Law Society of Singapore vs Gopalan Nair, Guilty! A politically motivated sham

Ladies and Gentlemen,

Way back in May 31, 2008 at about 8.30 pm, I was arrested at Broadway, Hotel, Serangoon Road, Singapore for writing a blog post in this blog (please see blog for details). The next day all Singapore's state controlled newspapers reported my arrest in headlines splashed across it's pages as well as on state controlled TV and Radio. The Singapore Law Society cannot claim they were not aware of it. Therefore in May 31, 2008, more than 2 years ago, they were obviously of the opinion that no ethical violation had been committed, which is why no disciplinary proceedings were commenced.

Later on September 17, 2008, nearly 4 months later, I was convicted in the High Court Singapore for this and sentenced to 3 months jail. At that time too, Singapore Law Society felt no violation of any ethical rules, and therefore no disciplinary proceedings were commenced on Sept 17, 2008 or immediately thereafter.

Secondly on July 4, 2008 I was arrested on false charges of yelling at Singapore policemen with obscenities and behaved in a disorderly manner, allegations that I have denied all along. The next day, July 5, 2008, Singapore state controlled newspapers, state TV and Radio again carried screaming headlines of this. But the Law Society of Singapore took no action then once again because there was no ethical violation.

Thirdly, I had made statements in court during the "yelling at police" trial in August 2008, such as "I have no respect for this court", "this is a politically motivated trial" etc. Yet at the conclusion of the case the judge James Leong, did not find any evidence of contempt of court since he did not charge me with anything except to order me to pay a fine of $3,000.00 which I did. In contempt of court cases, as we all know, it is the judge before whom one appears who can hold you in contempt. Mr. Leong as it appeared was very happy at the conclusion of the trial.

Fourthly, while I am incarcerated in prison for 2 months (the Belinda Ang Saw Ean case), in November of 2008, the police suddenly make a visit to my prison and charged me for what had transpired earlier in James Leong's court! This time they say I had made contemptuous remarks of the Judge and the Singaporean Legal system during the trial and therefore I am now charged with contempt of court. Surely this must be a classic example of how the legendary Kangaroos go about their legal trials. Why should something which James Leong, the judge was perfectly happy with, since he did nothing to charge me with contempt, suddenly become contempt weeks thereafter the incident! In any case, even so, the Law Society of Singapore took no action against me in disciplinary proceedings then, in August 2008, which they should have if they felt any violation was committed.

Fifthly on November 12, 2008, I am brought before Judge Leslie Chew on these contempt charges, at which I apologized, not wanting to prolong my incarceration. Even at this point, the Singapore Law Society took no action against me for any contempt of court, since they were obviously aware that I pleaded guilty. Once again they felt no actionable violation existed.

Sixthly, I return to California on Nov 26, 2010, exactly 6 months since I went to Singapore. Immediately thereafter I write a blog post withdrawing my apology and deliberately breaking my undertaking given to Leslie Chew, the Singapore contempt judge, that I will not attack the Singapore government or their judiciary again and re-posting 2 blog posts that I had agreed to remove relating to this matter. This was a a deliberate intentional breach of an undertaking by given by me to the Singaporean court. Yet in November or early December of 2008, while in California, the Singapore Law Society felt I had committed nothing wrong and accordingly do nothing at all.

Seventh, in this blog I wrote the post "Judith Prakash, another Kangaroo Judge" on November 30, 2008, a post similar to the Belinda Ang Saw Ean post of May 29, 2008. Once again they found nothing wrong at this time too, taking no action.

Then all of a sudden, on Sept 05, 2009, nearly 1 1/2 years after my blog post criticizing Singapore Judge Belinda Ang Saw Ean of her disgraceful abuse of the law to please her master Singapore's Lee Kuan Yew, for the first time it is reported in the state controlled media of the country, that disciplinary proceedings have been commenced against me, something unheard of in any Bar Association in the world!

Anyone knows that one of the principle functions of any Bar Association is to ensure proper discipline among it's members, to ensure that it's reputation is not tarnished by unethical lawyers. And because of this, every honest Bar Association is constantly on the lookout for this and will always immediately take action, not wait 1 1/2 years to do it!

And therefore the question arises, why did they not charge me with unprofessional conduct in Singapore, in May 2008, for writing the Belinda Ang Saw Ean blog post; why did they not do anything when I was arrested for disorderly behaviour in July of 2008, when I was physically there; why did they not do anything when I was convicted of disorderly behaviour in August/ September of 2008 in Singapore; why did they not do anything in September 2008 when I was jailed for 3 months in Singapore; why did they not do anything when I admitted contempt of court charges in November 2008 in Singapore; why did they not do anything in November 2008 while in California, for breaking the undertaking I gave to the Singaporean court in my contempt case and lastly why did they not do anything also in November 2008 in California when I wrote the "Judith Prakash, Kangaroo judge" blog? Why?

And why suddenly more than 1 1/2 years later, when I am no longer in Singapore, when they can do nothing to me anyway, bring these proceedings? I can tell you why. Why, because these are not decisions of the Law Society of Singapore because it is nothing but an organ of Lee Kuan Yew's one party fascist government, whose orders they are obeying.

It is a completely dishonest body of lawyers who take any action such as this only under the instructions of Lee and his government. It is one thing when a lawyer is found guilty of crimes of moral turpitude such as stealing and when he is someone without political connections, when they act almost instantly, as all other bar associations would do. It is quite another when it comes to a case like this involving a Lee Kuan Yew political opponent when the entire proceedings become political in nature, and no longer a straightforward disciplining function. In such cases, the Law Society of Singapore disgracefully adopts a different role, which is, to use the law to malign, discredit and destroy political opponents.

In the past and when someone who is within Singapore, they usually get away with it, since in the one case, there was no Internet and in the case of someone within Singapore, the repression can be unbearable such as the loss of employment, repeated harassment and repeated imprisonment. In such circumstances the political opponent finds it impossible to resist and the tormentor gets his way.

But in my case, I happen to be a fish not so easy to fry. Firstly, I am outside Singapore island; I am protected by the laws of the United States which is a democracy and they simply can't get me. And most importantly I have this blog. All this completely changes the equation for the fascist one party Lee Kuan Yew regime, who for the first time finds himself having to answer to the world and to the hundreds of thousands of readers of this blog in Singapore. In other words they have got their heads stuck in the bog.

In my last post I have already set out why these proceedings are a total sham because they never gave me an opportunity to appear at my trial in Singapore. And in this blog, we see what it is, a political hatchet job, not a Law Society wanting to discipline anyone.

I am sending this to both Wong Meng Meng, the present Singapore Law Society President Tel: (65)64168000, Email: mengmeng.wong@wongpartnership.com and to the Chinese gentleman with the very fancy English name, none other than Sydney Michael Hwang, the president who initiated these proceedings in 2009, Telephone: +65 572 5579
Fax : +65 6557 0165, E-mail: michael@mhwang.com. I wonder whether they have anything to say to this or as expected, nothing at all.

There is more to come on this, and please do keep reading.

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/

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