Goh Chok Tong v Chee Soon Juan

• Jurisdiction: Singapore
• Judge: MPH Rubin J
• Judgment Date: 04 April 2003
• Neutral Citation: [2003] SGHC 79
• Court: High Court (Singapore)
• Published date: 07 October 2003
• Year: 2003
• Plaintiff Counsel: Davinder Singh SC, Hri Kumar and Nicolas Tang (Drew & Napier LLC)
• Defendant Counsel: Defendant/appellant in person
• Subject Matter: Civil Procedure,Pleadings,Defence,Particulars of defence of duress not pleaded,Effect on defendant's case,Summary judgment,Whether to set aside summary judgment and grant defendant leave to defend claim,Whether defendant had real or bona fide defence,Contract,Discharge,Breach,Whether intimidation a defence to breach of contract of compromise,Duress,Illegitimate pressure,Whether threat to enforce one's legal rights could amount to duress,Tort,Defamation,Defamatory statements,Republication,Words republished by mass media,Whether defendant liable for republication,Whether defamatory in natural and ordinary meaning or by way of innuendo
• Citation: [2003] SGHC 79

1 This was an appeal by Dr Chee Soon Juan to judge-in-chambers from the decision of Senior Assistant Registrar Mr Toh Han Li (‘the SAR’) granting interlocutory judgment with damages (including aggravated damages) to be assessed in a defamation action brought by the respondent, Mr Goh Chok Tong. Mr Goh is, and was at all material times, the Prime Minister of the Republic of Singapore. On 25 October 2001, Mr Goh, as a candidate of the People’s Action Party (‘PAP’), was returned unopposed as a Member of Parliament for Marine Parade Group Representation Constituency (‘GRC’) in the 2001 General Elections. Dr Chee is, and was at all material times, the Secretary-General of the Singapore Democratic Party (‘SDP’). Dr Chee was a candidate, along with four others, for Jurong GRC in the 2001 General Elections.

2 On 28 October 2001, in the course of campaigning for the 2001 General Elections, Dr Chee reportedly spoke and published certain words at Hong Kah West hawker centre (‘the Hong Kah Words’) and later that evening at an election rally at Nee Soon Central (‘the Nee Soon Words’), both in public and in the presence of, inter alia, various members of the print and broadcast media, which Mr Goh alleged to be defamatory of him.

3 On 19 November 2001, the present suit was commenced by Mr Goh against Dr Chee. On 8 December 2001, Mr Goh filed an amended Statement of Claim seeking to enforce a contract of compromise arising from the publication of an apology by Dr Chee or alternatively, claiming against him for defamation. In Suit No 1459 of 2001, Mr Lee Kuan Yew, the Senior Minister of the Republic of Singapore, commenced a similar suit against Dr Chee for allegedly defamatory words spoken by him at the election rally at Nee Soon on 28 October 2001.

4 In both cases, Mr Goh and Mr Lee took out a summons in chambers application praying for interlocutory judgment with damages (including aggravated damages) to be assessed; and costs of the action, including the assessment of damages, to be taxed on an indemnity basis. Both applications were heard at the same time by the SAR, who granted the applications for interlocutory judgment.

The facts

The Hong Kah Words

5 On 28 October 2001, in the course of campaigning for the 2001 General Elections at the Hong Kah West hawker centre, Dr Chee spoke the following words in the presence of, inter alia, various members of the print and broadcast media:

(a) during an interview with the print and broadcast media, the defendant said:

… we kept saying Suharto, Suharto, Suharto find me one word, just that one word in Suharto in today’s Straits Times did anybody say it? But that’s the most important thing in our campaign right now, alright? It’s a fact that this Government will not help our workers and they take all the money overseas, either investments in loans, they are not getting it back, and then they try to get it from people through taxes again…

(b) upon seeing Mr Goh a short distance away, Dr Chee shouted:

Mr Goh! Mr Goh! Come here Mr Goh! I want to talk with you, come here! Where is our money Mr Goh! You can run, but you cannot hide.

(c) Dr Chee then approached Mr Harun Abdul Ghani, a former PAP Member of Parliament, and said:

He took $17 billion, 1998 you cannot run away! $17 billion you lent it to Suharto. Number one, you were a Member of Parliament, did he tell you? You represent the people! Why didn’t you say anything? You were wrong, that is very wrong.

6 The Hong Kah Words and/or their gist were prominently republished by the print and broadcast media.

The Nee Soon Words

7 At an election rally held at Nee Soon Central on the evening of 28 October 2001, Dr Chee spoke the following words in the presence of members of the public and the print and broadcast media:

So when we met … when we met Goh Chok Tong this morning during our walkabout, he was there just about 3 or 4 feet away, I asked him, “Mr Goh, what happened to our money? What happened to this $17 billion?” He wouldn’t answer. He just waved us on. I am very serious about this. My friends, it is your money, this is your money, no, not the government’s money, not Goh Chok Tong’s money. It is your money. And when I asked him he waved us on, it hit me, it hit me very clearly, that the Government will not answer you. The Government can say, “No, I am not interested in answering you, because you are not in Parliament … But if you get Mr Ling How Doong from SDP into Parliament, this guarantee I give you, the first question that he will ask is what happened to your $17 billion? … And this is the same question that I want to ask Mr Lee Kuan Yew … So Mr Lee Kuan Yew, I challenge you, tell us about the $17 billion you loaned to Suharto.

8 The Nee Soon Words and/or their gist were prominently republished by the print and broadcast media.

The first apology

9 On 29 October 2001, Dr Chee wrote a letter addressed to Mr Goh as follows:

Dear Sir,

With reference to the incident at the Hawker Centre at Jurong East on the morning of 28 October 2001, I wish to reiterate my position that politics should not be conducted at the personal level.

As such I wish to let you know that if I have offended you in a personal manner during our meeting I would like to extend to you my sincerest apologies.

At the political level, however, I stand by the issues that I have been raising in this election.

Chee Soon Juan

10 On 30 October 2001, Dr Chee issued a Media Release as follows:

The only reason why we brought up the issue about the $17b loan to Indonesia was to compare it with the $2.1b the SDP has proposed to help retrenched workers in Singapore. There was never any intention to cast any aspersion on anyone, least of all Mr Goh Chok Tong. I therefore withdraw my allegation that Mr Goh was dishonest and not fit to be the Prime Minister. I offer to him my apologies.

11 Before the SAR, Dr Chee took no issue with the first apology and confirmed that it was made voluntarily.

Mr Goh’s letter of demand

12 On 30 October 2001, Mr Goh’s solicitors, Drew & Napier LLC, wrote to Dr Chee as follows:

Dear Sir

DEFAMATION

We act for Mr Goh Chok Tong.

Since 1997, the question of Singapore's financial assistance to Indonesia has been discussed, inter alia, in Parliament. In particular, and in response to questions raised by Members of Parliament, including opposition MPs, our client and other Ministers on his behalf, have given detailed explanations, inter alia, on the form of the said financial assistance extended by Singapore to Indonesia.

It has been explained in Parliament (and widely reported), as is the fact, that Singapore’s rescue package to Indonesia was in two parts: a standby loan facility of US$5 billion to Indonesia and the purchase of the Rupiah in the foreign exchange markets to support the Indonesian currency.

4. In particular, the following facts have been explained in Parliament, and equally widely reported:-

(a) with regard to the standby loan facility, Singapore’s offer of financial assistance to Indonesia was not made alone, but was part of a programme formulated with the assistance of the IMF, the World Bank and ADB. The programme included US$23 billion of financing from these agencies as well as Indonesia’s own foreign exchange reserves. Singapore was one of a number of countries, including Japan, the United States, Malaysia, Australia and Brunei, which agreed to provide supplementary financing to support the programme. Singapore’s offer of a standby loan facility was intended only as a “second line of defence” to be drawn down if the said US$23 billion financing from the IMF, the World Bank and the ADB was found to be inadequate;

(b) on 31st March 1998, our client wrote to President Suharto informing him of Singapore’s decision to establish a Singapore-Indonesia Bilateral Trade Finance Guarantee Scheme (“the BTFG Scheme”). The BTFG Scheme was intended to provide export credit insurance initially for Singapore’s domestic exports to Indonesia, and later retained imports from Indonesia and eventually, exports to Indonesia through Singapore by Indonesia’s trading partners who do not have their own bilateral export credit schemes;

(c) the BTFG Scheme was to have replaced the said standby loan facility of US$5 billion; and

(d) no funds were ever disbursed by Singapore under the US$5 billion standby loan facility.

5. As a candidate for election to Parliament, and as the leader of the Singapore Democratic Party, you must be taken to be fully aware of the above matters.

6. We are instructed that, in the course of campaigning on 28 October 2001, you spoke the following words, inter alia, in the presence of various members of the print and broadcast media:

…we kept saying Suharto, Suharto find me one word, just that one word in Suharto in today’s Straits Times did anybody say? But that’s the most important thing in our campaign right now, alright? It’s a fact that this Government will not help our workers and they take all the money overseas, either investments in loans, they are not getting it back, and then they try to get it from people through taxes again…

They will take the money and go and lend it to Suharto, $17 billion of their money, where is justice? You report what I said before you ask any more questions.

7. On the same occasion, upon seeing our client a short distance away, you shouted the following words in the presence of members of the public and the print and broadcast media:

Mr Goh! Mr Goh! Come here Mr Goh! I want to talk with you, come here! Where is our money Mr Goh? You can run, but you can’t hide.

8. You also approached Mr Harun Ghani, a former MP, and, referring to our client, spoke the following words in the presence of Mr Harun Ghani, members of the public and the print and broadcast media:

He took $17 billion, 1998 you cannot run away $17 billion you lent it to Suharto. Number one, you were a Member of Parliament, did he tell you? You represent the people! Why didn’t you say anything? You were wrong, that...