The decision by the High Court of Singapore ordering blogger Leong Sze Hian to pay Prime Minister Lee Hsien Loong SG$133,000 (approx. USD$98,765) in a defamation suit over the sharing of an article on Facebook continues the country’s troubling trend of restricting online freedom of expression, the ICJ said today.
On 24 March 2021, the High Court ordered Leong to pay SG$100,000 (approx. USD$74,297) in general damages and SG$33,000 (approx. USD$24,518) in aggravated damages.
“The judgment imposes an exorbitant fine on Leong for merely sharing a link on Facebook, effectively punishing him for exercising his right to free expression online”.
“International human rights law and standards are clear that individuals must not be sanctioned with defamation actions over comments about public figures, save in very exceptional circumstances where the person did so maliciously and knowing that the information expressed was factually false.”
– Ian Seiderman, the ICJ’s Legal and Policy Director.
On 7 November 2018, Leong shared a Facebook post containing a link to an article by Malaysian website The Coverage, without any accompanying caption. The article alleged that Prime Minister Lee helped former Malaysian Prime Minister Najib Razak launder money in relation to the Malaysian state fund 1Malaysia Development Berhad.
The High Court held that Leong had allegedly shared the link with “reckless disregard of whether the article was true or not”, which when seen cumulatively with his refusal to apologize for the defamatory words, allowed for the requirement of malice to “be made out on the facts”.
The ICJ said that the overly burdensome standard applied by the Court based on the evidence was likely to chill people from expressing themselves on matters concerning issues of public importance and involving public officials.
“The decision follows a disturbing trend of the Singaporean government abusing defamation proceedings to curtail freedom of expression in the digital space,” said Seiderman.
The ICJ calls on Singapore’s legislators to act to amend laws currently used to impose improper restrictions on online freedom of expression, including the Protection from Online Falsehoods and Manipulation Act (POFMA), Administration of Justice (Protection) Act (AJPA) and criminal defamation provisions under its Penal Code.
Background
In a December 2019 report, Dictating the Internet: Curtailing Free Expression, Opinion and Information Online in Southeast Asia, the ICJ found that in Singapore, provisions in POFMA, AJPA and other contempt of court provisions, civil and criminal defamation laws have been abused to unduly restrict freedom of expression and information online.
In the report, the ICJ highlighted the similar case of blogger Roy Ngerng, who was ordered to pay $150,000 in damages in December 2015 for alleged defamation of Prime Minister Lee Hsien Loong for a blog post questioning the government’s management of the Central Provident Fund. In June 2015, the ICJ submitted a Legal Opinion in Ngerng’s case, expressing concern that “a decision awarding a disproportionately high amount of damages to the plaintiff… would cast a chilling effect on freedom of expression in Singapore.”
LSH has been banned from posting links on FB!
UPDATE: ROY NGERNG HAS PAID THE DISHONOURABLE SON IN FULL.
LSH has raised $45.3K as of yesterday.
Leong Sze Hian will not be appealing to a higher court of law:
Second round of funding for LSH is currently in progress.
ATTABOY.
Check out this dumbass post:
CROWDFUNDING FOR LIBEL DAMAGES
For years, I have been saying that not only do the people who write libellous posts be punished, so too should the people who like and share those posts.
In the last few weeks, two persons who were slapped with libel damages successfully crowdfunded the funds.
This is excellent news.
The people who donated to them are very likely the same kind of people who would like and share their libellous posts.
By donating to the damages, they are sharing in the punishment.
The only pity is that given that the punishment is now shared, the quantum of damages is now too small.
Courts should henceforth take into consideration that libel damages can be crowdfunded, and should be increased.
This increased sum can then be shared by the guilty parties and their supporters.
They all need to be punished.
I salute the crowdfunders for repenting, and voluntarilty submitting themselves to punishment these few weeks.
Well done!
- CC
FULL AMOUNT HAS BEEN RAISED! CONGRATULATIONS ROY!
https://www.facebook.com/illobyanngee/posts/3693673097398083?__tn__=K-R
Oh dear, asshole Loong wants LSH to cough up another $130K in legal costs + disbursements!
Wah nearly 38K has been raised!
Bolstered by LSH's recent success story, Roy Ngerng has come out to raise funds to pay off outstanding damages owed to PM Lee in his defamation suit once more:
Mainstream media remains silent as Leong Sze Hian hits $133,000 crowdfunding target
The internet was set abuzz yesterday when blogger Leong Sze Hian announced that he has raised enough money to pay off the damages he owes Prime Minister Lee Hsien Loong for defaming him. Singapore’s mainstream media outlets, however, have yet to cover this major development.
The Straits Times, Channel NewsAsia and TODAY were among the first to report that Mr Lee had initiated a lawsuit against Mr Leong last year. Mr Lee had filed a defamation claim against Mr Leong for sharing an article that linked PM Lee to the 1Malaysia Development Berhad (1MDB) corruption scandal.
The article, which was not written by Mr Leong nor published on a platform he is affiliated with, was shared by others including anti-Government blog States Times Review. Mr Leong was the only person who was sued and the court ruled that Mr Leong “published” the article since it was part of his public Facebook post, included a hyperlink and was made accessible to others online.
While Mr Leong’s defense sought damages as low as S$1, PM Lee asked for damages in line with a previous lawsuit involving blogger Roy Ngerng, in which he was awarded damages of $150,000.
On 24 Mar, the High Court ordered Mr Leong to pay Mr Lee $133,000 in damages. The Straits Times, Channel News Asia and TODAY covered the outcome and published detailed reports of the trial proceedings.
Mr Leong said that he is possibly the very first person in the world who was successfully sued for sharing a Facebook post and expressed disappointment at the outcome. In just a week and a half, however, Singaporeans donated enough money for Mr Leong to pay off the sum he owes to the PM in full.
On Easter Sunday (4 April), Mr Leong updated his followers on Facebook: “It is finished. All paid for.” He also expressed his gratitude to his fellow citizens who rallied around him and helped him hit his crowdfunding target.
Prominent international publications like Reuters and Bloomberg have covered Mr Leong’s impressive feat but the Straits Times, Channel News Asia and TODAY have all remained silent even though the news broke almost 24 hours ago.
This is not the first time Singapore Press Holdings-owned (SPH) Straits Times and Mediacorp-owned Channel News Asia and TODAY have neglected to cover developments that may not be complimentary to the establishment.
Such instances have raised questions on mainstream media’s editorial independence, especially given the close ties between the Government and these media organisations which are often perceived to be the “mouthpiece of the Government”.
A US diplomatic cable leaked by WikiLeaks several years ago caused a stir after it quoted former ST bureau chief for the US as saying that SPH’s “editors have all been groomed as pro-government supporters and are careful to ensure that reporting of local events adheres closely to the official line”.
Interestingly, Warren Fernandez – editor-in-chief of SPH’s English, Malay and Tamil Media Group – has spoken about how Singapore’s media need room to operate to remain credible.
Mr Fernandez, who was once shortlisted as a ruling party candidate, acknowledged in a 2019 forum: “The Government engages us and we engage them, and we have debates all the time. But I think everyone recognises that the media need room to operate, so that we can be credible. If we lose credibility, it’s in no one’s interests.”
https://singaporenewsnetwork.com/mainstream-media-remains-silent-as-leong-sze-hian-hits-133000-crowdfunding-target/