Following in the footsteps of Leong's successful crowd funding to pay the entire sum of $130,000 to pay Lee for the defamation suit on Leong's posting of a link to an article in a Malaysian website, Roy has also managed to crowdfund the entire sum of $144,000 owed to Lee due to the court's award of $150,000 to Lee for the defamation suit on Roy's article about the CPF Scheme six years ago.
The payment of $150,000 is to be done in monthly instalments of $100 for six years. Thereafter, $1000 per month until 2033.
Such a long-drawn cruel/merciful punishment!
By 2033, another 12 years to go, may be one of the two parties would be dead already?
Justice must be seen to have been done. It must also be seen as impartial and not contaminated or twisted in anyway whatsoever.
There should be no doubts, displays or indications of fear, favour or ill-will on the part of those who decide on the ultimate outcome in the applications of the common and civil laws.
The collective minds of the educated and learned discerning public are more powerful and impartial than any individual or group of legal practioners.
The fact that both Leong and Roy are able to attract the public to contribute the full amount required in both instances in record times means there is a very strong public Message being sent to those involved in the outcome of the defamation law suits.
To me, it is a form of redress by the Court of Public Opinions on what the public might have seen or considered as injustice, miscarriage of justice, wrong application or misinterpretation of the defamation laws. This is only my personal view.
What do you think?
SSO
April 20, 2021 10:35 pm
In most countries, when rich and powerful political hags are involved, it is very normal for most lesser men in the judiciary to shrink or drop their balls due to fear of giving a judgement that will cause them their career and unimaginable troubles in the future.
ReplyDeleteI do not believe in 100% up-right judges. Even the US Supreme Court judges-for-life (with no need to fear losing their job) are also very political animals.
That's why I will never trust any politician, priest or judge.
Defamation Law Suits - A Double-Edge Weapon
ReplyDeleteThink.
Why is the public at large willing to donate to the crowd-funding of Leong Sze Hian and Roy Ngerng the required full amount in double-quick time?
I think the public at large saw RED. Anger rose. Blood boiled internally with agony. Witnessing fellow citizens unable to fight and win any battle for a just, fair and equitable playing field in our own society, on our own land, many of them took action - the simplest and easiest action offered and opened in this long and winding path, the path of least obstacles and least resistance - for the redress of injustice done, as they saw it and as they saw fit to do it. So much so, many are willing to let their money do the talking and walking.
Their collective message to the power that be is very clear and enlightenedly significant.
It clearly shows that defamation law suits can be transformed into a double-edge weapon. It can operate both ways. One may gain something but one may also lose something. One may gain some monetary rewards from the judge's awards to fatten one's already over-bloated bank accounts, but one can also create a negative image of oneself, a more damaging aspect that one might not have calculated for.
In today's context, using the legal process and hoping to indirectly "intimidate" the public at large (via making someone become a scapegoat of convenience - killing a chicken to frighten the monkeys, so to speak) is not only a no-brainer but also of bad taste and is disgusting, to say the least. Time has changed. People have changed. It is not LKY's time anymore.
Today, there is the Internet and more people are educated and more discerning. They can and are willing to spend time to think deeper and obliquely into what the whole issue really means - the wider ramifications that involve the social fabrics of our society, of our beloved country.
Over time, this defamation law suits thingy has also become out of fashion and out of synchronization with the inspirations of our more matured society.
Our society, by and large, has already moved on beyond such old-fashion, petty, small-minded, convenient quick-fix. It's just like flogging a dead horse now. In fact, it has become counter-productive and counter-effective.
Instead of mending the alleged damage caused to one's reputation, it actually inflicts more damages to one's own image and reputation. Ironically, self-inflicted - like self-mutilation.
Lesson learnt:
Next time, before one starts suing and inadvertently also helps one's favourite lawyer becomes richer, think again. One may inflict more damages to one's own image and reputation instead of mending them. It's better to act like a lotus flower. Let whatever dirty or contaminated rain drops fall off by themselves without soiling its petals at all. That requires anger-management and self-restraint. That requires a person with a big heart, magnanimity and patience - a higher level of beings that money-making professional lawyers do not and will not understand.
If not possible, just simply think of what the public may perceive of one's actions. It is not a one-way traffic. It is definitely not going to be a win-win situation. It is highly probable to end up in a lose-lose conclusion.
In the eyes of the more discerning public today, they are likely to perceive a huge bulldozer ploughing through the earth and killing thousands of innocent helpless worms without an iota of feelings for the deaths and sufferings it has caused!
Even with artificial intelligence, a machine simply cannot have feelings!
Think harder.
SSO - 23 April, 2021.