SINGAPORE – Yet another blogger has landed in hot water after making criticism against the Singapore government.
Blogger Roy Ngerng was ordered to pay a hefty fine of US$106,172 in damages to the government after the High Courts ruled in the Singapore government’s favour. Judge Lee Seiu Kin ruled that the blogger had acted out of malice when he posted his thoughts about Prime Minister Lee Hsien Loong in May 2014.
Ngerng, 34, was reprimanded by the judge during the verdict for his “mismanagement” when accusing the government of misappropriating funds by using the government’s investment sources, Temasek Holdings and GIC.
“The allegations that the plaintiff had criminally misappropriated monies paid by citizens to a state-administered pension fund was one of the gravest that could be made against any individual, let alone a head of government,” Judge Lee Seiu Kin said, considering his hand down as of “modest standing.”
Ngerng had previously offered to settle the damages out of court to the sum of US$7,063 (S$10,000), which the Prime Minister snubbed.
In a similar case, AnonHQ reported on teenage blogger Amos Yee, 17. Yee had posted a YouTube clip posing rhetorical questions about the recently deceased longtime ruler of Singapore, Lee Kuan Yew. After posing questions about the extreme inequalities in Singapore and criticizing Christianity, Yee found himself arrested and detained in custody. He faces up to 3 years in prison if found guilty of the offences “distributing obscene material, “harassment,” and “deliberate intention of wounding the religious or racial feelings of any person.”
This Article (Singapore Blogger Ordered to Pay PM $106,172 for Alleging Misappropriated Funds) is a free and open source. You have permission to republish this article under a Creative Commons license with attribution to the author AnonWatcher and AnonHQ.com.
