Bloggers who just shared articles on Facebook are ordered to pay over 10 million yen, bloggers raise the full amount by crowdfunding

A blogger man who shared a link on Facebook to an article claiming that Singapore's Prime Minister Lee Hsien Loong was involved in corruption was sued for defamation and lost, and the court gave him S $ 133,000 ( I was ordered to pay (about 10.83 million yen). The man solicited help through crowdfunding and raised the full amount he was ordered to pay in just 11 days.

Why Does Singapore's Powerful Prime Minister Keep Suing Citizens?
https://www.vice.com/en/article/pkd787/blogger-defamation-prime-minister-singapore

Ideas | A defamation lawsuit in Singapore sets a dangerous precedent --Rest of World
https://restofworld.org/2021/singapore-facebook-ruling/

Blogger Leong Sze Hian ordered to pay PM Lee $ 133,000 for defamation over sharing of article, Singapore News & Top Stories --The Straits Times
https://www.straitstimes.com/singapore/blogger-leong-sze-hian-ordered-to-pay-pm-lee-hsien-loong-133000-in-defamation-suit-over

Singaporean blogger Leong Sze Hian wrote an article on Malaysian news site The Coverage on November 7, 2018, claiming that Prime Minister Lee was involved in alleged corruption related to Malaysian sovereign wealth fund 1MDB. I shared it with my Facebook account without comment. Singapore's media regulator has instructed Leong to remove the post that shared the article, saying the article in question is unfounded. Leong followed the instructions and deleted the post.

Prime Minister Lee (left) and Mr. Leong (right)

Two days after Leong deleted the post in question from Facebook, Prime Minister Lee sued Leong for defamation. 'Leong is not responsible for creating or publishing the original article, and there is no evidence that someone viewed the original article from Leong's link,' said Lim Tean, Leong's lawyer in court. He insisted, but the court dismissed Mr. Leong's case. The court then told Leong on March 24, 'Recklessly, Leong ignored the truth of the article and shared the defamatory article without questioning its authenticity.' Ordered to pay S $ 13,000.

Judge Aedit Abdullah of the Singapore High Court said in a statement, 'Singapore leaders are generally entitled to high damages due to their social status and dedication to the public welfare. Defamation and defamation of their personality damages not only their personal reputation, but also their integrity and the reputation of our country for serving the people worldwide. ' Said.

In response to this ruling, Mr. Leong raised the cost of paying damages by crowdfunding, and 2065 people raised money in 11 days and the full amount was safely collected. Leong told Facebook, 'Thank you very much. I am very grateful. All I did was share the article on Facebook without any comments, but I lived on my 65th birthday. I was faced with the greatest fear. At first I didn't have the courage to fight, but more and more people care about me. ' We thanked the supporters by showing a rhyme poem with the same pronunciation at the end of each sentence.

Leong also told US news site VICE, 'I hope this is the last time a ruling politician has sued a citizen for defamation. The People's Action Party is supposed to be protected by the government. We must understand that it is not profitable to bring a defamation Singaporean citizen to justice or treat him like a criminal. '