“Aidil!” Gopi began as he received my hand in a firm handshake. “It’s good to finally meet you- the author of Sheep City.”

“Likewise, Mr. Nair,” I smiled. “You have become rather of a celebrity. Pictures of you everywhere in and around the Net.”

He grunted. “Looks like I am stuck here and I am not leaving anytime soon.”

One of the security gates opened and an officer stepped forward to survey the candles. “Actually, you cannot do this,” he began.

Gopi smiled. “Hello, Encik! Apa khabar? Don’t worry. We will clear the candles once this is over.”

The officer said nothing else and retreated into his post. The burly lawyer turned to me and asked me for my thoughts on his case. I offered my opinions and opined that in this country, we are forced to accept conformity or face the consequences. While we discussed, I noticed an elderly Malay couple about twenty meters away, they were looking at us curiously. It appeared as though they wanted to join the vigil but afraid to step forward.

They left soon after.

Such is the fear among the people. Fearful to be associated with those who believe in democracy and their political rights. Fearful to be branded as dangerous fanatics. It saddened me to see that the soul of the human being have become so emaciated. Let them decide if human rights are of any value to you. It has always been we know best, never mind what you think.

It looks very curious now since Mr. Nair have denied sending emails which appeared to be the source of this dreaded consternation. The spotlight is focused on the emails not the offending posts which he have always written in his vehement style to lash out on the ruling PAP government. The authorities do not want to appear peeved by the contents of his blog. They did not want to appear too antagonizing on free expression.

But we know too well how the game works.

Last week’s vigil bore testimony but don’t take our word for it. Ask the Chees.

This is what you get. This is what you get.

This is what you get when you mess with us.

- Karma Police, Radiohead 1997

Irresponsible, reckless, impulsive, unethical are all words that describe Chee’s behaviour. Interestingly, they are also all words associated with what American psychologists call antisocial personality disorder, which manifests itself in a disregard for truth and for social norms.

According to a medical website, one complication that might arise from this disorder is frequent imprisonment for unlawful behaviour.

Isn’t she smart? I love her sweet, free-spirited style which is unmatched by anyone else. Going by her logic, we all can assume that some of the world famous personalities are also afflicted with the anti-social personality disorder. All of them exhibit one similar symptom of the mental disease- unlawful behavior.

Perhaps the unknown rebel facing the tanks is from a different category. What medical term would you define his act? Sheer madness? Psychopathic? Courageous? Wait- that fellow does look somewhat like Dr. Chee, doesn’t it?

Have a look.

Complications:

Vulnerability in self-esteem makes individuals with this disorder very sensitive to criticism or defeat. Although they may not show it outwardly, criticism may haunt these individuals these individuals and may leave them feeling humiliated, degraded, hollow, and empty. They may react with disdain, rage, or defiant counterattack. Their social life is often impaired due to problems derived from entitlement, the need for admiration, and the relative disregard for the sensitivities of others. Though their excessive ambition and confidence may lead to high achievement; performance may be disrupted due to intolerance of criticism or defeat. Sometimes vocational functioning can be very low, reflecting an unwillingness to take a risk in competitive or other situations in which defeat is possible. Individuals with this disorder have special difficulties adjusting to growing old and losing their former superiority. 

Comorbidity:

In this disorder, sustained feelings of shame or humiliation and the attendant self-criticism may be associated with social withdrawal, depressed mood, and Dysthymic or Major Depressive Disorder. In contrast, sustained periods of grandiosity may be associated with a hypomanic mood. Anorexia Nervosa, Substance-Related Disorders (especially related to cocaine), and other Personality Disorders (especially Histrionic, Borderline, Antisocial, and Paranoid) frequently co-occur with this disorder. 

Associated Laboratory Findings:

No laboratory test has been found to be diagnostic of this disorder. 

Prevalence:

The prevalence of Narcissistic Personality Disorder is less than 1% of the general population. It is seen in 2% to 16% of psychiatric outpatients. This disorder is more frequent in males (50% to 75%) than females. 

Course:

Narcissistic traits are very common in adolescents, but most adolescents grow out of this behavior. Unfortunately, for some, this narcissistic behavior persists and intensifies into adulthood; thus they become diagnosed with this disorder.

DSM Criteria

A pervasive pattern of grandiosity (in fantasy or behavior), need for admiration, and lack of empathy, beginning by early adulthood and present in a variety of contexts, as indicated by five (or more) of the following:

1. has a grandiose sense of self-importance
2. is preoccupied with fantasies of unlimited success, power, brilliance, beauty, or ideal love
3. believes that he or she is “special” and unique
4. requires excessive admiration
5. has a sense of entitlement
6. is interpersonally exploitative
7. lacks empathy
8. is often envious of others or believes others are envious of him or her
9. shows arrogant, haughty behaviors or attitudes

Chinese soldiers, backed by tanks, on June 3-4 killed hundreds of activists who had rallied for weeks in and around Tiananmen Square and in other Chinese cities calling for greater pluralism. China faced international condemnation for the crackdown, which in 1990 then-President Jiang Zemin dismissed as “much ado about nothing,” according to Human Rights Watch.

Yu Dongyue was taken into captivity for seventeen years of which two years he spent in solitary confinement. He was tied to an electricity pole, left in the sun for days, submerged in pits of sewage water and all the horrors of torture. That broke him down and drove him mad.

Till this day fifty to a hundred Tiananmen activists are still in prison. Their only crime was the call for democratic reforms. The communists were relentless in meting out their dose of justice.

Today in Singapore, two siblings are serving time in jail for their crime of criticizing the ruling government. In the process of the defamation suits, they were charged with contempt of court. Dr Chee and his sister Siok Chin decided to drop for appeal and serve their sentences.

In another scene, US blogger Gopalan Nair, an ex-Singaporean lashed out against the judiciary in which he claimed to be corrupt and unfair. Unlike Yu Dongyue, he did not throw eggs but his words and expression seemed too offensive for the rulers of Sheep City. Mr. Nair was swiftly arrested, denied bail and currently in remand prison with no access to his lawyer.

Perhaps the Sage of Baltimore was right when he mentioned that judges are like law students who mark their own examination papers.

Though it is very disheartening to see these developments for those who believe in democracy and freedom, we can take heart and pride from these fearless titans. Not only from this nation but the struggle for democracy from all over the world, past, present and the future. Aldous Huxley once said:

Many young people, it is true, do not seem to value freedom. But some of us still believe that, without freedom, human beings cannot become fully human and that freedom is therefore supremely valuable. Perhaps the forces that now menace freedom are too strong to be resisted for very long. It is still our duty to do whatever we can to resist them.

I am on the shoulder of giants. The view is so much better up here and it has already stopped raining and the sun has returned. Yes, it cannot rain all the time.

Former WP politician Gopalan Nair has been arrested and awaiting to be charged in court on Monday. The former Singaporean who is now an American citizen and a lawyer in Fremont, California issued a challenge to have him arrested in his latest posts.

Our state media revealed the news of the arrest in this format:

SINGAPORE: Police have arrested a former Singaporean for the offence of “threatening, abusing or insulting a public servant”.

In response to media queries, police confirmed that Gopalan Pallichadath Nair, who is now a US citizen, was arrested at Broadway Hotel along Serangoon Road on Saturday.

A warrant of arrest without bail was granted by the courts for the arrest.

Nair is alleged to have sent an email to the Attorney-General and the Solicitor-General which contained statements amounting to the offence of insulting a public servant.

The statements were directed against Justice Belinda Ang, a Supreme Court judge. The statements were also posted on Nair’s blog.

Nair is presently in police custody. He will be charged in court on Monday.

Read Gopi’s posts below which have been reproduced for the sake of posterity. But the real lesson here is that we common sheep are not allowed to air our disgust and frustrations towards the incorruptible and infallible members of the ruling government. Your impertinent challenge will not be taken lightly and you will be taken to the cul-de-sac, you insolent bastard.

Our superior brand of democracy unlike Jeffersonian types cannot be tarnished and voices of dissent must be silenced. Have you not learned anything that our system is superior and perfect? That we are above suspicion and hearsay? We will never be a first world country if insolent dissident types like Mr. Gopi Nair and Dr. Chee are allowed to sow discord and lies.

Foreigners or former Singaporeans are not exempt from this mode of justice. Even if you are American, Jamaican or Martian- consider yourself warned! You will be pursued even in cyberspace and thrown into jail.

Swift is our retribution and the justice meted out is fitting! Throw these annoying people to jail and to hell whatever they are saying. We must protect our integrity. For the glory of Sheep City and the good of the people.

For my million dollar salary.

According to the full Democracy Index below, Singapore is ranked 84th under the category hybrid regime. Given the current political climate and the lack of freedom of expression, it is rather appropriate. Is it any wonder why we are ranked so dismally low when we claim to have the most infallible, incorruptible and highest paid ministers in the world? What does our pledge really mean by democracy?

We can no longer ignore the world unless we choose to forever remain an ubiquitous frog in the well. On the other hand, many already chose to remain blind and deaf. Perhaps if reputation is so important, the ruling PAP government should sue the bejesus out of The Economist for labeling Sheep City a hybrid regime.

Irrelevant? Overruled!

REPUBLIC OF SINGAPORE

Criticism of the government grew despite restrictions on freedom of expression and assembly. Suspected Islamic militants continued to be held without charge or trial under the Internal Security Act amid concerns that some were at risk of torture or other ill-treatment during questioning. Death sentences were imposed and at least two people were executed. Criminal offenders were sentenced to caning.

Background

Critics pointed to a persistent misuse of laws by the ruling People’s Action Party (PAP) and a perceived bias within the judicial system, reiterating the continuing influence of Minister Mentor Lee Kuan Yew in maintaining the country’s restrictive human rights climate. The authorities rejected a proposal to de-criminalize homosexuality. Concerns emerged about a reported increase in the gap between rich and poor. Singapore chaired the Association of Southeast Asian Nations (ASEAN), during a year in which the regional body adopted a charter including human rights commitments.

Freedom of expression and assembly

Criminal charges, civil defamation suits and other restrictive measures were variously brought against government critics and human right defenders, foreign news media, peaceful demonstrators and conscientious objectors.

The revised Penal Code broadened the scope of the offence of unlawful assembly.

• Falun Gong practitioners were fined or jailed for holding peaceful public demonstrations against the Chinese government.
• Dr Chee Soon Juan, leader of the opposition Singapore Democratic Party (SDP), was imprisoned for two weeks for attempting, as a bankrupt, to leave the country without permission. He had been bankrupted in 2006 following a series of civil defamation suits filed by PAP leaders. He faced numerous other charges, including speaking in public without a permit and selling books on the street without permission.
• The Far Eastern Economic Review was banned and faced a defamation suit for a 2006 article in which it interviewed Chee Soon Juan. The Financial Times, rather than contest a defamation suit, apologized to Prime Minister Lee Hsien Loong and the Minister Mentor for an article that linked them with alleged nepotism. Reporters without Borders ranked Singapore 141 out of 169 countries in its press freedom index.
• A visiting delegation of European and Asian parliamentarians were refused a permit to speak at a SDP forum on the development of democracy internationally.

Justice – detention without trial

At least 37 suspected Islamic militants reportedly remained detained without charge or trial under the Internal Security Act at the end of the year. At least six arrests, some reportedly after “rendition” from abroad, and at least eight releases were reported during the year. Concerns about the risk of ill-treatment or torture continued, despite government assurances that such prisoners were protected by law.

Death penalty

Singapore opposed a UN vote for a worldwide moratorium on the death penalty. Death penalty legislation was reportedly expanded to cover terrorist-linked kidnapping cases.

Trials continued to fall short of international human rights standards due to mandatory death sentences and presumptions of guilt for a number of capital offences. At least two death sentences were handed down after convictions for drugs trafficking and murder. Two convicted drugs traffickers, both foreign nationals, were executed.

Cruel, inhuman and degrading punishments

Criminal offenders were sentenced to caning.

• Despite his allegedly low IQ, Emmanuel Munisamy was sentenced to 24 strokes for armed robbery and assaulting a policeman. The sentence was overturned on appeal.

“Look, cut out all your court English. This is not a court of law. The rules of evidence do not apply here. We make the rules here. This is a kangaroo court. No one can help you, no one. All the human rights organisations can do is make a little noise, but how long can they keep it up? After a while, you will be forgotten.”

Since then the term kangaroo court have become ever so popular. If you do not know what a kangaroo court is, it is where the court that has had its integrity compromised. Popular despots like Joseph Stalin’s kangaroo trials against his political enemies, whom were labeled enemies of the people. Many were summarily executed or sent to the treacherous Gulag. In Sheep City, if you call the men in whites dishonest, greedy and corrupt, you will be dubbed a charlatan or a psychopath brimming with poisonous lies. You will be sued for defamation and damages in the form of hundreds of thousands must be paid to the parties u have defamed. Failing that you will be bankrupted and jailed.

Do it again, you will be sued and bankrupted many times over. If you believe in reincarnation, you will not be able to pay the damages even in your second life. Your reputation in the present life and the other destroyed as clearly indicated in the mouthpieces of the mainstream media. The orwellian newspeak will reveal what a repugnant character you personify in the most despicable format imaginable- psychotic, rancid filled with vitriolic hate. The plebeians spit on your name and continue to exalt those in power.

This much is certain and the outcome is most obvious and assured. We common folk do not bulldoze our way in to courts and escape a stern reprimand by the judge. It can only happen when ultimate power controls every facet of life, bending our will to its knees.

This form of repression emphasizes the non-recognition of civil and political rights of the citizenry. It strikes fear into the hearts of men to question those in power. We lose our senses even to realize that they are mere public servants voted into power. We too have forgotten among many things that is rightfully ours like our voice and expression all but taken away. This is our mistake. Our mistake of hoping to advocate democracy when everyone else believed it is a mere fable and a concept. 

When we look for justice in the name of our civil rights, we can only hope and look at the stars. There is nothing for us in the kangaroo court that we can hope to be spared from punishment. We are as guilty as hell right from the start.

This is very sad. Even sadder for the good men who do nothing and sat idling by.

The hiatus you spoke about happened in 1998. I was somewhat numb from being out on the road every night. I had to stop because I was emotionally and physically drained.

-Chuck Mangione

Sheep City took a short break due to pressing hectic schedules. We will resume updating the soonest possible. Thank you for your kind visit- Do check back soon.

Stay safe. Cheers.

There is nothing more to say is there? Inflation on the rise- Check. Indiscriminate influx of untalented aliens- Check. Approval of millionaire salaries for MPs- Check. Agrees that Mas Selamat escaped through the infinitesimal window- Check. Conforms to silence and the nonexistence of free speech- Check. All you sheep- March!

Those amongst you whom are not, the defenders of the democratic faith can only salute you. You know the values of freedom and power of the people. You believe in your sacred rights to speak up and be heard. You know that to remain silent and indifferent is the greatest sin of all. You affirm your belief in the pledge and reject dogmas that are bent to rob you of your constitutional rights. 

Without your courage and noble standing, life becomes meaningless just like a piece of driftwood. They tell you that you cannot do this and that, a hundred times you have heard it before. You no longer listen to the lies that they are pumping to your head. With one of the greatest invention of the modern world, you sought alternative news from the web and the world is just a click away. You are connected and part of this breathing earth and part of the free human race once again.

They may scoff at your polemics- calling you names and brand you a radical fool. Deep in your heart you know that they are the biggest fools if they but knew it! You have found your voice but they continue to bleat every single day, fearing so much to have a mind of their own. In their despondency, their quest for wealth are more pressing concerns than those of civil liberties and courage. They exhort moderateness but if only they could see their masters are never moderate to begin with! Years and years of relentless censorship have made them blind. 

They always point the blame when things go awry and they have forgotten their own four fingers are always pointing back at them. You are not competent, they lambast, the whites are superior and competent. Such cowardice and turncoats they have become, riled by their own brand of hateful apathy and seeking nothing more but to sow the seeds of discord at the slightest hint of truth. Scores of wolves in wool have infiltrated the herd to keep the networks calm. You can easily recognize them in their typical manners of bootlicking and faulty logics.

You are not sheep. You are a citizen of the world. You are not sitting on the effing fence.

Arise and make yourself known!