Hello
Sat 2/23/2008 1:45 AM
Mr. Gopalan Nair
I
have read your blog webpage, singaporedissident.blogspot.com, and it
provided me with some intriguing views on our government. From our
history textbooks and media, MM Lee Kuan Yew has been portrayed as a
wise man who knows whats best for Singapore, and there is certainly no
denying MM Lee Kuan Yew's contributions to Singapore, making Singapore
a modern and global city it is today.
But what I wish to ask you
is this, if Singapore would do to go through a normal political process
where political parties battle it out on a even playing field, instead
of the PAP-dominated political elections it is today, would that
Singapore be as or more successful than the present-day Singapore?
Your sincerely,
Edwin
Ladies and Gentlemen,
Above
I have posted an excellent question raised by Edwin Soh which was
Emailed to me; a question that deserves a blog post by itself.
This
is the perennial question asked over and over again during the last 40
years of Singapore's history. Could Singapore have achieved the success
you see; (that is, if you consider Singapore a success in the first
place); without Lee Kuan Yew and his authoritarian government?
As
for me, there can only be one answer. Singapore has not achieved any
success at all under Lee Kuan Yew. Just because Lee has turned
Singapore into a concrete and glass jungle instead of the original
natural green one; is not success at all.
In fact Lee has
seriously damaged the country, its civil society, its civil
institutions and turned Singaporeans into a mindless bunch of sheep
unable to think for themselves. Lee has permanently destroyed the
ability of Singapore to achieve greatness.
So in answer to Edwin Soh, firstly Singapore is not a "modern and global city" as he claims; it could have been a much greater, more respected, more human place had it not been for the dictator Lee Kuan Yew.
What
does Mr. Soh mean by a modern global city? Is it is the skyscrapers at
the waterfront in downtown Singapore? If it is, those modern
skyscrapers were built by a handful of government connected companies
which houses numerous headquarters of foreign companies. The profits
from the sale and leases of these modern buildings are pocketed by Lee
Kuan Yew, his family members and supporters; a very small portion of
Singapore’s population. As for the tenants of these modern buildings,
they are all foreigners representing their foreign companies.
As
for the ordinary Singaporean, there is nothing for him to benefit from
those skyscrapers, be they modern or global. As for the regular
Singapore Joe Bloke, it makes no difference whether the buildings were
there or not, international or otherwise; since he does not benefit by
their presence in any way. To the average Ah Kow, Ahmad or Samy, they
are nothing more than white elephants.
Mr. Soh also calls it an
international city? Is it really international? Yes, Singapore Airlines
flies all over the world giving employment to half starved (because
they are so skinny) air hostesses who are paid $3,000.00 or so a year.
But they travel the world because they serve food to passengers on
board aircraft, no more than waitresses in the sky? As for pilots, most
of them are Malaysians anyway and they just fly planes. Singapore
Airlines does not make Singapore a global or international city?
As
for international trading, all of it is done by a handful of government
connected companies with the blessing of Lee Kuan Yew, in the situation
of "You scratch my back and I scratch yours"; similar to the situation
in Burma where a handful of companies connected with the military junta
trade internationally. The rest of the Burmese or Singapore populations
have nothing international about them. They may have gone to Bangkok
for a holiday but that does not make them international.
Let me
now come to the crux of it. The high rise buildings that you see at
Raffles Place do not make Singapore an international city. The average
Singaporean is a hawker selling mee goreng or laksa at Boon Keng Food
Court. The rest of them are civil servants dutifully doing whatever Lee
Kuan Yew wants them to do and quietly going home. They have no
knowledge of history, no literature, no interest in politics. They are
nothing more than automatons. Not the type you normally find in an
international city.
What Lee has done over 4o years is this. By
instilling fear in everyone, he has managed to build up this concrete
jungle at downtown Singapore and invited foreign companies to have
their South East Asia headquarters in them; because Singapore has good
infra structure, good telephones, transport and cleanliness, not
forgetting an unquestioning and compliant workforce. In past years he
was able to invite foreign manufacturing but since labor costs have
gone up, all these jobs have gone to Indonesia.
In fact what Lee
Kuan Yew has done is to destroy Singapore. Singapore with no natural
resources has only its people to rely upon, whose minds Lee has
permanently destroyed. He has turned ordinary thinking people into
robots, a people who are only able to carry out orders but unable to
think independently. And he has managed to do this through fear and
greed. In fact he has turned an entire section of the population into a
population from suffering political schizophrenia, from split
personality.
You must have heard of Judge Belinda Ang's shameful
judicial judgment in the case of Lee Kuan Yew vs. Dr. Chee Soon Juan in
a recent defamation of character action where she found Dr. Chee guilty
of defaming Lee merely for what he had written in his political
newspaper, the Singapore Democrat, criticizing the government on their
handling of the National Kidney Foundation's corrupt activities; in the
run up to the 2006 national elections.
Everyone including Judge
Belinda Ang herself, knows that there was nothing defamatory about Dr.
Chee's article; nothing more than the exercise of free speech
guaranteed under the constitution.
But yet this judge finds it
necessary to please Lee Kuan Yew by distorting and abusing the law to
find Lee's political opponent, Dr. Chee, guilty. She does this because
she is required to do it; otherwise she will lose her job. What is
more, by abusing the law to please her master Lee, she is amply
rewarded by bribes of several million dollars. So it is convenient for
her to abuse the law. So she does it.
But outwardly, if
confronted with an explanation, she would swear on her grandmother's
grave that she is as upright, honest and principled as the statue of
Stamford Raffles itself; that stands on Singapore Square!
In
other words she leads a double life. Outwardly pleasing her master Lee
Kuan Yew by destroying Dr. Chee through the law; but privately knowing
that she is doing nothing more than prostituting her profession, her
calling and her oath of office as a judge! Shame on her.
But is
not only Judge Belinda Ang that suffers from this political
schizophrenia, this shameful double life, this lack of integrity. Lee
Kuan Yew has managed to turn the entire civil service, the entire
judiciary, almost the entire population into living this shameful
double life. One life for the outside where it is all praise for Lee
and his modern Singapore. The other privately for himself, kicking
himself in shame; as he has to stoop so low to make a living in
Singapore.
Other than these masses that live such desperate
lives, such as that of this disgraced judge, Belinda Ang, there are
those others who are educated with skills and talents; who are not
prepared to live such disgraceful lives at any cost.
It is this
large section of the population that form the Singapore Diaspora;
hundreds and thousands of Singaporeans who just cannot stand the sight
of Lee Kuan Yew and his minions. They have packed up and left for
Australia, New Zealand, Canada, the UK and Sweden. It is these who are
the best and most talented of Singaporeans. And unlike the likes of
Judge Belinda Ang who will say or do anything for the right price, what
I mean is unprincipled souls; the Singaporeans who leave are the
upright educated human beings with principles, with honor, with pride;
who refuse to dance whenever Lee demands it.
And by the
destruction of the minds of Singaporeans who have chosen to remain and
driving out the best and most able from Singapore, Lee Kuan Yew has not
modernized Singapore, he has destroyed it. Those remaining in
Singapore, the likes of Judge Belinda Ang, who is prepared to say that
2 and 2 make 5 anytime; are not the kind of people that can advance a
country to greatness. The best have already left the country for good.
And
the loss of educated capable Singaporeans is especially damaging to a
small country like Singapore with only 3 million people; as the huge
numbers of Singaporeans leaving Singapore is disproportionately
damaging.
We are seeing hundreds of thousands of capable
Singaporeans leaving a small island with a small population of 3
million. The damage that Lee is doing to Singapore by forcing such
large numbers out; is debilitating to the very existence of the country.
So
to the question, could Singapore have done better without Lee, I would
say, of course. At least any other leader would not caused incurable
damage to the minds of ordinary Singaporeans like Lee has done.
Second,
Lee Kuan Yew has given a bad name to the country internationally. And
the bad name means loss of investment opportunities, loss of trade
opportunities and loss of prestige.
Take Australia for instance.
The mention of Australia is synonymous with the rule of law, honest
government, an independent judiciary, human rights, a free press, and
freedom of speech and expression. With these perceived qualities,
foreigners are prepared to settle in the country, invest in it, trade
in it and have children in it.
Singapore on the other hand is
known internationally as a place that hangs petty drug mules; beats
prisoners with a stick in their backsides until they become bloody,
sometimes causing death; where judges like Judge Belinda Ang will
happily abuse the law to eliminate Lee Kuan Yew's opponents; where
there is no rule of law at all; where there are no civil liberties at
all; and where all newspapers are owned and controlled by the
government as in North Korea.
This bad name that Singapore has,
makes it uncompetitive. Foreigners have no respect for Singapore or its
leaders whom they consider a bunch of bullies. Unlike respected
countries like Australia, this means a lack of competitiveness; a lack
of investments; a lack of trade and the world calling it nothing more
than an Alice in Wonderland with the death penalty.
So Mr. Edwin
Soh, this is what I respectfully say. Lee was and is bad for Singapore.
And what is worse, he is 85 years old and is going to die. And when he
dies his son will have an even harder time to keep the place going
since we all know that he is nothing more than a fixture, placed there
by Lee, his father.
And Lee's major failure is his inability to
ensure a strong civil society with strong organs of government. Today
in Singapore there are none. Everyone and everything takes the cue from
Lee senior, through fear. And when he dies there will be a vacuum,
disorder and uncertainty just as is the case when all other
dictatorships fall.
As for the office units in the concrete
jungle in the waterfront, they too will become empty when the world
finally realizes to what extent Singapore has sunk under Mr. Lee Kuan
Yew.
Thank you Mr. Edwin Soh.
Gopalan Nair