PM Lee must take heed of the strong support from ordinary people in Singapore towards the legal defense fund of Roy Ngerng. More than $70,000 were raised in just 4 days, surpassing the target needed to pay a good lawyer to defend Roy Ngerng.
If PM Lee continues with the legal action and wins the case in court and, if the court award the damages of $250,000 that he had asked for, what is likely to happen next?
I expect that the people of Singapore will come forward again and contribute the $250,000 in damages in full. And they will do so, with great anger against the person who is collecting this money. Even if it is donated to charity, it will still be the hard earned money of the donors.
And if that happens, it will surely be followed by a resounding defeat of the People's Action Party at the next general election.
What can PM Lee do now? He can remove the demand for aggravated damages and reduce his claim for damages to $10,000 - twice of what Roy Ngerng had earlier offered. And this is likely to be accepted by Roy Ngerng, leading to an amicable close to this case.
And this may turn out to be positive for PM Lee, as he will be sending a strong message that he is willing to listen to the voices of the people.
Tan Kin Lian
*The author was a former Presidential Candidate and the former CEO of NTUC Income.