Sunday, April 28, 2013

Singapore. Offer to help cartoonist Leslie Chew and arrested graffiti artist Mohamad Khalid Mohamad obtain asylum in USA

Ladies and Gentlemen,

Lee Kuan Yew and his son's Singapore island government's ongoing persecution of its citizens who criticize their one party dictatorship has seen 2 more arrests lately.

Two days ago, 32 year old Singaporean Mohamad Khalid Mohamad, was arrested when he scrawled the word “democracy” on a Singapore island monument along the beachfront in the downtown area. He has been charged with vandalism which carries not only a long prison sentence but brutal beating at the hands of prison officers (known as caning in Singapore island's terminology).

Such a beating is not only cruel and unusual punishment prohibited under law in all democracies, the lengthy sentence and the expected life long persecution that he will suffer as expected of this vindictive and cowardly island dictatorship, with employment termination, police surveillance and harassment is totally unacceptable by the international community.

Mohamad Khalid Mohamad stands a good chance of permanently moving to the United States through asylum as it can be successfully argued that he is being persecuted simply because he is exercising his fundamental human right of free speech and expression under the Constitution.

Furthermore he is a Malay, a minority racially discriminated by the Lee Kuan Yew government, and the fact that he is forever a marked man in Lee's tiny Singapore island, these arguments together gives him a very good chance at asylum in the USA.

What is even more important for his asylum is the contents of the graffiti. It was not a mere meaningless scribbling, as we see in most graffiti, but the word "Democracy" boldly written. It can be be interpreted as a demand for democracy which Mr. Mohamad finds lacking in his tiny island city state which is for all intents and purposes, nothing but a dictatorship run by the Lee Kuan Yew and Son, the father and son team for the last 52 years. 

See state controlled Straits Times report "Security Officer charged with vandalizing Cenotaph" http://www.straitstimes.com/breaking-news/singapore/story/security-officer-charged-vandalising-cenotaph-20130429

A few days before Mr. Mohamad, Leslie Chew, a 37 year old cartoonist was arrested for writing cartoons which offended the Lee Kuan Yew government.

One cartoon, an admirable one especially since Leslie Chew is himself an ethnic Chinese,  had a government official praising foreign Chinese Indian and Caucasian immigrants as having made great contributions to Singapore. Another person asked why Malays were not equally honored to which another said, "racial discrimination". Although ethnic Chinese himself, he was standing up for his racially discriminated Malay fellow citizens.

Anther cartoon pictures the retirement of Singapore island Chief Justice in not so flattering terms.

It is a well known fact in the tiny island of Singapore that Malays are not just discriminated but in fact officially discriminated by the Lee Kuan Yew ethnic Chinese government. Both government and private employers refuse to give them jobs claiming they do not know Mandarin Chinese while there is no reason for them to know it.

Malays are also kept out of senior military positions and are completely barred from being pilots in the air force presumably because Lee Kuan Yew is afraid that one of them might do a kamikaze or jihad and crash his plane into Lee Kuan Yew's house in Oxley Road. See state controlled Straits Times report "Singapore Cartoonist questioned by police over drawing" http://www.straitstimes.com/archive/wednesday/breaking-news/singapore/story/singapore-cartoonist-questioned-police-over-drawing-20130424

To Leslie Chew too I offer to help him move to the USA. He stands a good chance in succeeding in an asylum claim as he is merely exercising his freedom of expression, a right given to him under the constitution, and the excuses to arrest him by the island's government claiming it unsettles the racial harmony in the island is simply humbug. If indeed anyone is unsettling the island's racial harmony, it is not Mr. Chew but the island government itself by deliberately and systematically suppressing the rights of the Malays and treating them as second class citizens.

Here is what you have to do. As both of you are Singapore citizens and can travel to US visa free, fly to San Francisco, where I am. When you arrive at airport immigration and customs control, please do not tell them that you are applying for asylum. If you do you will be taken into custody initially and interviewed by an asylum officer for a credible fear interview and then released.  

There is no need for you to go through this. Simply tell them that you are coming for a short holiday. You will then be allowed to leave the airport. Once outside, you can then file the asylum application which will be heard by an asylum officer directly without your having to go through the credible fear interview first. Remember this. It is very important.

Once outside, contact me. My office is

Gopalan Nair Attorneys
39737 Paseo Padre Parkway, Suite A1,
Fremont, CA 934538
Tel: 510 657 6107

Fremont is only about 20 miles or so from San Francisco.

One last point. There is no danger to you in filing asylum. The US State Department or the US government does not disclose your filing asylum to the Singapore island government or anyone else. No one will know that you ever filed asylum. Once you get asylum, after one year you can apply for permanent residence and five years thereafter, become US citizens.

And once you are citizens, you can apply for your parents to join you. If you are married, your spouse and children under 21 can join you once you have obtained asylum provided you have included their names in the application.

America is a huge wide country and your prospects are simply unlimited. The sky is the limit. All you have to do is to grab it. Which is why the US continues to be the most attractive country to go to. Here everyone can make it, if they only try. Which is why I have come to America; because I refused to dance to the tune of a tin pot island dictator.

Americans are the kind of people such as Mohamad Khalid Mohamad and Leslie Chew, people with some guts and some self respect, not like the many other Singapore islanders who eat humble pie in the island to please Lee Kuan Yew and company, although I can see that more and more are becoming emboldened like both of you are.

It may be difficult but if possible do not plead guilty to these nonsensical charges. If you remain adamant and refuse to budge, and if Lee and Company are forced to send you to jail, it will only make your case stronger.

I have a great deal of experience in these cases and my unique understanding of the workings of the father and son team, Lee Kuan Yew and son, who have been running that tiny island for the last 52 years makes me excellently qualified to represent you. And what better qualification can there be for me, when I too have gone through these very experiences that you are now going through.

I appear frequently at the Asylum Office and the Immigration Court in San Francisco and Asylum Officers and Immigration Judges know me as an attorney appearing before them.

Gopalan Nair
Attorney at Law
A Singaporean in Exile
Fremont, California, USA
Tel: 510 491 4375
Email: nair.gopalan@yahoo.com

5 comments:

Anonymous said...

Dear sir,

Leslie's passport was surrendered when they "interview" him. What else can he do?

Gopalan Nair said...

To anonymous who said,

"Leslie's passport was surrendered when they "interview" him. What else can he do?"

Answer is, he does not need any passport right now as he is not travelling right now.

Once the investigations are over, or if he is convicted and serves his sentence, his passport will be returned. That is when he travels. Not right now.

He is applying for asylum for the harm he has suffered. Not before.

Singapore island authorities cannot deny a man a passport. Not even a dictatorship like that.


Anonymous said...

Mr Nair,

I think you should offer to help fellow Singaporeans to get out of Singapore to live in U.S.

I am sure a lot of Singaporeans are only too happy to leave that political hell-hole behind them and start a new life.

Anonymous said...

I would like to leave too!!But cannot bear to leave parents behind.Not even for a month.

"Minority Malay"

Gopalan Nair said...


To Anonymous who said,

"I would like to leave too!!But cannot bear to leave parents behind.Not even for a month".

If you are the sort of person who is unable to free yourself from your mother's apron strings, you better stay in Singapore. You are simply not suitable for life in the West. They are looking for people with more independence, courage and a sense of adventure. In fact looking at you, you are the best sort of character that Lee Kuan Yew needs. Obedient and loyal to the Master. Lee Kuan Yew needs more like you.