10/20/2014

Gopalan Nair - Singapore a dictatorial and repressive state


‘Singapore's dictatorship today has reached a fork in the road. Do you take the road that continues the repression and persecution and continue to rule through fear, and thereby antagonize every single Singaporean? Or do you take the road of restoring democracy and the peoples freedoms. Either way the Singapore dictators don't stand a chance. By cracking the whip even more, you sow the seeds for an overthrow. And if you allow their freedoms, you do the same. It is a no win situation for these tyrants as it is everywhere. It is a hard rock or a hard place and nothing in between.
 

Singapore's state controlled newspapers can go on as if nothing is amiss. But we know that there is a great deal amiss in that tiny island with a tiny population. ‘
 

Gopalan Nair
Attorney at Law
A Singaporean in Exile
Fremont California USA
Facebook: www.facebook.com/singapore.dissident
 

The above statement made by Gopalan Nair is self explanatory. What he said is very strong and would obviously raise a lot of eyebrows and ruffled feathers the wrong way. The question is how much truth is there in what he wrote. Was it an exaggeration of things on the ground? How could a universally acclaimed democratic state be seen as a dictatorial and repressive state in the eyes of a dissident?
 

Gopalan Nair also quoted the recent harassment of two critics of the govt in Roy Ngerng and Han Hui Hui. Roy is now facing a libel suit for defamation against the Prime Minister. Both have been accused of heckling Special Needs Children in a Park designated for free speech and demonstration. Hui Hui had been called up in the middle of the night, gestapo style, by the Police and had undergone a police investigation for7 hours for a possible charge of illegal assembly in a Park where it is not illegal to have such an assembly.
 

Would these two minor incidents be sufficient to support Gopalan’s case that Singapore is a dictatorial and repressive state? Did Roy and Hui Hui feel oppressed? Did the people of Singapore think likewise that they indeed are living in a dictatorial and repressive state?
 

Different people will have different views and perceptions of things. Some will think and believe that Roy and Hui Hui did heckle the children or even held an illegal assembly in Hong Lim Park. At least the police thought so or else there would not be such a serious investigation going on. At least the main media and some politicians believed that there was heckling of Special Needs Children at the way it was reported and the strong accusations. Others would not believe a wee bit that these were so.
 

Strange that the truth is so difficult and so different even in broad daylight. How is that so? Or is it a matter of whose truth is the truth and should rule the day?
 

What do you think of Gopalan Nair’s assertion? Is there any grain of truth?

Kopi Level - Yellow

21 comments:

Anonymous said...

Did someone here said don't listen or was it don't believe any Nair anymore when commenting about son of Devan Nair, Janadas Nair.
Some even proclaimed nairs are liars.

Ⓜatilah $ingapura⚠️ said...

I think Mr Nair has been smoking too much of that marvellous California weed.

Although Singapore can seem like a "dictatorial and repressive state", in the broad context of things political, ALL STATES are -- to varying degrees -- dictatorial and repressive. This can't be helped: The State is the ABSOLUTE geographical authority of law in a given, defined territory. It is the nature of ABSOLUTE POWER to fuck you -- defenceless citizen -- over by regulation or taxation. Can't be helped.

In the Singapore context, Gopalan Nair has not been keeping up with the times. Present-day Singapore has alot more FREEDOM than the Singapore of previous decades.

The Singapore govt still controls the media, the right to freedom of peaceful assembly, and silly things like the no sale of chewing gum, the 3/4 tank rule, licence required to print anything, the prohibition of any discourse on race or religion, and the prohibition of flipping the bird at another driver if you're driving a car. Note: as I do not drive in Singapore, I frequently flip the bird to asshole dangerous and inconsiderate motorists usually from taxis, which results in the recipient drivers getting fucking angry but there's nothing they can do apart from noting down the cab's registration.

The best thing about Singapore is that despite all the silliness in regulation, you can still do alot of "fun stuff" and even break the law if you know how to take cover :-)

Singaporeans still like complaining about non issues -- especially the mob who get their panties in a know everytime something "untoward" happens to their precious little enclave of all talk, no action Hong Lim Park.

So Gopalan, take a few more tokes of that delightful California ganja and chill out lah. Singapore is actually pretty awesome.

Anonymous said...

PAP can be overthrown?

Sinkie opposition can be ready to be govt?

Aung Juan Soon Chee Party can win seats in next GE? If can, then why Hainan Ah Ko want to leave the Party and form his own?

Questions, questions and more questions to be answered truthfully before the truth is known.

Anonymous said...

This Gopalan Nair had contested before in a GE under the WP and lost. Teochew Ah Hia should know him as he also lost in the same GE under WP before Hougang. And unlike Ah Hia, Gopalan then cabut to California.

If Gopalan believe PAP can be overthrown, he should have stayed behind to help to overthrow what, tio bo?

Anonymous said...

Teochew Ah Hia and Gopalan Nair were together in the same GRC team that contested Tiong Bahru GRC under WP in GE 1988!

And look at how their destiny and location are now.

Anonymous said...


"First they came for the Socialists, and I did not speak out—
Because I was not a Socialist.
Then they came for the Trade Unionists, and I did not speak out—
Because I was not a Trade Unionist.
Then they came for the Jews, and I did not speak out—
Because I was not a Jew.
Then they came for me—and there was no one left to speak for me"

- Martin Niemöller

不见棺材不落泪

Anonymous said...

Then they came for me...

As a smart Sinkie, I would have already cabut before they came for me.

Anonymous said...

Have the police came for Roy to ask him to come drink kopi at Police Cantonment complex?

Or has Roy already cabut?

Anonymous said...

富不過三代

Anonymous said...

caput (ˈkeɪpət; ˈkæp-)
n, pl capita (ˈkæpɪtə)
1. (Anatomy) anatomy a technical name for the head
2. (Anatomy) the main or most prominent part of an organ or structure

Anonymous said...

cabut is a malay word for running away.

Anonymous said...

Someone pls tell me whther Roy and Ah Girl are in prison or walking the streets free? Gopi shd NOT throw stones from the comfort and safety of sunny California. You left Singapore to make more money, now shutup please. Quitters have no say in Spe affairs, man! Gopi, you left for the most dictatorial and repressive state in the West .. what does that say about how smart you are. And to become 4th class Resident/Citizen there, after the whites, blacks and hispanics ... really stupid, man!

Anonymous said...

Me think they are safe. The police have learnt the hard way by trying to shake them up but ended everything reported in the social media that made them looking very bad.

They and their friends will make sure everything is reported and the people be informed if they are harassed by the authority. And there is the great M Ravi that would not allow it to happen.

Next time they will bring their handphone to the police station to record the kopi sessions too to protect themselves.

b said...

If the sheeps are clueless, then a dictatorship works best. It does not matter whether dictatorship or not, what matter is whether people gets employed.

Anonymous said...

Very good advice. Everyone in the gulag is employed.

Anonymous said...

So is everyone in a prostitute den.

b said...

The first law of the working class - never put your faith in politicians.

b said...

In otherwords, a prostitute should not trust a pimp to make his/her life better.

Anonymous said...

Haha.........

2 Nairs at opposite sides of the Establishment.

Which One is more believable?

Or which One is more trustworthy?

Maybe trustworthy too honourable; who is more reliable?

Anonymous said...

To run away or escape in Bahasa Melayu is melarikan diri.
Mr Lee will ca your butt if you're not careful.

Anonymous said...

Are there such words, jangan chabut, sudah chabut?