Curtailing Free Expression, Opinion and Information Online in Southeast Asia years, along with civil suits, criminal defamation laws have been wielded against independent bloggers or news websites to censor content online.179 Sections 499 and 500 of Singapore’s Penal Code criminalizes defamation with up to two years’ imprisonment or a fine or both.180 Civil actions for defamation are brought in line with the common law doctrine of torts and the Defamation Act.181 Case of Roy Ngerng In December 2015, independent blogger Roy Ngerng was ordered to pay S$150,000 in damages (approx. USD 109,700) for alleged defamation of Prime Minister Lee Hsien Loong in relation to an article he had published in May 2014 on his blog, questioning the government’s management of the Central Provident Fund.182 He had also posted a link to his article on his Facebook page and the Facebook page of his blog. This decision came after solicitors representing the Prime Minister sent a letter in May 2014 to Ngerng demanding that he remove the blog article and Facebook posts and publish an apology. Ngerng removed the article a few days later and sent a letter of apology to the lawyers.183 In June 2015, the ICJ submitted a Legal Opinion in Ngerng’s case, expressing concern that “a decision awarding a disproportionately high amount of damages to the plaintiff… would cast a chilling effect on freedom of expression in Singapore.”184 179 180 181 182 183 184 Democratic Party [2007] 1 Sing.L.R. 675; [2006] SGHC 220; See Jothie Rajah, ‘Authoritarian Rule of Law: Legislation, Discourse and Legitimacy in Singapore’, 2012; See also, for an example of how international media outlets have been subject to civil defamation actions, Reuters, ‘New York Times pays damages to Singapore’s leaders’, 24 March 2010, Available at: https://www.reuters. com/article/us-singapore-newyorktimes/new-york-times-pays-damages-to-singapores-leadersidUSTRE62N26D20100324 Human Rights Watch, ‘“Kill the Chicken to Scare the Monkeys” - Suppression of Free Expression and Assembly in Singapore’, 12 December 2017, Available at: https://www.hrw.org/ report/2017/12/12/kill-chicken-scare-monkeys/suppression-free-expression-and-assemblysingapore Penal Code (Chapter 224) Rev. Ed. 2008, Available at: https://sso.agc.gov.sg/Act/ PC1871?ProvIds=pr500-#pr500Defamation Act (Chapter 75) Rev. Ed. 2014, Available at: https://sso.agc.gov.sg/Act/ DA1957#pr10The Central Provident Fund is a State-run mandatory social security savings scheme. See Lee Hsien Loong v Roy Ngerng Yi Ling [2015] SGHC 320, Available at: file:///C:/Users/User/ Desktop/RoyNgerng%202015-SGHC-320.pdf ICJ, ‘Legal Opinion supporting the case of the Defendant in Lee Hsien Loong (Prime Minister of Singapore) v Roy Ngerng Yi Ling – Suit No. 569/2014’, 23 June 2015, Available at: https://www. icj.org/wp-content/uploads/2015/07/Singapore-RoyNgerng-Advocacy-LegalOpinion-2015-ENG-.pdf 59