Another round of crowdfunding perhaps? For defaming the Prime Minister of Singapore, blogger and political activist Roy Ngerng has been ordered by pay $150,000 in damages.
Ngerng was dragged to court by Prime Minister Lee Hsien Loong after the blogger posted an article that accused him of corruption. The article itself was about the flaws of the Central Provident Fund, which alleged that the Government of Singapore Investment Corporation (of which PM Lee is the chairman of) misappropriated the monies paid by Singaporeans to the state pension fund.
A High Court ruling last year affirmed that Ngerng had indeed defamed Lee in the blog post made in May 2014. After days of dramatic court hearings, a judgement has been made public today. Justice Lee Sieu Kin sentenced Ngerng to pay up $150,000 — a substantial reduced amount due to his “comparitively low standing”, TODAY reports.
As there was no evidence of Ngerng’s perceived credibility or influence, the case “warranted a lower award of damages in comparison to the other cases involving the defamation of public leaders in Singapore,” said Justice Lee.
In response to the judgement, Ngerng says that he’s been really getting into photography and videography these days.
Was drawing this with my niece before I found out about the judgment. Wanted to put up the masterpiece I did with my…
Posted by Roy Ngerng Yi Ling on Thursday, 17 December 2015
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