Gomez interview with TNP

AFTER the long hours of police interviews, after the dark clouds of possible police charges, there was only one person Mr James Gomez wanted to speak to.

by Clarence Chang for The New Paper, 13 May 2006

AFTER the long hours of police interviews, after the dark clouds of possible police charges, there was only one person Mr James Gomez wanted to speak to.

He called his mum as soon as police told him he was free.

'She was very happy and relieved,' Mr James Gomez, 41, told The New Paper, just hours after he was let off with a 'stern warning' following a week-long police investigation into the now infamous Gomezgate saga.

'Her first reaction was she's going to cook more food for me!'

His mother, Madam Mary Cecily, is a 66-year-old housewife and a widow. Her husband, former unionist Thomas Vincent Gomez, died in 2000.

Mr James Gomez also has a younger brother, 37, who works for Neptune Orient Lines.


Stopped from leaving

The Workers' Party second assistant secretary-general was stopped from leaving Singapore by police last Sunday following a complaint by the Elections Department the day before.

The police then began their probe into offences of criminal intimidation, giving false information and using threatening words and behaviour.

After three rounds of police interviews - each lasting between three and eight hours - his passport was yesterday returned to him, and the matter, as he put it, is 'closed'.

He could have been fined up to $5,000 or jailed up to a year if he had been prosecuted and found guilty.

With Mother's Day tomorrow, it was a perfectly timed 'gift' for the family, he said.

'From an emotional point of view, the person affected most (by the investigation) was my mum. So I essentially spent as much time as I could with her, having lunch with her and so on.

'She's a little elderly, so she gets nervous about these things,' said Mr Gomez.

That's why one of the first things he did after leaving the police station was to go home, hug her and have a 'nice meal' with her.

'With Mother's Day on Sunday, she couldn't be happier. We'll have a family lunch and our usual dinner, with my brother as well... Basically like all Christian and Catholic families, we're very close.

'That's also one of the reasons why I won't be going back to Sweden just yet.'

Mr Gomez, a founding member of civil society group the Think Centre, started work as a political analyst at Stockholm-based pro-democracy think-tank International IDEA (Institute for Democracy and Electoral Assistance) just six weeks ago.

He said after he told his bosses about the police's all-clear, their message was: Go enjoy your weekend in Singapore first, then fly back to work early next week.

He declined to let us interview Madam Cecily.

Throughout the election campaign Mr Gomez was spotted with only his party colleagues.

What he did say coolly and calmly was, on a personal level, his so-called ordeal the past fortnight hadn't made him any worse for wear.

Despite being under such heavy public and media scrutiny, he stressed: 'I was still focused on party matters, dealing with post-electoral administration, meeting helpers and supporters.

'I was even able to sign up a new member who might be a likely candidate.'

He said he was grateful for all the e-mail wishes and messages of support he'd received from both Singaporeans and foreigners in blogs, chatlines and forums.

'I'm touched by their support and generosity. It was overwhelming, certainly a morale booster for me. But otherwise, in keeping with my personal character, I was calm and focused and took things one day at a time.'

While he looks forward to Mother's Day tomorrow, he said he would spend today doing his usual 'political work'.

Clearly, as an outspoken government critic once labelled by Newsweek magazine as one of Asia's top 10 'rebels and mavericks', Mr Gomez is careful to show that he hasn't lost his drive.

Will he pop up again in GE 2011?

Will controversy keep tailing him wherever he goes?

One thing for sure is that the man himself - both the political and personal side of him - is always full of surprises.

Including one for mum tomorrow: 'At some point when the weather's much warmer in Sweden, I'd like to have her over for a couple of weeks. She's never been to Sweden, and I've just got this job. So everything is new.'

posted by jacob @ 10:15 PM