Being Singaporean

Hello again, ladies and gentlemen.

This is not another rant, but simply my thoughts of the typical Singaporean citizen, living in Singapore.

From the post below, we have established that Lee Kuan Yew has clearly made Singapore a tax haven for those at the pinacle of society; "Several members of Lee's family hold prominent positions in Singaporean society, and his sons and daughter hold high government or government-linked posts. His elder son Lee Hsien Loong, a former Brigadier General, has been the Prime Minister since 2004. He is also the Deputy Chairman of the Government of Singapore Investment Corporation (GIC), of which Lee himself is the chairman. Lee's younger son, Lee Hsien Yang, is also a former Brigadier General and is a former President and Chief Executive Officer of SingTel, a pan-Asian telecommunications giant and Singapore's largest company by market capitalisation (listed on the Singapore Exchange, SGX). Fifty-six percent of SingTel is owned by Temasek Holdings, a prominent government holding company with controlling stakes in a variety of very large government-linked companies such as Singapore Airlines and DBS Bank. Temasek Holdings in turn was until 2009 run by Executive Director and C.E.O. Ho Ching, the wife of Lee Hsien Loong. Lee's daughter, Lee Wei Ling, runs the National Neuroscience Institute. Lee's wife, Kwa Geok Choo, used to be a partner of the prominent legal firm Lee & Lee." This was read from Wikipedia, here: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Lee_Kuan_Yew

"So what does this mean?" I hear you ask? Well, from this, we can safely assume that the average citizen must have been mind-wiped at the very least to not care where his/her country is heading. A country that is led by a man who is a megalomaniac. Which brings me to this: what could the average citizen of Singapore be like?

Let's do things one by one. Firstly, he would have passed his exams and perhaps works in Singapore Civil Service as a clerk. He would work hard, obey his orders and carry them out obediently. His job is only to consider what his orders are, not whether they are right or wrong.

His interests are limited. He would know his work duties but other than that his knowledge otherwise would be elementary. He is unlikely to have read much history, philosophy or anything much else.

He will dress conventionally with the usual haircut for men, clothes pressed and cleaned. He is unlikely to wear outlandish clothes, dye his hair bright green, or have dreadlocks.

As a person, he is of limited courage as to his abilities. He is unlikely to think himself capable of winning the Tour de France or circumnavigate the globe in a Westerly 35 sailboat. He believes that being Singaporean, such things are beyond him, more suitable for an Australian or Englishman. So in other words, he is incapable of dreaming. Reaching for the stars is simply beyond him. Lee Kuan Yew's model citizen is a member of a pack and is unable to live outside it, conforming his actions and thoughts to the accepted norm of obedience and submission. In other words, He cannot believe that like Gandhi he can single handedly topple Lee Kuan Yew. Dr. Chee Soon Juan may believe it, but Dr. Chee is not the conventional Singaporean and that is why he is not Lee's model citizen.

From this, I would say that our fellow Singaporean citizen has a sense of limited ability. Before he even tries, he is resigned to the belief that he cannot possibly become a Usain Bolt or an Edmund Hilary.

Continuing on, our Singaporean citizen would consider being unobtrusive a virtue. In other words, he would say what everyone else expects of him to say. For instance, if asked why are Singaporeans not demanding their political rights, his reply would probably be that it is impossible in Singapore. In fact almost every other Singapore model citizen will have the same answer. Let's pause for a moment here, and have a scenario out, just for laughs. Let's say, he met Dr. Chee Soon Juan selling his books beside the street; now his response would be that Dr. Chee is out of his mind, stupid or something to that effect. He would think Dr. Chee is not behaving as expected of the good people of Singapore, as criticizing the government is not seen as something acceptable on that tiny island.

This average citizen, would never openly criticize Dr. Chee or anyone else who behaved in an unconventional Singaporean sense among his friends, instead they will talk jabber about food, work, or life in general. He will never badmouth his own country, let alone his oh-so-great Lee Kuan Yew, as such criticism would tend to bolster his credit as being "one of the boys". If, by any chance at all, he was to meet any current Singaporean minister or Lee Kuan Yew himself, his reaction would be that of respect. It would never occur to him to throw rotten eggs or even insults at them. For one, he would be arrested and two, his peers would look upon him badly. If asked why he would probably say that such behaviour is more appropriate in the West, what with the French revolutions and all.

His contentment and happiness is fortified by reading the government-controlled newspapers that tell him about the poverty in Africa, the war in Afghanistan and trouble in Chechnya. He will reassure himself that his life is good the way it is, as he is in peaceful Singapore, with Lee Kuan Yew feeding him, taking care of him, loving him, leading Singapore towards the light.

He may know, but will never be concerned that Lee Kuan Yew pays himself $3.1 million a year and that this is daylight robbery. He thinks that criticizing Lee Kuan Yew can land him in trouble, so he shuts off his mind from such questions. He will never be concerned that Singapore has no free press or right to free speech and expression, but since these rights do not impinge upon his daily life he is totally unconcerned about these things. However, he will consider people such as me, who criticize Lee Kuan Yew who provides all these "goodies" to him, as a bad person, out to make trouble and upset his present happy and peaceful existence.

And yes, there we have him; the average Singaporean citizen, an obedient, hard-working, law-abiding, quiet, sober individual who will not concern himself with intangible things such as human rights as they do not directly impact upon his daily routine peaceful existence. He thinks that by doing so, he might achieve a high station in life in Lee Kuan Yew's Singapore, whereas those who question authority will suffer a lifetime of harassment and victimization. This knowledge itself tends to keep the others in line and perpetuate the status quo of today's Singapore.

There we have it, our citizen, living on that small island; he hopes that people like me, who criticize his great Lee Kuan Yew, would just go away and leave him and his Singaporean "paradise" alone.