A Singapore blogger named Gary Tan Yeong Hong, aka PothePanda, came forward on March 13 to claim he had been arrested and interrogated by the Singapore police on March 3. (Our earlier statement of February 3 was based on difference in formatting dates between Singapore and the United States. – ed)

A site called The Wayang Party posted an extensive interview with him.

He alleges the interrogation was over a post he made on a forum called STOPM about Molotov cocktails.

There is no confirmation of Hong’s claims as far as we know. We have asked a prominent Singapore blogger we know for his opinion. If you can confirm or explain this, please let us know.

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Update: The blogger we spoke with in Singapore said he did not find Hong’s statements fully credible.

Paul wrote to tell us that Gopalan Nair has been sentenced to three months in prison in Singapore by Judge Kan Ting Chiu. Nair, an American citizen originally from Singapore, was arrested in May for “insulting a public servant” when he criticized Singapore Supreme Court Justice Belinda Ang. Some have called the criticism “racist.” Be that as it may, he was arrested, and sentenced, for insulting someone.

Gopalan arrested in Singapore

Singabloodypore sent us a note informing us that another blogger, a former Singaporean and current US citizen, has been arrested. Unlike the last arrest, of (ick) Fragrant Prince, this one is not for some species of racism, but stems, I think, from the same tendency, to shut up ideas not given official imprimatur.

Channelnewsasia gives the man’s name as Gopalan Pallichadath Nair.

Police have arrested a former Singaporean for the offence of “threatening, abusing or insulting a public servant”.

In response to media queries, police confirmed that Gopalan Pallichadath Nair, who is now a US citizen, was arrested at Broadway Hotel along Serangoon Road on Saturday.

A warrant of arrest without bail was granted by the courts for the arrest.

Nair is alleged to have sent an email to the Attorney-General and the Solicitor-General which contained statements amounting to the offence of insulting a public servant.

The statements were directed against Justice Belinda Ang, a Supreme Court judge. The statements were also posted on Nair’s blog.

Nair is presently in police custody. He will be charged in court on Monday.

I’m not specialist but it seems like you can barely speak in Singapore without risking offense to someone, and if you offend anyone, you’re going to jail. Touchy bunch.

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Steven @ Singabloodypore goes into the case in admirable detail.

A 24-year old blogger of Chinese extraction was arrested in Singapore for an allegedly racist post. The blogger goes by the name “Fragrant Prince.” (Ick.) A visit to the blog URL results in a message, “This blog is open to invited readers only.” Other bloggers said “Fragrant Prince,” whose name is Franco, replaced the allegedly offensive post with an apology. Google cached his blog. It looks like he said a guy was a “stupid Malay” and that he stank. Well, it’s official, the guy’s a tool. And now he’s in jail for it.

There have been Chinese-Malay riots in the past in Singapore and that seems to be the rationale for arresting this guy for a “thought crime.” But once you start arresting people for being tools, you better have a gigantic prison. In reality, of course, this is a tool for the maintenance of “order,” at all costs.