Roy Ngerng’s accomplishment was astounding.
JB. Jeyaretnam must be rolling in his grave – if only it was that easy! Perhaps if he had lived in the generation of facebook and twitter, he may have convinced the public to bail him out of bankruptcy, and thus kept his NCMP seat back in 2001.
To all who have parted with your hard earned money in order to support Roy, I salute you.
You have done Singapore a great service.
By giving Roy the money he needs to bring the matter to court, you have managed to induce him to leave the comfort of his armchair, and restate his claims in court. You see, you have given the Singapore public a chance to see Roy’s claims about the government, the Prime Minister and the CPF being put to the test. As a matter of fact, those claims will now be put the strictest standards of the law. No more hiding around, everything is out in the open. We will find out, once and for all, if they are indeed true, or whether Roy is simply full of air.
But while I offer my applause, I also feel a sense of discomfort. Didn’t Roy admit that he had defamed the PM? Didn’t he apologize? Didn’t he, after that, suddenly turned around and in bad faith, disseminated links to the defamatory articles?
Legally speaking, didn’t he shoot himself in the foot?
This makes his behaviour very suspicious. Is it possible that he may not have any intention to settle this case or clear his name to begin with? Does he want to be a martyr? If so, does the public know this?
I am worried, because $80k is a lot of money to take from the public to fight a losing battle. He could just admit wrong, take down the posts and pay a small sum. But no, he wants to take an even bigger sum of hard-earned money away from the public to fight a court case which he self-sabotaged from the beginning by admitting liability, and then acting in bad faith.
At least the government pays back whatever CPF money it takes from the public, along with interest. Not Roy, he is a bad investment. He scored a few own goals before the match even began and still expects others to put their money on him. He will likely lose this lawsuit, and end up a martyr because of this – a needlessly expensive one nevertheless.
Perhaps there is some value in standing up against the big guy. Perhaps putting oneself in the front lines is an admirable feat. But please, foot your own bills. J.B. Jeyaratnam stood for his beliefs and became a bankrupt. He suffered but he never begged for money. He had the guts to stand his ground, regardless of how controversial his views were, and more importantly, and the maturity to take responsibility for the consequences.
Compared to the giant that was J.B. Jeyaratnam, Roy is a coward.
[plinker]