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Gopalan Nair's quickie press conference
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This makes two. Last week, he was charged with insulting Judge Belinda Ang through an email allegedly sent by him in late May 2008.
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The new charge is really curious, relating as it does to an alleged email that is more than 2 years old. Said to be dated 17 March 2006, the judge involved was named as Lai Siu Chiu. Court documents quoted this sentence from the email: "The reason why (Lai) and her fellow judges punish and silence PAP critics is because judges are well paid and have comfortable lives."
At this stage, I don't intend to discuss this case. Facts are too scanty. Instead, what I'd like to provide readers with is a description of the press conference itself -- the story behind the story, as it were. How was the news that you'd read about the next day generated? Does it cost money to set up a press conference? How difficult is it for a private individual to get his story into the media? * * * * * However, since I had the time set aside for her anyway, I figured I might as well make my way to the same press conference. "Where is it?" I asked. "No. 23 Peck Seah Street. It's a coffeeshop." When I got there about 2:20, I saw a small scrum of reporters sitting on stools sipping iced tea waiting for the show to begin. Straits Times, Today, Reuters, Channel NewsAsia and two more at least, were represented. There were photographers and video cameramen too.
Around 2:45, Nair, accompanied by his lawyer Chia Ti Lik and some supporters, arrived. They noticed us, but sat apart for a little while to complete whatever discussion they had ongoing. Then they moved to a table near where we were and the press conference began. Chia provided some context through opening remarks about the morning's court proceedings and the additional charge.
As you can see, he defended his right to post articles on his blog regarding his observations of Singapore, particularly the recent trials (26 – 28 May 2008) involving SDP leaders Chee Soon Juan and Chee Siok Chin:
Referring to his blog postings,
However,
The reporters present would later ask him to clarify this point. He repeated his critical observations of the court proceedings:
As most readers would know, Chee Soon Juan and Chee Siok Chin were subsequently jailed for contempt of court, the judge having found that they disobeyed her orders. Nair's first charge related to an email he allegedly sent, that was considered insulting to Belinda Ang. However, he denies sending any such email. "I did not send to Belinda Ang or anyone else any email, as far as this incident is concerned," he reiterated later. After reading his prepared statement, Nair took questions from the reporters present. At that point, I put down my camera and started taking notes. I will provide you, by way of example, three questions the reporters posed -– they posed many more -- and Nair's answers, to give readers a feel of the kinds of questions that followed.
Reporter: "What do you hope to achieve by offering an apology?" Nair's reply was, "I only said if I used words somewhat more stinging than they should have been, I apologise. Perhaps I could have used more temperate language. I'm not apologising for the contents of my blog." He also added that it was only gentlemanly to offer an apology for harsh words. Yawning Bread's observation: Which words exactly was he apologising for? He couldn't possibly be apologising for anything in the alleged email sent to Belinda Ang since he denies sending it. As for words in his blog, he has not been charged for anything written there, thus it's rather beside the point. So far, at least. But was this apology intended to fend off a possible defamation suit over the words he used in his blog? One of the reporters present must have thought so too, for a little later, he asked,
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Reporter: "Are you afraid of a defamation suit?" Nair: "I am not afraid of any of those things. I'm a human being and human beings must have courage. I'm not a slave." Reporter: "Are you prepared to serve a jail term?" Nair: "One has no choice about such things. But do I regret doing what I did? No, not at all."
* * * * * Why would the prosecutor be unhappy? I can only speculate. One possibility is that once Gopalan Nair has publicised the second charge, it becomes extremely difficult for the government to withdraw the charge without looking weak. But if the prosecution case is not yet watertight, it puts them in a fix. Another possibility is that by acting so quickly, and with technology compressing lead times for stories to get out, the government has to rush to ensure that its spin is integrated into the media story. Nair might have been seen as trying to preempt the official statement from the government. Then again, it may make no difference, at least not for the local media, for editors may wait till the government's side of the story is received.. On the right is Reuters' version of the story about the press conference, issued before the working day was over. That was the only report I could find this same evening. The local media had no mention of Nair's press conference in any of their online "latest news" or "breaking news" sections. Channel NewsAsia's website had a brief story about the morning court hearing, but not about the afternoon's press conference or Nair's statement. Unfortunately, I was far from any television set in the evening, so I couldn't monitor the TV news. With this background, it would be interesting to see what comes
out in the Straits Times and Today on Friday, 13 June 2008. © Yawning Bread |