Curtailing Free Expression, Opinion and Information Online in Southeast Asia Case of The Online Citizen (ii) In September 2019, Terry Xu was served with a writ by lawyers representing Prime Minister Lee Hsien Loong commencing criminal defamation proceedings against him for publishing an article on TOC in August 2019 titled “PM Lee’s wife Ho Ching weirdly shares article on cutting ties with family members”.190 The article had referred to a post made on Facebook by the Prime Minister’s wife and reported on a public feud between members of the Prime Minister’s family. Prior to the commencement of the suit, the Press Secretary to the Prime Minister had submitted a letter to Xu requesting that he remove the article and a Facebook post including a link to the article, and publish “a full and unconditional apology, plus an undertaking not to publish any similar allegations, prominently on your website and on your Facebook timeline”.191 The first pre-trial conference was held on 15 October.192 ii. Laws which aim to protect the reputation of the monarchy Laws which aim to protect the reputation of the monarchy, particularly through lèse majesté provisions, have also been wielded to control free expression and information on online platforms. This section examines the misuse of such laws in Thailand, Cambodia and Malaysia. Thailand provides the most dramatic example of misuse to restrict free expression of opinions. Similar legislation recently introduced in Cambodia was closely based on the Thai model. Malaysia, in contrast, does not have lèse majesté laws per se but have utilized laws restricting sedition to prosecute alleged critics of the monarchy. 190 Louisa Tang, ‘TOC article ‘gravely injured’ PM Lee’s character and reputation, say lawyers seeking aggravated damages in defamation suit’, Today Online, 6 September 2019, Available at: https://www.todayonline.com/singapore/toc-article-gravely-injured-pm-lees-character-and-reputationsay-lawyers-seeking 191 The letter further argued that action by the Prime Minister was required to “rebut and deal publicly with such scurrilous attacks on his integrity and character, if necessary through legal action”. Kenneth Cheng, ‘PM Lee demands The Online Citizen take down allegedly defamatory article or face legal action’, Today Online, 1 September 2019, Available at: https://www.todayonline.com/ singapore/pm-lee-demands-editor-online-citizen-remove-defamatory-article-or-face-legal-action 192 Coconuts Singapore, ‘The Online Citizen editor Terry Xu charged for defaming Cabinet of Singapore members’, 12 December 2018, Available at: https://coconuts.co/singapore/news/online-citizeneditor-terry-xu-charged-defaming-cabinet-singapore-members/ 61