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Singapore blogger sued by PM for defamation fired from job

10 June 2014 23:23 (UTC +04:00)

Baku-APA. A Singapore blogger who has been facing a defamation lawsuit by Prime Minister Lee Hsien Loong said on Tuesday that he has been fired from his job, APA reports quoting Xinhua.

Roy Ngerng Yi Ling, who has been a patient coordinator at the Communicable Disease Center of Tan Tock Seng Hospital, said on his Facebook page that he has been "expecting this."

"I've just been fired from my job. I've been expecting this. The stress of the court case has made it difficult for me to concentrate on my job," he wrote.

In a statement, the hospital said Ngerng, 33, was found to have misused his time and resources while at work to pursue "personal and non-job-related interests" and that his conduct was " incompatible with the values and standards" expected of its employees.

"While our staff are free to pursue their personal interests outside work, they must conduct themselves properly, honorably and with integrity. In particular, they cannot defame someone else without basis, which essentially means knowingly stating a falsehood to the public," said the statement.

The Ministry of Health said in a separate statement that it supports the hospital's decision to terminate Ngerng's contract, as his "actions show a lack of integrity and are incompatible with the values and standards of behavior expected of hospital employees."

Ngerng received lawyers' letters recently after allegedly defaming Lee Hsien Loong with a post dated May 15 on his blog that apparently accused the prime minister of misappropriating money paid by local residents to their Central Provident Fund (CPF) accounts.

He also appeared at rallies at the Speakers' Corner in a local park to speak on CPF-related issues, both before and after receiving the lawyer's letters.

Singapore has in place a compulsory savings system known as the Central Provident Fund to help people provide for their retirement. However, account owners are not allowed to make withdrawals before the age of 55, and there are other rules.

Some of the local residents have questioned this, but the government has said that it is still a good system that gives people the peace of mind even though it is not perfect.

Ngerng had admitted to making false accusations, removed the post and apologized to the prime minister. Lee rejected his offer of 5,000 Singapore dollars (4,000 U.S. dollars) in damages, saying that the blogger was "insincere" as he had thereafter republished various posts and a YouTube video, repeating the libel.

The case will be heard in court, with a pre-trial scheduled for July 4.

Ngerng has launched an appeal to raise funds for legal fees to pay his lawyer and revealed on June 6 that he raised over 91,000 Singapore dollars (72,800 U.S. dollars) from crowdfunding, after hitting his target of 70,000 Singapore dollars (56,000 U.S. dollars).

In a latest twist, Ngerng claimed in a separate Facebook post on Tuesday that his sacking was "politically motivated."