Singapore's legal system takes an even further beating at the Shane Todd Inquiry.

Ladies and Gentlemen,

Singapore’s already damaged reputation of it's legal system took a final blow at the jugular today when the Todd's family walked out of the courtroom after saying through their attorney, they have "lost faith in it's legal system". Please see May 22, 2013 report of the island's state controlled newspaper Straits Times titled”Shane Todd Inquiry: Todd's parents say they will no longer participate" http://www.straitstimes.com/breaking-news/singapore/story/shane-todd-inquiry-todds-parents-said-they-will-no-longer-participate-

Their disgust at Singapore’s one party city state's legal system did not come up suddenly. Ever since the inquiry stated some weeks ago, the Singapore Judge, as they are accustomed to, was simply behaving as if they could do anything they want. But this case was somewhat different. They weren’t dealing with their helpless Singapore citizens or "digits" as Lee Kuan Yew, the Singapore strongman had called them. This time they were dealing with an American family with some clout, whose son was clearly murdered but the Singaporeans want it to look like suicide; and that makes a very big difference.

The Todds were complaining ever since the case started that the prosecution were springing new witnesses on them with no opportunity to investigate, the crime scene was altered and evidence removed, Todd's laptop computer was broken into and corrupted and they were not given sufficient time to work their case.

But the worst mistake they did was to choose a wrong candidate for suicide. Shane Todd was a 31 year old lively young man with a great career, a girlfriend and a new job waiting for him in the US after he quit his Singapore one. He certainly doesn’t look as someone who would want to end it all. Singapore government officials who certainly have briefed and instructed the judge in this case, since that is how it happens in every sensitive case, have mistakenly or more probably in their arrogance overlooked the fact that pinning the label of suicide requires a knowledge of the mindset of the victim. You don't do that with a young man with confidence, a successful career and full of life.

As it happens May 22, 2013 Singapore time was the last straw. At the court, Singapore had once again tried to spring a surprise witness on the Todd family, this time a French man who claims to have had dinner with Todd one day before he died, an account disputed by the Todd family. It seems that this surprise witness Luis Alejandro Andia Montes, only arrived on Saturday and was supposed to leave on Tuesday and therefore they could not accede to the Todd family request to have the matter adjourned to just one further day to enable an investigation into this man's statement.

By any standards, by this denial of a very reasonable request, the Singapore court has once again very successfully shown that it is indeed nothing but a Kangaroo Court, sitting not at the behest of justice but at the behest of Lee Kuan Yew and his one party government. Anyway you look at it; no one is harmed by giving the Todd family one more day. And any court with any grey matter in their heads would realize that especially since this case has attracted such international scrutiny, all the more reason to show the utmost co-operation to the family of the deceased to arrive at the truth.

With the Todd family now absent, and their lawyers discharged and no more evidence from the Todds, the Singapore government it seems will carry on with their opera with a carefully written script and finally arrive at their pre-determined verdict, minus the Todds. The verdict is going to be suicide, not only for the late Shane Todd, and pardon the pun, also for the reputation or the lack of it, for Singapore’s legal system.

Gopalan Nair
Attorney at Law
A Singaporean in Exile
Fremont, California, USA
Tel: 510 491 4375
Email: nair.gopalan@yahoo.com

Singapore suffers from a lack of credibility over the death of American scientist Shane Todd

Ladies and Gentlemen,

Singapore and the international press are now full of the Shane Todd death inquiry. Todd, an American scientist working for a Singapore government company involved in high end scientific program which also involved a major Chinese Government company was found hanged in his Singapore apartment in mysterious circumstances.

He was a young man with a girlfriend and future. At the time of his death, he appears to have stopped working for his Singapore company, had secured another job in the US, and was planning a short holiday before commencing work and in every other respect was the most unlikely candidate for suicide, which the Singapore government claims it was.

The Singapore government’s interest in making sure of a verdict of suicide is obvious. If it is shown that Todd was murdered, as most people believe he was, that will be the end of anymore American scientists ever stepping foot in Lee Kuan Yew’s island.

Todd's family have arranged for expert witnesses who are going to testify according to the post mortem reports that he had put up a strong fight against his attackers as shown by the bruises in his hands while the Singapore government, desperate to argue for suicide, claim that those injuries resulted after he was dead. Doctors have also categorically said that he had not shown any suicidal intention whatsoever.

The Todd family has in fact managed to push for a Congressional inquiry in the US to look into his death regardless of what Singapore finds.

Following these proceedings in Singapore, one cannot fail to see that people outside Singapore are having a hard time trusting anything that Singapore says. And it must be quite clear to a Singapore observer why this is so; because the outside world has simply lost trust in the island’s legal system and the independence of their judiciary. In fact most people outside Singapore would consider the Singapore judiciary to be corrupt and beholden to the island’s Lee Kuan Yew government, and one cannot be expected to respect any claim made by such a judiciary whose reputation has been tarnished and floored.

In fact Shane Todd's mother had herself told reporters in Singapore that she feels the legal system in Singapore is "corrupt" and that in her view the Singapore legal system cannot be trusted. With a disgraceful litany of  judicial decisions of the Singapore judges clearly available on the Internet it is impossible for their Lee Kuan Yew government which is now run by the son of Lee Kuan Yew, to claim otherwise.

Singapore’s judges reputation was soiled and undermined since decades ago, firstly with the abuse of the legal system through compliant judges to destroy Lee's former political opponent JB Jeyaretnam. Through a series of trumped up charges, JB Jeyaretnam was repeatedly punished through million dollar defamation awards meted out by Lee's handpicked Kangaroo Judges, resulting in Jeyaretnam being bankrupted and being sent to jail. He has since died.

Then we have more recently Chee Soon Juan, whose fault once again was only that he was Lee's political opponent. He too was repeatedly sued for defamation of character, bankrupted and sent to jail. However recently, rather mysteriously, Lee Kuan Yew has released him form bankruptcy. Chee however is no longer the firebrand that he once was and now merely writes his blog and appears to have given up his earlier belief in the need for island wide protests to bring the father and son government down.

In my own case, other than the earlier politically motivated actions against me since 1985, in 2008 while in Singapore, I was arrested and sent to jail for 3 months for writing a blog critical of his judge Belinda Ang Saw Ean of her disgraceful judgment against Chee Soon Juan. I was also arrested for a made up claim while there that I had knocked on a police car and that for some inexplicable reason was behaving disorderly for which I had to pay a fine of $3,000.00. I was then deported from the island even though I was born there. Last year, I was also disbarred from practicing law in the island even though it made no difference to me since I live and practice law in California now. The problem that Lee Kuan Yew government faces is that all this legal system abuse is freely available on the Internet.

So any observer looking at these series of cases where the law is shamelessly stood on its head to serve the government's political ends can only come to one conclusion, which is, these judges are just downright corrupt, and willing to do anything to please their master.

And once it is found that a judge has acted corruptly, they will be looked upon forever with suspicion; because once judges are willing to abuse the law to please their Master, what guarantee is there that they will not do it again. So what guarantee is there that the Singapore judge now hearing the Shade Todd case will not once again abuse the law and claim that he committed suicide, which is the verdict the Lee Kuan Yew government wants.

It is puzzling why they failed to understand this simple fact, that once you are seen to abuse the legal system for your own ends, from that point the integrity of your judges is marred forever.

Truly, noone is going to believe anything that the Singapore judges decide on Shane Todd. And neither would any future audience ever believe in any future judgment ordered by these judges in any future case. Reputation once tarnished is almost impossible to recover.

Gopalan Nair
Attorney at Law
A Singaporean in Exile
Fremont, California, USA
Tel: 510 491 4375
Email: nair.gopalan@yahoo.com

Singapore a police state, protests of any sort are illegal

Ladies and Gentlemen,

Despite the outward trappings of a modern city Singapore is underneath nothing but a police state, run by the Lee Kuan Yew family since the last 52 years.

Although it has a Constitution which when originally drafted in 1963 at the time of Independence with Malaysia and subsequently enacted on August 9, 1965 when Singapore became independent on it's own, had the usual guarantees of human rights in accordance with the Universal Declaration of the United Nations, the Lee government which has literally turned the island into a one party police state has whittled away every one of them leaving it's citizens no rights  at all. Any privilege which they have is entirely by license or dictates. If they have any right, it is because the government allows it, not because any Constitution guarantees it.

Section 14 of the Constitution reads

"Every citizen of Singapore has the right to freedom of speech and expression" "All citizens have the right to assemble peaceably and without arms" "All citizens of Singapore have the right to form associations"

But having said that, Section (2) of this section conveniently takes away every one of these rights. It reads "Parliament by law may impose on the rights conferred by Clause (1) (a) such restrictions as it considers necessary or expedient" "such restrictions as it considers necessary or expedient in the interests of security".

Now comes the laws that take away the rights in the Constitution.

Singapore’s Public Order Act Chapter 257A, 2009, an addition to Public Entertainment and Meetings Act Chapter 257, 1958 states in Section 5 (1), Subject to the provisions of this Act, that "A public procession or assembly shall not take place unless "the Commissioner is notified and a permit is granted" Section 6 reads "Notice shall be provided to the Commissioner even if "the demonstration is carried on by the person himself" and the meaning of the word assembly "a demonstration by a person alone"

In other words, even if you intended to stand alone by yourself somewhere and make a speech, you need a permit!

What this all means in Lee Kuan Yew's Singapore is that the Constitution of Singapore is a piece of thrash, worthless garbage. It gives no rights at all. Singaporeans have no right to assemble or protest even alone, unless the government gives them a license before hand. And throughout the history of Singapore Island the Lee government has not issued a single license to anyone!

To try to make itself look good, Singapore has recently set aside a small area in downtown Singapore called "Speakers Corner" conveniently covered with trees and not very visible from the outside, as an area where people could protest, once again, subject to several conditions. Under the Public Order Unrestricted Area Order 2013 and Public Entertainments and Meetings (Speakers Corner) (Exemption Order) 2013, the organizer must be a Singapore citizen, he cannot say anything about religion, cannot cause enmity or ill feeling against other races, the speaker can only speak in the four official Singapore languages (and presumably not in Outer Mongolian), and does not display any banner or signs.

No foreigner is allowed to speak or take part unless he had a permit. And under the Public Entertainments and meetings Act Chapter 257 Section 18, the Licensing officer can arrest anyone whom he suspects of committing or attempting to commit an offense.

And to make sure that the government can stop anyone, the police have a right to refuse permission for anyone to speak even at Speakers Corner just like that.

In addition, to make sure that they are completely shielded from public dissent, several areas such as the vicinity of Parliament House, the Presidential Palace, police stations, areas close to embassies are all declared "Gazetted Areas" which means no one is allowed to protest any where near them. Such restrictions are both redundant and an overkill since protests throughout the island are illegal anyway without permission (which by the way is never granted), because you need a permit to protest anywhere in the island.  

The government allowing protests at the Speakers Corner, by the way of course subject to the government’s complete discretion to stop it, is in fact useless in reality. For instance, if workers wanted to protest their unjust dismissals at Sembawang Shipyard, they would expect to do it in the vicinity of the shipyard at Sembawang because that is where they will attract the attention of both their employers and the general public. There is no use at all for them to protest against Sembawang Shipyard at Hong Lim Park Speakers corner about 20 miles away where no one would know what on earth they are on about! Yet according to the Lee Kuan Yew government of Singapore, these recently dismissed workers from Sembawang Shipyard can only do it at Hong Lim Park; otherwise they would be arrested.

Singaporeans should realize that they are living under a virtual dictatorship without any rights to complain whatsoever. It is natural human nature to protest an injustice. In Singapore there is no outlet for it. You are expected to simply take it without objection. You are expected to be a moron.

The hope of democracy is to place as little restriction of people's right of expression and protest because of the belief that a country benefits through increased citizen participation of divergent views, philosophies and theories, and that a conflict of ideas is a good thing which should be encouraged, not suppressed.

The Singapore government police state on the other hand is determined to suppress divergent opinions allowing only those who comport with their thinking, presumably because they fear being over thrown if dissent is allowed.

And with Kangaroo courts that will make any judgment or any court order to satisfy the Lee government, the reality in the State of Singapore is that no one has any rights to speak in public, assemble in public or protest in public about anything.

The outside world reading this must realize that Singaporeans who live in their island have to be simply just dumb to accept a life such as this; there can be no other word for them. No one with any self respect would be prepared to live like this unless you are dumb.

Unfortunately the level of education of those remaining within the island is pretty low. Most have no idea of such things as human rights and go about their lives hoping to be left alone while they are happy in return to leave the government alone.

Educated Singaporeans and those who are prosperous would know that this is not the sort of life to live. As a result most of them have left the island for settlement abroad and many are leaving as we speak. Of course, you also have the hypocrites and unprincipled characters who know that they are actually living as slaves but are willing anyway for the high rewards the government pays them as collaborators.

Foreigners coming to Singapore should be told what they are coming to, an island which the Lee government, literally run by the 92 year old Lee Kuan Yew who has appointed his son as the Prime Minister and their cronies and close relatives in high places, as if it was their personal possession.

Gopalan Nair
Attorney at Law
A Singaporean in Exile
Fremont, California, USA
Tel: 510 491 4375
Email: nair.gopalan@yahoo.com

Singapores' Kishore Mahbubani, Lee Kuan Yew's full time ass-licker praises Singapore's safety

Ladies and Gentlemen,

Kishore Mahbubani is one of Singapore's success stories if you could call it that. As in every totalitarian one party state dictatorship, and Singapore island is no different, you have a section of society who succeed through bootlicking, being sycophants to the dictator, singing praises and in return enjoying the disgraceful crumbs thrown at them.

During Nazi Germany, you had characters like Adolf Eichmann who did Hitler's dirty work and benefited. You have the same dogs that licked the boots of Franco of Spain, Mussolini of Italy and in the case of Mahbubani, the licking the behind of Singapore’s dictator Lee Kuan Yew.

I understand, (I may be wrong as I have not wasted my time on this character who is of no real consequence), he was once the Ambassador of Singapore to the United States and now he has some titular position praising Lee Kuan Yew, his usual occupation, in a faculty at the local university.

In an article written by him for the local state controlled newspaper, he basically says Singapore islanders should be happy because it is very safe compared to many third world countries nearby. But he conveniently fails to say anything about how that safety is extracted, and at what cost.

Either he doesn't have an understanding of other countries which I doubt, or he deliberately pretends not to know the real reason why Singapore may be somewhat safe, if indeed so. I am not sure he knows that Saudi Arabia is a very safe place and in fact, shopkeepers there leave their stores unlocked when they go to Friday prayers at their mosque; a place far safer than Singapore. Why, because they chop you hand off if you steal under their Sharia law. Indeed if they can chop my hand off, I too would not steal even if I was starving. Not just that, if they told me that they could chop my arm off if I wrote this blog, I would have stopped writing instantly!

Although Singapore island does not chop people's arm off, it can be equally bad if you did anything wrong. In Lee Kuan Yew's island, even if you did a graffiti job you can be caned, (a real beating on your backside until you bleed), and if you can be tortured and hanged for petty offenses, sure there is hardly any crime. I suggest Mahbubani's Alice in Wonderland Singapore can even be safer if in addition to caning its people, why don't you pull out their finger nails? It will be the safest place in the world. Even better, turn the island into a concentration camp and just incinerate them if they so much as dared to raise a whimper.

Kishore Mahbubani by writing such nonsense is engaging in nothing more than doing what he has been doing full time throughout his working career; kissing Lee Kuan Yew's ass.

Please see May 10, 2013 article, "Singapore’s biggest blessing; safety" http://www.straitstimes.com/st/print/1083004#

He says
"The level of safety we enjoy is a true miracle. Switzerland enjoys the same level of public safety. But it is surrounded by Europe. When you cross the border out of Switzerland, you continue to experience the same level of safety. But when you cross out of the border of Singapore, you may not. In short, we have to work extremely hard to preserve this cocoon of extraordinary public safety."

By this statement he is insulting both Malaysia and Indonesia insinuating they are both hotbeds of crime. They are hardly that. Malaysians are a lively country with people of some life and spike unlike the dead lifeless boring Singaporeans who have no spontaneity whatsoever. As for Indonesians, at least it is a democracy unlike the one party state police state of Singapore.

He says
"Some of it is clearly due to the very successful Singapore Police Force (SPF) we have."

Surely Singapore Police force is very successful. And why not if they have powers to do anything they want, as was the Kempetai, the Japanese Military police in 1943 Singapore. If they could chop your head off on the spot, even better.

As for the Shane Todd murder case he says

"This is why I was appalled that US Senator Max Baucus jumped the gun and tried to pressure Singapore by forcing Singapore to give the Federal Bureau of Investigation (FBI) oversight of the case before the Coroner's Court had completed its inquiry."

He need not be surprised at all. The FBI of the Untied States is a force subject to the rule of law and does not function under the orders of a dictatorship. They are accountable to their people. Naturally it should come as no surprise if they suspect the reliability of the  actions of Lee Kuan Yew’s personal police force.  

Singapore Police does not function under a working Constitution. The island's constitution is hijacked by Lee Kuan Yew whose police force functions directly under his orders, not the Constitution of Singapore. It is like asking the US government to respect the police force of the late Saddam Hussein or today’s Bashar Assad. It is simply nonsense.

After that Mahbubani goes into rhetoric in praise of lee Kuan Yew’s Singapore without much sense. He says Singapore police force is" more competent" than the American without saying why. He says Singapore has gone from Third World to first while America goes in the reverse, plucking his stupidity out of thin air, no reasons whatsoever.

And then he says the best minds in America do not go into public service while the best minds in Singapore do. I suppose he means himself when he refers to best minds. If all it takes is to lick boots and kiss ass to be the best minds, surely Mahbubani does very well indeed.

As for the rest of his article, it is as the preceding, nothing but unadulterated shameless sycophancy, just the earlier part of his article. It is also quite evident from his style of writing that he isn't any good at that either.

An article such as this would not have been accepted for publication in any respected newspaper. Of course anything can be published in Singapore state controlled newspaper provided you are engaged in the career of this man, licking his master’s ass.  

Gopalan Nair
Attorney at Law
A Singaporean in Exile
Fremont, California USA
Tel: 510 491 4375
Email: nair.gopalan@yahoo.com

Very nervous Singapore threatens Malaysians

Ladies and Gentlemen,

There is no doubt, Lee Kuan Yew's one party police state lives daily under their one biggest fear in crowded Singapore; of peaceful protesters who may once and for all topple their illegitimate regime. The Arab spring of protests and regime change throughout the Middle East from Egypt to Libya was bad enough. Yesterday's huge Malaysian protests in the wake of their disputed of national elections at their very doorstep was the last straw for the jittery and nervous one party state island dictatorship.

When just one hundred Malaysian workers in Singapore, many of them recently naturalized Singapore citizens had yesterday gathered at Merlion Park at the Singapore waterfront, to peacefully lend support to their fellow citizens across the causeway, the police were deployed to break it up, immediately followed by the state controlled TV to announce that the "illegal" protest was broken up, and the peaceful people there were all warned about their "illegal" gathering with threats that their work permits would be revoked and they deported.

Please see state controlled newspaper Straits times report "Merlion Park Protest, nine people warned, work and visit passes reviewed" http://www.straitstimes.com/breaking-news/singapore/story/merlion-park-protest-nine-people-warned-work-and-visit-passes-reviewed

You may begin to wonder why Singapore Island government acts with such force and deliberation against a mere 100 peaceful protesters, going to such great lengths, repeatedly branding their peaceful gathering "illegal" and threatening to deport them or revoke their work permits. And why the need to give such extensive publicity on all state controlled national TV and newspapers about this totally innocuous non event, and labeling it "illegal"? And why "illegal"? Have they gone out on a riot and created mayhem? All they did was to peacefully gather and sing their national anthem; nothing more.

The reason for Lee Kuan Yew’s high handedness is very simple if you knew Lee Kuan Yew's Singapore. They are terrified of their own people. They know that if only their people managed to work up even the slightest courage to protest, their entire make believe Alice in Wonderland government would fall like a house of cards.

And they know the only way they can remain in control is to use brute force and violence against their own people each time at the slightest indication of any dissatisfaction to shut them up; lest it gets out of hand and Lee Kuan Yew becomes history. Their one and only weapon against their own people is fear and so far they have managed to hold the reins using it. The moment their people manage to work up that little courage to stand up, their government will fall, and they know it.

Singapore Island government’s fear arises out of the fact that their entire system is based on illegitimacy. For one, they don't have the rule of law, a constitutional violation. They don't have the right to free speech expression and assembly, all constitutional violations. They don't have a free press, a constitutional violation. They openly practice racial discrimination against the Malays and the Indians, a constitutional violation. It is simply a police state where you can be rounded up, arrested and searched entirely at their whim. The island laws are there to protect their dictatorship government, not you.

The end result of these violations is, it's entire tiny population, thanks to the Internet as well as my writings here, (which is read daily in Singapore), has had the effect of causing their people to lose all respect for them, who have managed to hold on to power so far, only by threats, intimidation and brute force.

Everyone knows, a government to remain in control has to demand the respect of their people. Governance through threats, intimidation and shameless constitutional violations is really not sustainable in this day of the Internet, although it may have worked in the past.

Unfortunately for Singapore’s dictatorship, these expressions of unrest seem to be recurring far too often. Only last week  Mohamad Khalid Mohamad was arrested for writing the words "Democracy" across a monument at the island sea front. A few days ago a cartoonist Leslie Chew was arrested for a drawing which depicted the racial discrimination against the Malays. Not long before that Alex Au, a blogger was sent a lawyer's letter for exposing corruption and nepotism in the government in a computer equipment sales case.

At the rate these protests and acts of disobedience in the island are recurring with increasing frequency, I am sure this peaceful protest would not be the last. Tomorrow or even next week, you may see another protest, another cartoon, another blog post which attacks the one party police state government.

The cause of this is the modern information age. Singapore English educated islanders become acutely aware of their miserable lives under the yoke of a crushing intolerant government and they want change. They are aware of their boring regimented lives. They can see what is happening in the West where people are free. Where people can be themselves. They don’t have to live the way they do under the father and son government (Lee Kuan Yew and his son).  So they rebel.

Lee Kuan Yew and his son cannot really expect to silence these protests and dissatisfaction which are recurring with increased frequency. It is the result of changing times. And Malaysians are not the sort of docile conformists that many Singaporeans have been although many are managing some sort of courage.

My advice to Lee Kuan Yew and son is to see the writing on the wall. And use your head. They are not going to stop me from writing this from Fremont, California. And neither are Singaporeans going to be stopped from reading it. In the past you could have stopped me but not today. The world has changed. The Internet has changed it.

Realize your situation. You simply cannot win by force without legitimacy. You cannot break every rule and still insist on and demand obedience. The sea of democracy is coming; you cannot stop it. Accepting it is the only way for you. Singapore will change, whether you like it or not.

Gopalan Nair
Attorney at Law
A Singaporean in Exile
Fremont, California, USA
Tel: 510 491 4375
Email: nair.gopalan@yahoo.com

Abused animals and Singapore citizens

Ladies and Gentlemen,

Have you ever seen videos of Chinese circus animals subjected to extreme cruelty that finally do all sorts of tricks to amuse visitors? The beatings and abuse they suffered finally breaks their spirit. Even tigers do nothing at all to their tormentors who daily abuse them for public entertainment. Barbaric and heartless brutes, these Communist Chinese.

Lee Kuan Yew's Singaporeans are like these abused animals. In Singapore, Lee Kuan Yew and every single member of his government pay themselves no less than $3.7 million a year in salary. In any other country, the people would be up in arms about this. Yet Singaporeans like these Chinese animals, spirit broken, do or say nothing at all!

The island has a Constitution which demands the right of universal freedoms, speech, assembly and expression. Yet the Lee Kuan Yew government denies them every single one of these rights but the people in the island, do not complain, not even a whimper.  They simply accept it. The Singaporean spirit, if they had any in the first place, has been completely broken. They accept their fate. They can do nothing at all.

Even though the tiny little island is already overcrowded, even though the people have clearly said no, yet the rulers have threatened to bring in 6.9 million more people into the island. Except for a lame peaceful protest in Singapore’s Hong Lim Park, a government designated location for protests, where no more than about 3,000 people attended, an inconsequential number for an island that has 5 million people, they have taken no other step. In fact the protest organizers have promised to hold another protest there one year from now, on May 1, 2014! Nothing more!

What sort of a people are these Singaporeans anyway? Does not red blood flow in their veins? Are they still alive or are they already dead! I suppose if Lee Kuan Yew and his son wanted, they could abuse local Singaporeans like the way they abuse the caged animals in China and still they would do nothing, nothing at all!

What else can I say about people such as these? Thank God I don't live there anymore.

Gopalan Nair
Attorney at Law
A Singaporean in Exile
Fremont, California, USA
Tel: 510 491 4375
Email: nair.gopalan@yahoo.com

Singapore the probable outcome of arrested cartoonist Leslie Chew and graffiti artist Mohamad Khalid Mohamad

Ladies and Gentlemen,

The intolerant no-nonsense Lee Kuan Yew government of Singapore in their usual practice of intimidating and arresting critics to protect their long standing rule had last week arrested a cartoonist Leslie Chew for a drawing they did not like.

The drawing had depicted a government minister praising Chinese, Indian and Caucasian immigrants for stellar contributions to the city state. One observer had asked why no mention of Malays who make up a tiny part of the Singapore population to which another shouted "racial discrimination".

The government justifies his arrest claiming it is racially incendiary.

Anyone who understands the common law which Singapore itself admits to be the foundation of their legal system knows that this argument is simply nonsense. Firstly, the Constitution, which the government shamelessly violates on every score, guarantees the freedom of expression. Surely Chew's drawing clearly comes within that right.

Second any law that proscribes incitement to racial hatred should require a real showing that racial intolerance was indeed created by the offending drawing and in fact there has been racial violence directly consequent on Chew's drawing.

In this case, the government has not been able to show either the happening of either of these instances in this case. In the end, what we are left with is a harmless drawing by Chew which reflects the reality of Singapore today, where Malays are indeed racially discriminated not just by Chinese Singaporeans who form the majority, in employment, services and every other sphere and equally so by the government.

Chew was not mentioning anything that every Singaporean did not already know, that Singapore Malays are actually discriminated by the Singapore Chinese and their racially ethnic Chinese government.

As for the Malay Mohamad Khalid Mohamad, who had written the words "Democracy" across a downtown shoreline monument, of course it is illegal to vandalize property. No doubt he is guilty under the law. No one would have objected to his receiving a reasonable punishment for his crime.

But the problem in this case is the punishment does not fit the crime. Under Lee Kuan Yew's laws of Singapore, he has retained in the statute books an old British colonial law that permit beatings (caning), a very brutal punishment where the offender is stripped of his trousers, and beaten with a cane until he bleeds from his behind.

A little reflection of this brutality of punishment which appears macabre and grossly disproportionate for such as minor infraction should become clear. In the turn of the century British colonial Singapore was fighting a communist insurgency at the same time as the revolution in China was fermenting. The British did not want people drawing the words "Democracy", "Liberation"  or “Communism” across walls to encourage a revolution; thus the extreme form of punishment. In any case, we are talking of the world in 1930s and 1940s, when the world was far less civilized than what it is now.

However it is 2013 today and Lee Kuan Yew is no longer fighting a Communist insurgency and clearly such punishments are clearly not warranted for this or for that matter any offence. But the very insecure Lee Kuan Yew and his government who are terrified of what his own people would do to him and his rule, keep this irrelevant and unnecessary rule on the books, simply to silence anyone who may threaten their rule. For instance, he does not want anyone to go about writing on walls “Down with the Lee family”.

I reckon, in both these cases, the Lee government wants to avoid a full frontal confrontation with either of them. If they both stood their ground and decided to plead not guilty and went on a full drawn out trial, it will once again draw widespread attention worldwide as one more instance of a ruthless intolerant one party police state cracking down of two harmless citizens who were merely exercising their freedom of speech. Singapore already has a bad reputation as nothing more than a fascist one party police state after decades of abusing the law to silence dissent. They don’t want to add to it.

On the other hand, if both decided to plead guilty to any charges, the government would claim they are vindicated and the criminals had confessed to their guilt. This is of course the outcome the government prefers.

This is what I think is likely to happen. Leslie Chew and Khalid Mohamad are still in Singapore because they are either unwilling or incapable of leaving this one party island police state. It may be for a multitude of reasons, perhaps their families are there, perhaps they are unwilling to venture into new lands, we do not know what. 

So if they have not already left, it is unlikely they would leave. Under pressure from the government, which they shamelessly do by threatening not only these two harmless innocent individuals but also their families, vey probably they both will decide to do what Lee Kuan Yew wants them to do. 

Since the government's target is not so much these two individuals but the entire Singapore population which they want to keep in check, they would have succeeded once again to send their smoke signals to all and sundry that both these individuals had in fact voluntarily confessed to their sins and have shown contrition and repentance and turned a new leaf in good behavior.

In return, in their generous magnanimity, like the Roman Emperor who decides to pardon a common criminal, the Government have decided not to charge Leslie Chew with sedition, as they have threatened but instead on an insignificant infraction and a small fine which he had promptly paid.

As for Khalid Mohamad, he too would probably confess as required of him and in return they would drop the vandalism charge and replace it instead with some similar insignificant infraction which carries a small fine, which he would have paid, minus the beatings (canings).

But most importantly, the government would once again appear both glorious and victorious as the one government which can do no wrong and which has never lost a case they had brought against any citizen. Hail Cesar, Hail Lee Kuan Yew.

As for Chew's attorney, as expected of Singapore’s legal profession, he is not going to be of any help, least of all to his client. Singapore’s entire legal profession consists of what one can call reluctant lawyers. No lawyer in Lee's Singapore has ever dared to take on the one party police state in their blatant violation of every single right enshrined in their Constitution; and lived to tell the tale. What Chew's attorney is concerned more is making sure that he will be able to practice law there tomorrow, lest one word from Big Brother Lee Kuan Yew would be the end of his career.

What we are seeing is some sort of a make believe with the government charging these two persons with harsh laws and harsh outcomes only for their victims and their lawyers to submit, resulting in the end, the crystal clear message sent to the voiceless and helpless Singaporeans to stay in line, while at the same time, these two are let off on their own recognizance for good behavior.

What you are witnessing is a Chinese opera, Singapore style.  

As for me writing this from Fremont, California, I am completely safe. They had already arrested me in Singapore in 2008 for writing a blog post while there on a visit, sent me to jail, deported me from the island and subsequently disbarred me from practicing law there.

Not that it matters because the State Bar of California has totally ignored their actions as nothing but that of an insecure police state, which is why I am actively practicing the law here. As for my calling their government nothing but a fascist dictatorship and their courts nothing but a bunch of Kangaroos, they can do nothing to me, because here we take our our Constitution seriously.

Gopalan Nair
Attorney at Law
A Singaporean in Exile
Fremont, California, USA
Tel: 510 491 4375
Email: nair.gopalan@yahoo.com