language of the state

the poet vs the President 

The state has language too, that it uses with precision to decide who should stay and who should go. An erring thieving king is forgiven and granted sanctity while the slave that dares to speak is flicked away like a fly. 

That must be why the president who fattened his own by gorging on the nation's heart and lungs,  whom the UN feels should be tried for war crimes,  may extend his holiday visa here, treated like a brother, while the poet who speaks of the pain of his brothers is sent away for a Facebook post that tells the Head to not call him brother. 

one deals in lies and rolls in money the other deals only with sweat and dirt and poetic truths. there is no place in Singapore for the latter.