Thursday, September 18, 2014

The Roy Ngerng affair: Free speech goes to court in Singapore...

Roy Ngerng is set for a court battle over a defamation suit filed by Prime Minister Lee Hsien Loong, a case that has catapulted the blogger into the limelight in the fight for freedom of expression in this city-state.

A prolific blogger who runs the website The Heart Truths, Ngerng first received a letter on May 19 from Lee's lawyer, Davinder Singh, alleging a post he had written constituted a "very serious libel" against the prime minister.

The offending blog focused on the Central Provident Fund (CPF) - Singapore's state pension fund - and how money from there was channelled into investments in GIC, one of Singapore's two sovereign wealth funds. Ngerng also noted that Prime Minister Lee is chairman of GIC.

"The article means and is understood to mean that Mr Lee Hsien Loong, the Prime Minister of Singapore and Chairman of GIC, is guilty of criminal misappropriation of moniespaid by Singaporeans to the CPF," Singh wrote in the letter. He demanded that Ngerng remove the article, issue an apology, and pay damages to Lee.

The issue came to a head when Lee rejected Ngerng's offer of Singapore $5,000 ($3,960) in damages as "derisory". Lee then applied to the court for a summary judgement, saying the only issue to be determined is the amount of damage Ngerng should pay.

Ngerng heads to court on Thursday to fight for an open trial. Full story...

Related posts:
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  2. Pension fears prompt rare protest in tightly regimented Singapore...
  3. Catherine Lim's open letter to the Singapore prime minister...
  4. Social media uprising in Singapore: the Roy Ngerng affair...
  5. Singapore: Blogger removes posts under threat from prime minister...
  6. Singapore: Blogger targeted by prime minister...
  7. World's highest paid prime minister demands that blogger pays his legal fees...

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