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http://utwt.blogspot.com.au/2012/02/k-shanmugam-should-come-clean-with.html
[h=2]Sunday, February 19, 2012[/h][h=3]K Shanmugam should "Come clean with the people"[/h]
In a now infamous letter to Alex Au of Yawning Bread, K Shanmugam's lawyers declared,
Secondly, if K Shanmugam knows that these allegations are false and scurrilous, why does he feel the need to serve such defamation letters to innocent people who did not even make the defamatory comments in the first place? Why doesn't K Shanmugam just come out and clearly to state and deny the allegations and just let that be that?
Thirdly, this letter looks like an attempt to intimidate an innocent blogger, and all other innocent bloggers, into refraining from talking about allegations which are not originated by them and which they are not responsible for making. Can K Shanmugam clarify precisely the limits of the freedom of speech on the internet and whether quoting allegations made by other people is a crime? Is it a crime for a person to talk about "rumours" when those rumours did not originate from the person talking about them?
K Shanmugam should put himself in the shoes of voters and ask himself if voters want a bullying, intimidating figure to be their minister or whether they want a person who can simply state the truth and move on. Such lawyers letters only serve to cast further doubt on his character and wonder what exactly is Mr Shanmugam trying to hide.
[h=2]Sunday, February 19, 2012[/h][h=3]K Shanmugam should "Come clean with the people"[/h]
In a now infamous letter to Alex Au of Yawning Bread, K Shanmugam's lawyers declared,
1. We act for Mr K Shanmugam.
2. We refer to the following comments that you have made on your website, yawningbread.wordpress.com, under the Responses section of the blog posting entitled “The Media and Yaw Shin Leong” published on 8 February 2012:
“I take the points raised in the above two comments. Indeed, I think the role of the mainstream press in this issue needs to be contrasted with the relative silence when it came to allegations swirling around K Shanmugam and Foo Mee Har at various points in the recent past. That there were rumours is widely known, though as in the Yaw Shin Leong case, no one can point to any proof. But that’s not my point here. My point is that the mainstream media’s interest in the Yaw affair does not look like neutral journalism. “
(Response No 24 dated 9 February 2012 at 23:34hrs) (the “Blog Comments’)
3. The allegations against our client that you have referred to in the Blog Comments have been put up primarily by a person who calls himself “scroobal’ on the internet. The allegations are false and scurrilous.
With reference to the above letter, K Shanmugam should clarify the following:2. We refer to the following comments that you have made on your website, yawningbread.wordpress.com, under the Responses section of the blog posting entitled “The Media and Yaw Shin Leong” published on 8 February 2012:
“I take the points raised in the above two comments. Indeed, I think the role of the mainstream press in this issue needs to be contrasted with the relative silence when it came to allegations swirling around K Shanmugam and Foo Mee Har at various points in the recent past. That there were rumours is widely known, though as in the Yaw Shin Leong case, no one can point to any proof. But that’s not my point here. My point is that the mainstream media’s interest in the Yaw affair does not look like neutral journalism. “
(Response No 24 dated 9 February 2012 at 23:34hrs) (the “Blog Comments’)
3. The allegations against our client that you have referred to in the Blog Comments have been put up primarily by a person who calls himself “scroobal’ on the internet. The allegations are false and scurrilous.
- What precisely are the allegations that K Shanmugam is claiming are "false and scurrilous"? K Shanmugam should state precisely what allegations he is referring to and deny them categorically.
- Why is it a crime for Alex Au to talk about "swirling allegations" when these allegations were not originated from Alex Au and it is not even clear in the first place precisely what allegations Alex Au is talking about?
- Which other internet websites apart from Yawning Bread have been served with the same notice? Why does Alex Au appear to have been targeted personally and not other websites which talk about these "allegations"as well?
Secondly, if K Shanmugam knows that these allegations are false and scurrilous, why does he feel the need to serve such defamation letters to innocent people who did not even make the defamatory comments in the first place? Why doesn't K Shanmugam just come out and clearly to state and deny the allegations and just let that be that?
Thirdly, this letter looks like an attempt to intimidate an innocent blogger, and all other innocent bloggers, into refraining from talking about allegations which are not originated by them and which they are not responsible for making. Can K Shanmugam clarify precisely the limits of the freedom of speech on the internet and whether quoting allegations made by other people is a crime? Is it a crime for a person to talk about "rumours" when those rumours did not originate from the person talking about them?
K Shanmugam should put himself in the shoes of voters and ask himself if voters want a bullying, intimidating figure to be their minister or whether they want a person who can simply state the truth and move on. Such lawyers letters only serve to cast further doubt on his character and wonder what exactly is Mr Shanmugam trying to hide.
