Singaporeans look like rising increasingly more fed up with the incessant defamation fits and contempt of courtroom actions filed by the prime minister and the federal government in opposition to opponents, if the most recent crowdfunding motion to help an opposition politician is any indication.
Though others have come shut, Leong Sze Hian has develop into the primary particular person to lift sufficient public cash to totally repay S$133,000 (US$99,000) ordered by the excessive courtroom after he was convicted of sharing an article uploaded onto Fb deemed to have libeled Lee Hsien Loong, Leong advised Asia Sentinel.
Crowdfunding for damages, which has been utilized by a rising variety of defendants, thus seems to be weakening the ability of libel actions and different authorized ways utilized by Singapore leaders in native courts for many years. The Prime Minister’s youthful brother, Lee Hsien Yang, in a bitter tangential household feud over the disposition of their father’s dwelling, was one of many 2,000-plus individuals who donated to Leong’s crowdfunding marketing campaign.
“I used to be glad to be one of many many donors who got here ahead to assist Leong to repay the damages awarded by the courtroom. It is rather important so many Singaporeans got here ahead to specific their assist,” Lee Hsien Yang advised Asia Sentinel.
Sarcastically, it was Hsien Yang’s father the late Lee Kuan Yew, the founding Prime Minister of impartial Singapore, who pioneered the tactic of suing for defamation opposition politicians in addition to a protracted listing of international media just like the Monetary Instances, The Economist, Time Journal, the Wall Avenue Journal and the now-defunct Far Japanese Financial Evaluation, Asiaweek and the Worldwide Herald Tribune.
“I’m very grateful for the assist and encouragement of Singaporeans,” stated Leong, a member of the opposition Individuals’s Voice get together. “Hundreds have written to me. Plainly the worry of the folks could also be turning into anger. I hope that this would be the final time that any politician will sue bizarre residents for defamation (in Singapore), as they have to notice now that it doesn’t pay to proceed to take action.”
On March 24, Excessive Court docket Choose Aedit Abdullah ordered Leong to pay the damages to Lee for sharing on Fb the defamatory article, taken from a Malaysian web site The Protection, which contained unsubstantiated allegations that Lee had solid improper offers with Najib Razak, when he was Malaysian Prime Minister to facilitate cash laundering from the now-defunct Malaysian sovereign wealth fund 1Malaysia Growth Berhad (1MDB).
“It’s however a pyrrhic victory,” Leong stated. “The folks have in a way fought for his or her freedom of expression and needn’t worry for themselves and their kids, within the train of the precise to free speech.”
On April 4, Leong introduced on his personal Fb web page that his crowdfunding effort, launched 11 days earlier on the identical day of the decide’s order, had raised the total quantity with donations from 2,065 folks, with the best donation being S$5,000. On March 29, Leong stated on Fb that the “most hilarious message” got here from a blind donor who advised him, “I could also be blind, however I can see the injustice!”
Prime Minister Lee can be suing Terry Xu, the chief editor of a neighborhood information portal known as the On-line Citizen, over an August 15, 2019 article which contained allegations by Hsien Loong’s estranged sister Lee Wei Ling, which the Prime Minister’s secretary Chang Li Lin stated have been libelous. A Singapore courtroom is predicted to announce a verdict on Xu’s case in a number of months. Though Lee sued the On-line Citizen, he didn’t sue his sister.
“I hope that the 2 current libel instances of Leong Sze Hian and Terry Xu are the final of the political libel trials our nation will witness,” stated Lim Tean, the lawyer defending Leong and Xu. “Henceforth, the PAP ought to know that any try and curb free speech utilizing antiquated libel legal guidelines will likely be met with the total resistance of the folks, who aren’t ready to be steamrolled any longer,” stated Lim, the founding chief of Individuals’s Voice.
“They could win the courts however these will likely be pyrrhic victories. The actual winners would be the widespread man of Singapore who’re prepared to pay any worth to assist their champions akin to Leong Sze Hian and Terry Xu, as this extraordinary crowdfunding marketing campaign has demonstrated,” stated Lim, whose authorized work for Leong was professional bono.
Leong should nonetheless pay the authorized charges of Prime Minister Lee on the courtroom’s orders. These authorized charges could possibly be S$50,000 or extra, in line with estimates in Singapore authorized circles. Leong’s crowdfunding marketing campaign will proceed so he can offset the authorized prices, Lim stated.
Even when Leong has to pay authorized prices, he’s unlikely to undergo the destiny of two different Singapore opposition politicians, Joshua Benjamin Jeyaretnam and Chee Quickly Juan, who have been bankrupted from having to pay tons of of 1000’s of {dollars} in damages in defamation lawsuits by Singapore leaders. The late Jeyaretnam was declared bankrupt in 2001, whereas Chee, the secretary-general of the Singapore Democratic Get together (SDP), was declared bankrupt in 2006.
“Defamation lawsuits by the ruling get together are meant to punish critics, and cripple them financially. If one disregards the effort and time that the defendant has to spend on his protection, then donations by the general public to assist the general public imply that neither of those goals is achieved,” stated a Singaporean lawyer based mostly in Hong Kong.
“Critics are more likely to preserve their silence for worry of the monetary price related to dropping these defamation claims. If the monetary price is roofed by donations, nevertheless, this removes a big disincentive for providing criticism, and will encourage extra folks to talk up,” stated the lawyer, who declined to be named.
Ravi Philemon, the secretary common of one other native opposition get together Pink Dot United, disclosed on Fb on March 30 that he donated to Leong’s crowdfunding marketing campaign.
“My cause for donating to Sze Hian is straightforward,” Philemon stated. “Even when Sze Hian had harmed the status of Mr Lee, Mr Lee has ample assets at his disposal to set it straight with out taking Sze Hian to courtroom to precise a pound of flesh. It’s about proportionality and equity. Being the chief of our nation, it isn’t sufficient for PM Lee to be sincere. He additionally must be magnanimous to his residents.”
An SDP politician, Tan Jee Say, confirmed to Asia Sentinel that he had donated to Leong’s crowdfunding marketing campaign, however declined to disclose the quantity.
Even a Singapore retiree unaffiliated with any political get together donated to Leong, the retiree stated. “I hesitated a bit earlier than making a S$133 contribution to Leong Sze Hian’s crowdfunding enchantment as a result of I didn’t in any respect assist his act of sharing the article, which made claims of the Prime Minister’s collusion with Najib’s grand larceny of public funds in Malaysia. Actually, apparently, 1000’s shared the article and when one good friend truly requested me if it was true, I instantly stated it was nonsensical.”
But, the retiree stated, “He was the one one singled out and sued. That was an unwarranted victimization, plus clearly an act to intimidate the general public, and a resorting to some very nasty outdated habits in Singapore politics. So ultimately, I made a decision to affix those that have been making an attempt to push again in opposition to such a regressive step in our politics.”