When Law and Home Affairs Minister K. Shanmugam said “it was “absurd” to suggest that about 2,000 contributors to a fundraising campaign constituted a “public backlash” to the libel laws,”” I felt that he had a point but only to a certain extent.
Maybe the silent majority agrees with him. But “absurd” is a strong word, and it is part-truth, part-bravado (imho).
In terms of that part about bravado, it somehow came close to the chest-beating hollerings of blogger Leong Sze Hian, when he said that people will stop him at the street and stuff money into his pockets. “It’s like the fear seems to be turning into anger and jubilance,” so trumpets Leong.
In politics nowadays, trust and humility are the key words. And you do not want to underestimate what 2000 people can do in an environment that is as volatile as it is now. History has shown us that at the right time, it only takes one to change the world.
By the way, Gideon had 300, and who can forget the 300 spartans who stood against insurmoutable odds and inspired a nation. Their bravery and sacrifices were immortalised. It only takes a spark and the right condition to get the all-consuming fire going.
Going back to Minister Shanmugam, he yesterday attended the Home Team Promotion Ceremony. He was jubilant about the public perception survey done in 2020, which shows that “92 per cent said that (the home team officers) performed well and kept Singapore safe and secure.”
He said: “I am proud of how our Home Team Officers responded to Covid-19, while maintaining operational excellence.”
Well, kudos to them all. We as Singaporeans are deeply appreciative too. That said, safety and security are one part of the picture, no doubt pivotal at this time, and the other part is the character of leadership. That is where trust and humility come in. And we must be careful how, in our words and conduct, we may be perceived by the public, even if it is just 2000, or even lesser than that.
Minister Shanmugam is right to say that “Singaporeans, like those in many other countries, are free to, and do, discuss politics, criticize politicians and policies.” And indeed, false, scurrilous speech cannot qualify for any protection.
But that crowdfunding exercise can be a galvanizing force, though boiling on the surface, yet with deeper roots than we would want to admit it. It at least makes visible the disgruntlement of a section of society, thanks to online technology that tends to amplify dissent or magnify goodwill. And what is visible is more prone to be easily exploited for political brownie points.
We may treat it as an outlier by the numbers, but it is still bush fire waiting for the right condition(s) to either set itself off or lend its flame to contribute to other budding fires nearby.
Leong’s defamation suit is about a mindless share on FB, duly withdrawn, and TOC’s Terry’s suit is about an article containing allegedly false statements concerning the Oxley saga. These statements were quotes by PM Lee’s siblings.
The common thread that runs in the two cases in my view is that they were singled out by the Plaintiff because Leong and Terry had more social and media influence than the others. It seems like it’s a tactical move to shut the dam at its source rather than to fight the flood at the mouth of the river.
So, yes, everyone has a private right to defend his or her reputation, but even in mounting such a defence, we can’t control what a success in the suit would translate into when it comes to one’s reputation as a whole or in the long run. We may have achieved some form of deterrence, which may come by way of calculated fear, but at what cost to public perception then?
Mind you, at times, overlooking a wrong can do more to advance one’s goodwill than squashing it with a legal sledgehammer. We must not forget that there is a draconian aspect to such defamation suits. Our history has shown that it often crushes the one who loses while the winner gets to plonk the spoils into the arms of charity.
Unfortunately, my experience with leadership in general is that the higher they climb or are positioned, the lower they tend to go when it comes to making others not forget about how different they are from the rest in stature, intelligence and power. That tendency sadly risks undermining trust and humility. That kind of erosion might just lead to more “absurd” results in the long run.
Just some food for thought.
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