Magazine to pay six-figure damages to Singapore leaders
November 18th, 2009 | 
Author: Agence France-Presse, 18 November 2009
A magazine and its editor have been ordered to pay Singapore’s prime minister and his father over 400,000 dollars (290,000 US) for defamation, court documents showed Tuesday.
The High Court ordered the Review Publishing Company, publisher of the Far Eastern Economic Review (FEER), and editor Hugo Restall to pay 200,000 dollars in damages and 30,000 dollars in legal costs to Premier Lee Hsien Loong.
His father, the former leader Lee Kuan Yew, will get 150,000 dollars in damages and 25,000 dollars in legal costs.
The penalties were set after the Court of Appeal last month upheld a 2008 decision finding the defendants guilty of defaming the Lees in a 2006 article based on an interview with Chee Soon Juan, an opposition party leader.
Dow Jones and Co., which owns the magazine, said in a statement Tuesday that it disagreed with the verdict and denied any wrongdoing but would settle the damages instead of prolonging the process.
FEER, at its height one of Asia’s most influential and respected publications, is to be shut down in December, one of a growing number of newspapers and magazines which have fallen victim to the Internet age.
The article at the heart of the case — entitled “Singapore’s ‘Martyr’, Chee Soon Juan” — described the opposition Singapore Democratic Party secretary general’s battle against the ruling People’s Action Party and its leaders.
In the article, Restall also touched on the success of Singapore officials in libel suits against critics.
Restall sent AFP on Tuesday a copy of two separate November 13 rulings in favour of the Lees along with a statement from Dow Jones.
“The Court casts significant doubt as to whether Singapore will ever recognise the fair and honest reporting privilege accorded to responsible journalism — a privilege available in the United Kingdom and other Commonwealth countries with diverse histories and cultures,” said Dow Jones.
Singaporean leaders have won hundreds of thousands of dollars in damages from critics and foreign publications. They say the lawsuits are necessary to protect their reputations from unfounded attacks.
Lee Kuan Yew, 86, now a senior cabinet adviser, served as prime minister from 1959 to 1990.
Republished from AFP
Posted in Snippets
Coz it’s true to character of...
Read the article “Singapore’s ‘Martyr’, Chee Soon Juan” here: http://www.feer.com/essays/2006/july/singapores-martyr-chee-soon-juan
## Bruce W on Thu, 19th Nov 2009 2:03 am
Thank you for posting the FEER article.
I read the article and cannot understand what is wrong with it.
They are all factual but somewhat critical of our very own Robert Mugabe and his son.
Although I am not exactly a fan of CSJ, I tend to agree with his comment that the Old Man is probably staying on because he has too many skeletons in his cupboard. Also, he has an inept son who should not have been the PM of Singapore if not for the father’s influence.
Frankly, I don’t think the Old Man and his son deserve even S$ 0.10c in damages to their reputations.
It does not speak well for the independence of the Singapore judiciary to award them the ridiculous sum of S$ 400k..
http://www.yeocheowtong.com/Salaries.html
this is a Crime against the Freedom of Information in Singapore
SINGAPOREANS WAKE UP AND OPEN YOUR EYES, VISIT: http://fashionablefacistdictator.wordpress.com/
vote pap out, vote for change, vote opposition
in my opinion, the essay uses too many strong words. the damages are too little for the fact our leaders are being slandered.
if the singapore leaders can fight and win so many law suits, surely those pple out there are saying very untrue things about the gov.