Gopalan Nair is arrested
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Reuters - 18 minutes ago
US lawyer charged in Singapore for insulting judge
SINGAPORE, June 2 - A U.S. lawyer was charged in a Singapore court on Monday for allegedly insulting a judge in an email and on his website, court documents showed.
Gopalan Nair, who runs a law firm in California and was previously a Singapore citizen, was arrested last Friday and charged on Monday for "threatening, abusing or insulting a public servant" in an email he circulated and posted on his blog, singaporedissident.blogspot.com, official documents showed.
Nair was not sentenced and will be held in custody for 7 days pending further investigations, his lawyer Chia Ti Lik said.
Under this charge, Nair faces a maximum fine of S$5,000 or a jail term of one year if he is found guilty.
"He is feeling okay, but he is worried about his job situation in the U.S.," Chia told reporters.
Nair was in Singapore last week to attend a 3-day hearing presided over by Judge Belinda Ang.
The hearing was to determine defamation damages to be paid by the leader of an opposition party to the city-state's Prime Minister Lee Hsien Loong and his father, former prime minister Lee Kuan Yew.
In an email sent to the media and Singapore's attorney-general, Nair accused the judge of being biased towards the plaintiffs during the hearing.
The court documents showed Nair's email said "judge Belinda Ang was throughout prostituting herself during the entire proceedings".
Nair had on Friday posted his telephone number and location in Singapore on his blog, daring Lee Kuan Yew and the police to come after him.
Nair, a critic of Singapore's ruling party, stood for elections in 1991 as a member of the opposition Workers' Party. He was later found guilty of contempt of court stemming from an election rally speech and made to pay S$21,000 in legal costs and fines.
Protests are rare in Singapore as the city-state has strict laws against public gatherings and leaders of the ruling People's Action Party have successfully sued opposition leaders for defamation.
Singapore's political landscape has been dominated by the PAP since its independence in 1965.
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Originally posted by whiskers:
In his blog "The judge Belinda Ang was throughout prostituting herself during the entire proceedings"
I do not agree that this is any insulting. Because apparently some people thought this is the equivalent of labelling someone a prostitute, it isnt.
Saying someone is prostituting himself does not mean i am threatening, abusing or insulting a person mah... If I meant to insult someone, I will say "she is a prostitute"
In this case I say Nair is prostituting himself because he is using himself as "sacrificial lamb" to the lees. The point I am driving is, do not see a bad word and assume it is bad, pls look at the context which it is used. Mr Nair is not calling belinda a prostitute.
I do not see any threats from Nair's blog.... A little satire yes... no threats at all..
.
I wonder generally if american citizens say that in their united states, will police go and arrest them and charge them as severely ?He is now afterall a 100% Citizen de United States of the Americas.
I wonder if he were a pore citizen, how much worse would punishment given to him be , if indeed a porean and a foreigner is treated differently that is.
As you can see, I really no no anything. Does any of you?
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Originally posted by kramnave:
Think there is a difference between speaking out against authorities and calling people prostitutes and "employee of the lees".
Today if you come out and say that Wong Kan Seng is inept as Mas Selamat had escaped during his tenure etc who can fault you ? That is speaking out. Today if you come out and say that political parties shouldn't be suing one another and it is unjust for them to do so, who can fault you ? That is speaking out.
However calling a judge a prostitute and accusing her of being "an employee of the Lees" is not speaking out, It is an insult and defamatory. Unless of course if he can prove it. She is doing just doing her job.
Not that I say wan...some say that phrase is a figure of speech. not really meaning the word.
is there no difference? Depends on individual?
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Originally posted by balance_else_complacent:
Not that I say wan...some say that phrase is a figure of speech. not really meaning the word.
is there no difference? Depends on individual?
some people take it literally, I guess.
well, thanks to him for speaking the mind of many singaporeans.
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Originally posted by Civilgoh:
some people take it literally, I guess.
well, thanks to him for speaking the mind of many singaporeans.
lol.. he sibei wu ji..
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Originally posted by purpledragon84:
lol.. he sibei wu ji..
You mean he is rich? He is of certain standing and earning well, without which I doubt he dares challenge the ruling party. Besides, he was an opposition party and this best described his guts to speak up against the leegime. -
I was a bit surprised when I heard on radio he was arrested for emailing the judge or a civic servant.
I thot he is charged for posting on his blog or on this forum?
sad. this forum was never mentioned.
seems its true, this forum is very well unknown.
'lucky' lor , at least most youths won't get to read and know the discussions here.
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Originally posted by balance_else_complacent:
I was a bit surprised when I heard on radio he was arrested for emailing the judge or a civic servant.
I thot he is charged for posting on his blog or on this forum?
sad. this forum was never mentioned.
seems its true, this forum is very well unknown.
'lucky' lor , at least most youths won't get to read and know the discussions here.
anything is possible when the mind is made to get rid of people who speak the truth of the lee dynasty.
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"prostitute." This is really all wordplay. There are many official interpretation and one of them is to :-
3. a person who willingly uses his or her talent or ability in a base and unworthy way, usually for money. When used in context of someone in a legal profession, it is an undeniable insult. I'm still blur on how that constitutes as "threat to injure..."
Maybe Judge Belinda Ang should take a defamation suit against Nair instead? After all, she's the one being insulted and defamed. Of course if she was to lose the case... then we know that the preceding proceedings were.............................................................. nevermind.
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Originally posted by balance_else_complacent:
I wonder generally if american citizens say that in their united states, will police go and arrest them and charge them as severely ?He is now afterall a 100% Citizen de United States of the Americas.
I wonder if he were a pore citizen, how much worse would punishment given to him be , if indeed a porean and a foreigner is treated differently that is.
As you can see, I really no no anything. Does any of you?
NO it will never happen in USA.
Unless the act amounts to civil disorder/disturbance/chaos/riot.
Letters/Blogs like what Nair sent out. In the hands of USA gahmen, it would be treated as mischief and tossed into the waste paper basket.
Unless his letters threatens terrorist act or is life threatening.
Since the SG authorities got nothing else betta to do anyway, that is no wonder why it's such a big hoo haaa over Nair's letters/blog.
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Two titles for the same news in Today. Why is the title changed?
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maybe... just maybe... he goes back to the USA, sue the despots and collects a zillion dollars awarded by the American courts... and Singaporeans have to foot the bill....
dishonorable despots.... -
This is interesting. I was reading up on the Democratic Primaries on the DrudgeReport, a prominent news website based in the States (they were the first ones to break the Lewinsky scandal, apparently) and I saw the headline 'Warning: U.S Blogger Arrested in Singapore over 'Prostituting' comment" So I clicked the link, and end up it's an article about the Gopolan Nair saga.
For starters, the title totally takes the situation out of context. It's as if once again Singapore, the state which bans chewing gum and whips it's citizens (remember Michael Fay) has once again reared it's ugly head. I mean a reader ignorant of the past associations Nair had will totally buy into the title.
http://www.drudgereport.com/
http://www.breitbart.com/article.php?id=080602140528.9wnrpke3&show_article=1
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Originally posted by Civilgoh:
You mean he is rich? He is of certain standing and earning well, without which I doubt he dares challenge the ruling party. Besides, he was an opposition party and this best described his guts to speak up against the leegime.
no la "wu ji" means got balls.. means got guts.. haha.. -
Originally posted by balance_else_complacent:
Not that I say wan...some say that phrase is a figure of speech. not really meaning the word.
is there no difference? Depends on individual?
Try using words that you don't mean or as a figure of speech in your contracts and see what happens to your deals. Not everybody is your kaki. -
Originally posted by Quincey:
This is interesting. I was reading up on the Democratic Primaries on the DrudgeReport, a prominent news website based in the States (they were the first ones to break the Lewinsky scandal, apparently) and I saw the headline 'Warning: U.S Blogger Arrested in Singapore over 'Prostituting' comment" So I clicked the link, and end up it's an article about the Gopolan Nair saga.
For starters, the title totally takes the situation out of context. It's as if once again Singapore, the state which bans chewing gum and whips it's citizens (remember Michael Fay) has once again reared it's ugly head. I mean a reader ignorant of the past associations Nair had will totally buy into the title.
http://www.drudgereport.com/
http://www.breitbart.com/article.php?id=080602140528.9wnrpke3&show_article=1
don't think the title takes the situation out of context. the americans (and i also) really think that our gahmen is over-reacting to the word "prostituting" which can mean 'selling oneself or one's integrity for unworthy purposes.' we can become the joke of the world for equating that word with a threat.
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Originally posted by lotus999:
don't think the title takes the situation out of context. the americans (and i also) really think that our gahmen is over-reacting to the word "prostituting" which can mean 'selling oneself or one's integrity for unworthy purposes.' we can become the joke of the world for equating that word with a threat.
yes, I agree with you also ....
our goverment is indeed wasting time and resources on someone of no consequence .... he's a nobody .... if they can leave the cranks and crackos in here alone, why not this chap ? ...
but hey, i'd shed no tears for this chap ... he's already quit Singapore, he has no stake in the country, what other agenda must he have, to be sniping from an overseas gutter ? ...
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Originally posted by Fatum:
yes, I agree with you also ....
our goverment is indeed wasting time and resources on someone of no consequence .... he's a nobody .... if they can leave the cranks and crackos in here alone, why not this chap ? ...
but hey, i'd shed no tears for this chap ... he's already quit Singapore, he has no stake in the country, what other agenda must he have, to be sniping from an overseas gutter ? ...
maybe it's pity for us.
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Originally posted by dumbdumb!:
maybe it's pity for us.
c'mon .... he's a lawyer ....
Chee Soon Juan may be a cracko and a nutjob ... but at least he's willing to put his ass where his mouth is ....
he's willing to stake his bank account and his ass in jail to get his point across ....
as much as I dislike his methods .... at least this chap is HERE ....
that nair fellow doesn't even hold a Singaporean passport anymore ... he's ran away, just like the other nair chap .... he's doing what he's doing out of spite, just look at the kind of language he's using ... it's not the language of serious politicians, it's the language of a petulant little juvenile, like some of the more cracko ones here, ( remember the when is LKY going to die thread ? ) ...
for all of Chee's faults, at least I'll grant him a hearing ... cos he is here ... this nair chap, he's a sucker, or maybe the craving for prata just got too much for him ....
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Originally posted by Fatum:
c'mon .... he's a lawyer ....
Chee Soon Juan may be a cracko and a nutjob ... but at least he's willing to put his ass where his mouth is ....
he's willing to stake his bank account and his ass in jail to get his point across ....
as much as I dislike his methods .... at least this chap is HERE ....
that nair fellow doesn't even hold a Singaporean passport anymore ... he's ran away, just like the other nair chap .... he's doing what he's doing out of spite, just look at the kind of language he's using ... it's not the language of serious politicians, it's the language of a petulant little juvenile, like some of the more cracko ones here, ( remember the when is LKY going to die thread ? ) ...
for all of Chee's faults, at least I'll grant him a hearing ... cos he is here ... this nair chap, he's a sucker, or maybe the craving for prata just got too much for him ....
lol. can't be picky about your allies.
the enemy of your enemy, is your friend, whether he jump ship already or not.
in a way, he wants to help chee too, by raising issues about the court.
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The most important message of the news is not explicitly stated. How did GN "threatened" the judge?
Media bias, man, media bias.
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Singapore Opposition leader Chee Soon Juan faces jail again for contempt of court, this time with his sister in tow
As appeared inevitable, Chee Soon Juan, the much-jailed leader of the embattled Singapore Democratic Party, has been sentenced to 12 more days in jail for having “scandalized the court” and “obstructed the administration of justice” during a contentious three-day hearing to decide on damages to be awarded to the ruling Lee family.
During the cross-examination phase of the hearing, Chee called former Prime Minister Lee Kuan Yew a “pitiable figure” and Lee described Chee as a “near psychopath.” Chee Siok Chin, Chee’s sister, also a senior SDP member, was sentenced to 10 days in jail for the same offenses. Both are free while they appeal the sentence.
Supreme Court Justice Belinda Ang charged Chee Soon Juan with contempt for accusing the court of being biased and of having prejudged the hearing, as well as not obeying her orders to stop particular lines of questioning, according to Agence-France Press.
Chee, the secretary general of the SDP, and his sister were found in an earlier hearing to have defamed Lee, now Singapore’s “minister mentor,” and his son, Prime Minister Lee Hsien Loong, in a 2006 article in their party newspaper, the new Democrat.
Chee has been sent to jail six times already in Singapore, four for speaking in public without a permit, once for attempting to leave the country without a permit after being invited to a conference in Istanbul for the World Movement for Democracy's Fourth Assembly in April 2006, and once before for “scandalizing the judiciary.”
He has also been driven into bankruptcy by repeated lawsuits by government leaders. In 1993, after the SDP leader, a neuropsychologist, joined the SDP and contested a local election, his position with the National University of Singapore was terminated, allegedly for misappropriation of research funds. Chee later staged a hunger strike, saying the charges were fabricated. He didn’t get his position back.
Last week, in an unusual step for a Singapore court, Chee was allowed by the court to cross-examine both the elder Lee and his son, Prime Minister Lee Hsien Loong. However, the cross examination by Chee and his lawyer turned into a free-for-all, with Ang repeatedly ruling Chee’s questions out of order or irrelevant. Chee continued to assert his innocence on all charges, telling the court that “At no point was there a deliberate attempt to do anything that would scandalise the court." According to local media, he added that "There were many political arguments made and in the heat of the battle, Mr. Lee said some things and I said some things. It was in this context that some things were said and done."
The state prosecutor had asked Ang to deliver a “substantial fine” to act as a deterrent for other “like-minded” individuals.
Chee Soon Joon and Yap Keng Ho, another party official, are also free on appeal after having been sentenced to five weeks in prison or to pay a S$5,000 (US$3,671) fine last Wednesday in the court of District Court Judge Jasvender Kaur. The two were sentenced for speaking in public without a permit during elections in April 2006. Chee pleaded not guilty, claiming he had a constitutional right to free speech.
In more trouble for the SDP, Gopalan Nair, a former Singaporean who ran as an SDP candidate in the 1988 and 1991 general elections before moving to the United States to become a US citizen, dared the Singapore police to arrest him for illegal blogging after Lee Kuan Yew said in court that he would take action against any blogger for making defamatory remarks. Police took him up on his dare, collecting him from his hotel room and taking him to jail after he wrote on his blog that “I am present in Singapore at Broadway Hotel, Room 708, 195 Serangoon Road, Singapore, 218067. The hotel telephone number is 62924661. My local SingTel telephone number is 83764236.”
He soon got his wish. According to an SDP news release, police descended on the hotel room and arrested Nair on Saturday night at about 9 pm. Nair has been a vocal critic of the PAP Government, bombarding the news media with blogs charging the Lee family with abusing the legal system for their own ends and of being insensitive to the plight of ordinary Singaporeans. He often returns from California to take up the political cudgels, and, according to the SDP, “has expressed a desire to be closer to home to effect political changes.”
Authorities require a police permit if more than five people seek to assemble outdoors in Singapore. Offences under the Public Entertainments and Meetings Act could lead to fines as high as S$10,000. Singapore has been under widespread criticism by press groups and human rights organizations for decades for what they term political repression and restrictions against free speech. The Lee family have repeatedly sued both local politicians and the international press for defamation on a wide variety of fronts, and so far have never lost a case in Singapore.
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Originally posted by googoomuck:
Two titles for the same news in Today. Why is the title changed?
Were there 2 versions of the headline as shown above?Wow, that is interesting!
Actually, GN is truely 100% a Citizen of the UNITED STATES OF AMERICA and a CALIFORNIAN LAWYER.
No lawyer in this whole universe can deny this fact.
GN is NOT A SINGAPOREAN at all now.
I prefer the headline " An American Jailed for insult".
That is more appropriate.
Just because is is indian race and born in the pore before does not mean he is any less American than the president of USA.
Altho I do not support using un-nice words to say about others like GN did,
At the same time I cannot condone his action as I understand that he may have been too americanised and that is why he spoke that way? maybe. maybe not.
These americans are very freedom of speech wan. That is the right given to them by their constitution where GN is used to enjoying this priviledge there, altho not so nice that he scold people like dat wan here.
Poor man, he forgot he is in the pore.
aiyo, back home, I am quite sure he would not be kenna like this.
But frankly speaking har, what protection will USA provide to an AMERICAN CITIZEN based on their constitution or citizen rights har?
anyone know how USA will render some support for him? How about his supporters in good ole mighty world leader UNITED STATES OF AMERICA?
i no no lah. I really really the no no lah. u know better meh?
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i'm disgusted by this ex-singaporean shooting his mouth off and lambasting the country of his birth on his blog.
Sad to say, but at least CSJ is still here after getting whacked left right and center. We question his wisdom, his approach, even his sanity, but he's still here and if he is to be believed, he's here cos he still believes in an alternative for this country.
We may not agree with his alternative, but at least he's here and willing to stand attacked for his views.
That ex singaporean indian is just a sneaky arm-chair critic who has left the country of his birth to seek greener pasteurs and now nurses a pathological hatred of all that reminds him of who he is and where he came from.
What pathetic b/s. Equating "principles" with CPF money... So how much are his "principles" worth?
From his blog:
- Gopalan Nair
- Determined to find the Truth. Born Singapore, educated Winstedt School 2 (next to Monks Hill in Newton, Singapore) Raffles Institution, National Service, some travel in Europe, then law studies England, return to Singapore, practiced for 10 years, active Workers Party member, stood elections 1988 and 1991 in Singapore, was harassed and persecuted by Lee Kuan Yew for my political beliefs, left for USA, obtained asylum and admitted California State Bar, practice law ever since in Fremont California near San Francisco. Relinquished Singapore citizenship 2005 because I was not prepared to permit Lee Kuan Yew to unjustly retain my CPF funds if I remained Singapore Citizen. On principle, the only correct thing for me to do was to give it up, for my CPF funds. I am an American Citizen as of 2005.
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Originally posted by CX:
i'm disgusted by this ex-singaporean shooting his mouth off and lambasting the country of his birth on his blog.
Sad to say, but at least CSJ is still here after getting whacked left right and center. We question his wisdom, his approach, even his sanity, but he's still here and if he is to be believed, he's here cos he still believes in an alternative for this country.
We may not agree with his alternative, but at least he's here and willing to stand attacked for his views.
That ex singaporean indian is just a sneaky arm-chair critic who has left the country of his birth to seek greener pasteurs and now nurses a pathological hatred of all that reminds him of who he is and where he came from.
What pathetic b/s. Equating "principles" with CPF money... So how much are his "principles" worth?
From his blog:
- Gopalan Nair
- Determined to find the Truth. Born Singapore, educated Winstedt School 2 (next to Monks Hill in Newton, Singapore) Raffles Institution, National Service, some travel in Europe, then law studies England, return to Singapore, practiced for 10 years, active Workers Party member, stood elections 1988 and 1991 in Singapore, was harassed and persecuted by Lee Kuan Yew for my political beliefs, left for USA, obtained asylum and admitted California State Bar, practice law ever since in Fremont California near San Francisco. Relinquished Singapore citizenship 2005 because I was not prepared to permit Lee Kuan Yew to unjustly retain my CPF funds if I remained Singapore Citizen. On principle, the only correct thing for me to do was to give it up, for my CPF funds. I am an American Citizen as of 2005.
I respect his freedom of speech. He speaks the mind of Singaporeans.
