Readers of this blog who are unfamiliar with the goings on in Lee Kuan Yew's Singapore, may think reading the comments that there are many who think Singapore is a democracy based on the rule of law. The reader is warned that they may be Singapore government employees whose job is to discredit those who criticize Lee Kuan Yew's authoritarian rule. Please use your discretion as to how much weight you will give these comments.
Ladies and Gentlemen,
This is what I, Gopalan Nair, convicted prisoner number 101232008, formerly a prisoner in Singapore's Queenstown Prison, now safely back in California, and writing this blog is asking. Was holding me in Singapore for 6 months and sending me to jail for 3 months, done Singapore's Lee Kuan Yew any good? On May 31, 2008, I was arrested for writing a blog post in this blog dated May 29, 2008, for criticizing the bias of Judge Belinda Ang Saw Ean in the case of Lee Kuan Yew against Dr. Chee Soon Juan. As a result, Singapore police arrested me, confiscated my passport forcing me to remain in Singapore for 5 months and then I was sent to jail for 3 months.
Did all this do Lee Kuan Yew, the Singapore strongman any good? Frankly not. Out of this adventure, I have gained far more than Lee Kuan Yew ever got.
Before my arrest, which was a clear violation of my right of free speech, I was not much more than someone who had contested Singapore elections in 1988 and 1991 and lost. Since December 2006, I was also known by some as a blogger, blogging under the name Singapore Dissident. But my arrest on May 31, 2008 changed everything.
Overnight Gopalan Nair became internationally known. Singapore's state controlled press making my arrest headline news, it instantly became international news. Reporters Without Borders, Paris France, and major organizations worldwide began demanding that the charges be dropped. As a result of my refusing to admit guilt, and the days passing for an entire 5 months in Singapore, more and more people all over the world and in Singapore began to hear of me and my case. As I walked the streets of Singapore while on bail, waiting for my trial in September of 2008, people came up to me to on a daily basis to congratulate me on my courage to speak my mind, as Singapore's state controlled press were printing my picture in the papers each time I had to appear in court on the numerous occasions.
At the time, before my arrest, the profile views on my blog alone (not counting the number of people who actually read the blog which were far more) was perhaps about 6 thousand. After I was arrested, this number shot up to over 21,000. Suddenly overnight, this blog and the name Gopalan Nair was both national and international news.
True, my forced stay in Singapore for 6 months has caused me some financial hardship. But I am back in America and I am building my practice back again. After all my practice is not a new one, it is more than 12 years old, and re-building it shouldn't be too difficult.
So it begs the question, why did Lee Kuan Yew do it? If he hoped to intimidate me into silence, should he not have considered the fact that I am an American? After all I will be able to leave Singapore sooner or later. And when I am outside Singapore, there is nothing he could do to me for anything I write, short of murdering me. What then was the point of the prosecution, if his intention was to stop my criticism of his courts and his oligarchy?
If his intention was to vilify me on a daily basis in Singapore's state controlled press by calling me a criminal, surely by now he should have known that most Singaporeans do not believe the orchestrated prosecutions against his political opponents anyway; which is why every Singaporean I met had only support and praise for me for what I did. And if his purpose was to intimidate others in Singapore from doing what I did, by now most Singaporeans have been silenced anyway, since JB Jeyaretnam was found guilty of defaming Lee Kuan Yew in the 1970s. One more politically motivated prosecution would have made no difference, especially against a foreigner.
And as for me, I have not stopped calling Judge Belinda Ang Saw Ean of the Singapore High Court a corrupt judge who had shamelessly prostituted her judicial office and abused the law for Lee Kuan Yew's interests. If the intent in prosecuting me in Singapore was to stop me from attacking the judicial integrity of this judge, am I not doing it again from California with impunity?
And what is worse for Lee Kuan Yew, the Singapore readership of this blog, those that he wishes the most to be ignorant of my writings, has and continues to increase daily! And what is more, every judge, every lawyer that I come across in the San Francisco Bay Area is now suddenly aware of what Singapore did to me, bringing Singapore several notches down closer to the military junta of Burma.
Today I am building up my law practice again and in no time, it will surpass what it was before my arrival in Singapore in May 2008. And not just that, I will have another feather on my cap which I did not have in the past, as another victim of Lee Kuan Yew's repressive regime. I have finally joined the ranks, albeit to a lesser degree, of Tan Wah Piow, JB Jeyaretnam, Francis Seow, Dr. Chee Soon Juan and Tang Liang Hong, Lee Kuan Yew's other victims. Something that will remain with me till I die, something to remember that I can tell my children and grandchildren; an adventure in an island controlled by fear and repression.
And most of all, I have been able to expose the corruption of Singapore's courts and Lee Kuan Yew's dictatorship.
If Lee Kuan Yew's minions had really thought about it, it would been best for them to have just deported me the very next day after I wrote the blog. Not having done that, they have made me an international celebrity, a proven victim of Lee Kuan Yew's Singapore.
And this blog will go on. And more Singaporeans will read it daily. And I will continue being a thorn on Lee Kuan Yew's plans for repression. He can if he wants, hack my blog, destroy it or stop it from Singapore. But all that will do no good. Every blog post since it's beginning in December 2006 is saved, not only by me but also by countless Singaporeans; which means the very next day, my writings will be published again. And what is most sweet, is the fact that I have become the voice and friend of countless Singaporeans who want to say what I say, but cannot, in Lee Kuan Yew's Singapore.
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.
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13 comments:
your blog is the best. and you're a true hero
I sure hope there is a way that the dear leader gets to read your blog the moment he turns on his computer.
But be rest assured that you have become his worst nightmare in the twilight of his years.
You surely have caused him lots of misery.
What can an old man do after losing so much of Singaporean's money in addition to his so-called 'power daughter-in-law. 4.9b trying to make Singaporean happy with compare to 116b they lost. Fat Hope!
The end of S'pore Inc is near and you will be one of the few good and brave heroes the rakyat will always acknowledge and be grateful for exposing the evil doings of LKY and his coterie. Well done Gopalan Nair....how I wish I can reach out thru cyberspace and hug you tight!
God bless and wish you and family the very best.
Keep it up Gopalan! We are with you!
From a concerned Singaporean
Why did Lee Kuan Yew do it?
Recall what you blogged when you arrived in Singapore: "Mr. Lee Kuan Yew, look here. I am now within your jurisdiction and that of your corrupt police and your corrupt judiciary who will do anything you want of them, however criminal and illegal. What are you going to do about it?"
That was a tight slap across the face of someone notorious for his monstrous ego and his legendary vindictiveness towards anyone who refuses to kowtow to his whim. There was simply no way he could accept that loss of face without a response. In fact your cheek probably gave him heartburn and contributed to his requiring a pacemaker later.
The late President of Singapore, Devan Nair, recounted Lee's rage when J.B. Jeyaratnam won the Anson by-election 1981: "I was amazed at how he fretted and fumed like a caged fury. And I will never forget his last words. 'I will make him crawl on his bended knees, and beg for mercy'". JBJ, as we all know, declined the indignity of course.
True to form, Lee did not confront your challenge directly. Instead he used his proxies, Judge Belinda Ang and the police, to frame you with trumped-up charges. Not for nothing does Said Zahari, one of Lee's Operation Coldstore victims who spent 17 years in jail without charge or trial, contemptuously call Lee Kuan Yew 'a political coward'.
I was quite astonished that you failed to recognise the man's vicious sociopathic nature and prepare a Plan B before tweaking his nose the way you did. Still, the best laid plans of mice and men and all that...
There is no doubt that Lee Kuan Yew's stock is hovering on empty with most Singaporeans today. When the economic tide went out, it showed in stark relief what we'd always suspected but could never quite prove - an emperor with no clothing and even less integrity. As the song goes,
"He's a real nowhere man
Sitting in his nowhere land
Making all his nowhere plans for nobody".
Of course everyone would be asking, why did I taunt Lee Kuan Yew that why? Truly, the only answer I have is this. I was outraged. Indignant, angry that this Judge Belinda Ang Saw Ean can treat her court proceedings in such a shamelessly brazenly baised fashion. The world had to know it. And if no one in Singapore was going to say it, I was, come what may.
Yes, I had to go to jail and all that. But on reflection I did the right thing. I am proud of myself. There was a risk, but I was prepared to take it. What I did not know was the extent of it.
My intent was to expose this corrupt judiciary. I succeeded handsomely.
Hi Gopa,
Your reply made me recall some words from a movie, quite a nice one, that’s Scent of a woman, by Al Pacino. In the ending part, Mr. Slade (Pacino) said these in the auditorium “ ……. Now I have come to the crossroads in my life. I always knew what the right path was. Without exception, I knew, but I never took it. You know why? It was too damn hard. Now here’s Charlie. He’s come to the crossroads. He has chosen a path, it’s the right path. It’s a path make of principle. That leads to character……” well, you had chosen the hard one, be it. It’s hard to tell what you did was right or wrong, but a bit careless. In the same movie, Al Pacino said these “…….I’m here to tell you, this boy’s soul is intact. ….. There was a time I could see. And I have seen, boys like these, younger than these, their arms torn out, their legs ripped off. But there is nothing like the sight of an amputated spirit. There is no prosthetic for that……….. I don’t know if Charlie’s silence here today is right or wrong; I’m not a judge or jury. But I can tell you this; he won’t sell anybody out to buy his future! And that, my friends, is called integrity. That’s called courage. Now that’s the stuff leaders should be made of……..” just to share with you guys. Good luck.
sk
The fact that Lee Kuan Yew has to resort to such insular and small-minded measure (and ineffective as well) of your imprisonment show us the small-ness and gut-less-ness of Singapore's founder. As long as he is around, Singapore cannot progress. The impression of the people of Singapore is a reflection of this Chinaman.
To the anon who wrote about Lee Kuan Yew as the Law of Singapore has every grain of truth. From his bodyguards in courts to his implementation of punishment at will. Singapore will by destroyed by him or his influences on his descendants. His legacy will ensure that.
As you can see, most of the comments are all under Anonymous... we don't want to be sent to prison by our very dear leader LKY, just like you were. One day I will be able to speak up when I leave Singapore for good, but our dear, dear leader LKY will not let me leave until I am 21. 9 more repressed years to go. Sigh.
You are a brave man. Good for you and God bless you for your courage GN.
It's a no brainer that Singapore is run by dictators. The people just has to vote them out despite threats by LKY that he will send in the army if his team lost to the oppositions. His tyranny is well known and literally puts the pigs on Animal Farm to shame.
I look forward to real democracy soon and I pray all these leeches in power now will pay for their crimes against the people.
mr nair, you're a true singapore hero. you have me and my family's support, definitely.
Dumbass. As quickly as you found attention as quickly you became back another second rate lawyer. Years on - who remembers you? Your brave words are just another puff of the chest of a monkey living in an ivory tower.
No one cares anymore - or even remotely thinks about you - and you go back to the sorry life that you know it as.
Totally happy being a US citizen?
I bet not. You're always a third rate citizen there.
ciao
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