Will Roy be Left to Face a BIG BULLY Alone? Will the 40% Stand By Him?

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An honorable member of the Coffee Shop Has Just Posted the Following:

M Ravi: Don’t curtail Roy’s right to speak on CPF issue

May 28th, 2014 | Author: Editorial





Blogger Roy Ngerng


In light of PM Lee’s decision to go ahead and sue blogger Roy Ngerng for
defamation (‘PM Lee to sue Roy for damages‘), Roy responded through his
lawyer M Ravi to the PM today (28 May) [Link].

Mr Ravi wrote to Mr Davinder Singh SC, PM Lee’s lawyer at Drew & Napier
LLC.

Mr Ravi clarified that for the avoidance of doubt, similar other posts should
not be construed as a curtailment of Roy’s right to his “freedom of expression
to write or engage the public on the CPF issue” and raise any matters relating
to CPF that “requires transparency and accountability to the public”.

Mr Ravi said that the other articles relating to CPF issue do not refer to
the PM.

He said, “Any attempt to curtail this would be frowned upon by Article 14 of
the Constitution of the Republic of Singapore, especially since these other
posts do not refer directly to your client (PM Lee).”

Mr Ravi then quoted Article 23 of the ASEAN Human Rights Charter:


“Every person has the right to freedom of opinion and expression, including
freedom to hold opinions without interference and to seek, receive and impart
information, whether orally, in writing or through any other medium of that
person’s choice.”
“Our client’s clarion call for an open dialogue on the CPF issue is also in
line with recent parliamentary exchanges that emphasize the importance of a
robust debate,” Mr Ravi added.

Separately, Roy also posted a message on his Facebook page at about 7pm today
[Link].

He clarified that it’s not true that by putting the offending YouTube video
on private, he had the intention to share it privately.

“I did not share the video with anyone else and it was for my own private
consumption,” Roy clarified.

“This whole episode had arose because of an article that I had written about
Singaporeans’ CPF. I have written more than 10 articles on the CPF and 400 other
articles over the past 2 years. This is the first time that the prime minister
had taken issue with any of the articles,” he said.

Roy also said that of the 4 additional articles the PM had asked him to take
down, 2 were written in 2012 and 2013 which made no mention of the PM at
all.

He said, “As such, I wonder why the prime minister considers them as
defamatory. I had taken down the articles because I did not want to complicate
matters and wanted things to simmer down. However, I have now been taken to
court.”

Roy added that the 2 articles in 2012 and 2013 detailed specifically how
Singaporeans’ CPF is being used to invest in GIC and Temasek Holdings. He said
that he had traced them via links from government websites.

“I am curious as to why these two articles are considered a threat to the
case,” he questioned.

Roy said that there is no need to use the law to debate the CPF issue.

He said, “We can sit down and have an adult conversation about this. If we
can have a constructive discussion, we would be able to come out with better
ideas to improve the CPF system. As yet, the prime minister has not responded
(to have the conversation).”

Roy said he blogs because he wants to raise more awareness about what’s going
on in Singapore and how the lives of Singaporeans can be improved. He said that
CPF is an issue close to his heart.

“It’s simply not right when our older Singaporeans have spent a large part of
their lives working to build Singapore to where it is today, only to have to
continue working as cleaners, labourers or cardboard collectors, just because
they could never save enough in their CPF to retire. It’s saddening that this
has to happen, especially so when Singapore is now one of the richest countries
in the world,” he said.

With regard to the lawsuit, he said he will have to stand up and continue the
way forward. He said, “I will continue to question the truth of where our CPF is
really going and advocate for transparency and accountability.”

“I do not know what awaits me, but I hope that I can continue to speak for
change, to protect ourselves, our families and our children,” he added.

Roy asked Singaporeans to stand with him.


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