Goh Chok Tong demands $900,000 in libel damages

Goh Chok Tong demands $900,000 in libel damages

SINGAPORE (Reuter): Singapore Prime Minister Goh Chok Tong demanded more than Singapore $1 million in libel damages yesterday from an opposition politician he sued for calling the island's political leadership liars.

Goh asked a court in a written submission to award him S$1.3 million (US$900,000), plus costs, against Tang Liang Hong, an opposition candidate defeated in January's general elections when he was a major target of the long-ruling People's Action Party (PAP).

Tang fled to Malaysia after the PAP won 81 of parliament's 83 seats, saying his life had been threatened. He was sued by Goh and 10 other PAP leaders for calling them liars after they accused him of being a "Chinese chauvinist".

They said Tang was a danger to Singapore's multiracial harmony, and that they had to sue to defend their integrity when he accused them of lying.

The libel cases were awarded to the PAP leaders in March after Tang presented no defense, and this week's hearing was to decide the scale of the damages.

Goh said he was claiming high damages because Tang, who did not return to defend himself in court, attacked the PAP in a barrage of media interviews from just across the border.

Tang had "continued to aggravate his defamation and has conducted himself in a most appalling manner in these proceedings", Goh said in his submission.

Apart from Goh's claim, no precise figures have been demanded by a succession of top PAP personalities who have given evidence this week.

Early in the proceedings, however, a court ordered Tang to put aside S$11.2 million in case the judgment went against him.

Goh's submission wound up the evidence in the hearing to determine damages and lawyers for the PAP leaders were due to make their closing arguments today.

Tang fired his lawyers Monday, a move finally accepted by the court yesterday, after they failed to win him a postponement in order for him to bring in a top London lawyer to argue his case.

Former prime minister Lee Kuan Yew, a prime mover in the libel cases against Tang, told the court Monday that Tang's action was a ploy to present the PAP's governance in the worst possible light.

He said Tang wanted to be able to give media interviews attacking the Singapore judicial system and to portray Lee, prime minister for 31 years until he stepped down in 1990, as a "wicked dictator".

Goh's lawyer, K. Shanmugam, told the court yesterday that in deciding how much damages to award, it should take into consideration Tang's interviews.

"This was a complete and cynical approach by Mr Tang to malign the prime minister and lie about him on an almost daily basis," he said.