Dow Jones to Pay Singapore Yet Again
Facing yet another defeat in Singapore courts, Dow Jones finally gives up its appeal in the FEER defamation case, cuts its losses and agrees to pay damages. Asia Sentinel, including Dow Jones’ own statement:
Dow Jones Corporation, the owner of the soon-to- be-defunct Far Eastern Economic Review, has capitulated and agreed to pay US$175,000 in damages and costs rather than appeal a ruling that the magazine defamed Prime Minister Lee Hsien Loong and his father, former Prime Minister Lee Kuan Yew, in a 2006 interview with Chee Soon Juan, the secretary-general of the opposition Singapore Democratic Party.
In a judgment handed down Tuesday by Singapore’s Court of Appeal, the defendants – Review Publishing co. and Hugo Restall, the editor – were ordered to pay US$150,000 to the Lees and US$25,000 to their lawyers by Nov. 20 or face paying US$230,000 in total if they appeal the case, which they would almost certainly lose. No publication has ever won a lawsuit against the Lees in their own courts. …
In agreeing to the settlement rather than continue to fight the case, Dow Jones issued the following statement:
“Dow Jones strongly disagrees with the decision of the Singapore Court of Appeal upholding the ruling against the Far Eastern Economic Review in the defamation case brought by Lee Hsien Loong and Lee Kuan Yew. The Court casts significant doubt as to whether Singapore will ever recognize the fair and honest reporting privilege accorded to responsible journalism — a privilege available in the United Kingdom and other Commonwealth countries with diverse histories and cultures.
“The Court ruled that even if the privilege were to apply in Singapore, it does not apply to the foreign press – based on the misguided notion that non-Singaporeans have no vested interest in Singapore society. Having waged this battle for press freedom to Singapore’s highest court, we are now resolving this case rather than engaging in a protracted damages process. But make no mistake, Dow Jones does not believe it defamed Lee Hsien Loong or Lee Kuan Yew, and this decision will not deter us from our core mission, which is to provide fair and timely reporting and commentary on matters of importance from around the world, including in Singapore.”
Filed under: Press release | 2 Comments
Tags: appeal, dow jones, far eastern economic review, feer, lee hsien loong, lee kuan yew, press freedom, singapore
This is probably the last time that LKY can have the satisfaction of seeing another foreign publication pay compensation to his regime before he meets his maker. FEER, thanks for letting the old man satisfy his last act of sadistic whim and pleasure on earth, for he soon has to pass through the gates of purgatory and he will have to answer to a greater court over there.
This famous poem (James Shirley 1596 – 1666) shall be laid as an Epitaph for him:
DEATH THE LEVELLER
The glories of our blood and state
Are shadows, not substantial things;
There is no armour against Fate;
Death lays its icy hands on kings:
Sceptre and Crown
Must tumble down
And in the dust be equal made
With the poor crooked scythe and spade.
Some men with swords may reap the field,
And plant fresh laurels where they kill:
But their strong nerves at last must yield;
They tame but one another still:
Early or late
They stoop to fate,
And must give up their murmuring breath
When they, pale captives, creep to death.
The garlands wirther on your brow,
Then boast no more your mighty deeds !
Upon Death’s purple altar now
See where the victor-victim bleeds.
Your head must come
To the cold tomb:
Only the actions of the just
Smell sweet and blossom in their dust.
Yes, LKY, just like every other dictators you may rule, but sooner or late, they stoop to fate. James Shirley wrote your epitaph 300 years ago, long before you were born, and his spirit is waiting there to guide your wanton ego in the yonder, to tell you that IT WAS ALL FOR NOTHING !