SingaporeSurf

T T Durai, the former CEO of the NKF, has previously successfully taken legal action against Archie Ong and Piragasum Singavelu. T T Durai had accused Archie and Piragasum of defamation by saying that T T Durai has travelled on NKF business in first class.

As we all know now, T T Durai did travelled on first class.

It seems then, that T T Durai had successfully — almost — made use of the Singapore's legal system to silence valid critisim. If not for Durai's "mistake" of suing SPH, a company with deep pockets, the truth will not be revealed.

On the other hand, we hear from Lee Kuan Yew: "If you defame us, we're prepared to sue you, go into witness box and be cross-examined... If you don't sue, repetition of the lie [makes it credible]. It will be believed..."

And we all know that the PAP government had successfully sued and won in defamation lawsuits against some of its critics.

Now, with this whole NKF saga, it is probably timely to ask: is the PAP government right in that those critics did indeed slander the PAP government, or is it just that the PAP government has yet to meet its SPH?

In other words, how much can we still trust our legal system? Is T T Durai's suits an anomaly, or do we need some serious rethinking?

This issue of NKF's use of defamation lawsuits to intidimate and silence critics has not really been acknowledged and addressed by the Singapore government, and the local media has not touched on this issue. (There is an opinion piece by Siew Kum Hong in Today newspaper on July 25, 2005, but this piece did not address Singapore government's use of defamation lawsuits directly.)

Lee Hsien Loong should clarify his government's stand on the use of defamation lawsuits, and should tell the public what changes will be made to the legal system so as to prevent rich folks, companies, organisations, and governments from using defamation lawsuits to intimidate, silence, and/or bankrupt valid critisims.

Otherwise, the next time Lee Hsien Loong and his colleagues press defamation charges against others, we will have to ask: is the government pulling a Durai?