Tomorrow will set a new world record of sorts. In the morning Lee Hsien Loong will appear to be cross-examined in the criminal defamation trial of Terry Xu, editor of the relatively timid Online Citizen (TOC). In the afternoon at 2.30 his lawyers will make their final submissions in LHL’s suit against Leong Sze Hian. Though LHL will probably not be a participant in person in the afternoon’s events, he will very much be there in spirit and presumably receiving regular updates from his lawyers as to how things are going and whether he has any further instructions.

As a child I used to love browsing the Guiness Book of World Records and looked forward to receiving a new one every Christmas. I now feel that LHL can probably apply to Guinness for a new world record. After all he must already hold the world record for number of defamation suits initiated against his opponents, including my father. And that record is without including the ones he and his father used proxies for to keep their names out of it imitating in their own small way the time-honoured tactic of dictators like Hitler and Stalin who did not want their appalling crimes to be traced back to them. In JBJ’s case it was the Tamil worthies who were instructed to sue him and who succeeded in bankrupting him. My father told me he went to see one of the plaintiffs to try and persuade her to settle for a reasonable amount but she told him that she could not because her actions were being directed by a higher authority.

The PAP have always shamelessly manipulated statistics to boost Singapore’s position in global rankings whether it is GDP per capita or educational rankings or university league tables, switching effortlessly between claiming Singapore is only a city, as Shanmugam did, and using its status as a city state to compare itself with continental countries like the US rather than more properly with cities like New York or London. By participating in two libel trials in one day tomorrow LHL has shown that he is no slouch at setting world records either.

Forgive me for wondering whether LHL has to take time off to attend to his own personal business. For instance does he have to apply for leave? How much of his personal time is taken up with meetings with lawyers and his pet poodle AG, Lucien Wong, to explore whether he can sue this or that opponent? I remember he admitted that he spent a lot of time reading impoverished gay blogger Roy Ngerng’s blog, until Roy made a mistake allowing LHL to pounce like a tiger stalking his prey. I know from what foreign journalists have told me that he or his Press Secretary spend time reading my blog, as one of them told me he was called round to view a computer screen with an image that was said to be particularly disrespectful of his late father, the patriarch of Singapore. So far LHL has deigned not to sue me, perhaps because he does not want to be cross-examined by me.

I have not seen any notice from the Prime Minister’s Office informing me if LHL is taking leave. If LHL is not taking leave for the day then will his multi-million dollar salary be docked to reflect that Singaporeans will lose the benefit of his stellar governing abilities for the day? Since his wife is able to simultaneously be CEO of Temasek (earning possibly over $100 million a year) and run a very active social media presence, posting several times a day on Facebook, perhaps his subordinates feel that he can easily multitask? Also will he be using his own private transport to the court or using an official car? How much will his police outriders cost? Will he pay for them? I asked these questions when he went to court against penniless blogger Roy but have still not received any answers.

By rights the AG should be sending LHL a bill for the costs of the criminal defamation trial which is using state resources to further LHL’s personal interests in silencing his critics. I have previously written that the use of this archaic and repressive law for personal gain is corrupt.

LHL should either start providing answers or sue me.  I await his response.

Published by kjeyaretnam

I'm a Singaporean economist who became an opposition activist. I blog to provide an alternative to the porkies that the Pinkies tell. It just so happens that my alternative is the truth. That's why I've never been sued in any civil or criminal court no matter how hard hitting my criticism. I'm quoted and interviewed and asked to speak across the world but largely censored in Singapore in an effort to silence my political opinions. The left hate me because they think I split their vote and because I eschew their outmoded economic models. Models that don't work. The Right and the Conservatives hate me because I'm a liberal. I'm not sure what the middle think of me. I don't think there are more than a handful of people in the middle, here in Singapore. I'm a Singaporean born and bred, dual heritage, my parents Singaporean established here before the State of Singapore was created. I'm not Eurasian. I read economics at Cambridge and could be broadly described as from the Keynesian school but I believe in interventions. I was formerly a successful hedge fund manager. After economics and politics my greatest interests are history, film and Makan. I run but I run so I can eat like a Singaporean. View all posts by kjeyaretnam