Bloomberg, 3 Jun 2014
A Singapore blogger who faces a defamation lawsuit by Prime Minister Lee Hsien Loong said he raised more than S$70,000 ($55,700) in four days through crowdfunding to pay for his legal costs.
Donations climbed to S$72,043.91 as of yesterday, exceeding his target of S$70,000, Roy Ngerng said in a blog post. Lee sued Ngerng over a May 15 article, and the blogger said his apology and offer of S$5,000 for damages were declined. Chang Li Lin, Lee’s press secretary, declined to comment about Ngerng’s funding efforts when contacted by phone.
Ngerng’s case comes as the government grapples with how to regulate comments made online, with plans including the introduction of anti-harassment laws to curb cyber-bullying. More than a thousand people contributed to Ngerng’s appeal for funds for the first lawsuit of its kind by a Singapore politician against a blogger, according to his lawyer M. Ravi. Full story
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