Tag Archives: Ting Choon Meng

We refer to the Ministry of Law’s reply on 22 January 2017 to our press statement on the Protection from Harassment Act. The Ministry of Law stated that it does not intend to amend the POHA to protect itself from harassment. We welcome this statement. However the Ministry has not stated if it will amend the POHA or introduce new laws to protect itself from false information.

The Workers’ Party welcomes the recent decision by the Court of Appeal in Attorney-General v Ting Choon Meng that government agencies such as MINDEF do not fall under the legal definition of “persons” under Section 15 of the Protection from Harassment Act (POHA). However, we are concerned by the Ministry of Law’s response to the ruling, which suggests that the Government is looking into taking further action on the matter.

The courts have now given its final decision, after a two year battle involving the Attorney General’s Chambers, representing the Government, and lawyers working on behalf of Dr Ting Choon Meng and website, The Online Citizen (TOC). On Monday, the three-men panel of the Court of Appeal (CA), in a rare split decision, ruled that the Government is not a legal person, and thus has no recourse to invoke the Protection of Harassment Act (PHA) to defend itself from allegations made by Dr Ting.

Mindef's appeals against Ting Choon Meng and the current and former editors of The Online Citizen will be heard in the Court of Appeal tomorrow, Court 9A of the Supreme Court at 2.30 p.m.

This morning, the Singapore High Court ruled that the Ministry of Defence ("Mindef") cannot use the Protection from Harassment Act as it is not a "person" under the Act. Judicial Commissioner See Kee Oon hence allowed the appeal by Dr Ting Choon Meng and TOC (Terry Xu, Howard Lee, Andrew Loh, Choo Zheng Xi and Lee Song Kwang) against the decision of District Judge Bala Reddy, which had earlier held that Mindef could use the Act in such a manner.

Lawyers for Dr Ting Choon Meng and The Online Citizen have rejected legal demands to stop making "false statements" regarding a patented mobile clinic as demanded by the Ministry of Defence (MINDEF) and its legal representatives. Dr Ting claims that MINDEF has stolen his patented concept for an emergency mobile clinic after speaking to him about it at a trade fair in 2005. TOC has backed up Dr Ting's claims and have refused to take down Dr Ting Choon Meng's claims against Mindef from its website.

It is indeed sad that the issue has turned sour and legal action was resorted to. Singapore is aiming to be an IP (Intellectual Property ) Hub and because of our reputation, we can succeed. So this unfortunate dispute is going to cause damage to what we want to achieve. Dr Ting is a Singaporean and has world-wide reputation as an inventor. Let's settle such disputes through mediation without the need to resort to the courts. This will save time, cost and face for all parties.