S'pore politician faces eight suits

S'pore politician faces eight suits

SINGAPORE (Reuter): Singapore Prime Minister Goh Chok Tong and 10 other ruling party members have filed eight individual and joint defamation suits against Workers' Party leader Joshua Jeyaretnam, the Straits Times said yesterday.

The newspaper had earlier reported that the group of ruling People's Action Party (PAP) leaders were suing the veteran opposition politician for allegedly defaming them, but the number of suits had not been specified.

Lawyers for the plaintiffs were not immediately available for comment. Jeyaretnam was also unavailable.

Since Singapore's general election on Jan. 2, in which the ruling PAP won 81 of 83 parliamentary seats, leading PAP politicians have also issued a total of 12 writs against Workers' Party activist Tang Liang Hong.

In addition, Tang faces a suit brought against him before the election by Senior Minister Lee Kuan Yew and his son, Deputy Prime Minister Lee Hsien Loong.