Media Release
STATUTORY BOARD WILL NOT TAKE LEGAL ACTION AGAINST STUDENT BLOGGER
Court Action Discontinued as Parties Arrive at Agreement
SINGAPORE, October 8, 2013– Han Hui Hui, the 21-year old Singaporean
student blogger who was threatened with a defamation suit by the Council
for Private Education [“CPE”], has agreed not to proceed with her
challenge in Court against the statutory board. The CPE has agreed not
to take any action against Ms Han for defamation.
Acting for Ms Han, lawyer Mr M Ravi believes the matter has come to a
happy outcome for his young client. “I am so proud of Ms Han’s
conviction. She has not shied away from a fight and through her
persistence and activism, Ms Han has raised awareness on this issue –
Singaporeans should have a reasonable expectation that they will not be
sued for defamation when they question or criticize a public authority.”
Through her challenge, Ms Han was asserting in the Singapore Court what
is known as the “Derbyshire Principle”: plainly, that individuals should
be free to criticise government institutions and their agencies without
fear of being sued for defamation. The principle has been adopted
widely in the Courts, beginning in the United Kingdom (Derbyshire Town,
for which it takes its name) and following in Canada, Australia, India,
South Africa and Malaysia. In the United States, this principle has
stood for nearly a century and its purpose is to allow free and fair
criticism of public institutions by the citizens who both fund them with
their tax dollars and are governed by them.
“I hope that Parliament will act soon to amend the Defamation Act to
ensure that government agencies do not continue to use the tax-payers’
dollars to fund actions against their own citizens in Court. The
government – particularly in Singapore where the mainstream media is
state-controlled – has ample resources and opportunity to respond to any
inquiry or criticism raised by the public without resorting to punitive
civil action against private individuals” states Mr Ravi.
Han Hui Hui and fellow Singaporeans should say a big thank you to brave
and upright lawyers like M Ravi to stand up for them. Many had in the
past decided to back off and even pay compensations to rogues that were
in the wrong but used the weight of the law and their big bank account
to bully innocent citizens and abusing the courts of justice. Without
professional and civic conscious lawyers like Ravi, Han Hui Hui could go
the same way if she could not find anyone to represent her without
bankrupting her with legal fees.
Thank you Ravi and the likes, if there are any of you in the community
What a fucking waste of our taxpayers' money.
ReplyDeleteVote out CPE's political masters to make them accountable.
"Han Hui Hui and fellow Singaporeans should say a big thank you to brave and upright lawyers like M Ravi to stand up for them."
ReplyDeleteRB
But M Ravi is the only one of his kind of lawyer, tio bo?
So should be a brave and upright lawyer, not lawyer(s)!
Ya lor, PAP is also the only one of its kind political party, tio bo?
ReplyDeleteSo sad. Or happy, if you were PAP.
Kudos to Han Hui Hui
ReplyDeleteand
M Ravi.
Singaporeans should
be proud of You.
patriot
Kudos echo for Ha Hui Hui and Mr. Ravi.
ReplyDeleteOne small step for hui hui, one giant step for Sinkies.
Does that mean that she can return those monies given to her??
Kaki
M. Ravi, you da MAN!
ReplyDeleteWould he get a public service medal?
ReplyDeleteM. Ravi should be given a patriot's medal of honour at a ceremony in Hougang - the capital of Free Singapore.
ReplyDeletePrime Minister of Free Singapore, Mr Low Thia Khiang should preside over the ceremony.
She needs to counter sue A & G, the big bully law firm for harrasment by disregarding the counstitution and essentially suka-suka making up their own laws for the sole intent of causing grief by pure deceit.
ReplyDeleteAlso more people should criticise stat boards -- those little govt-created phoney fiefdoms run by small-time legal gangsters, who without taxpayer money are out of a job and probably sucking cock at Orchard Towers to earn a living. Well, at least they'll be WORKING nad creating value, instead of just taking money for nothing.
Also the other law firms have demonstrated that they are UNWILLING to uphold the constitution, which means they are in breach of their fundamental duties. These cowards and shills for the state must be disbarred en masse. They can go to Ochard Towers and suck cock too. Fucking arseholes.
It seems CPE is like a Chinese lantern.
ReplyDeleteBig, bright and impressive when seen from 20 feet away.
But on close inspection, it is mostly hollow inside with a lot of hot air coming out from the top.
Is PAP also like a Chinese lantern?
PAP is damn solid political party man.
ReplyDeleteContested 100% seats and won 93%. If this is not solid, then what is solid, you tell me lah?
Most lawyers and judicial professionals simply have no heart these days. Most of them have breached their swearings. Mr M Ravi spirit is exceptional, praiseworthy and admirable. He always helps the oppressed for free. I think he should be awarded a nobel prize or a justice prize.
ReplyDeleteI think Mr Ravi is the Bao Gong of modern singapore. Such people are really few and rare these days.
ReplyDelete'If this is not solid, then what is solid, you tell me lah?'
ReplyDelete- very solid indeed. Solid in screwing citizens and ns men.
@ b 3.21 pm:
ReplyDelete"Most lawyers and judicial professionals simply have no heart these days. Most of them have breached their swearings. Mr M Ravi spirit is exceptional, praiseworthy and admirable. He always helps the oppressed for free. I think he should be awarded a nobel prize or a justice prize."
Bumped into a "useless, spineless and moral-less"' lawyer the other day in Chinatown.
Probably due to guilt what he did in the past, he pretended not to see me and puffing his lungs out in a corner under an overhead bridge in Chinatown.
Made the mistake not lodging a complaint against him to the Law Soc previously.
Maybe I should if there is no "expiry date" in such matter.
Anybody know about the regulation on the "expiry date" matter?
Save me the time to read up in their web site.
every day ..knnccb ... hsien loong,
ReplyDeleteah loong also very magnanimous too
no knock in the middle of the nite
@ Anon 9.41 pm:
ReplyDelete"every day ..knnccb ... hsien loong,
ah loong also very magnanimous too
no knock in the middle of the nite"
In 1900, 6 scholars were executed by the Manchu govt.
Some of them had the chance to escape but chose to be beheaded in the city centre of BeiJing.
Sun Yat Sen openly severed his pigtail in a busy street.
What knock in the middle of night?
Heard about how the incident that triggered the start of the fall of the Qin Dynasty?
Remember the trigger of the Arab Spring?
Maybe one day, such self-amolation may take place in.SinkieLand!
Hope old man is alive to see his chosen men "punking" around and "stealing toothpicks" but worst openly and brazenly admitting and bragging about it!!!!!!!!
What message is he trying to drive across? He is above the law? Or he is the law?
Whose door should be knocked on in middle of the night?
You seriously think somebody can turn this place into a "night of the long knives" not unlike Hitler's Germany in the 1930s and 1940s?
Dr Chee had only gone as far as organising tak boleh tahan and protesting in front of the Istana.
ReplyDeleteIt cannot be ruled out one day of some sinkie soul being driven to extreme and self amolate like the Tunisian young man which ignited the long pent up suppression, anger and dissent of the long mistreated and suppressed masses.
@ anon 9.41 pm /// every day ..knnccb ... hsien loong,
ReplyDeleteah loong also very magnanimous too
no knock in the middle of the nite ///
Didn't you read and see the pictures recently reported in the Chinese Xin Ming evening papers about mass burning of books by a group of heartland parents together with their 12-year old kids after the PSLE exams.
Talk to any psychologist about this outwardly subconscious spontaneous manifestation of extreme pent up frustration by heartland parents and even young students at such age. What does that mean? What does that portend for the future?
This round the heartlanders' parents and 12-year old students en mass burnt books.
What may happen going forward?
It must be realised that this event alone cannot overturn the massive discrimination, unfair treatment and sufferings by sinkies due to half-baked or ill-conceived policies.
ReplyDeleteConcerted and continued efforts must be done on all fronts to right the wrongs, the sufferings, the unjust discrimination suffered by Sinkies in their own land.
ReplyDeleteThe current situation is no longer tenable.
Things as they are cannot go on any longer.
Going forward, any misstep by the Papayas is one misstep too many and one step equals many steps nearer to their own undoing and demise.
Obviously, on a daily basis, the masses are being riled by incompetent deliveries on the ground.
Every occurrence means one or a few votes or many converted.
At the current rate, the end is not far away.
Sinkies should start planning for life after.
Concur fully with Anon 6:36AM
ReplyDeletepatriot