And how your lawyer forces me to say it, doesn't really make a difference. And that is the crux of the matter in the defamation saga involving the socio-political website TR Emeritus. The case hinges on interpretation or perception rather than facts and there is no basis to "prove" it one way or the other since there is nothing to prove.
Those who were disposed to interprete the appointment of Mdm Ho Ching as head of Temasek Holdings as alleged cronyism will continue to do so. Net net, the legal action would not have swung public perception of the matter one way or the other at all. Net negative, would be the further reinforcement of public perception on the ruling governments' heavy handed use of legal means for its own ends.
That Mdm Ho Ching was appointed "on merit and through proper process" is not sufficient evidence that alleged cronyism was not a factor. If it were so, then there would be no case of cronyism EVER anywhere because such a reason can always be used. In this particular case, we were not apprised of the selection criteria for the post, who were the other shortlisted candidates (if any) and why they did not make the cut. Mr Dhanabalan, sir?
Late last year, there were complaints that some foreign middle managers of a certain 'kind' have been adopting tactics to force out local Singaporeans from their jobs and replacing them with more of their own kind. I'm sure such foreign managers would be much heartened by the outcome of this case as the "on merit and proper process" reason would be an excellent cover for their actions and this case would serve as legal precedence for their defence.
More pertinently, the recent spate of legal actions on websites hosting allegedly defamatory postings beggars the question: Just how were these postings brought to the attention of the individuals who then decided to institute legal action? I would hate to think that our still very highly paid public servants are spending time on the taxpayers dollar, trawling through websites looking for postings that might besmirch their good standing.
Even with the help of a certain famous web search engine to filter out relevant postings, it will still take considerable time to go through each posting, and as we all know, search results can return thousands of hits. Are state resources being diverted to track such postings? I think Singaporeans are entitled to know this.
As PM Lee himself said, there are many (more important) issues on the national agenda. The government having dropped the ball on many issues would do well to keep their eye on the right ball. The spectators are already murmuring with discontent at the poor play. Let's hope they do not get riled enough to swarm the pitch. By then, it will be game over.
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