Ladies and Gentlemen,
I am back in my office in Fremont, Northern California. I arrived at San Francisco airport on May 26, 2008 in the evening. Major problems caused by being forced to stay in Singapore for 6 months. Unpaid office rent. Unpaid mortgage. Disconnected telephone lines. Disconnected home utilities. Massive credit card debts.
But I tell you what. I am breathing. I am alive. And I am in America. Where anything is possible. And what is most important, I intend to continue with even greater resolve to expose the dictatorship which is what Singapore is. If Lee Kuan Yew thought even for a moment that he has broken my spirit, he can't be more wrong.
In a way, Lee Kuan Yew has done me a great service. Before my arrest and imprisonment, this blog was well read. But after that he has made it a must read, for a great many. And furthermore, it has given it international publicity. And he has given me credibility to an extent I did not have before.
After my release from prison on the 20th of November 2008, I was allowed to remain in Singapore for 5 days to get my personal affairs sorted out before I left. A condition of being allowed to remain in Singapore for 5 days was that I did not interfere in Singapore's domestic politics. I am prohibited from entering Singapore again unless I have prior permission from the Ministry of Foreign Affairs. In effect, I will never be able to return to Singapore.
But even if I was given permission to return it would be unwise to do it, since I could be arrested again under one or more of the litany of laws in place to silence criticism. And for sure, I am not looking forward to more time in a Singapore prison.
I have many matters to take care of presently leaving little time to write blog posts. But Lee Kuan Yew and his government can take this from me now. I am defying the undertaking that I gave in court on September 12, 2008 when I admitted being in contempt of court. I am withdrawing the admission and repeating what I have always said that the Singapore judiciary is corrupt for being a stooge to Lee Kuan Yew and his government. I withdraw all apologies that were given in Court 15, Subordinate Court Singapore to Judge Leslie Chew. The only reason for my apology was a desire to get out of prison as soon as possible. They brought these new contempt charges while I was incarcerated in prison, with only 8 days to go for my release. If I had not apologised as Lee Kuan Yew wanted, there was the possibility that I could be kept in prison for a further period of up to 6 months, according to the law code section.
I had also given an undertaking to remove the 2 blog posts, of Sept 1, 2008 and Sept 6, 2008 which referred to my trial and conviction before Judge James Leong in the Subordinate Courts for disorderly behaviour and insulting a policemen, charges entirely made up by the police to discredit me. I will be re-posting those 2 blog posts and stand by every word that I had written in them.
For the moment goodbye. Too much personal work to catch up. The telephone, the rent, the mortgage etc etc. But I will be blogging again soonest. Have no fear.
Gopalan Nair
39737 Paseo Padre Parkway, Suite A1
Fremont, CA 94538, USA
Tel: 510 657 6107
Fax: 510 657 6914
Email: nair.gopalan@yahoo.com
Blog: http://singaporedissident.blogspot.com/
Your letters are welcome. We reserve the right to publish your letters. Please Email your letters to nair.gopalan@yahoo.com And if you like what I write, please tell your friends. You will be helping democracy by distributing this widely. This blog not only gives information, it dispels government propaganda put out by this dictatorial regime.
Subscribe to:
Post Comments (Atom)
26 comments:
Welcome back to the country of freedom.
What can't break you will only make you stronger. Screw those agreement and promise of not writing anything against the kangaroo government because the kangaroo government is even much worse in breaking their own promise and oath of serve the country with equality and justice. Robbing the nation of wealth and destroy nation through their own personal greed and follies.
Your ordeal will make you even more audacious in writing post on Singapore kangaroo. Keep up the blog. The world is reading it.
Even the WSJ get the taste our world-class kangaroo court system. The day of hip-hoping of this despondent government is numbered. The world now knows the kangaroo and unable to do business with it. Look at how hard the kangaroo trying to sell tiny red dot to the third-world country now. Can't sell to first world , sell to third-world country, and that is how cheap our world-most-expensive government is now.
Dear Gopalan,
Welcome back to freedom and we are sorry that you have been screwed over and over again while you were in Singapore. We see that the ordeal have made you even stronger instead of subdued when critical of the Singapore Judicial and Government. There are reasons as to why the Singapore Judicial system now do not accept appeals to the Privy Council. Real Gold is not afraid of Fire. Can our Court system stand up to the scrutiny of the Privy Council or ICJ?
Ugly PM Lee and his refusing to resign father will ultimatley pay the price of their greed oand ill gotten gains.
Dear Gopalan,
Welcome back. What has transpired in Singapore is a travesty of justice, making a mockery out of the rule of law.
I hope it is possible to get an action against the violation of your First Amendment rights by a court which has no jurisdiction over your expression in a US-based blog.
Stay strong and take care.
Glad to hear you made it safely back home, bruised but unbowed by those nasty cowards that currently run the police state that is our poor nation today. If any lesson has been learned, it is that there are no lies they will not tell, no evidence they will not fabricate, no depth to which they will not sink in their desperate bid to retain complete hegemony at all cost.
They may have fined you and they may have jailed you in their petty vindictiveness, but there is simply no question who emerged victorious in the contest. Thanks to you and the SDP, the carefully-manicured credibility of that aged bloodsucker lies in ruins and nobody believes a word uttered by the empty vessel and his Mafiosi any longer. His bumbling, incompetent, lying police force has been shown to be exactly that, and the Alice In Wonderland 'justice' meted out by his kangaroo courts is now an international joke. One really has to wonder how those fawning, spineless guardians of the Constitution have the nerve to look in the mirror each day.
Someday there will be a reckoning for these creatures and that day is not far off. Meantime, a sincere thank you for your valiant stand against that disagreeable oppressor. Truly is it said that you can take the Singaporean out of Singapore but you can never take the Singapore out of a Singaporean. Rest assured that your blog is essential reading for all who love and care about Singapore. Way to go, Gopalan!
There is no freedom in America. You are spied on by the state and in Gopi's state of California, gays are not allowed to marry anymore.
What freedom is there?
I in Australia, have been praying for your well-being. Uncle Yap did great by letting us know you are released.
The kangaroo court over in Singapore has done itself a great disservice for itself through its actions.
You are the victim and a witness to what we have long suspected of the injustice system in Singapore.
Why should you return to a country that treat its former citizens like traitors.
I am sure that you will find America, a much more forgiving land. If Democract Pres-elect Obama is born in Singapore, he will be bankrupted by Lee and in exile in USA now.
Wish you good health, and may you find positive outcome in your debt problems.
I think you meant to say you arrived on Nov 26, 2008 (not May 26, 2008).
Welcome back! Always enjoyed reading your blog.
Hope you get your life back soon. Cheers!
Haha, you're really funny.. may be.
LKY that free to read your blog? nice try man nice try
Haha, LKY not free, too busy wondering when the batteries of his pacemaker are going to go flat.
Haha, will you still have a job then?
Haha, that will be really funny too...maybe.
Haha, sad case man, too bad.
Gopalan, it's funny you write garbage like this. You are a two-faced coward.
If you stand by your conviction and belief, why did you beg the Judge to release you from the prison? What high moral stand do you have when you are nothing more than a third-rate liar? You promised that you will delete a few blog entries only so that they can be re-posted after you run like a chicken and hide in your Fremont home?
If you can't even stand the hardships of a prison, and lie your way to get out of it, what credibility are you demonstrating to people.
You are nothing more than a "whino" Gopalan. You have done nothing for Singapore, except to rant and bitch.
You should see other countries in the region and feel the poverty and misery people are going through. I tell you what, WHO cares? People get three square meals to eat, a good education, a decent job and healthcare and a pride that they can hold their head high.
Are there many countries that can promise that? What is happening in the land of milk and honey where you have taken asylum? Systemic blind-siding of financial markets and complete mis-management by regulators have raped the global economy beyond recognition. Is this the freedom and "inclusive democracy" you are talking about?
What are you complaining of? You are nothing but a dinosaur living in stone age with no connection to reality. Go get a life somewhere you loser...and post this comment in your blog if you have the guts
I suppose you are comparing Singapore to Indonesia and Burma?
Gopalan Nair
Hi Gopalan
I am Anna. How are you today?
The last comment posted by an anonymous, I think he/she IS really comparing Singapore to war torn or under developed countries. That's why he so proud of having 3 square meals per day :P
He/she doesn't speak for me.
Cheers & Regards
AnnA
Doesn't matter what you choose compare with...Indonesia or Burma, you can hide behind these pale comparisons, trying to put Singapore down..In your heart, you know what the truth is, no point pretending.
The truth is that you will be compared against spineless characters without any self-conviction...that will remain...I hope you feel at least a tiny bit of shame for your deceitful conduct..
US didn't leave as much a mouse fart in diplomatic support for the citizenship you hold with them during your arrest in Singapore. You're merely hiding behind that shield of citizenship so you can rant without any accountability.
Deep in your heart, you fear so much for as much a Jail-term and you preach high morals to people about how they fight democracy. You are a shame in front of people like Mandela who spent 25 years in prison. You don't espouse the cause you believe in, you are merely a cheap opportunist. I hope you realize that!
"Gopalan, it's funny you write garbage like this. You are a two-faced coward...blah, blah, yadda, yadda..."
And what does that say of you, Mr No-Name Anonymous Coward of Mon Dec 01, 11:39:00 PM PST? Why are you troubling to respond so vehemently to 'garbage'? Why bother taking the time out from your happy-clappy, allegedly wonderful life in paradise-on-earth? Could it be that Goplan's words touch a raw nerve and you know that he speaks the truth?
It must be galling that all sectors of the economy in your insignificant little dot hit the buffers whenever the land of milk and honey (that you sneer at) coughs, eh? And it's gonna get worse for you in 2009, much worse as the screw tightens. Now tell us again about this golden period your foolproof Minister Mentor says you're enjoying? So much for the infantile bragging about opaque reserves, mediocre government and Asian values. Only frogs in the pot like you haven't noticed the rising temperature of your surroundings.
As Christopher Lingle observed, you live in a Leninist one-party police state and are content to gnaw on the bones tossed to you from the high table. A pretend First World Nation to be envied? Most Singaporeans are beginning to think - not!
Dear Mr Nair,
I support you. But I need to know. How can a 6 month stay in jail, which is:
(i) Rent Free
(ii) Board Free
and provides you with free use of toilet, lights, a bed and a roof over your head, with no time for you to go shopping,
have resulted in you incurring massive credit card debts???
The debts were incurred in USA while I was kept in Singapore. I dont live in Singapore. I spent 2 months in jail. The rest of the time I was kept in Singapore because my passport was held. Loss of clients, unpaid rent, living expenses in Singapore, no income, etc etc., credit card debt
You are Singapore Hero?
Thank you. Looking for sympathy and financial support in oversea. What is the different in Terrorism.
If you stand up strong in Singapore, like Chee, you may get more respect, but not this manner.
You look not only as a coward but a crown, and ppl who whorship you are idiots.
You oredi not Singaporean, dont come and mess up Singapore, let Chee do it.
Chee Soon Guan's supporter
You had to get out from the lion's den. I doubt LKY will like the Singapore he has created if he was not in the seat of power.
You Should have fought IN SINGAPORE but you didnt. You choose to leave singapore. Now Who is a COWARD?
Love your blog!
Gopalan..
You are a coward.. i don't remember Ghandi or Mandela apologising to the british or whites and retracting their apologies after that.. you are worse than that despot LKY.. you are a cockroach who shrinks in times of trouble and act like a lion when all's calm and peaceful..
Mr Nair: I think you want to go to jail. I think you want to prove a point or get sympathy in Singapore or aboard. Why I say that?
Because...
(1) The authorities confiscating your passport is no impediment to you walking into the US Embassy and asking for a replacement like you can when you lose a passport or have it stolen. You don't have to wait helplessly for them to return it to you!
(2) Singapore is not exactly North Korea. There are no minefields, fences or machine guns on the border. Looks like they let you out on bail and you were there for many months. They even let you out for a few days before starting your jail sentence! You could have escaped from the country easily. How about driving a car straight across the causeway at night refusing to stop at the Singapore checkpoint to Johor and surrendering to Malaysian authorities then asking for US consulate help there? How about renting a boat and motor across the straits to Malaysia or into international waters? Doesn't matter who arrests you or where you go as long as it's not Singaporean officials or the soil.
(3) Since you don't care about coming back to Singapore and you have the USA to go back to, it's easy to run away. But you didn't. So you must want to go to jail. Anything else doesn't make sense.
To Comicsmartguy said...
"Mr Nair: I think you want to go to jail. I think you want to prove a point or get sympathy in Singapore or aboard. Why I say that?"
You are in fantasyland.
1. What good would a new passport do if Singapore Immigration can stop me from leaving the island at the airport!
2. Driving a car without stopping at the Causeway! What are you smoking!
3. The only point you made with some sense is leaving by boat by sailing it myself. I thought about it every hard. I am a sailor and thought of finding a boat to get me to Malaysia. But there are a couple of problems with this. I staked Changi beach area a couple of times. There are several police boats at the Changi Malaysia waters looking for illegal immigrants. There is a good chance I would be stopped. If that happened I would be spending a long long time in jail.
Second, even if I managed to get across to Johore, what happens if I get stopped by Malaysian police?
Or even if I managed to get to the US Embassy in KL, they may even send me back, I do not know.
Taking a boat was a possibility but there were several dangers to it. On balance, it was a risk I could not take for a situation like mine which was not going to end up in a long sentence.
Had I been Ronald Biggs and was looking at 20 years, sure I would have taken the chance. But I am not Ronald Biggs which explains why I did not flee under sail.
I did in fact try to get a Laser, 420, Wayfarer, sunfish or any other small dinghy but thought against it.
It won't look good to read the headlines in the Straits Times, "Gopalan Nair arrested while trying to flee Lee Kuan Yew's island". No, not a good idea. The risk you take should correspond to the danger you face.
Post a Comment