Actively practicing law in California and in good standing at the California Bar.
Member in good standing as a lawyer in England and Wales (Barrister).
39737 Paseo Padre Parkway, Suite A1
Fremont, CA 94538, USA
Tel: 510 657 6107
Fax: 510 657 6914
Email: nair.gopalan@yahoo.com
Blog: http://singaporedissident.blogspot.com/
Your letters are welcome. We reserve the right to publish your letters. Please Email your letters to nair.gopalan@yahoo.com And if you like what I write, please tell your friends. You will be helping democracy by distributing this widely. This blog not only gives information, it dispels government propaganda put out by this dictatorial regime.
World over governments wanting to stay in power through repression now have a new model to follow, "The Singapore model" which roughly goes as follows:
"Claim you have a free press but control the newspapers completely; claim you have the rule of law while making sure judges comply with government orders; claim you have human rights but deny your citizens any; claim you have freedom of speech but sue, bankrupt and imprison anyone who dares to criticize; claim you have freedom of protest and assembly but arrest and jail anyone who publicly assembles or protests; claim you have equality before the law but give special privileges to some but not others; claim all races are equal but Chinese are more equal than others" Singapore strongman Lee Kuan Yew's Singapore Model
Gopalan Nair
Attorney at Law
Disbarred from practicing law in Lee's Singapore and refused entry to the island for criticizing Singapore's judiciary.
Actively practicing law in California and in good standing at the California Bar.
Member in good standing as a lawyer in England and Wales (Barrister).
39737 Paseo Padre Parkway, Suite A1
Fremont, CA 94538, USA
Tel: 510 657 6107
Fax: 510 657 6914
Email: nair.gopalan@yahoo.com
Blog: http://singaporedissident.blogspot.com/
Your letters are welcome. We reserve the right to publish your letters. Please Email your letters to nair.gopalan@yahoo.com And if you like what I write, please tell your friends. You will be helping democracy by distributing this widely. This blog not only gives information, it dispels government propaganda put out by this dictatorial regime.
Tuesday, December 20, 2011
Singapore. Double lives.
Ladies and Gentlemen,
The amazing dexterity of Singaporeans to live double lives is unparalleled. Many Singaporeans are upset about the repressive laws in the island; the lack of a free press, the lack of human rights or the inability to organize protests upset many.
They are bitter about being completely helpless, at the total mercy of the Lee Kuan Yew family that run the island. Yet up till now, there is hardly anyone who has publicly stood up to complain, to protest or to scream to high Heaven demanding justice, except of course Chee Soon Juan who has paid dearly for his actions.
The other Singaporeans (other than Chee Soon Juan) all live their double lives, publicly pretending that all is well, out of fear or opportunity serving Lee Kuan Yew, but inside bursting for justice and change.
You have a judicial system without jury trials and with judges appointed by the government, hand-picked for their willingness to be compliant.
As a victim of a judicial decision which is clearly unjust, in any other country, if all else fails, you can at least show your displeasure by standing outside the court with a placard reading "Unfair". It may not be much but at least you are allowed that.
But in Lee Kuan Yew's Singapore even that is disallowed because even a single peaceful protester is liable to arrest and imprisonment under his law, even though you have not even harmed a fly.
Although a Singapore judge clearly and publicly abuses the law, any criticism also renders you liable to arrest and imprisonment. In Lee's island you respect the judge no matter what, even if they openly punish you for nothing.
On a daily basis every single government agency abuses their rules to prefer the Chinese over others, government cronies over others, Chinese students over others with total impunity. You face the same injustice in jobs, careers and opportunities, all denied you but given to the select few. Yet the poor victim is left with no recourse whatsoever. Any legal action against the government is bound to fail without more not to mention being prohibitively expensive because Lee and his friends always win in Lee's Singapore.
In any other country he could have turned to the newspapers to tell his story but not in Singapore because all newspapers are state controlled. They are under specific orders not to write anything averse to the government or which shows them in bad light.
In the end poor victim is completely powerless. Government agencies discriminate against him, the courts deny him justice, the newspapers deny him publicity and he is even prevented from telling the world of the injustice by arresting him under the Public Order Act if he just stood at a street corner completely peacefully holding a small harmless placard!
Living in Singapore under Lee Kuan Yew is to wake up everyday and realize there is nothing you can do about anything. You have no choice but to simply accept anything dished out at you, right or wrong, because Lee Kuan Yew is in every sense boss and you are his slave. In his perverted way of thinking, you should consider yourself lucky as you are not in Zimbabwe.
Frankly I am surprised that up till now Singaporeans have accepted this disgraceful life of a slave. But I don't think this calm is going to last much longer.
Singaporeans have an advantage over others. They can travel wherever they want, and Lee is unable to lock them up in their island as are North Koreans.
Passports are readily available, young Singaporeans unlike unlike in other repressive countries, are able to travel abroad as and when they please and observe alternative lifestyles and thinking; the Singapore passport being welcome almost anywhere.
They can see the Occupy Wall street protesters and protesters elsewhere. They can see there is nothing morally wrong with it, although Lee Kuan Yew, for his own personal benefit may declare this illegal. One becomes wiser through observation. No matter what laws Lee continues to enact which he does at will, when common sense tells you that some thing is not a crime, even a million legal enactments will not make it so.
Many young Singaporeans are constrained from publicly protesting because their parents are beholden to Lee Kuan Yew and therefore they fear, protests by their children would harm their careers.
Even though this may be true in many cases, you cannot deny that there are 5 million Singaporeans out of which about a half of them are native born. Even if the foreigners and recent immigrants could care less about these things as long as they make a buck, the native born or at least some of them would see the need to rebel and would sooner or later publicly demand change.
Although there is the Speakers Corner in a area where there are hardly any passers by, which is legal for peaceful protest, no one in their right mind would even consider using it for protests because firstly it is at a location which no one takes any notice, and secondly, if you had an issue with Lee Kuan Yew who lives at Oxley Road, it makes no sense to stand 10 miles away at Speakers Corner to complain.
Protests are going to happen sooner if not later, I am sure, and when that happens Lee Kuan Yew is in a very dangerous position. Singapore is one of the most crowded places in the world and a protest anywhere is likely to create more protests throughout the island, since every single action you take is observed by a thousand other people that instant. And the island being so tiny, news of it would spread across its length and breath in half an hour.
Lee Kuan Yew knows the grave danger his government faces in the face of protests which is why, only a year ago, he passed an amendment to the Public Order Act which makes even a single peaceful protester liable to arrest. That fact alone tells me that Lee Kuan Yew has a mortal visceral fear of it, which he knows would be his end, because he has laws in the island which do not stand up to muster, either moral or common sense.
For the moment Singaporeans live their double chameleon lives, but looking at them and the way they are, educated and well travelled, I don't think they would continue this way for much longer. So Lee better brace up. His time of running the island his merry way may be up sooner than later.
Gopalan Nair
Attorney at Law
Disbarred from practicing law in Lee's Singapore and refused entry to the island for criticizing Singapore's judiciary.
Actively practicing law in California and in good standing at the California Bar.
Member in good standing as a lawyer in England and Wales (Barrister).
39737 Paseo Padre Parkway, Suite A1
Fremont, CA 94538, USA
Tel: 510 657 6107
Fax: 510 657 6914
Email: nair.gopalan@yahoo.com
Blog: http://singaporedissident.blogspot.com/
Your letters are welcome. We reserve the right to publish your letters. Please Email your letters to nair.gopalan@yahoo.com And if you like what I write, please tell your friends. You will be helping democracy by distributing this widely. This blog not only gives information, it dispels government propaganda put out by this dictatorial regime.
The amazing dexterity of Singaporeans to live double lives is unparalleled. Many Singaporeans are upset about the repressive laws in the island; the lack of a free press, the lack of human rights or the inability to organize protests upset many.
They are bitter about being completely helpless, at the total mercy of the Lee Kuan Yew family that run the island. Yet up till now, there is hardly anyone who has publicly stood up to complain, to protest or to scream to high Heaven demanding justice, except of course Chee Soon Juan who has paid dearly for his actions.
The other Singaporeans (other than Chee Soon Juan) all live their double lives, publicly pretending that all is well, out of fear or opportunity serving Lee Kuan Yew, but inside bursting for justice and change.
You have a judicial system without jury trials and with judges appointed by the government, hand-picked for their willingness to be compliant.
As a victim of a judicial decision which is clearly unjust, in any other country, if all else fails, you can at least show your displeasure by standing outside the court with a placard reading "Unfair". It may not be much but at least you are allowed that.
But in Lee Kuan Yew's Singapore even that is disallowed because even a single peaceful protester is liable to arrest and imprisonment under his law, even though you have not even harmed a fly.
Although a Singapore judge clearly and publicly abuses the law, any criticism also renders you liable to arrest and imprisonment. In Lee's island you respect the judge no matter what, even if they openly punish you for nothing.
On a daily basis every single government agency abuses their rules to prefer the Chinese over others, government cronies over others, Chinese students over others with total impunity. You face the same injustice in jobs, careers and opportunities, all denied you but given to the select few. Yet the poor victim is left with no recourse whatsoever. Any legal action against the government is bound to fail without more not to mention being prohibitively expensive because Lee and his friends always win in Lee's Singapore.
In any other country he could have turned to the newspapers to tell his story but not in Singapore because all newspapers are state controlled. They are under specific orders not to write anything averse to the government or which shows them in bad light.
In the end poor victim is completely powerless. Government agencies discriminate against him, the courts deny him justice, the newspapers deny him publicity and he is even prevented from telling the world of the injustice by arresting him under the Public Order Act if he just stood at a street corner completely peacefully holding a small harmless placard!
Living in Singapore under Lee Kuan Yew is to wake up everyday and realize there is nothing you can do about anything. You have no choice but to simply accept anything dished out at you, right or wrong, because Lee Kuan Yew is in every sense boss and you are his slave. In his perverted way of thinking, you should consider yourself lucky as you are not in Zimbabwe.
Frankly I am surprised that up till now Singaporeans have accepted this disgraceful life of a slave. But I don't think this calm is going to last much longer.
Singaporeans have an advantage over others. They can travel wherever they want, and Lee is unable to lock them up in their island as are North Koreans.
Passports are readily available, young Singaporeans unlike unlike in other repressive countries, are able to travel abroad as and when they please and observe alternative lifestyles and thinking; the Singapore passport being welcome almost anywhere.
They can see the Occupy Wall street protesters and protesters elsewhere. They can see there is nothing morally wrong with it, although Lee Kuan Yew, for his own personal benefit may declare this illegal. One becomes wiser through observation. No matter what laws Lee continues to enact which he does at will, when common sense tells you that some thing is not a crime, even a million legal enactments will not make it so.
Many young Singaporeans are constrained from publicly protesting because their parents are beholden to Lee Kuan Yew and therefore they fear, protests by their children would harm their careers.
Even though this may be true in many cases, you cannot deny that there are 5 million Singaporeans out of which about a half of them are native born. Even if the foreigners and recent immigrants could care less about these things as long as they make a buck, the native born or at least some of them would see the need to rebel and would sooner or later publicly demand change.
Although there is the Speakers Corner in a area where there are hardly any passers by, which is legal for peaceful protest, no one in their right mind would even consider using it for protests because firstly it is at a location which no one takes any notice, and secondly, if you had an issue with Lee Kuan Yew who lives at Oxley Road, it makes no sense to stand 10 miles away at Speakers Corner to complain.
Protests are going to happen sooner if not later, I am sure, and when that happens Lee Kuan Yew is in a very dangerous position. Singapore is one of the most crowded places in the world and a protest anywhere is likely to create more protests throughout the island, since every single action you take is observed by a thousand other people that instant. And the island being so tiny, news of it would spread across its length and breath in half an hour.
Lee Kuan Yew knows the grave danger his government faces in the face of protests which is why, only a year ago, he passed an amendment to the Public Order Act which makes even a single peaceful protester liable to arrest. That fact alone tells me that Lee Kuan Yew has a mortal visceral fear of it, which he knows would be his end, because he has laws in the island which do not stand up to muster, either moral or common sense.
For the moment Singaporeans live their double chameleon lives, but looking at them and the way they are, educated and well travelled, I don't think they would continue this way for much longer. So Lee better brace up. His time of running the island his merry way may be up sooner than later.
Gopalan Nair
Attorney at Law
Disbarred from practicing law in Lee's Singapore and refused entry to the island for criticizing Singapore's judiciary.
Actively practicing law in California and in good standing at the California Bar.
Member in good standing as a lawyer in England and Wales (Barrister).
39737 Paseo Padre Parkway, Suite A1
Fremont, CA 94538, USA
Tel: 510 657 6107
Fax: 510 657 6914
Email: nair.gopalan@yahoo.com
Blog: http://singaporedissident.blogspot.com/
Your letters are welcome. We reserve the right to publish your letters. Please Email your letters to nair.gopalan@yahoo.com And if you like what I write, please tell your friends. You will be helping democracy by distributing this widely. This blog not only gives information, it dispels government propaganda put out by this dictatorial regime.
Sunday, December 18, 2011
Singapore's "great" lawyer Davinder Singh debunked
Edited Dec 18, 2011, 1840 hrs Pacific Standard time
Ladies and Gentlemen,
Singapore's state controlled newspaper the Straits Times online edition of Dec 6, 2011 has the story "Singapore senior counsel Davinder Singh scores a first". But the "first" which he appears to have scored would instead be a badge of shame for a lawyer anywhere else other than Singapore.
Davinder Singh has risen to prominence in Lee Kuan Yew's Singapore for having never lost a case in all the cases, defamation of character to be exact, that he has argued before his client's (Lee Kuan Yew) judges in Singapore.
For those who are not yet privy to the goings on in the legal scene in that island, let me explain. The phrase "Kangaroo courts" could not be better described by any other courts in the world other than Singapore.
Instead of rule of law which the Constitution requires, it is rule of Lee Kuan Yew in his courts and every single judge sits there at his pleasure and removable and punished if ever they dare to decide against him in any case he brings. And the cases he brings are the defamation of character type.
In other words every time someone who either had the courage or the stupidity, depending on which way you look at it, to criticize him in his island, as I had to learn it the painful way by spending 3 months in prison there for criticizing his judges, he would sue that person, and his lawyer of choice is this turbaned Indian Davinder Singh.
Since the judge is already prepared to do anything that he wants to please Lee Kuan Yew even before he steps into the courtroom, Singh's efforts are more perfunctory than any real legal work. If he argued that the the Moon was made of cheese, that too would probably be accepted as law.
Since Lee is supposed to win no matter what, one begins to wonder why spend all that time and effort going through the motions of examination and cross examination and instead, like the Queen Rabbit suggested in the trial of the stolen tart in Alice in Wonderland, why not proceed to with the judgement first, then hear the evidence!
I think you get the gist of what I am trying to describe are Lee Kuan Yew's Singapore courts and what this man Davinder Singh and his "accomplishments" are.
Coming back to this newspaper article, it describes how this man has recently represented the Sultan of Brunei in a case which involved the question of the Sultan having the power to summarily dismiss any army officer in the Brunei Armed Forces he did not like instead of having to follow due process of law as in any other democracy's courts martial.
The Sultan of Brunei is a despot no better than Lee Kuan Yew in Singapore who runs roughshod over his people who so far have accepted any nonsense from him just because he throws money at them.
So representing this Brunei tyrant to run roughshod over his army officers without due process was not in any sense a cause worth representing in the first place, and there is no honor at all in such as case, in fact it is an absolute disgrace.
In the past, the Sultan of Brunei with all his money used to fly in top English barristers to argue for him but I suspect in this case, the barristers themselves had seen the total lack of merit in the Sultan's attempt to deny his officers any possibility of defending themselves as a cause which is so unworthy that it would mar their legal reputation to do it; so they refused the brief even though highly paid.
So as the Sultan is left without his usual lawyers, who else to turn to than to the likes of this turbaned Indian Sikh who would be prepared to do anything for money, having achieved his "reputation" as the Singpaore dictator's lawyer.
And the Straits Times , Singapore strongman Lee Kuan Yew's mouthpiece trumpets this representation of the Brunei Sultan in a totally unmeritorius case as "a first"!
Davinder Singh by this has not created any "first" at all. If it is a first, it is the first time that we see in Singapore's history, a thoroughly unscrupulous character who has achieved fame by repeatedly harming his fellow Singaporeans who have stood up for freedom, such as JB Jeyaretanm and today Dr. Chee Soon Juan, both of whom, thanks to him have been repeatedly jailed, impoverished and bankrupted not because the law says so but because his client Lee Kuan Yew wants them to be destroyed.
And now he continues on this long career of dirty work by arguing that in this day and age, 2011, it is quite acceptable for the Sultan of Brunei to strut around like a prize rooster in his tiny Brunei and dismiss any army officer without any due process of law.
In fact Davinder Singh, if he tried to be admitted to any other legal profession in any other democracy would be disciplined and disbarred because a lawyer should not represent a client when he knows that client's case has no merit whatsoever.
Davinder Singh has blood on his hands. I suppose as long as Lee Kuan Yew his benefactor and client who runs the show in Singapore is still alive, he will continue to prosper at the bar doing his "brilliant" legal work.
After his 89 year old sickly dictator kicks the bucket which is going to happen any time soon, as to what happens to him after that, your guess is as good as mine. You see, sooner or later each one of us is held accountable to our actions.
Gopalan Nair
Attorney at Law
Disbarred from practicing law in Lee's Singapore and refused entry to the island for criticizing Singapore's judiciary.
Actively practicing law in California and in good standing at the California Bar.
Member in good standing as a lawyer in England and Wales (Barrister).
39737 Paseo Padre Parkway, Suite A1
Fremont, CA 94538, USA
Tel: 510 657 6107
Fax: 510 657 6914
Email: nair.gopalan@yahoo.com
Blog: http://singaporedissident.blogspot.com/
Your letters are welcome. We reserve the right to publish your letters. Please Email your letters to nair.gopalan@yahoo.com And if you like what I write, please tell your friends. You will be helping democracy by distributing this widely. This blog not only gives information, it dispels government propaganda put out by this dictatorial regime.
Ladies and Gentlemen,
Singapore's state controlled newspaper the Straits Times online edition of Dec 6, 2011 has the story "Singapore senior counsel Davinder Singh scores a first". But the "first" which he appears to have scored would instead be a badge of shame for a lawyer anywhere else other than Singapore.
Davinder Singh has risen to prominence in Lee Kuan Yew's Singapore for having never lost a case in all the cases, defamation of character to be exact, that he has argued before his client's (Lee Kuan Yew) judges in Singapore.
For those who are not yet privy to the goings on in the legal scene in that island, let me explain. The phrase "Kangaroo courts" could not be better described by any other courts in the world other than Singapore.
Instead of rule of law which the Constitution requires, it is rule of Lee Kuan Yew in his courts and every single judge sits there at his pleasure and removable and punished if ever they dare to decide against him in any case he brings. And the cases he brings are the defamation of character type.
In other words every time someone who either had the courage or the stupidity, depending on which way you look at it, to criticize him in his island, as I had to learn it the painful way by spending 3 months in prison there for criticizing his judges, he would sue that person, and his lawyer of choice is this turbaned Indian Davinder Singh.
Since the judge is already prepared to do anything that he wants to please Lee Kuan Yew even before he steps into the courtroom, Singh's efforts are more perfunctory than any real legal work. If he argued that the the Moon was made of cheese, that too would probably be accepted as law.
Since Lee is supposed to win no matter what, one begins to wonder why spend all that time and effort going through the motions of examination and cross examination and instead, like the Queen Rabbit suggested in the trial of the stolen tart in Alice in Wonderland, why not proceed to with the judgement first, then hear the evidence!
I think you get the gist of what I am trying to describe are Lee Kuan Yew's Singapore courts and what this man Davinder Singh and his "accomplishments" are.
Coming back to this newspaper article, it describes how this man has recently represented the Sultan of Brunei in a case which involved the question of the Sultan having the power to summarily dismiss any army officer in the Brunei Armed Forces he did not like instead of having to follow due process of law as in any other democracy's courts martial.
The Sultan of Brunei is a despot no better than Lee Kuan Yew in Singapore who runs roughshod over his people who so far have accepted any nonsense from him just because he throws money at them.
So representing this Brunei tyrant to run roughshod over his army officers without due process was not in any sense a cause worth representing in the first place, and there is no honor at all in such as case, in fact it is an absolute disgrace.
In the past, the Sultan of Brunei with all his money used to fly in top English barristers to argue for him but I suspect in this case, the barristers themselves had seen the total lack of merit in the Sultan's attempt to deny his officers any possibility of defending themselves as a cause which is so unworthy that it would mar their legal reputation to do it; so they refused the brief even though highly paid.
So as the Sultan is left without his usual lawyers, who else to turn to than to the likes of this turbaned Indian Sikh who would be prepared to do anything for money, having achieved his "reputation" as the Singpaore dictator's lawyer.
And the Straits Times , Singapore strongman Lee Kuan Yew's mouthpiece trumpets this representation of the Brunei Sultan in a totally unmeritorius case as "a first"!
Davinder Singh by this has not created any "first" at all. If it is a first, it is the first time that we see in Singapore's history, a thoroughly unscrupulous character who has achieved fame by repeatedly harming his fellow Singaporeans who have stood up for freedom, such as JB Jeyaretanm and today Dr. Chee Soon Juan, both of whom, thanks to him have been repeatedly jailed, impoverished and bankrupted not because the law says so but because his client Lee Kuan Yew wants them to be destroyed.
And now he continues on this long career of dirty work by arguing that in this day and age, 2011, it is quite acceptable for the Sultan of Brunei to strut around like a prize rooster in his tiny Brunei and dismiss any army officer without any due process of law.
In fact Davinder Singh, if he tried to be admitted to any other legal profession in any other democracy would be disciplined and disbarred because a lawyer should not represent a client when he knows that client's case has no merit whatsoever.
Davinder Singh has blood on his hands. I suppose as long as Lee Kuan Yew his benefactor and client who runs the show in Singapore is still alive, he will continue to prosper at the bar doing his "brilliant" legal work.
After his 89 year old sickly dictator kicks the bucket which is going to happen any time soon, as to what happens to him after that, your guess is as good as mine. You see, sooner or later each one of us is held accountable to our actions.
Gopalan Nair
Attorney at Law
Disbarred from practicing law in Lee's Singapore and refused entry to the island for criticizing Singapore's judiciary.
Actively practicing law in California and in good standing at the California Bar.
Member in good standing as a lawyer in England and Wales (Barrister).
39737 Paseo Padre Parkway, Suite A1
Fremont, CA 94538, USA
Tel: 510 657 6107
Fax: 510 657 6914
Email: nair.gopalan@yahoo.com
Blog: http://singaporedissident.blogspot.com/
Your letters are welcome. We reserve the right to publish your letters. Please Email your letters to nair.gopalan@yahoo.com And if you like what I write, please tell your friends. You will be helping democracy by distributing this widely. This blog not only gives information, it dispels government propaganda put out by this dictatorial regime.
Saturday, December 17, 2011
Singapore's unintelligible biligualism.
Ladies and Gentlemen,
I was reading Singapore's state controlled newspaper the Straits Times article of Dec 18, 2011 headed "Public inquiry to look into MRT (subway train system) breakdowns: PM Lee". The article which also had a video in which Lee Kuan Yew's son whom he appointed Prime Minister was explaining to a bunch of reporters that he was sorry that all these trains have been continously breaking down without fail all over the island and that he was going to hold a public inquiry about it.
During the interview, Lee Kuan Yew's son had initially started out answering questions in English, which by the way I obviously understand, but to a question that was put to him in Mandarin Chinese he suddenly switched to it, and for several questions thereafter continued in Chinese, which language I do not understand, quite obviously since I am an Indian Singaporean by birth and neither my parents, nor myself, did not see the need or the urgency to study it. I had studied Tamil in school as was expected of most immigrants from Southern India like my parents and Mandarin Chinese never came into the equation, for someone like me with a darker compexion rather than yellow, a straight nose, more facial and bodily hair and bigger eyes, features which distinguish Indians from the Chinese.
Watching this video of Lee Kuan Yew's son speaking and turning from one language to another, English to Chinese and back again, creates many difficulties which must be obvious to anyone. First of all, the newspaper that published this video was an English Language newspaper, not a Mandarin newspaper, so why in Heaven's is it using Chinese when it's readership is supposed to be English.
Second, does Lee Kuan Yew's son realize that Singapore consists of not only Mandarin speaking Chinese but also Indians and Malays the vast majority of whom had no idea one way or another what he was saying for half the time in that video in Mandarin Chinese.
Is this not inconveniencing the other sections of Singapore citizens who are not required to understand Mandarin Chinese and even if they could have no desire to embark on that language anyway, who therefore are kept in the dark as to all that he said in Chinese to his Chinese audience in the English newspaper.
To go one step further does this not disenfranchise the entire Malay and Indian community in Singapore, equal citizens under the Constitution, to second class status, because the Chinese including Lee Kuan Yew's son can say anything behind their back?
Third we see this happening only among the Chinese like Lee Kuan Yew's son. However I have never seen this sort of thing happening among the Malays or Indians in Singapore. For instance there has never been a single occasion, to the best of the time I have following these Singaporean curiosities, for K Shanmugam, Lee Kuan Yew's handpicked Tamil Minister for law, suddenly breaking into Tamil for my benefit, since I understand it very well, while speaking to Singapore reporters for a video on the need for law to arrest anyone who dares to accuse Lee's judges of corruption even though we all know they are.
Surely if we are going to be fair to all, the Chinese population of Singapore should equally be inconvenienced occasionally by having to listen to a Tamil speech in the midst of an English one in a Straits times video by or our Tamil Minister for Law K Shanmugam or a Malay Minister to suddenly break into polished Malay, so that the poor Chinese are left wondering what in the world was all that about!
And then again if Lee Kuan Yew's son is going about in Mandarin Chinese, giving instructions and orders about which the Tamil or Malay listener would have no clue about, is he not trying to imply that all you need to know in Singapore is Mandarin Chinese and no other. If so, what about official business? Will the Singapore law courts and their Kangaroo judges now accept legal arguments and court filings in Chinese and what about the numerous Indian lawyers who ply their trade in Lee's courts? Are they now required to take a speed course in Mandarin Chinese language and mannerisms in the event their Chinese opponent suddently breaks into Mandarin? And considering the other races, can an Indian lawyer stand up and address the court in perfect Tamil and would Belinda Ang Saw Ean, Lee Kuan Yew's judge who punished Chee Soon Juan for being a troublemaker in the Singaporean sense, a Chinese woman be comfortable with that?
Frankly the whole thing about language in Singapore, just as you see the arrogance and at the same time stupidity of this one party state dictatorship, simply is skewed, and nonsensical. If English or a perverted form of it that is spoken in Singapore is supposed to be the language of business, then you should say so. And saying it, English newspapers should only have English in it, including their videos, and the Chinese newspapers, which I cannot read and don't intend to, should only be in Chinese.
And Lee Kuan Yew's son should be told that he should stick to English in an English newspaper because we are not interested in his fluency in Mandarin Chinese. After all he is Chinese anyway and knowing it gives him no great credit. If showing off is what he trying to do, then speak to me in Tamil and I will be impressed. Otherwise stick to your English in an English newspaper and don't leave men like us, who are neither Chinese nor have any desire to learn it, nonplussed, flummoxed and waiting for the Chinese portion of the speech to be over. And then wondering what in Heaven's have I missed.
And if you are determined to continue in this unintelligible bilingualism policy, then let us hear Lee Kuan Yew's hand picked Tamil Minister for Law, K Shanmugam break into Tamil once in a while. Surely sauce for the good should also be for the gander.
Gopalan Nair
Attorney at Law
Disbarred from practicing law in Lee's Singapore and refused entry to the island for criticizing Singapore's judiciary.
Actively practicing law in California and in good standing at the California Bar.
Member in good standing as a lawyer in England and Wales (Barrister).
39737 Paseo Padre Parkway, Suite A1
Fremont, CA 94538, USA
Tel: 510 657 6107
Fax: 510 657 6914
Email: nair.gopalan@yahoo.com
Blog: http://singaporedissident.blogspot.com/
Your letters are welcome. We reserve the right to publish your letters. Please Email your letters to nair.gopalan@yahoo.com And if you like what I write, please tell your friends. You will be helping democracy by distributing this widely. This blog not only gives information, it dispels government propaganda put out by this dictatorial regime.
I was reading Singapore's state controlled newspaper the Straits Times article of Dec 18, 2011 headed "Public inquiry to look into MRT (subway train system) breakdowns: PM Lee". The article which also had a video in which Lee Kuan Yew's son whom he appointed Prime Minister was explaining to a bunch of reporters that he was sorry that all these trains have been continously breaking down without fail all over the island and that he was going to hold a public inquiry about it.
During the interview, Lee Kuan Yew's son had initially started out answering questions in English, which by the way I obviously understand, but to a question that was put to him in Mandarin Chinese he suddenly switched to it, and for several questions thereafter continued in Chinese, which language I do not understand, quite obviously since I am an Indian Singaporean by birth and neither my parents, nor myself, did not see the need or the urgency to study it. I had studied Tamil in school as was expected of most immigrants from Southern India like my parents and Mandarin Chinese never came into the equation, for someone like me with a darker compexion rather than yellow, a straight nose, more facial and bodily hair and bigger eyes, features which distinguish Indians from the Chinese.
Watching this video of Lee Kuan Yew's son speaking and turning from one language to another, English to Chinese and back again, creates many difficulties which must be obvious to anyone. First of all, the newspaper that published this video was an English Language newspaper, not a Mandarin newspaper, so why in Heaven's is it using Chinese when it's readership is supposed to be English.
Second, does Lee Kuan Yew's son realize that Singapore consists of not only Mandarin speaking Chinese but also Indians and Malays the vast majority of whom had no idea one way or another what he was saying for half the time in that video in Mandarin Chinese.
Is this not inconveniencing the other sections of Singapore citizens who are not required to understand Mandarin Chinese and even if they could have no desire to embark on that language anyway, who therefore are kept in the dark as to all that he said in Chinese to his Chinese audience in the English newspaper.
To go one step further does this not disenfranchise the entire Malay and Indian community in Singapore, equal citizens under the Constitution, to second class status, because the Chinese including Lee Kuan Yew's son can say anything behind their back?
Third we see this happening only among the Chinese like Lee Kuan Yew's son. However I have never seen this sort of thing happening among the Malays or Indians in Singapore. For instance there has never been a single occasion, to the best of the time I have following these Singaporean curiosities, for K Shanmugam, Lee Kuan Yew's handpicked Tamil Minister for law, suddenly breaking into Tamil for my benefit, since I understand it very well, while speaking to Singapore reporters for a video on the need for law to arrest anyone who dares to accuse Lee's judges of corruption even though we all know they are.
Surely if we are going to be fair to all, the Chinese population of Singapore should equally be inconvenienced occasionally by having to listen to a Tamil speech in the midst of an English one in a Straits times video by or our Tamil Minister for Law K Shanmugam or a Malay Minister to suddenly break into polished Malay, so that the poor Chinese are left wondering what in the world was all that about!
And then again if Lee Kuan Yew's son is going about in Mandarin Chinese, giving instructions and orders about which the Tamil or Malay listener would have no clue about, is he not trying to imply that all you need to know in Singapore is Mandarin Chinese and no other. If so, what about official business? Will the Singapore law courts and their Kangaroo judges now accept legal arguments and court filings in Chinese and what about the numerous Indian lawyers who ply their trade in Lee's courts? Are they now required to take a speed course in Mandarin Chinese language and mannerisms in the event their Chinese opponent suddently breaks into Mandarin? And considering the other races, can an Indian lawyer stand up and address the court in perfect Tamil and would Belinda Ang Saw Ean, Lee Kuan Yew's judge who punished Chee Soon Juan for being a troublemaker in the Singaporean sense, a Chinese woman be comfortable with that?
Frankly the whole thing about language in Singapore, just as you see the arrogance and at the same time stupidity of this one party state dictatorship, simply is skewed, and nonsensical. If English or a perverted form of it that is spoken in Singapore is supposed to be the language of business, then you should say so. And saying it, English newspapers should only have English in it, including their videos, and the Chinese newspapers, which I cannot read and don't intend to, should only be in Chinese.
And Lee Kuan Yew's son should be told that he should stick to English in an English newspaper because we are not interested in his fluency in Mandarin Chinese. After all he is Chinese anyway and knowing it gives him no great credit. If showing off is what he trying to do, then speak to me in Tamil and I will be impressed. Otherwise stick to your English in an English newspaper and don't leave men like us, who are neither Chinese nor have any desire to learn it, nonplussed, flummoxed and waiting for the Chinese portion of the speech to be over. And then wondering what in Heaven's have I missed.
And if you are determined to continue in this unintelligible bilingualism policy, then let us hear Lee Kuan Yew's hand picked Tamil Minister for Law, K Shanmugam break into Tamil once in a while. Surely sauce for the good should also be for the gander.
Gopalan Nair
Attorney at Law
Disbarred from practicing law in Lee's Singapore and refused entry to the island for criticizing Singapore's judiciary.
Actively practicing law in California and in good standing at the California Bar.
Member in good standing as a lawyer in England and Wales (Barrister).
39737 Paseo Padre Parkway, Suite A1
Fremont, CA 94538, USA
Tel: 510 657 6107
Fax: 510 657 6914
Email: nair.gopalan@yahoo.com
Blog: http://singaporedissident.blogspot.com/
Your letters are welcome. We reserve the right to publish your letters. Please Email your letters to nair.gopalan@yahoo.com And if you like what I write, please tell your friends. You will be helping democracy by distributing this widely. This blog not only gives information, it dispels government propaganda put out by this dictatorial regime.
Tuesday, December 13, 2011
Singapore. Lee Kuan Yew, America's perfect son
Ladies and Gentlemen,
American foreign policy alas, is something I am not very proud about but understandable nevertheless. Ultimately we see that for all the talk of human rights and liberty that America claims to cherish, it is always quite another tune when it comes to foreign policy, which is, whatever needs to be done in America's interest goes. Human rights and such highfalutin things are really always secondary.
I remember when Hilary Clinton had not too long ago planning to go to China for talks when a journalist asked her if she would press human rights and the case of the Dalai Lama. Her answer was not unexpected. She said that human rights was on the list of matters to discuss, but not necessarily at the top. We also have to consider she said, the growing trade between the US and China.
Afghanistan is one of the poorest countries in the world, the life expediency there is less than 40 years old, it has the highest rates of illiteracy and one in every 4 children or so never reach the age of 5. And what is particularly important is the fact there is no oil in Afghanistan! So why in Heaven's is America spending billions every month if not every day to keep the war going on there? The only reason I can think of is the fact that they made a mistake having sent troops there in the first place and once they began taking casualties, it was a question of pride which prevents them from just pulling out.
And recently Obama has declared that he is going to withdraw the troops by 2014. Is this not a striking reminder of what they did in Vietnam? The fact is, just as in Vietnam, they are now certain they have lost the war. So what better way to find a way out of this mess and calling it something else than a defeat. Which is exactly what they did in Vietnam. There they knew the war was lost. So in 1973 they claim to train the Vietnamese army to fight the Vietcong, reach some sort of an armistice in Paris and graciously pull out. When their Vietnamese army were soon roundly defeated by the Vietcong in 1975, they could cleverly say that it was not they who lost but the Vietnamese army, who they trained the best they can. So it was not a defeat of the US Army at all but a defeat of the Vietnamese Army.
They seems to be planning the same thing for Afghanistan. They know they have no chance to win. They simply cannot take on the Taliban. So what does Obama do? He does the same as what they did in Vietnam. He says he is training the Afghan army and the US is pulling out all troops by 2014. So when the Afghan army is routed by the Taliban a few years after 2014, which we know will happen, the Americans will sing the same tune they sang in Vietnam. "We did all we could. We trained the Afghan army as best we can. It is not our fault they were defeated. You have to blame the Afghan army."
Coming to Lee Kuan Yew, I read he was awarded the Lincoln medal recently by the Americans. I tell you, the Americans would be prepared to shower every medal possible that is available out there on Lee Kuan Yew; why, because Lee Kuan Yew is good for American business, and that is frankly the bottom line of it all. Human rights does not matter, nothing else matters.
Some other dictators come to mind. Mobutu Sese Seku, or formerly Joseph Mobutu was the Belgian Congolese leader who in 1965, was resisting Patrice Lumumba who had leanings to the Soviet Union. The Americans and the French not only propped up Mobutu even though he was the biggest thief imaginable, they also helped to murder Lumumba, all because Mobutu was in the American interest. And not just that throughout Mobutu's corrupt rule, he was protected by the French and Belgian armies each time there was threat to his government.
Then you have medals upon medals bestowed upon the late Shah of Iran and the overthrow of Iran's true democratic leader Mossadeq in 1954. And then you have every other tyrant and dictator in Latin America who are all propped up because they are pleasing to American business and the elimination of perfectly honest leaders such as Salvatore Allende of Chile who thought it right that workers should be given their fair share.
It is not that the State Department or rather the CIA is not aware that Lee Kuan Yew is a ruthless dictator, of course they know this. But it so happens that Lee Kuan Yew is a good friend of America which means it is good for American business. So of course Lee Kuan yew gets the medals, and it should be no surprise to anyone.
In the past there was a saying about British Prime Minister Margaret Thather that she was so obedient to the American President Ronald Reagan that if Reagan were to ask Thather to jump, her question would be "How high"! I think the same can be said of 89 year old Lee Kuan Yew. If Obama were to ask Lee to jump, he would similarly ask "How high", that is if he still can with this wobbly legs.
Gopalan Nair
Attorney at Law
Disbarred from practicing law in Lee's Singapore and refused entry to the island for criticizing Singapore's judiciary.
Actively practicing law in California and in good standing at the California Bar.
Member in good standing as a lawyer in England and Wales (Barrister).
39737 Paseo Padre Parkway, Suite A1
Fremont, CA 94538, USA
Tel: 510 657 6107
Fax: 510 657 6914
Email: nair.gopalan@yahoo.com
Blog: http://singaporedissident.blogspot.com/
Your letters are welcome. We reserve the right to publish your letters. Please Email your letters to nair.gopalan@yahoo.com And if you like what I write, please tell your friends. You will be helping democracy by distributing this widely. This blog not only gives information, it dispels government propaganda put out by this dictatorial regime.
American foreign policy alas, is something I am not very proud about but understandable nevertheless. Ultimately we see that for all the talk of human rights and liberty that America claims to cherish, it is always quite another tune when it comes to foreign policy, which is, whatever needs to be done in America's interest goes. Human rights and such highfalutin things are really always secondary.
I remember when Hilary Clinton had not too long ago planning to go to China for talks when a journalist asked her if she would press human rights and the case of the Dalai Lama. Her answer was not unexpected. She said that human rights was on the list of matters to discuss, but not necessarily at the top. We also have to consider she said, the growing trade between the US and China.
Afghanistan is one of the poorest countries in the world, the life expediency there is less than 40 years old, it has the highest rates of illiteracy and one in every 4 children or so never reach the age of 5. And what is particularly important is the fact there is no oil in Afghanistan! So why in Heaven's is America spending billions every month if not every day to keep the war going on there? The only reason I can think of is the fact that they made a mistake having sent troops there in the first place and once they began taking casualties, it was a question of pride which prevents them from just pulling out.
And recently Obama has declared that he is going to withdraw the troops by 2014. Is this not a striking reminder of what they did in Vietnam? The fact is, just as in Vietnam, they are now certain they have lost the war. So what better way to find a way out of this mess and calling it something else than a defeat. Which is exactly what they did in Vietnam. There they knew the war was lost. So in 1973 they claim to train the Vietnamese army to fight the Vietcong, reach some sort of an armistice in Paris and graciously pull out. When their Vietnamese army were soon roundly defeated by the Vietcong in 1975, they could cleverly say that it was not they who lost but the Vietnamese army, who they trained the best they can. So it was not a defeat of the US Army at all but a defeat of the Vietnamese Army.
They seems to be planning the same thing for Afghanistan. They know they have no chance to win. They simply cannot take on the Taliban. So what does Obama do? He does the same as what they did in Vietnam. He says he is training the Afghan army and the US is pulling out all troops by 2014. So when the Afghan army is routed by the Taliban a few years after 2014, which we know will happen, the Americans will sing the same tune they sang in Vietnam. "We did all we could. We trained the Afghan army as best we can. It is not our fault they were defeated. You have to blame the Afghan army."
Coming to Lee Kuan Yew, I read he was awarded the Lincoln medal recently by the Americans. I tell you, the Americans would be prepared to shower every medal possible that is available out there on Lee Kuan Yew; why, because Lee Kuan Yew is good for American business, and that is frankly the bottom line of it all. Human rights does not matter, nothing else matters.
Some other dictators come to mind. Mobutu Sese Seku, or formerly Joseph Mobutu was the Belgian Congolese leader who in 1965, was resisting Patrice Lumumba who had leanings to the Soviet Union. The Americans and the French not only propped up Mobutu even though he was the biggest thief imaginable, they also helped to murder Lumumba, all because Mobutu was in the American interest. And not just that throughout Mobutu's corrupt rule, he was protected by the French and Belgian armies each time there was threat to his government.
Then you have medals upon medals bestowed upon the late Shah of Iran and the overthrow of Iran's true democratic leader Mossadeq in 1954. And then you have every other tyrant and dictator in Latin America who are all propped up because they are pleasing to American business and the elimination of perfectly honest leaders such as Salvatore Allende of Chile who thought it right that workers should be given their fair share.
It is not that the State Department or rather the CIA is not aware that Lee Kuan Yew is a ruthless dictator, of course they know this. But it so happens that Lee Kuan Yew is a good friend of America which means it is good for American business. So of course Lee Kuan yew gets the medals, and it should be no surprise to anyone.
In the past there was a saying about British Prime Minister Margaret Thather that she was so obedient to the American President Ronald Reagan that if Reagan were to ask Thather to jump, her question would be "How high"! I think the same can be said of 89 year old Lee Kuan Yew. If Obama were to ask Lee to jump, he would similarly ask "How high", that is if he still can with this wobbly legs.
Gopalan Nair
Attorney at Law
Disbarred from practicing law in Lee's Singapore and refused entry to the island for criticizing Singapore's judiciary.
Actively practicing law in California and in good standing at the California Bar.
Member in good standing as a lawyer in England and Wales (Barrister).
39737 Paseo Padre Parkway, Suite A1
Fremont, CA 94538, USA
Tel: 510 657 6107
Fax: 510 657 6914
Email: nair.gopalan@yahoo.com
Blog: http://singaporedissident.blogspot.com/
Your letters are welcome. We reserve the right to publish your letters. Please Email your letters to nair.gopalan@yahoo.com And if you like what I write, please tell your friends. You will be helping democracy by distributing this widely. This blog not only gives information, it dispels government propaganda put out by this dictatorial regime.
Singapore. The problem with dictatorships
Ladies and Gentlemen,
Any student of politics and history will not fail to see one recurring undeniable result, which is, when the dictator dies, the regime crumbles, followed by an interval of uncertainly and chaos until such time as another dictator comes along and the same stop start process trudges along, but on one certain trajectory, which is on the decline, not upwards. Eventually in the long run the country descends into another basket case, another banana republic.
Singapore is one classic example of a fascist dictatorship with the dictator, who is already either 89 or 88 depending on whom you ask, just about to kick the bucket. And if history is anything to go by, we are quite certain to see that expected chaos and collapse as we have seen so often elsewhere.
And these dire consequences are magnified multi fold in the case of Singapore being just a small overcrowded island with a tiny population, insufficient to provide any buffer, as opposed to a large country such as Russia, against the impending chaos on the demise of the dictator.
The fragility of all dictatorships are these. Firstly all dictatorships never had any real leaders other than the dictator himself. In the case of Nazi Germany, you had that supreme leader Adolf Hitler and everyone else who forms the government with him are merely bootlickers and sycophants who please him and in return are given positions of authority.
If Hitler had others with him who were leaders with ideas of their own, he would never have sent troops into demilitarized Rhineland against the Treaty of Versailles, and even if he did, he would have stopped there. German troops would never have marched into Austria, Czechoslovakia would never haven been occupied, they would never have bombed Poland and the war would have been averted and millions of lives saved. Hitler just like Singapore's Lee Kuan Yew thought he knew everything and no one else know's anything, and this is what becomes of arrogance such as this.
You see the same in Singapore, with every single government minister hand picked by Lee Kuan Yew for their abilities as academics, not their ability as leaders which they have none, and the irony is they never did aspire for leadership either. All of them are merely opportunists who considered themselves very lucky for having been chosen by Lee Kuan Yew for political positions of authority and the consequent good life that comes with it, not to mention a salary of $3.7 million a year!
Secondly if Singapore had any political philosophy of it's own, it has to be that of Lee Kuan Yew. And Lee Kuan Yew's philosophy if I can guess is this. You try to bribe (or in Lee's euphemism, "pay") citizens to work for you by paying them each $3.7 million each as salary a year. In this way, because of the huge windfall of money which you receive through your entire career, the chosen opportunists will sing any tune, and say anything which Lee Kuan Yew demands. In the end the only thinking in the entire country is how Lee Kuan Yew thinks and this is enabled by the state controlled media which will only publish the government line.
And sadly the government line of thought in not something anyone should be proud of. It requires everyone to be self reliant or otherwise starve (no social security for the needy), it requires known government critics such as Chee Soon Juan to be relentlessly persecuted and punished just because he has contrary views, it requires former Singaporeans like myself who write blogposts unflattering of Lee to be imprisoned if he is caught and prohibited from ever entering Singapore, and every other disgraceful practice you can think of.
The result of this shutting out every other way of thinking other than what Lee thinks, results in a dearth of alternative thought. We all know that no one can be right all the time, or even most of the time, which is why democracies encourage alternative ideas because society progresses by this. Denying any form of alternative thinking denies the entire country of a valuable necessary asset resulting in it's going from one calamity to the next.
The next point is this. No government can openly abuse it's powers and expect never to be held accountable. Lee Kuan Yew's policies are openly and blatantly illegal in fundamental aspects and he stays in power momentarily only because Singaporeans presently are afraid to resist.
For instance paying each of themselves $3.7 million a year and calling this a salary is clearly unacceptable anywhere in the world as well as in Singapore although strangely the people are not now up in arms against this. But it does not mean that such corruption is excused. You only have to wait for that oppurtune moment, as when the dictator is no more, when the people will demand an explanation.
Second the muzzling of the entire media and turning it into a propaganda sheet is also unacceptable anywhere in the world although strangely for the moment Singaporeans are not protesting. But again it does not mean that such abuse of authority is excused. You only have to wait for that opportune moment, as when the dictator is no more, when the people will demand an explanation.
Using the courts though corrupt judges such as Belinda Ang Saw Ean to punish innocent Singaporeans who resist is also blatantly wrong and something that is unacceptable anywhere in the world but strangely in Singapore they remain silent. These are only a few of the numerous illegal practices used by Lee which is wrong and unacceptable now or in the future.
The result of this sort of misuse of power is that when the dictator goes, these abuses of power, which is never forgotten by the people suddenly come to the surface to haunt these former Lee Kuan Yew minions. All of a sudden the minions who so far had it so good, and seek control have either to continue these illegal practices against the peoples' wishes or flee for their lives.If they stay, in the event of resistance they would have no choice but to use violent methods against their own people which usually does not work.
With the death of the dictator, there is a void in the leadership since every single one in Lee's government are all merely opportunists and bootlickers who never had any real power base of their own.
If for the moment, people listen to them, it is because they have to, since their power comes not from within themselves but through the dictator who has placed them there. Once the dictator dies, these minions with no longer any power of their own would have to disperse and disappear as fast as they can or seek power with the serious consequences that may follow.
If there is foreign investment in Singapore, it is because Lee has been and is there. As investment dollars do not necessarily chose democracies to invest but places that have the most stability regardless of how corrupt and dishonest the governments are, Lee has been that stabilizing factor which enables investment. With his death, there will no longer be stability, which means investments are unsafe, which means a run on the banks and a flood of investment money out of Singapore.
Almost half if not the majority of Singaporeans are recent immigrants mainly from Communist China who have come to make a living, not necessarily to make a home. Unstable countries are unsuitable places to make a living which means, you would have a flood of these Communist Chinese on their way out to Guanzou and Chendu, Communist China. The same with every other recently arrived immigrant, all heading home to their various impoverished Asian countries.
And with that you have every other calamity imaginable, offshore banking disappearing, money launderers leaving, Burmese drug lords packing up, and Casinos closing. You know the rest.
Of course Lee Kuan Yew's son, whom his father appointed as Prime Minister might decide to get tough and crack the whip by calling out the army to try to maintain order. If he does that, it will only exasperate the already worsening situation because even more Singaporeans and foreigners will leave and Singapore would be empty not only of people but money as well.
This gloomy scenario would never happen if we had a vibrant democracy with everyone given a chance to further their views and vie for power. But with Lee Kuan Yew's shortsightedness, avarice and stupidity, we can only expect the worst sort of gloom over the horizon.
But for people like me who live abroad and see Singapore from the outside, all I can say is "I told you so". All there is to do now is to wait for the fun to begin when Lee Kuan Yew kicks that bucket, which we all know is expected very soon.
Gopalan Nair
Attorney at Law
Disbarred from practicing law in Lee's Singapore and refused entry to the island for criticizing Singapore's judiciary.
Actively practicing law in California and in good standing at the California Bar.
Member in good standing as a lawyer in England and Wales (Barrister).
39737 Paseo Padre Parkway, Suite A1
Fremont, CA 94538, USA
Tel: 510 657 6107
Fax: 510 657 6914
Email: nair.gopalan@yahoo.com
Blog: http://singaporedissident.blogspot.com/
Your letters are welcome. We reserve the right to publish your letters. Please Email your letters to nair.gopalan@yahoo.com And if you like what I write, please tell your friends. You will be helping democracy by distributing this widely. This blog not only gives information, it dispels government propaganda put out by this dictatorial regime.
Any student of politics and history will not fail to see one recurring undeniable result, which is, when the dictator dies, the regime crumbles, followed by an interval of uncertainly and chaos until such time as another dictator comes along and the same stop start process trudges along, but on one certain trajectory, which is on the decline, not upwards. Eventually in the long run the country descends into another basket case, another banana republic.
Singapore is one classic example of a fascist dictatorship with the dictator, who is already either 89 or 88 depending on whom you ask, just about to kick the bucket. And if history is anything to go by, we are quite certain to see that expected chaos and collapse as we have seen so often elsewhere.
And these dire consequences are magnified multi fold in the case of Singapore being just a small overcrowded island with a tiny population, insufficient to provide any buffer, as opposed to a large country such as Russia, against the impending chaos on the demise of the dictator.
The fragility of all dictatorships are these. Firstly all dictatorships never had any real leaders other than the dictator himself. In the case of Nazi Germany, you had that supreme leader Adolf Hitler and everyone else who forms the government with him are merely bootlickers and sycophants who please him and in return are given positions of authority.
If Hitler had others with him who were leaders with ideas of their own, he would never have sent troops into demilitarized Rhineland against the Treaty of Versailles, and even if he did, he would have stopped there. German troops would never have marched into Austria, Czechoslovakia would never haven been occupied, they would never have bombed Poland and the war would have been averted and millions of lives saved. Hitler just like Singapore's Lee Kuan Yew thought he knew everything and no one else know's anything, and this is what becomes of arrogance such as this.
You see the same in Singapore, with every single government minister hand picked by Lee Kuan Yew for their abilities as academics, not their ability as leaders which they have none, and the irony is they never did aspire for leadership either. All of them are merely opportunists who considered themselves very lucky for having been chosen by Lee Kuan Yew for political positions of authority and the consequent good life that comes with it, not to mention a salary of $3.7 million a year!
Secondly if Singapore had any political philosophy of it's own, it has to be that of Lee Kuan Yew. And Lee Kuan Yew's philosophy if I can guess is this. You try to bribe (or in Lee's euphemism, "pay") citizens to work for you by paying them each $3.7 million each as salary a year. In this way, because of the huge windfall of money which you receive through your entire career, the chosen opportunists will sing any tune, and say anything which Lee Kuan Yew demands. In the end the only thinking in the entire country is how Lee Kuan Yew thinks and this is enabled by the state controlled media which will only publish the government line.
And sadly the government line of thought in not something anyone should be proud of. It requires everyone to be self reliant or otherwise starve (no social security for the needy), it requires known government critics such as Chee Soon Juan to be relentlessly persecuted and punished just because he has contrary views, it requires former Singaporeans like myself who write blogposts unflattering of Lee to be imprisoned if he is caught and prohibited from ever entering Singapore, and every other disgraceful practice you can think of.
The result of this shutting out every other way of thinking other than what Lee thinks, results in a dearth of alternative thought. We all know that no one can be right all the time, or even most of the time, which is why democracies encourage alternative ideas because society progresses by this. Denying any form of alternative thinking denies the entire country of a valuable necessary asset resulting in it's going from one calamity to the next.
The next point is this. No government can openly abuse it's powers and expect never to be held accountable. Lee Kuan Yew's policies are openly and blatantly illegal in fundamental aspects and he stays in power momentarily only because Singaporeans presently are afraid to resist.
For instance paying each of themselves $3.7 million a year and calling this a salary is clearly unacceptable anywhere in the world as well as in Singapore although strangely the people are not now up in arms against this. But it does not mean that such corruption is excused. You only have to wait for that oppurtune moment, as when the dictator is no more, when the people will demand an explanation.
Second the muzzling of the entire media and turning it into a propaganda sheet is also unacceptable anywhere in the world although strangely for the moment Singaporeans are not protesting. But again it does not mean that such abuse of authority is excused. You only have to wait for that opportune moment, as when the dictator is no more, when the people will demand an explanation.
Using the courts though corrupt judges such as Belinda Ang Saw Ean to punish innocent Singaporeans who resist is also blatantly wrong and something that is unacceptable anywhere in the world but strangely in Singapore they remain silent. These are only a few of the numerous illegal practices used by Lee which is wrong and unacceptable now or in the future.
The result of this sort of misuse of power is that when the dictator goes, these abuses of power, which is never forgotten by the people suddenly come to the surface to haunt these former Lee Kuan Yew minions. All of a sudden the minions who so far had it so good, and seek control have either to continue these illegal practices against the peoples' wishes or flee for their lives.If they stay, in the event of resistance they would have no choice but to use violent methods against their own people which usually does not work.
With the death of the dictator, there is a void in the leadership since every single one in Lee's government are all merely opportunists and bootlickers who never had any real power base of their own.
If for the moment, people listen to them, it is because they have to, since their power comes not from within themselves but through the dictator who has placed them there. Once the dictator dies, these minions with no longer any power of their own would have to disperse and disappear as fast as they can or seek power with the serious consequences that may follow.
If there is foreign investment in Singapore, it is because Lee has been and is there. As investment dollars do not necessarily chose democracies to invest but places that have the most stability regardless of how corrupt and dishonest the governments are, Lee has been that stabilizing factor which enables investment. With his death, there will no longer be stability, which means investments are unsafe, which means a run on the banks and a flood of investment money out of Singapore.
Almost half if not the majority of Singaporeans are recent immigrants mainly from Communist China who have come to make a living, not necessarily to make a home. Unstable countries are unsuitable places to make a living which means, you would have a flood of these Communist Chinese on their way out to Guanzou and Chendu, Communist China. The same with every other recently arrived immigrant, all heading home to their various impoverished Asian countries.
And with that you have every other calamity imaginable, offshore banking disappearing, money launderers leaving, Burmese drug lords packing up, and Casinos closing. You know the rest.
Of course Lee Kuan Yew's son, whom his father appointed as Prime Minister might decide to get tough and crack the whip by calling out the army to try to maintain order. If he does that, it will only exasperate the already worsening situation because even more Singaporeans and foreigners will leave and Singapore would be empty not only of people but money as well.
This gloomy scenario would never happen if we had a vibrant democracy with everyone given a chance to further their views and vie for power. But with Lee Kuan Yew's shortsightedness, avarice and stupidity, we can only expect the worst sort of gloom over the horizon.
But for people like me who live abroad and see Singapore from the outside, all I can say is "I told you so". All there is to do now is to wait for the fun to begin when Lee Kuan Yew kicks that bucket, which we all know is expected very soon.
Gopalan Nair
Attorney at Law
Disbarred from practicing law in Lee's Singapore and refused entry to the island for criticizing Singapore's judiciary.
Actively practicing law in California and in good standing at the California Bar.
Member in good standing as a lawyer in England and Wales (Barrister).
39737 Paseo Padre Parkway, Suite A1
Fremont, CA 94538, USA
Tel: 510 657 6107
Fax: 510 657 6914
Email: nair.gopalan@yahoo.com
Blog: http://singaporedissident.blogspot.com/
Your letters are welcome. We reserve the right to publish your letters. Please Email your letters to nair.gopalan@yahoo.com And if you like what I write, please tell your friends. You will be helping democracy by distributing this widely. This blog not only gives information, it dispels government propaganda put out by this dictatorial regime.
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About Me
- GOPALAN NAIR
- Determined to find the Truth. Born Singapore, educated Winstedt School 2 (next to Monks Hill in Newton, Singapore) Raffles Institution, National Service, some travel in Europe, then law studies England, return to Singapore, practiced for 10 years, active Workers Party member, stood elections 1988 and 1991 in Singapore, was harassed and persecuted by Lee Kuan Yew for my political beliefs, left for USA, obtained asylum and admitted California State Bar, practice law ever since in Fremont California near San Francisco. Relinquished Singapore citizenship 2005 because I was not prepared to permit Lee Kuan Yew to unjustly retain my CPF funds if I remained Singapore Citizen. On principle, the only correct thing for me to do was to give it up, for my CPF funds. I am an American Citizen as of 2004.
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