Singapore blogger issued letter of demand by PM Lee's lawyers

Singapore blogger issued letter of demand by PM Lee's lawyers

'Heart Truths' blogger Roy Ngerng was issued a legal request today to remove a post describing the Prime Minister as having "misappropriated" CPF monies.

SINGAPORE: Mr Roy Ngerng, author of a blog titled The Heart Truths, was today (May 19) issued a legal request by Drew & Napier, on behalf of Singapore Prime Minister Lee Hsien Loong, to remove an article that had been "published maliciously", according to the lawyer's letter.

According to the letter issued by Senior Counsel Davinder Singh, the blogpost, titled “Where your CPF Money Is Going: Learning From The City Harvest Trial”, is understood to mean that Mr Lee "is guilty of criminal misappropriation of the monies paid in the Central Provident Fund (CPF).

“This is a false and baseless allegation and constitutes a very serious libel against our client, disparages him and impugns his character, credit and integrity,” the letter, dated May 18, stated.

Mr Lee has requested that Mr Ngerng:

Immediately remove the blogpost;
Publish an apology on the homepage of his blog for as long as the offending blog post was left online; and
Pay compensation for damages and legal costs.
The blogger has three days to comply, failing which legal proceedings will be taken against him, the lawyer wrote.

The letter was reproduced by Mr Ngerng on his blog site today.

In the same post, Mr Ngerng said of the legal request: “Today, I received an email from Lee Hsien Loong’s lawyer. I am being sued for defamation.

"I have advocated for a fairer and more equal Singapore where every Singapore and every person in Singapore can be taken care of and protected by our country. Today, I am finally being silenced.”

Mr Ngerng did not say in the blogpost if he would comply with the requests, although he stated: "It is only right that as people, we stand and fight for our freedoms."

- CNA/kk


- wong chee tat :)