After Lee Kuan Yew had total control of the civil service, security forces and the media, he showed zero tolerance for dissent.
LKY could be better understood from his actions and quotes than the sycophantic mainstream media.
Let’s just examine this statement he made shortly after the 2006 elections. LKY: “Please do not assume that you can change governments. Young people don’t understand this.”
What was on LKY’s mind?
Did LKY expect old folks to be able to change governments?
LKY seemed to have forgotten that he himself was a young man who, together with other like-minded young men, helped changed the colonial government.
In a functioning democracy, citizens decide the government that we want. Who was LKY to tell us we were unable to change a decadent government?
Young Singaporeans have spoken and PAP should re-think using LKY’s knuckle-duster approach to control dissent. Singaporeans are not speaking up because they ‘eat finish no shit to shit’ but they are highlighting chronic issues which the PAP has refused to resolve. It takes a huge amount of courage to speak up against a vindictive PAP because it will seize any opportunity to fix dissenters.
Most of us do not have such courage and would prefer to criticise PAP in a quiet setting. If the older generation can be honest with ourselves, we have been cowards for too long.
How is change supposed to come about when we fear speaking up constructively? How will our dictatorial system be dismantled when by our silence, we allow the fear to feed on itself and flawed policies to affect our children?
Fortunately, there are youths who are willing to make a stand against injustice and willing to accept unpleasant consequences ie 2 intelligent young men aged 24 and 25 ‘protesting’ outside the Istana.
There’s also Amos Yee who shot to stardom for his LKY video. Watch his other videos and you’ll realise he is really very intelligent and creative.
The fact that PM Lee has taken Roy to court matters very little in this time and age. In time to come, others will start speaking their minds and there’s no way the PAP can control every dissenter.
LKY’s governance was based on some semblance of transparency and accountability. After 5 decades, this system has been corrupted by greed and citizens are forced to bear the brunt of flawed policies. Young and intelligent Singaporeans reject such a system.
LKY depended on the control of the media for propaganda, security forces and our reserves (CPF) to perpetuate PAP’s power, not for our well being. Such a dictatorial system of governance is falling apart. Propaganda has been rendered ineffective by social media. With each passing year, more retirees will reject the PAP for implementing schemes to prevent the withdrawal of OUR CPF savings. In fact, the CPF issue is PAP’s Achilles’ heel.
With all the injustice, would young Singaporeans want to submit to PAP’s control?
Our youths will stand up and make their voices heard. They will shape their society and the government can only guide, not dictate.
LKY was wrong about young people not being able to change governments. LKY was 19 years old when he became politically awakened during the Japanese occupation, not much different in age from Amos Yee and the 2 Istana protesters.
The signs are all there – young people can and will change governments. Why shouldn’t they when the future belongs to them?
PS
I’ve just read on TRS that Amos Yee has resorted to crowdfunding for his legal fees. Will be asking some of my friends to chip in. 🙂
likedatosocanmeh 
Amos Yee was the perfect catalyst for this new era.
He’s young and one thing people around the world hate is Government bullying children.
The government took his bait hook line and sinker and now Amos has gone global highlighting the backwardness of Singapore.
It was also the combination of his chosen media, youtube.
I wondered for a while, why Roy didn’t get the kind of attention Amos did, and it boiled down the choice of media and quite possibly his age.
PAP has continued to live in the past and still firmly believes in employing LKY’s bullying tactics to try and ensure everyone toes its line. By devoting so much energy and limited public resources to fix dissenters, it takes its eyes off governance. It has already failed the people and will ultimately dig its own grave.
Hi Phillip, normally i just lurk but had to comment on this one. Great blog, very informative posts.
This one is a bit off to me though. The two anonymous blokes outside the istana, yes, good motivation and expression. It is pretty extreme that under the public order act, two, or even one individual acting alone needs to apply for a permit to hold a placard and wear a hoodie, even if justified under the floodgates argument.
For Amos Yee though I disagree with linking him with those two dudes and the word selfless. I’m pretty sure his motivation isn’t political, but rather self-aggrandizement, solely through contextual analysis of his videos and blog posts (his own words), rather than MSM coverage.
Yes he’s a kid, but I’ll save my support for someone who wants to do the right thing, rather than a “highly subversive iconoclast” to “continue indulging in this endeavor”.
Hi Chris
Amos did sort of put our pseudo democracy under a bit of international spotlight. Which is great because PAP will never be bothered with our domestic noise. It will have to weigh its actions more carefully if it doesn’t want any surprises from foreign media.
I’ll give Amos the benefit of the doubt and hopefully with time, he can be polished. We need more citizens, not necessarily like him, who are willing to stand up. It’s only after tilting the balance of PAP’s power that we will be able to see the rot in the system.
To bring change, we need to tackle the powers that be from different angles. One doesn’t really have any choice but to write as ‘objectively’ as the mainstream media.
Great blogs like ‘Dairy of a Singaporean Mind’ had been worn out after 8 years, from 2005 to 2013. PAP does not listen to voices of reason and a new approach is therefore needed.
Thanks for your comments. 🙂