Blogger Leong Sze Hian has revealed that his former Raffles Institution (RI) teacher recently told him that his fellow RI alumni are supporting him in his legal fight against Prime Minister Lee Hsien Loong.
Interestingly, RI is the school PM Lee’s father, Singapore’s founding Prime Minister Lee Kuan Yew, attended.
PM Lee earlier filed a defamation claim against Leong for sharing an article alleging that PM Lee played a part in laundering money from 1Malaysia Development Berhad (1MDB), on his personal Facebook page. The article, which was not written by Leong, garnered 22 reactions, five comments and 18 shares.
Leong is fighting the claim against him in court and filed a counterclaim against PM Lee for “abusing the process of the court in bringing the claim against me.” PM Lee’s lawyer Davinder Singh applied to strike out the counterclaim by Leong, before Leong applied to strike out PM Lee’s original defamation claim against him.
After hearing the striking out applications by both parties last month, Justice Aedit Abdullah struck out Mr Leong’s counterclaim as he delivered his judgment on 12 March. The judge cited Leong’s failure to disclose a “reasonable cause of action” in his counterclaim as the reason for his decision.
The judge also ordered Leong to pay costs. Leong has since decided to appeal Justice Aedit Abdullah’s decision.
In a Facebook post published on Tuesday (28 May), Leong said that his former RI teacher invited him out for tea and told him that he and many RI boys support him. Sharing a photo with his teacher, Leong wrote:
“My RI teacher (1967) David Tan who failed me in Arts called me out for tea and said – I and many of the boys support you – justice and equality!”
Founded in 1823, RI is the oldest school in Singapore for pre-tertiary education. It is an independent school, providing secondary education through a boys-only Year 1-4 section and pre-university education through a co-educational Year 5-6 section.
Besides Lee Kuan Yew, notable alumni of the school who made a mark in politics are Heads of State Yusof bin Ishak, Benjamin Henry Sheares, and Wee Kim Wee; Heads of Government Goh Chok Tong, David Marshall, and Haji Omar Lim Yew Hock; and retired politicians including E.W. Barker, S. Jayakumar, Lee Yock Suan, and S. Rajaratnam.
RI alumni currently active in politics include Dr Tan Cheng Bock, Heng Swee Keat, K Shanmugam, Chan Chun Sing, Desmond Lee, Lim Hng Kiang, Ong Ye Kung, Png Eng Huat, Zaqy Mohamad and Seah Kian Peng. -/TISG