Singapore Democratic Party Chief Dr Chee Soon Juan had was to have cross-examined PM Lee Hsien Loong and MM Lee Kuan Yew in court today for assessment of damages, according to the Lees, for "the gravest defamation that has ever been considered in a Singapore court". Mr Singh, the lawyer acting for the Lees, called Dr Chee a scaredy-general while MM Lee called him a political juvenile and near-psychopath.

This is possible because Dr Chee was reportedly not able to conduct a proper cross-examination in court and declaring the entire process and being hideous. In addition, he added that "(the Lees) have chopped off their legs, lopped off their arms, and they expect them to continue with the assessment of damages?". Other questions that were posed by Dr Chee was deemed as irrelevant by the judge.

The hearing continues at 2.30pm today, with each side having an hour-and-a-half each to make its closing statement.

THE open-court hearing into assessment of damages in what lawyers for Prime Minister Lee Hsien Loong and Minister Mentor Lee Kuan Yew called the ‘gravest defamation that has ever been considered in a Singapore court’ finally began yesterday afternoon.

However, even though PM Lee arrived at Court 4B at 2.30pm all ready to take the stand, it was not till 3.20pm that his cross-examination by the defendants began.

As in closed-door hearings two weeks ago and last week, there continued to be delays, distractions and disruptions aplenty.

The defendants - the Singapore Democratic Party (SDP), represented by lawyer M. Ravi, its chief Chee Soon Juan and his sister Chee Siok Chin who represented themselves - made more last-minute applications, including for an adjournment of the entire hearing by a few months.

In the morning, lawyers for the Lees, led by Senior Counsel Davinder Singh of Drew and Napier, and the defendants argued before Justice Belinda Ang behind closed doors over striking out of the affidavits of the Chee siblings and their witness, former solicitor-general Francis Seow, which Mr Singh argued were irrelevant and scandalous.

Justice Ang, who began hearing this issue last Thursday and Friday, agreed to Mr Singh’s application yesterday morning.

Her decision prompted the Chees to seek an adjournment of the damages hearing to give them time to prepare.

But Justice Ang did not allow further delays, and ordered that the damages hearing start at 2.30pm.

The Chees can still appeal at a later date, and if they succeed, there will be a retrial.

Still, the hearing did not start on time as the Chee siblings were late by 15 minutes.

Instead of beginning his cross-examination of PM Lee when he arrived, Dr Chee stood to ‘address the Court’.

Declaring the ‘entire process quite hideous’, he alleged that his case had been crippled from the start. ‘You have chopped off our legs, lopped off our arms, and you expect us to continue with the assessment of damages?’

Mr Singh countered that Dr Chee was simply afraid to cross-examine the Lees.

Pointing to PM Lee, Mr Singh added: ‘He sees my client in court, he has panicked. The scaredy-general, sorry, the secretary-general, of the SDP, should stand up and be counted. He has on his website been saying he wants to cross-examine Mr Lee.’

Later in the afternoon, more interruptions followed with Mr Ravi and Ms Chee also weighing in to apply for adjournments. They failed.

When PM Lee finally took the stand, he was cross-examined by Mr Ravi, followed by Dr Chee who did not complete his questioning yesterday.

And while the cross-examination was civil, Mr Singh queried how relevant several lines of questioning were to the assessment of damages, for example: ‘Does your family control Singapore?’ and ‘Do you hate Dr Chee?’

When Mr Ravi asked if PM Lee was aware that the Chees were already bankrupt and thus the Lees could have nothing to gain from the defamation suit, he replied:

‘This case is not about money. It is about establishing truth and putting a stop to poisonous lies.’

The hearing continues today, with Dr Chee resuming his cross-examination of PM Lee.

MM Lee, who was in court from 4.05pm yesterday, is expected to take the stand as well.

sueann@sph.com.sg

And in today’s papers, MM Lee called the SDP Chief a political juvenile and near-psychopath:

MINISTER Mentor Lee Kuan Yew called Singapore Democratic Party (SDP) chief Chee Soon Juan a ‘near-psychopath’ and a ‘political juvenile’, while Dr Chee accused MM Lee of curbing his political life and curtailing their face-off in court.

Potshots and political speeches filled Day 2 of the open court hearing to assess the damages that the SDP, its chief and his sister Chee Siok Chin have to pay Prime Minister Lee Hsien Loong and MM Lee, following a defamation judgment in 2006.

Under cross-examination by SDP’s lawyer M. Ravi, MM Lee declared of Dr Chee: ‘He’s a liar, a cheat, and altogether an unscrupulous man. I could also add that I’ve had several of my own doctors who are familiar with such conduct… tell me that he is near-psychopath.’

The SDP leader, he added later when cross-examined by Dr Chee himself, should take a leaf from veteran opposition politician J. B. Jeyaretnam’s book. He recently set up the Reform Party.

The latter had discharged himself from bankruptcy so that he can contest future elections, while Dr Chee had ‘neutered’ himself politically by remaining a bankrupt.

‘You may believe that being bankrupt does not mean anything, but then, you are a political juvenile,’ he charged.

Dr Chee’s conduct had destroyed the SDP, he said.

‘The SDP was doing very well under Mr Chiam See Tong, and at one time captured three seats (in Parliament), and it became the de facto leader.

‘You came in, and destroyed the SDP. As a result, the Workers’ Party has become the de facto leader.’

Dr Chee, said Mr Lee, ought to emulate opposition MPs such as Mr Chiam and Mr Low Thia Khiang who had managed to get elected without defaming anyone.

‘They have won successive elections, but you have lost successively, because we have proved to the people that you are not to be believed,’ said Mr Lee.

MM Lee took the stand at 12.50pm, after PM Lee, who stepped down from the witness box at 12.15pm.

Where Monday’s hearing had been fraught with delays and disruptions, yesterday’s proceeded with speed and efficiency - even to the extent of skipping lunch.

This was because Justice Belinda Ang granted a request from Senior Counsel Davinder Singh, lawyer for the Lees, to impose a guillotine time of two hours for the questioning of MM Lee.

After the cross-examination of PM Lee on Monday, said Mr Singh, it became obvious that the Chees simply wanted to ‘insult’, ‘annoy’ and ’scandalise’, and to turn the hearing into ‘political theatre’, rather than to make a substantive case.

Both sides spent 50 minutes arguing the guillotine issue.

‘You’ve already chopped off our arms, legs, what do you want next, our heads?’ said Ms Chee, in a direct reference to the guillotine.

Still, when Dr Chee resumed his cross-examination of PM Lee yesterday, his first 20 or so questions did not get a reply as they were ruled irrelevant by the judge.

Nearing lunch time, Mr Singh asked for the hearing to continue over the lunch hour, but with a 10-minute break, so that MM Lee could attend to ‘important matters’ later in the afternoon.

Ms Chee objected, arguing that she needed to eat so that she could take medication, while Mr Ravi quipped: ‘My stomach has not been given notice.’

Ms Chee brought food into the courtroom later but did not eat it.

The cross-examination of MM Lee lasted till 3.15pm, after which he and PM Lee left the court.

The hearing continues at 2.30pm today, with each side having an hour-and-a-half each to make its closing statement.

sueann@sph.com.sg

Article obtained from straitstimes.com on 27th May 2008

Since 90% of the Johor petrol kiosks business comes from foreigners, petrol kiosks say they “will die” without business from Singaporeans. I doubt the petrol kiosks will risk the fine of RM250,000 just to get more businesses from Singapore motorists. Is this a good or bad implementation?

JOHOR petrol station operators and businesses are up in arms over a move by authorities there to ban foreign-registered vehicles from Singapore and Thailand from buying fuel at stations within 50km of its borders.

Without business from Singaporeans, petrol kiosks say they “will die” since as much as 90 per cent of their business comes from foreigners, said The Straits Times. Other businesses like hypermarts and restaurants will be affected too, as they depend largely on Singaporeans.

The fuel ban is due to take effect on Friday, and is aimed at preventing foreign vehicles from benefitting from heavily-subsidised fuel, which amounted to RM40 billion (S$16.8 billion) last year. The move will affect about 300 petrol kiosks.

BH Petrol kiosk assistant Chai Shao Chin, 37, said half of the kiosk’s customers are Singaporeans, adding: “Business will be down. There are so many kiosks, some will even have to close shop.”

Agreeing, Shell chain dealer Sallehuddin Saidon, 46, said: “Surely there will be lower volume. This ruling is going to cripple Johor’s economy badly.” Forty per cent of his 1,000 weekday customers and 1,500 weekend customers are Singaporeans.

The Straits Times confirmed their fears. Most of a dozen Singapore motorists interviewed yesterday said they will cut back on trips across the Causeway.

According to the Land Transport Authority, about 16,000 local vehicles leave Singapore via the Woodlands and Tuas checkpoints daily.

Subsidised petrol, regardless of brand, costs RM1.92 a litre, and diesel, RM1.58.

But Johor Menteri Besar Abdul Ghani Othman had told the media yesterday that the ruling will not hurt the state’s tourism industry, as Johor has other attractions for foreigners.

Most petrol kiosks say they will have to comply with the ban because the fine of RM250,000 is just too hefty to risk getting caught.

- AsiaOne

Once this ban kick in probably this Friday, will you cut down on trips to Malaysia? Probably there will be a traffic jam this Thursday at the causeway. I think this ban will mostly affect motorists who visit Johor once or twice a week just to buy cheap petrol. With the current all time high petrol price, buying cheap petrol from Malaysia have become so attractive that makes Singaporeans make the trip there. So by implementing this, will it deter people from visiting Malaysia and triggering a downturn in their economy in the long run?

Some Singaporeans said they may cut back on trips to Malaysia once the proposed ban on the sale of petrol and diesel to foreign registered vehicles within a 50-kilometre radius of Malaysia’s borders takes effect.

The ban is expected to kick in as early as this Friday in a move to prevent abuse of heavy fuel subsidies.

However, Malaysia’s Domestic Trade Minister, Shahrir Samad, said on Tuesday that the ban is a temporary one. It will be lifted once a new subsidy mechanism to replace the existing scheme, where everyone is subsidised, is put in place.

Still, the move is expected to affect hundreds of motorists who regularly cross over the border for cheaper oil.

Malaysia’s diesel and petrol prices are among the lowest in Asia due to high government subsidies.

The ban is expected to affect up to 300 petrol stations in the country. And Singaporeans who head to Johor Bahru for cheaper petrol will be the most affected.

For example, Loy Cheong, a businessman who is a regular traveller across the border, said he will cut back on his trips.

Mr Cheong, Business Development Manager, Medo Enterprises Holding, said: “Buying cheap petrol is one of the privileges and what attracts the Singaporean to go there. But with this implementation, it may deter people from visiting Johor.

“We go normally once a week or once in every two weeks. But if they implement this, maybe we will go less often, like once a month.”

Also facing problems are Malaysians who are Singapore permanent residents.

Koh Ming Li, a Singapore permanent resident, lives near the border and has been coming to Singapore almost every day for the past two years for work.

He said: “The problem now is that it prohibits me from driving directly into JB. And as for the 50-kilometre radius from JB, I would say (there’s) almost no petrol kiosks within JB that I can pump petrol from.”

Petrol kiosk operators who violate the ban face the possibility of a S$110,000 fine (RM$250,000) or a three-year jail term or both.

- CNA