By Massita Ahmad
SINGAPORE, Oct 7 (NNN-BERNAMA) — The first of the four days’ trial of Prime Minister Lee Hsien Loong’s libel suit against blogger Leong Sze Hian began Tuesday with defence counsel grilling to find ground on why Lee was suing his client.
Lee, 68, as his capacity as a private citizen, had sued Leong over a post shared on his Facebook page in November 2018, which contained a link to an article by Malaysian news site The Coverage.
Although the post had already been removed, Lee chose to go ahead to sue Leong on the “removal does not expunge the defamation” basis.
“He has not withdrawn. He has not apologised. He has not explained. He has not undertaken not to repeat. Meanwhile, the post has been seen, read, shared, republished, and the lies continue to circulate as a result of this post,” said Lee to one of the questions by defence counsel, Lim Tean.
Lee was cross-examined by Lim before Justice Aedit Abdullah.
Lee who appeared calm throughout the proceedings said that the online article contained “false and clearly libellous” allegations linking him to the Malaysian 1Malaysia Development Bhd (1MDB) money-laundering scandal.
The content of the article was taken from the States Times Review page, run by Alex Tan.
To another question that Lee picked on the defendant from thousands of others not to protect his reputation but to frighten others, the prime minister who donned a grey suit said: “I did not do that.”
“The defendant has been a thorn in our side in a small way for a very long time. He has tried his best to raise all kinds of issues criticising the Government, financial matters, governance matters, CPF matters, GIC matters even, regularly, on many occasions, in many forums.
“He has published newspaper letters, he has made speeches, he has published interminable blogs. He has made sure that his voice is heard, as he is entitled to.
“A legal case is not the way to answer that question, but when somebody defames me, whether he happens to be a critic or not, I have to think very carefully what the position is and take legal advice as to what I shall do, which is what happened in this case, regardless of whether he has published 400 or 1,000 articles or no articles, or even if he has previously been favourably disposed towards the Government. I have to think about what to do and what my legal options are and how I can clear my name,” replied Lee at length.
To a question that Lee has no courage to sue the States Times Review when Alex Tan had openly issued a challenge for Lee to sue him.
“It is not a matter of courage. Alex Tan is not in jurisdiction, neither is The Coverage in jurisdiction,” said Lee, adding that “I don’t think the States Times Review has such a presence in Singapore.”
Lim: The States Times Review is run by a person by the name of Alex Tan, who is a Singapore citizen. He may be based in Australia, but he is a Singapore citizen.
Lee: He is beyond the reach of Singapore law.
The court adjourned Wednesday.