There is Chinese saying: “Sa yi jin bai” - to kill one to silence the hundreds. This seems to be the unmistakable message sent out by the PAP to blogosphere when a district court meted out a 3-month sentence to U.S. citizen (ex-Singaporean) Gopalan Nair for allegedly insulting a judge.
In his blog Singapore Dissident, Nair had criticised a legal hearing at which Singapore founding father Lee Kuan Yew and his son, Prime Minister Lee Hsien Loong, testified in a defamation case they filed against an opposition party.
Nair was charged with insulting Justice Belinda Ang Saw Ean by saying she was “prostituting herself during the entire proceedings, by being nothing more than an employee of Mr Lee Kuan Yew and his son and carrying out their orders,” a court document said.
Now, Gopalan’s blog has limited readership in Singapore and he would probably have gotten away had he not openly challenged the authorities to arrest him and charge him in court:
“As the Lees know, I am a lawyer practicing in Fremont California and a member of the California Bar. My question to Lee Kuan Yew and his son is this. Are you going to stand by your threat and sue me for defamation as well? I am presently physically within your jurisdiction and the jurisdiction of your kangaroo courts. Are you going to going to send your process server to me with your writ of summons? Or are you, as expected, all talk and no action, when you meet those not afraid of you, just as how a petty street thug would behave?”
Gopalan even had the gall to pen down his address in Singapore at Broadway Hotel so as to “faciliate” the police to arrest him. Well he got his wish after all. 2 days later, he was arrested by the police at his hotel, had his laptop confiscated and was thrown into remand for a week.
The arrest of a fellow blogger had split opinions in cyberspace, While some decried the authorities for wantonly infringing the basic human right of freedom of speech and expression, others blame Gopalan for bringing disaster to himself by constantly provocating the Singapore government.
Read rest of article here:
http://wayangparty.wordpress.com/20...lan-nair-killing-one-to-silence-the-hundreds/
In his blog Singapore Dissident, Nair had criticised a legal hearing at which Singapore founding father Lee Kuan Yew and his son, Prime Minister Lee Hsien Loong, testified in a defamation case they filed against an opposition party.
Nair was charged with insulting Justice Belinda Ang Saw Ean by saying she was “prostituting herself during the entire proceedings, by being nothing more than an employee of Mr Lee Kuan Yew and his son and carrying out their orders,” a court document said.
Now, Gopalan’s blog has limited readership in Singapore and he would probably have gotten away had he not openly challenged the authorities to arrest him and charge him in court:
“As the Lees know, I am a lawyer practicing in Fremont California and a member of the California Bar. My question to Lee Kuan Yew and his son is this. Are you going to stand by your threat and sue me for defamation as well? I am presently physically within your jurisdiction and the jurisdiction of your kangaroo courts. Are you going to going to send your process server to me with your writ of summons? Or are you, as expected, all talk and no action, when you meet those not afraid of you, just as how a petty street thug would behave?”
Gopalan even had the gall to pen down his address in Singapore at Broadway Hotel so as to “faciliate” the police to arrest him. Well he got his wish after all. 2 days later, he was arrested by the police at his hotel, had his laptop confiscated and was thrown into remand for a week.
The arrest of a fellow blogger had split opinions in cyberspace, While some decried the authorities for wantonly infringing the basic human right of freedom of speech and expression, others blame Gopalan for bringing disaster to himself by constantly provocating the Singapore government.
Read rest of article here:
http://wayangparty.wordpress.com/20...lan-nair-killing-one-to-silence-the-hundreds/
