One can’t be a benevolent leader if your own people. Discuss.

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

Suing Roy was ill-advised and a PR disaster

June 4th, 2014 | Author: Contributions



Suing blogger Roy Ngerng is ‘a PR disaster of their own making’ for
Singapore government

Legal action taken against Singapore blogger Roy Ngerng by the country’s
Prime Minister is a PR disaster of the government’s own making, a prominent
former ad man has said.

Calvin Soh, the former vice chairman of Publicis Asia
Pacific, wrote on his Facebook blog Future Singapore that “Whoever is advising the PAP
[Singapore's ruling political party] needs to get their heads out of their own
crevice.”

The Prime Minister of Singapore, Lee Hsien Loong, is suing Roy Ngerng, the
author of blog The Heart Truths, for defamation over comments he made about the
Central Provident Fund, a compulsory savings plan for working Singaporeans.

In response to legal proceedings from the PM, Ngerng has apologised, deleted
a number of the articles he has written about the issue, as well as a video.

But the Prime Minister, via his lawyer, called an offer from the blogger of
S$5,000 (US$4,000) to settle the matter “derisory”.

He claimed that Ngerng has used the legal action to raise his profile, repeat
the libel by republishing the offending posts and go back on his apology.

Ngerng is trying to raise funds to cover the legal fees through a
crowd-funding initiative on his blog. He expects legal costs to amount to S$70,000
(US$56,000).

He has posted a video on
YouTube to galvanise support.



Calvin Soh commented: “Whoever is advising the pap needs to get their heads
out of their own crevice. It is a PR disaster of their own making. What if Roy
raises $500,000? It’s not just the sum; crowdfunding shows you market size. What
if people don’t support Roy, but want this to go to court so the issue of CPF
will be brought up?”

“What if you [Singapore's government] have turned Roy into a symbol of the
ordinary guy being bullied because you’ve pushed too hard?,” Soh said.

“The Queen doesn’t sue her subjects. One can’t be a benevolent leader if you
sue your own people. Really, the old methods don’t work in this new era. This is
shooting yourself in the foot and stuffing it in your mouth.”

Meanwhile, in neighbouring Malaysia, Prime Minister Najib Razak is suing
independent news website Malaysiakini for defamation.

In an interview with Australian TV network ABC, the website’s editor Steven
Gan said that the Malaysian government was “taking a leaf out of
Singapore’s book” by using strong arm legal tactics to silence critical
voices.

* Article first appeared in mumbrella.asia – a site about Asian media and
marketing.


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