Anti-imperialism beliefs Nair was initially a member of the Communist Anti-British League before joining
Lee Kuan Yew's
People's Action Party (PAP) in 1954. Nair had been detained in 1951 by the British for anti-colonial activities. In 1955, Nair contested the
1955 Singaporean general election but lost – becoming the only PAP candidate who did not get elected. In 1956, he was detained again under the
Preservation of Public Security Ordinance Act alongside trade unionists such as
Lim Chin Siong,
Fong Swee Suan,
Sandrasegaran Woodhull and
James Puthucheary as suspected pro-communist subversives after the
Chinese middle schools riots. but returned to Singapore in 1969 to eventually lead the
National Trades Union Congress (NTUC) once more, the labour union movement which he helped to established in 1961. Nair and
P. P. Narayanan were advocates for the concerns of developing countries and voiced their concerns at the ICFTU as they saw economic and social policy documents that were biased towards industrialized nations. They wanted greater attention paid to extreme poverty, unemployment and underdevelopment of their countries. These proposals were accepted and later reflected in the work of
ICFTU's Economic and Social Committee.
President of Singapore '' on 29 March, reporting on Nair's sudden resignation the previous day. Nair entered the
Parliament of Singapore in 1979 by winning the
Anson seat in a by-election and successfully retained it in the
1980 general election. In 1981, he resigned from his parliamentary seat to accept the office of President, which at the time was largely ceremonial, serving as the country's
head of state. The vacancy in Anson triggered the
1981 Anson by-election, which was notably won by opposition leader
J. B. Jeyaretnam of the
Workers' Party (WP). This marked the first occasion since 1963 that a parliamentary seat had been won by a party candidate not representing the PAP.
Resignation On 28 March 1985, Nair suddenly resigned under unclear circumstances. According to Lee's memoirs, on 15 March 1985 he was informed that Nair, during a trip to
Kuching,
Sarawak, Malaysia, had behaved inappropriately with women and molested them. Nair later collapsed and lost control of himself before being flown back to Singapore. Upon learning of these events, Lee met with
First Lady Avadai Dhanam Lakshimi, who told him that Nair had been consuming a bottle of whisky every night over the previous months. In the weeks leading up to the Sarawak trip, Nair had disguised himself with a wig and left
The Istana one night without security to meet a
German woman. He was later discovered at
Changi Cottage in the presence of liquor bottles and glasses marked with lipstick. The first lady recounted that there had been a quarrel between her and her husband before he assaulted and beat her while intoxicated. After being hospitalised and treated by doctors, Nair was diagnosed with alcoholism on 23 March, with reports noting "many years of alcohol consumption". The Cabinet ultimately decided that Nair must resign, or face possible impeachment by Parliament if he refused. Lee and
S. Rajaratnam visited Nair at
Singapore General Hospital (SGH) on 27 March, after which he agreed to resign the following day. Nair then went to the Caron Foundation in
Pennsylvania, United States for treatment. He insisted on receiving a pension, and the Cabinet agreed on the condition that government doctors would occasionally monitor his progress. After Parliament approved the provision, Nair later, for reasons unknown, declined it and denied having agreed to the condition. Deputy Prime Minister
Goh Chok Tong stated in Parliament that Nair had stepped down to seek treatment for his
alcoholism, a claim that Nair would deny publicly. According to Nair's
counterclaim, he was forced to resign due to political disagreements with Goh, who allegedly threatened him during a game of
chess to remove him as president. Nair also alleged he was drugged to appear disoriented and that rumours about his personal life were spread to tarnish his reputation. However, Nair's allegations were never substantiated. In 1999, an article in the Canadian newspaper
The Globe and Mail discussing the case prompted a
libel suit by Goh. Some sources claimed the suit was dismissed following Nair's counterclaim. In a letter to
The New York Times, it was reported that Goh agreed to discontinue the libel suit only after two of Nair's sons issued a statement, published in
The Globe and Mail on 1 July 2004, asserting that Nair was no longer mentally competent to testify in court.{{Cite news Lee later added that it was only after Nair's resignation that he learned from Ho See Beng, a PAP MP and former NTUC colleague of Nair, that Nair had already struggled with a drinking problem before becoming president. Ho told Lee that Nair's alcoholism seemed to be in control at the time, and therefore he did not feel it was necessary to inform Lee when Nair was nominated for the presidency. ==Personal life and death==