Veteran architect among those praising Lee Hsien Yang for his generosity towards activist
The growing list of people supporting the PM's brother's aid of activist questioning the judiciary now includes other respected Singaporeans.
Veteran architect Tay Kheng Soon is among those who are praising Lee Hsien Yang for his generosity towards activist Jolovan Wham, after it was revealed that Mr Lee had put up a hefty $20,000 security deposit for Mr Wham’s appeal against his conviction for scandalising the judiciary.
Mr Lee is the youngest son of Singapore’s founding Prime Minister Lee Kuan Yew and the younger brother of current PM Lee Hsien Loong. After a public feud with his brother, Mr Lee Hsien Yang’s son, Li Shengwu, was accused of contempt of court over a private Facebook post and now faces a lawsuit in court.
Even as his son’s lawsuit is ongoing, Mr Lee has given to another Singaporean facing a legal case.
The High Court recently issued a $5000 fine to Mr Wham after finding him guilty of scandalising the judiciary, over a comment on social media about the independence of Singapore’s judges compared to Malaysia’s.
Mr Wham, who will be jailed for a week if he refuses to pay the fine, is also required to pay an additional S$5000 in costs and nearly S$3,000 in disbursements to the Attorney-General’s Chambers on top of the fine. Mr Wham, who said that he has done nothing wrong and has nothing to apologise for, later revealed that he is appealing the sentence.
Last night (May 21), Mr Wham revealed that Mr Lee had helped him to put up the $20,000 security deposit required for his appeal. On Twitter, Mr Wham wrote “Justice is not cheap” as he tweeted that the hefty security deposit may not be recoverable if he loses the case.
In his first tweet, he wrote: “My lawyers have informed me that they’ve put in 20k to the prosecutor’s account as security for costs. This is for my appeal against the high court decision which found me guilty of scandalising the judiciary. If I lose, I may not get the full deposit back. Justice is not cheap!”