Chee Soon Chuan was a petty pilferer. His gripe has its roots in the treatment and shame he received after his misdeed was exposed. You will no doubt remember he was cheating in his expense claims forms….real small time petty cheat that diminishes his standing as a man. He now has issues to champion, and for the determination, the courage to challenge the authorities and sacrifices he is making, I salute him. But my problem with him is the credibility of his new found ideals, and the fact that he has been barking up the wrong trees on far too many accassions.

Jeyeratnam’s gripe very few people really understood or are aware of. I’m sure you don’t too. Jeyeratnam’s is a personal feud with Lee Kuan Yew many years before LKY came to power. Back in the colonial days, LKY was a young and fiery lawyer and Jeyeratnam was a judge. LKY represented some bus unions in a case which was presided by Jeyeratnam. This is like Cinderella story, really. To cut it short, somewhere in the proceedings, LKY was seriously rebuked by the judge. That rebuke must have cut so deep that when LKY became Prime Minister and calls the shot in the island, the venom in his treatment of Jeyeratnam came from simple primeval motivation of vengeance. It’s really sad that great man can bemean themselves to those levels.

Thanks for buying our book – hope you enjoyed it/

I wouldn’t say that I have put Singapore on par with the U.S, on my blog. There are far more articles about the U.S. than there are about Singapore.

The posts about Goodyear were as much about the U.S. as the were about Singapore.

The question that Goodyear brings up about Singapore, is why hire Americans to do a job that a Singaporean is qualified to do?

Maybe it has to do with wanting to keep information and control out of the hands of Singaporeans, or maybe Singapore is somehow deluded into thinking that foreigners are better perhaps due to a “colonial hangover.”

I don’t agree that Singapore is not news-worthy. I get a tremendous number of hits on two subjects – Singapore is one, and Sarah Palin is the other. You can get an idea by looking at the size of the words in my Tag Cloud.

I am working on posts regarding how the crooks in the U.S. Senate have defeated health care, and a second one on Obama’s folly of expanding the war in Afghanistan and Pakistan (yes, and Pakistan – the U.S. has troops there, already).

There are only three countries that I probably won’t write about – Italy, France, and Switzerland – places where I might want to live someday.

Police states like Singapore, and the U.S. can become dangerous…

All the best,
John

Saudi Arabia? Well, I have been writing a book on Saudi Arabia to explain to the infidels what Saudi Arabia and Islam are really like.

I have no hidden agenda. I bought your book through my American friend.

I am just very puzzled by your extreme interest in everything Singapore. Singapore is just a tiny “red dot” and when I travel (which I do 50% of the time), I notice that even non-Singapore newspapers find Singapore news not news worthy. And here we have a guy who just spent some years living in Singapore and married a Singapore wife putting Singapore “on par” with U.S. in terms of news worthiness.

Why not Saudi Arabia? Is Saudi Arabia so perfect that there is nothing to “unearth”?

As I have said earlier, I salute Jeyaratnam and Chee for their guts to stand up against the institutions. Neither am I puzzled because they are Singaporeans fighting a “Singapore cause”.

I still don’t see your “motivation”.

Let’s set the record straight. I did not criticize Chee! Chee, his sister, and I have exchanged many friendly emails. Chee and his sister are two of the most courageous people in Singapore. More than anybody they have brought the attention of the world to the problems of Singapore. (Jeyaretnam is totally unknown outside of Singapore, as are his two sons.)

Chiam See Tong recently requested a copy of our book, which we sent him, gratis. Earlier, your Chief Justice request requested a copy.

My motives are straightforward – what about yours? I see a hidden agenda.

Did the Singapore government promised you the Temasek job and then gave it to Goodyear? Are you trying to get even on behalf of your wife, May?

By the way, I salute both Jejaratnam and Chee for your guts!

There is a Spanish saying that, “More grows in the garden than the gardener sows.” In other words, the people who came in on Lee Kuan Yew’s coattails, were not all the best. This includes Goh Chok Tong, and others, along with the poster boy for incompetence, Yeo Cheow Tong.

It is a common trait among leaders, whether they are in government or in business, that they tend to put weak people under them – as they don’t want to be overthrown by someone brighter than they.
I do not think that Singapore’s corruption level is “marvellous,” as you put it.

For example, Singapore avoids extradition treaties with nearby countries, in order to lure crooks and their money to Singapore, as is the case with Liem Tek Siong, alias Sjamsul Nursalim, alias Liem Tjoen Ho who fled from Indonesia to Singapore with billions.

Singapore is a center for money laundering and worse. If you want to name countries whose corruption level is “marvellous,” look to Scandinavia.

I disagree that Jeyaratnam and Chee Soon Juan are against the PAP because of “personal grudges.” Jeyaratnam was a fool, and Chee is sincere in his beliefs.

The only grudge I have with anyone in Singapore is with Helen Yeo and her husband, Yeo Cheow Tong. I have never made any attempt to hide this fact.

Any criticism of Singapore that I may have, however, is not due to the Yeos. Your attempt to portray me as such is to destroy the argument by destroying the man – the well-know logical flaw of “argumentum ad hominem.”

You are wrong about me, and you wrong about Singapore.

We are living under the Chinese curse of “interesting times.” The U.S. economy will continue to collapse into a deeper depression, as 500,000+ Americans lose their jobs every month.

Singapore, with its burden of a huge foreign population and a shrinking export market is in a very dangerous situation. Unlike the U.S., Singapore has no hinterland – Lee Kuan Yew pointed that out some time ago. The United States has a hinterland, and so does Mexico.

It may come to the point that, to survive, Singapore must acquire a hinterland – which would mean re-integration with Malaysia. Lee Kuan Yew has said that, too.

The last U.S. depression was solved by World War II. The U.S. may need another major war to survive the current depression.

In these “interesting times,” do you really think Singapore’s leadership will be up to the task?

Stop looking for an excuse, either with me, or Chee, or anybody else who criticize those you worship. I hold nothing personal against Singapore, and you should not attack Singapore’s critics on a personal basis.

Your argument should stand on its own merits, and not on the criticism of others.

There was a time, prior Goh Chok Tong days, how I hated the PAP’s arrogance. By the good grace of God, the PAP had humbled and re-invented themselves tremendously. That said, I’m not as yet, a flag waver for the PAP.

By most countries’ standards, Singapore’s corruption level is really marvellous. But as our local saying goes…low crime (or corruption) does’nt mean no crime. I appreciate your site is dedicated to the exposure of corruption in spanking clean Singapore. To me, whistle blowers make very positive contributions to society. But of course, I can see where your motivation came from. Which is a little sad because it’s rather like the late Jeyaratnam, and Chee Soo Juan. All the venom came from personal grudges not with the heart wanting to do good for the fellowmen.

If one looks at your homepage, and based on your reply, Singapore must be one of the “most problematic” countries in the world, alongside America. Mind you, I am a strong critic of LKY and PAP myself, but I think your lopsided focus on everything Singapore does not make you a creditable critic. Just an opinion.

The Soviet Union lost the Cold War because it ran out of money. The US is in a depression, not because of “bubbles,” but because it too ran out of money thanks the the $3 trillion war in Iraq. This is never mentioned by the media.

Now the US is falling into the same trap with Afghanistan.

Getting at the truth of the depression, the US health care fiasco, and the hiring and firing of the mysterious Charles “Chip” Waterhouse Goodyear, or whoever he was, are examples.