Ladies and Gentlemen,
To those who have written asking that I continue blogging while in Singapore I ask for pardon. I have already very clearly expressed my stand on these matters which is well known. My position has not and will not change.
However, while in Singapore, except for writing on what is happening to my cases in court and other personal matters, I will not be blogging like I used to in the past for obvious reasons. You have seen the depths to which this government will go to silence criticism and I do not wish to attract anymore attacks from them while here; my main intention being at present to return home to America soonest possible.
I will of course continue in my fight to increase awareness of the plight of Singaporeans from abroad and to work for freedom in other ways; but while in Singapore, being at the mercy of this government, I have to act with caution.
I trust you will understand and forgive me while I handle these cases that have been thrown at me.
Thank you.
Gopalan Nair
Singapore
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26 comments:
I love u brother. Everyone, this is my bro in arm.
Cheers
CSJ
Dear Gopalan,
Through you, I have a taste of what it is like to live as a Singaporean.
I have decided to give up my Singaporean citizenship so I do not have to serve National service.
I am lucky to live in a country where no one can hold me at their pleasure.
Good luck.
"I trust you will understand and forgive me while I handle these cases that have been thrown at me".
Hey Nair,
These cases have NOT been thrown at you. You walked into them through sheer insolence on your part. If you were blogging, sorry ranting as you have been doing in USA, I am sure that the Singapore Government would not have bothered about your verbage which were hot air any way. You went to Singapore on your own volition to stirr up trouble and in the process insulted the judge choosing
a despicable language. You are arguing that semantically it meant differently. But use of the adjective 'prostituting' metaphorically to indicate the judge's action makes us believe that you were indeed a trouble maker who has taken the opportunity to defame the entire judiciary of the country.
As I have said in my earlier comments which you never published, you would be kept sufficiently neutered in Singapore ( that is my metaphor!) until such time you come to senses. A 58 year old man and an Inner Temple Barrister does not have the elementary wisdom of apologising to his behaviour and promising to move on in his life in USA. If you did just that they wil deport you tomorrow. As far as the Guardian in London is concerned, they will publish anything interesting with a human angle. I will let them know about your blog rants. As we all suspected, your legal practice California does not keep you busy and hence the reason
for the time you have to undulge in these gimmickery.
The State Department in the USA would carry out a routine representation and the the US Secretary of State has better issues to address than worrying about a lone ranter and a trouble maker who landed in Singapore with the specic purpose of mischief mongering.. Indeed, the Singapore Government should hand
in a protest to her saying that a US citizen has come to their country to cause trouble. In these days when every Western country is worried about individuals entering solely to create chaos, Ms Rice would ofcourse support Mr Yew.
You need more humility. Why not move on in your life? Get a bit more active in your legal practice which was not in a good shape?
Norman
Good. Because the Chinese are not worth sticking your neck out for.
Yes never give up your values and principles-let not despotic Lee Junta take that away from you!
Keep it up!
Good luck, Mr Nair. i understand your predicament. You've done more than one would expect from a Singporean, let alone a non-citizen who happens to be ex-citizen of our country.
I hope Condy Rice brings up your case strongly when she arrives.
Dear Gopalan,
When people like Norman speak, I feel glad that I left Singapore. Lee Kuan Yew will nanny Singapore because he does not want to lose face at the 1965 Separation. After that, the next dictator will not be so kind.
But of course, for people like Norman, who think life will be good if he does not "rock the boat", just hope the "pirates" out to get Singapore riches, are aware of the social contract between LKY and his wards.
2 months is a long wait, perhaps you should set up a branch office for would be US migrants or start writing a book ... you may not have this free time when you return to the US.
hey norman,
you obviously are jealous of Gopalan. are you someone nobody knows exists? Some insignificant soul?
why dont you do something more worth while for Singapore with the free time you obviously have
"I will not be blogging like I used to in the past for obvious reasons. You have seen the depths to which this government will go to silence criticism and I do not wish to attract anymore attacks from them while here"
Why not? so you are telling us that you are now scared? where were your balls and courage that you had when you challenged MM Lee and asked him what can he do about you? hahaha...
I agree with you to some extent, but to call it "the plight of Singaporeans" is a tad too much. I have been educated at the finest schools abroad (both boarding and tertiary) and while I do not agree entirely with the PAP government, it had to do what it had to do and Singaporeans are one of the most blessed people on earth. I do hope that you realize that. No government is perfect and that is something you must realize. You sound like you're perpetually chewing on a bitter bill. Cheers.
At least you have the guts unlike Stinkaporeans living here in Sinkapore!
As a human being you gotta have some guts, principles and values!
Do not let them PaPaya govt rob you of those too!
Live a human being and die a human being!
Do not sell your soul like them bloated 80+ Cabinet Ministers!
"I will not be blogging like I used to in the past for obvious reasons. You have seen the depths to which this government will go to silence criticism and I do not wish to attract anymore attacks from them while here"
This is not the orginal Mr Gopalan Nair that I know of. sad!
Hi all, particularly the anonymous ones and Mr Li,
I do not live in Singapore, not a Singapore citizen and have no connection whatever with Singapore and hence have no axe to grind. You have all missed the points I was making.
I live a democratic country in Europe which jealously guards the freedom of individuals. But even here, there is a limit to what a foreign citizen can say and do.
First,for example, the police can prosecute the person who uses the kind of colourful language Mr Nair has used in respect of a judge. Though Mr Nair was born and brought up in Singapore , he is a foreigner now, and particularly as an attorney he should know the consequences of his utterances. He was, to crudely put it, looking for trouble to publicise his opposition to Mr Yew and the government, after ranting in his blog attracted very little attention. The mistake the Singapore government made was not to send him back as soon as he landed at the airport.
Second, he sought asylum in US and got his US citizenship. The US must have considered his plea as some one persecuted by Singapore government, a political dissident, whose life was in danger. Having acquired the US citizenship, Mr Nair has been at his old game again. Any sensible person, after walked away from the country of birth, would have moved on and as a new citizen of US would have rebuilt his career and would have become a new person. Mr Nair did not do that. His blog was used as a weapon of hatred and abuse directed at the politicians in power of his old country. Not satisfied with this as he was going nowhere, he tried to carry his fight into his old country. He colours this as his crusade on behalf of Singaporeans, a typical Nair smokes screen. It is and has been a 'Nair fight' for 'Nair himself'. I was amazed at the vengeful epithets he was hurling at the politicians of the country of his birth, and the amoun of time had to do it. The attorneys I know are all very busy, have no time to take a proper lunch and come home very late. Blogging for them is not even in their dreams!
Mr Nair strayed into matters concerning other countries like India, and was pouring out his vitriolic comments. Mr Nair is a deeply deeply troubled man who needs some psychiatric help.
Now this Inner Temple lawyer is made to like a fool, as Mr Yew and his government have cleverly made him to sweat out for weeks so that he will never dream of coming back to Singapore again. All those who fought oppression, Gandhi,King and Mandela did so STAYING IN THEIR OWN COUNTRIES!! Hence some day a Singapore Gandhi/King/Mandela will emerge, and it will be a Singaporean living in Singapore, and will not be Mr Nair.
To Mr. Norman,
If truly what you said are the facts, what are you doing on this blog then? Are you not yourself interfering with Singapore's domestic affairs with your opinions (although one can definitely see that you are the PAP's pup)? If you were not a parrot repeating the lies that PAP had uttered, you might have already had your pants sued off you by your beloved "Mr. Yew" (whose last name is actually LEE, you idiot!)
Thank you Norman, for your precious time in posting those comments despite you not being Singaporean.
I urge peole reading this blog to reread what norman has said, especially the Jul 22 comment.
To Singaporeans, do not let this traitor who forsake his country and yet return to stir trouble affect you. Be fair and objective when assessing our government.
Norman, I'd have to say this: you sound every bit like someone who has a personal investment in this case.
Why don't you spill it?
I am a Singaporean studying in an American University.
I think you are a joke and are making an absolute fool of yourself. Hiding behind an American citizenship and employing all these childish attempts really does not do you or the Singapore opposition any good. Please leave us all alone and go back to your land of the 'free'. Singapore really does not need people like you to tell us what is wrong with our political system. Try acting a little more your age and carry yourself with a little more respectability and maybe, just maybe people would take your message with a little more sense.
Thank you for giving up your citizenship Gopalan Nair, we do not need quitters like yourself. There are good people in Singapore, intellectuals who are trying to enact change and progress, people who choose to stay and challenge the system, fighting on grounds of logic and credibility. Unlike those like yourself who run away and hide somewhere you don't belong.
Norman,
“Mr Yew”? Hello? There is a Chinese saying, ”You don not know who is the fool until he opens his mouth”. In east asia, the family/surname comes first, so you should have said “Mr Lee.” Obviously you do not know anything about Lee Kuan Yew and Singapore. Do me a favour, read up on what he has done, both the good and bad, then find me a country in southern Europe (excluding former Warsaw Pact countries) with a human rights record that is even close to Singapore before you comment further.
Gopalan Nair is a lawyer, what he does with his time is none of our business. (I personally know a very good surgeon who only operates on and meets with patients 3 days a week and takes the rest of the days off – I don’t think he is a bad surgeon because of this). Many people who oppose Lee Kuan Yew leave Singapore and start a new life. I actually think he has courage and the compassion for other Singaporeans to come back to fight. If foreigners cannot interfere in another country, then Europe will still be under European Nazism and fascism, Bosnia will be ethnically cleansed. I don’t agree with everything Gopalan Nair has said, but I support his current situation because the Singapore courts are trying to control freedom of speech on the internet (they have already done so for local blogs) and they claim the right to arrest anyone who says anything critical of the country on the internet.
Nelson Mandela, Lech Walensa and Gandhi are the lucky ones who survived. For every Mandela, there are probably 1000 political prisoners who died before seeing freedom. I personally don’t think Aung Sang Su Kyi can outlive the military junta of Burma. I don’t hold Gopalan Nair to such high standards to stay in Singapore as a citizen and endure the unendurable. Really, you should spend some time in Singapore to understand how they deal with political opponents of the ruling party before you comment further.
Norman,
“Mr Yew”? Hello? There is a Chinese saying, ”You don not know who is the fool until he opens his mouth”. In east asia, the family/surname comes first, so you should have said “Mr Lee.” Obviously you do not know anything about Lee Kuan Yew and Singapore. Do me a favour, read up on what he has done, both the good and bad, then find me a country in southern Europe (excluding former Warsaw Pact countries) with a human rights record that is even close to Singapore before you comment further.
Gopalan Nair is a lawyer, what he does with his time is none of our business. (I personally know a very good surgeon who only operates on and meets with patients 3 days a week and takes the rest of the days off – I don’t think he is a bad surgeon because of this). Many people who oppose Lee Kuan Yew leave Singapore and start a new life. I actually think he has courage and the compassion for other Singaporeans to come back to fight. If foreigners cannot interfere in another country, then Europe will still be under European Nazism and fascism, Bosnia will be ethnically cleansed. I don’t agree with everything Gopalan Nair has said, but I support his current situation because the Singapore courts are trying to control freedom of speech on the internet (they have already done so for local blogs) and they claim the right to arrest anyone who says anything critical of the country on the internet.
Nelson Mandela, Lech Walensa and Gandhi are the lucky ones who survived. For every Mandela, there are probably 1000 political prisoners who died before seeing freedom. I personally don’t think Aung Sang Su Kyi can outlive the military junta of Burma. I don’t hold Gopalan Nair to such high standards to stay in Singapore as a citizen and endure the unendurable. Really, you should spend some time in Singapore to understand how they deal with political opponents of the ruling party before you comment further.
Hello anonymous ones,
I have given my name and so should you. No use in hiding behind a screen and yapping at me. That is cowardice.
My intention is simple. There is enough terrorism to keep governments in the free world busy. Even in the land of Magna Carta, the mother of parliaments, and free sppech at Hyde Park Corner, the UK government has recently introduced a 42 day limit for those arrested as terrorism suspects. previously it was well less than a week.
I know more history than all of you put together. A country has to evolve. America introduced Civil Rights act only in 1960s about 200 years (constitution was introduced in 1787)after its constitution became operational. Singapore is a country created artificially and it is fragile with multiple ethnicities. In multiple ethnicity countries or even multilingual countries democracy is fragile. India is an example of the latter. India is being destabilised now from terrorism. When Tito ruled Yugoslavia with an iron hand, the West was carping at him. After his death look what happened to the several bits of countries it split up. Singapore should find its own solution and Singaporeans will find it.
I am not interfering with internal affairs of Singapore. I AM CRITICISING A FOREIGNER MR NAIR STIRRING UP TROUBLE VISITING SINGAPORE AS AN UNINVITED GUEST. HE MAY HAVE PROBLEMS WITH THE SINGAPORE GOVERNMENT, BUT HE SHOULD DO IT AS HIS PROBLEM ALONE AND LIVING IN AMERICA.
Some one gave an example of a surgeon. I am sure that surgeon in his free time is not hurling abuses against Singapore government. The question of free time arises if one tries to use it in a way that is harmful.
I can assure you again that I have no connection with Singapore in any manner of seaking. My anxiety is we are facing an unprecedented danger to survival of countries. That is terrorism.
He starts a ruckus and now wants to get off light for it. Figures.
I'm a singaporean, I hated the government ever since i got enlisted to the army. I'm glad that i do not owe or need anything from them. The government makes use of us, look at the way we are brought up.
No wonder no one wants to have kids, coz they end up as slaves for the government. I will give my vote anytime to the Opposition.
Look at the ridiculous prices of hdb flats almost 700k, the lee junta makes u buy them n u spend yr whole life payin for it.. so u have no choice to obey PAP..
Keep up the good work . The truth shall prevail. Stand your ground and fight a good fight. Its time that Singaporeans wake up and see that one ruling party is not a healthy solution for Singapore. Human rights are important in a developing country and a clean and honest government should not be afraid to be critize by either party. A good government should have nothing to hide from its people who vote for them.
Every country have their clean streets as well as their dark back alleys...We Singaporeans are living well and im glad to be here except for the dull night life..Peace out dude and wish you well with your court proceedings! God Bless!
Play your cards right. There are better ways to stand up for your rights. Someone of your intelligence should have known this would happen. Unless of course, you wanted this to show people how the government would react? but no man would use himself as a human guinea pig in this case. That's 3 months of your life you're never getting back.
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