In view of his remorse, judge admonished him in open court By
Goh Chin Lian
FORMER Singaporean lawyer Gopalan Nair has made an unreserved
apology to the court and a district judge for offending statements
he made during a recent trial and on his blog.
Nair, now an American citizen, also unconditionally withdrew the
allegations he made against District Judge James Leong and any
statements imputing that the Singapore courts are beholden to the
Government.
The Attorney-General's Chambers (AGC) said in an statement on
Thursday that in view of Nair's apology and undertaking not to make
such statements in the future and to remove the offending blog
posts, the Attorney-General will not be pressing for the
58-year-old to be sent to jail.
The statement was released a day after a hearing in the
Subordinate Court on an application by the Attorney-General to
start contempt of court proceedings against Nair.
That hearing came two months after Nair began serving a
three-month jail term on Sept 20 for insulting a High Court
judge.
The latest hearing, on Wednesday, was over comments that Nair
made during a trial in the Subordinate Courts presided over by
District Judge James Leong. This was for offences under the
Miscellaneous Offences (Public Order and Nuisance) Act.
During that trial, held on various dates between July 24 and
Sept 5, Nair 'attacked the independence and impartiality of the
Singapore Judiciary and District Judge James Leong by stating,
inter alia, that the courts were being abused for political ends',
the AGC said.
He also 'attacked the independence and impartiality of the
Singapore Judiciary and District Judge James Leong in his blog
'Singapore Dissident'.'
Nair's comments were made in two blog postings - on Sept 1
titled 'Another classic case of trying to use the courts to silence
dissent'; and on Sept 6 titled 'Convicted'.
The AGC said that at Wednesday's hearing, Nair 'admitted in open
court that he had made the utterances and statements that were
punishable as contempt of court'.
'He then went on to offer an unreserved apology to the court and
to District Judge James Leong for the offending utterances and
statements made by him'.
The statement added that Nair 'also proceeded to state, in
public and on record, that he unconditionally withdrew the
allegations made against District Judge James Leong and any
statements imputing that the Singapore courts are beholden to the
government'.
Nair 'further undertook in public not to make such statements in
future and to remove the offending blog posts as soon as
practicable'.
The case was heard in by District Judge Leslie Chew.
The AGC statement said District Judge Chew found that Nair 'had
purged his contempt' and in view of his remorse, the judge
admonished him in open court.
Nair was also 'warned against launching attacks against the
Singapore Judiciary in future', and ordered to pay legal costs to
the Attorney-General.
