Lee Hsien Loong sends lawyer's letter to Temsaek Review
-
PM Lee's lawyers take Temasek Review Emeritus editor to task
By Ng Jing Yng, TODAY | Posted: 20 February 2012 0814 hrsSINGAPORE: Four days after sociopolitical website Temasek Review Emeritus (TRE) editor Richard Wan made a first public appearance at a social media forum, he was served a lawyer's letter on Sunday by Prime Minister Lee Hsien Loong for carrying allegedly defamatory remarks on his website.
This is the second time in the past week that a political leader has sent a legal warning to a website regarding allegedly defamatory comments.
In TRE's case, Mr Lee's lawyers are asking Mr Wan to retract a Feb 16 post and to publish an apology on his website within the next four days.
The five-page letter, which was sent by Drew and Napier's Senior Counsel Davinder Singh, made reference to an excerpt of a post on TRE which questioned Madam Ho Ching's position in Temasek Holdings.
In the letter, Mr Singh said the excerpt "alleged that Prime Minister Lee Hsien Loong secured or was instrumental in securing the appointment of his wife, Mdm Ho Ching, as the chief executive officer of Temasek Holdings (Private) Limited for nepotistic motives".
"This is a false and baseless allegation. As is publicly known, Mdm Ho Ching was appointed on merit and through proper process."
The letter also outlined the circumstances behind Mdm Ho's appointment and highlighted past instances where other media outlets had to apologise for similar allegations.
Mr Singh also noted that Mr Wan confirmed his identity as TRE's editor after attending a public forum on Wednesday.
Mr Lee has requested that TRE immediately remove the article and all related comments as well as to publish an apology and the undertaking. But Mr Singh added: "Although our client has suffered damage and incurred costs as a result of the libel, he has not made any demand for damages or cost." Legal proceedings and damages and costs will nonetheless be pursued if TRE does not comply, he added.
Mr Wan, who is one of the five editors behind TRE but is the only one based here, told Today that the post was made by one of their contributors.
He added that TRE is "very sorry for causing unnecessary duress to the PM" and will comply with all the remedial actions.
Mr Wan said that TRE vets through all its articles before publishing them but it is challenging to vet through the feedback received each day. Going forward, Mr Wan said that they will be "more careful" before any publication.
Last Tuesday, Foreign and Law Minister K Shanmugam sent a lawyer's letter to well-known blogger Alex Au, asking him to remove from his website allegedly defamatory comments about the minister. Mr Au did so, saying he took Mr Shanmugam at his word.
Nominated Member of Parliament Eugene Tan, who is a law academic at the Singapore Management University, said that the approach taken by the political leaders has been consistent in protecting their reputation especially when it comes to defamatory remarks.
He noted that Mr Lee and Mr Shanmugam are not asking for damages and costs. "This perhaps suggests that the political leaders have recognised the new political environment we are in, and the need and value of a greater diversity of views being expressed by Singaporeans. Benefit of the doubt is extended in the first instance but it is not to be regarded as a licence for defamation," he said. -TODAYhttp://www.channelnewsasia.com/stories/singaporelocalnews/view/1184021/1/.html
-
Ho Jinx? Is there anyone else who might wanna hire her? Same goes for Saw Phaik Hwa after the latest SMRT fiasco.
-
i think they have female taxi drivers nowadays.
-
alamak. wonder why the top posts ppl r related to him? if dun wan ppl to talk then stop puttin relatives in top positions. maybe "leaders are born not make"
are they?
-
without even me saying everybody already know the selection is based on 'merit and through proper process'. -
Originally posted by lce:
alamak. wonder why the top posts ppl r related to him? if dun wan ppl to talk then stop puttin relatives on top positions. maybe "leaders are born not make"
are they?
Coz they are top talent
-
Originally posted by Dalforce 1941:
"This is a false and baseless allegation. As is publicly known, Mdm Ho Ching was appointed on merit and through proper process."
WAHAHAHAHAHAHA... HOW COME I DIDN'T KNOW THAT... I AM A PUBLIC CITIZEN OF SINGAPORE... HOW COME I DIDN'T KNOW THAT!!! WAHAHAHAHAHAHA WHY PAP LIKE TO JOKE SUCH THINGS. -
Mdm Ho Ching was appointed on merit and through proper process."
Then why Temasek lost billions in investments?
Say want to change the head but end up still the same. -
Birds of a feather, flock together.
The leaders of Burma are also appointed based on merits.
Serious.
-
Originally posted by βÎτά:
Birds of a feather, flock together.
The leaders of Burma are also appointed based on merits.
Serious.
meanin they r related?
-
I don't know what kind of "merits", there is a stark difference between Engineering and Finance.
She must be the most qualified of all the Investment Bankers in Singapore to manage the largest investment fund in Singapore.
Imagine getting a medical Doctor to trade in hedge funds.
Total disconnect.
-
Lee Hsien Loong not trained in finance but he was also appointed minister of finance.
Lee family is well connected with the banking world, for example Lee Hsien Loong's mother is from a peranakan banking family.
Madam Kwa Geok Choo was born in Singapore on Dec 21, 1920. Her parents were Mr and Mrs Kwa Siew Tee. Her father was the Oversea-Chinese Banking Corporation’s (OCBC Bank) general manager from 1935 to 1945.
-
good actually.. it teaches TRE to never post or publish anything they cannot substantiate.. else they turn into a pile of crap without credibility and can be ignored..
Singapore, and the opposition does not need rumour-mongers in their ranks
if anything, this will teach TRE to do better, not to be trigger-happy, and if they learn from it, TRE becomes a credible source of information and not just some kind of bullshit column where anyone can talk a lot of shit without backing it up..
freedom of speech comes with the responsibility to back up your statements.. the responsibility is something a lot of people either ignore or refuse to accept...
-
wey wery wey
u all want him to send letter to jason also ijjit
-
They should change the name of the site lah. The site name really an eye sore. Just Singapore-today, Singapore-reporter or Singapore-Review lah.
Put a singapore there will die meh?
Here's another site without "Singapore":
-
Originally posted by Dalforce 1941:
Lee Hsien Loong not trained in finance but he was also appointed minister of finance.
Lee family is well connected with the banking world, for example Lee Hsien Loong's mother is from a peranakan banking family.
Madam Kwa Geok Choo was born in Singapore on Dec 21, 1920. Her parents were Mr and Mrs Kwa Siew Tee. Her father was the Oversea-Chinese Banking Corporation’s (OCBC Bank) general manager from 1935 to 1945.
I wish my parents were cardiac surgeons, then I can do cardiac bypass even though I am trained in air-con repair.
It's like what you proposed, knowledge is inherited.
The only thing is finding patients who would allow me to operate on them.
-
Why suddenly so many lawyer letters floating around?
-
He trying to clean house after losing badly in the last election.
He probably thinks that this site is casting a bad image on his party and wants to shut it up.
-
Dennis Lee, the chairman of Singapore food company Cerebos Pacific, is another of Lee Kuan Yew’s brothers.
Dennis’s wife is Gloria Lee, the founder of one of Singapore’s most prominent stockbrokerages Kim Eng Securities.
Dennis Lee (Lee Kuan Yew’s brother) is a former director of Tat Lee Bank.
-
TRE should know how to say his (LSL) choice is not good, and in fact a blunder. Should not say he kelong.
-
Originally posted by βÎτά:
He probably thinks that this site is casting a bad image on his party and wants to shut it up.
But actually Temasek Review was killed off last year but resurfaced as TR Emeritus.
-
If the person is chosen on merit and proper process, what merit and who else are being considered for the post ?
If she is chosen on merit, why she never take responsibility for all the loss that she have incurred ?
Where is the transparency and accountability ?
I hope the boss can show us what is the merit and how she was selected since they declared that there is a process.
If he cannot prove anything, what does that mean ?
Is this national agenda that is more important than the Hougang resident ?
-
To be a director of a company, all you need is to be the majority shareholder, vote yourself in during the AGM.
You don't need any qualification.
-
What happened to the saga of replacing Ho Ching as CEO of Temasek? Why in the end nothing happened?
wayang?
Charles Goodyear to replace Ho Ching as Temasek CEO
http://www.channelnewsasia.com/stories/singaporebusinessnews/view/407246/1/.html
-
She is selected based on merit and proper process.
Goodyear did not have enough merit.
Can you get it inside your head ?
She is selected based on the same proper process for selecting Tin Tin.