Roy Ngerng

Roy Ngerng Yi Ling (; born 9 May 1981) is a Singaporean blogger and activist.

In 2015, Ngerng was found liable for defaming Prime Minister Lee Hsien Loong. In his blog, he had accused the PM of being a "thief" and criminally misappropriating monies paid by citizens to the state-administered Central Provident Fund. The judge ruled that the accusation is malicious and "one of the gravest that can be made against any individual, let alone a head of government". Ngerng was ordered to pay defamation damages of S$150,000.

In the 2015 general election, Ngerng joined a Reform Party team to contest against the prime minister in Ang Mo Kio constituency, but lost with 21.4% of votes, the second lowest of all GRCs contested. In 2016, Ngerng relocated to Taiwan.

Early life and education

Ngerng's father is a ''chai tow kway'' seller while his mother is a retired factory worker. Ngerng lived with them and his younger sister in a four-room Housing Development Board flat in Sembawang. Ngerng also has an elder sister. Before 2000, the Ngerng family lived in a two-room flat near the now-defunct Hong Dao Primary School, which Ngerng had attended. Ngerng's family were unaware of his blogging activities until the events of May 2014.

Ngerng states that his interest in people and their interactions started in primary school when he witnessed instances of racism. At the age of 15, Ngerng revealed his homosexuality to friends, but described facing resultant discrimination. He went on to study in Serangoon Junior College, where he took art as an GCE Advanced Level subject and won an award for topping his level in geography and art in his first year. Ngerng majored in sociology at the National University of Singapore, where he participated in its community service club helping autistic or hyperactive children and people with mental disorders.

Career

After graduation, Ngerng worked for six months with Autism Partnership, an organisation working with families with autistic children. Ngerng then joined the Health Promotion Board's Communicable Diseases department for six years, working on campaigns and presenting at international conferences, and winning an Employee of the Year award for innovation in 2011. In 2012, he joined Tan Tock Seng Hospital as a contract patient coordinator, where he fronted a campaign to promote the understanding of the lives of HIV-infected people.

On 10 June 2014, Ngerng was sacked from his job at Tan Tock Seng Hospital for "conduct incompatible with the values and standards expected of employees" and for misusing resources for personal pursuits. Ngerng described the sacking as "politically motivated". NGO Maruah expressed concern on the manner of punishment and the reasons for doing so. In the same month, a 71-year-old man, Loh Thiam Hock, was jailed for four weeks for vandalising public property in support of Ngerng. In August, it was also reported that Ngerng was working part-time at his father's chai tow kway stall.

Political career

In August 2015, Ngerng was part of the Reform Party six-member team contesting Ang Mo Kio Group Representation Constituency in the 2015 general election.

On 21 May 2014, Ngerng applied to be a Nominated Member of Parliament (NMP), with the proposal being submitted by fellow blogger Han Hui Hui. Ngerng was ultimately not selected as an NMP in August 2014.

The People's Action Party team headed by Prime Minister Lee Hsien Loong defeated the Reform Party by 135,115 to 36,711 (78.63% to 21.37%) in the election.

In 2018, Ngerng took part in an Al Jazeera documentary, ''Singapore: The House that Lee Built''. The documentary was Ngerng's first media appearance since his participation in the 2015 Singapore general election and showed snippets of Ngerng's life in Taiwan.

Controversies

Libel suit over CPF blog post

Ngerng started his sociopolitical blog, ''The Heart Truths'', in 2012.

On 15 May 2014, Ngerng made a post entitled "Where Your CPF Money Is Going: Learning From The City Harvest Trial" on his blog ''the Heart Truths''. Within the post, Ngerng created a chart which mapped the relationships between Prime Minister Lee Hsien Loong, the Central Provident Fund (CPF), the Monetary Authority of Singapore (MAS), Temasek Holdings and the Government of Singapore Investment Corporation (GIC). Ngerng claimed there was an "uncanny resemblance" between this chart and another chart by news agency Channel News Asia regarding the relationship among City Harvest Church leaders, who were being charged with misappropriating funds.

The CPF has been described as "a forced savings scheme" for Singaporeans with "monthly contributions into the fund" to be saved for retirement, or for expenses on "property, healthcare, and their children's education", while the GIC has been described to have "indirectly invested" funds from the CPF.

On 18 May, Lee's lawyer, Senior counsel Davinder Singh of Drew & Napier, stated that the blog post alleged that Lee "is guilty of criminal misappropriation of the monies paid by Singaporeans to the CPF" and that the allegations were "false and baseless". It was demanded that Ngerng issue an apology and take down the blog post within three days, as well as pay damages and legal fees, failing which Ngerng could be sued for defamation. On 19 May, Ngerng took down the offending blog post but did not apologise and said that the offending article was a call for greater transparency on the CPF, the GIC and Temasek Holdings. He then posted another blog post entitled "Your CPF: The Complete Truth And Nothing But The Truth". Around this time, Singapore human rights non-governmental organisation Maruah called for Lee to rebut the points made in Ngerng's blog post. After an extension for the deadline for Ngerng's written response was granted, Ngerng apologised "unreservedly" on 23 May, admitting that his allegation was "false and completely without foundation". Ngerng also asked that he not pay for damages and legal fees, while requesting an "open dialogue" with Lee on the CPF. Ngerng's appeal to drop damages and costs was rejected.

On 26 May, Singh sent a letter to Ngerng, saying that four further blog posts by Ngerng and a 24 May YouTube video showed that Ngerng's apology was not "genuine". If Ngerng did not take down this material, aggravated damages would be claimed. Ngerng agreed to remove the additional posts and video. On 27 May, Ngerng offered S$5,000 in damages "with each party to bear their own costs", which was rejected by Singh as "derisory". Meanwhile, Singh said that Ngerng had once again "misled" Lee and the public by not removing his YouTube video as agreed upon, claimed that the video was merely made private, and alleged that Ngerng had sent two emails with links to the posts and video to "a far wider audience" including local and international media. In response, Ngerng's lawyer, M Ravi, claimed no knowledge of the emails.

On 29 May, Lee filed a defamation lawsuit against Ngerng. In response, Ngerng made an online plea for help in settling his legal fees through crowdfunding, leaving instructions on how to transfer money to his bank account. Within a week, Ngerng said that he had raised more than his targeted S$70,000. It was later reported that Ngerng had managed to raise more than S$110,000 from over a thousand contributions. While Lee did not address the case directly, he wrote on Facebook that "freedom of speech does not come free from the need to be responsible for what one says, either online or offline". Singaporean writer Catherine Lim has criticised the lawsuit against Ngerng.

On 17 June, Ngerng's defence was filed in court by his lawyer, M Ravi, who stated that Ngerng had never intended to accuse Lee of criminal misappropriation of CPF funds. In July 2014, Lee applied for summary judgment for the case. In a 4 August affidavit, Ngerng argued that his blog post had been misunderstood, and that he was merely asking for more transparency and accountability for CPF monies. At a 19 September closed hearing, Lee's lawyers asserted that Ngerng had "no defence" and asked for an injunction, while Ngerng's lawyer, M Ravi, argued that the blog post was not defamatory if read in its entirety.

On 7 November, the High Court found Ngerng liable of defamation with damages to be assessed, which was the first such ruling in Singapore over a purely online article. The court ruled that there was "no triable defence" and "no doubt that it is defamatory to suggest that the plaintiff is guilty of criminal misappropriation". An injunction against Ngerng was granted, barring him from publishing future similar accusations regarding Lee and the CPF. Ngerng expressed disappointment at the verdict, but maintained that he would "still continue to speak up on the CPF and other issues that concern Singaporeans". On 12 January 2015, the High Court ordered Ngerng to pay Lee S$29,000 for costs of legal fees and related expenses; with damages yet to be settled. After missing the payment deadline twice, Ngerng paid on 6 February after a public spat with his lawyer, M Ravi.

On 12 June, Ngerng's application to be represented by a Queen's Counsel in the damages hearing scheduled for 1 to 3 July 2015 was denied by the High Court and he was ordered to pay costs of S$6,000 to Lee's lawyers from Drew & Napier.

The damages hearing proceeded as scheduled from 1 to 3 July 2015 with Ngerng representing himself and Lee being represented by Singh. Citing a lack of funds, Ngerng represented himself after dismissing his third lawyer in this case – George Hwang of George Hwang LLC. Ngerng's first lawyer in the case, M Ravi, was suspended by the Law Society for mental health reasons. During a hearing, Ngerng broke down in tears while he was being cross-examined by Singh.

The hearing prompted much comment from international press freedom advocacy groups and a legal opinion in favour of minimal damages against defendant from the International Commission of Jurists: "It is humbly submitted that a decision awarding a disproportionately high amount of damages to the plaintiff in this case would cast a chilling effect on freedom of expression in Singapore". The High Court requested both parties to make written submissions on their respective cases by 31 August 2015. No date was given for the court's decision.

On 17 December, the court handed down a judgement ordering Ngerng to pay S$100,000 in general damages and S$50,000 in aggravated damages. Ngerng, through his lawyer Eugene Thuraisingam, proposed to pay the S$150,000 in instalments. Lee granted Ngerng his request on the condition that Ngerng paid the S$30,000 in hearing costs immediately, i.e., by 16 March 2016. Ngerng is expected to repay S$100 a month from 1 April 2016 onwards over five years until 1 April 2021 when instalments are increased to S$1,000 until the full sum has been paid by the year 2033. Lee also rejected Ngerng's request to reimburse part of the damages, i.e., S$36,000.
By 16 April 2021, a crowdfunding campaign had raised the S$144,389.14 required to pay the outstanding damages in full.

Hong Lim Park protests

Ngerng was a speaker at the ''Return Our CPF'' protest organised by blogger Han Hui Hui at Hong Lim Park on 7 June 2014. In his speech, he demanded transparency and accountability for CPF monies. Organisers claimed a turnout of 6,000, while international news agencies reported about 2,000. Ngerng also spoke at the second (which drew "hundreds") and third ''Return Our CPF'' protests at the same venue on 12 July and 23 August 2014.

On 27 September 2014, during another ''Return Our CPF'' protest organised by Han Hui Hui, which took place at Hong Lim Park at the same time as the ''YMCA Proms @ the Park'' event, a charity carnival attended by the elderly and disabled, featuring performances by children. Agence France-Presse described Ngerng and Han as having "led a march ... despite having only a permit to stage a rally at a fixed spot". ''The Straits Times'' described that Han had led the protesting group in "marching around the park" together with Ngerng, with the group "heckling special needs children and confronting" Minister of State Trade and Industry Teo Ser Luck, who attended the YMCA event. A few days later, Teo confirmed that Ngerng had issued an apology for the disruption; Teo himself apologised due to his "presence" causing the protesters to "go after" him.

In a joint statement, the National Parks Board (NParks) and the Singapore Police Force (SPF) said that "each event was allocated a lawn" and that Han did not heed their advice "to speak at the allocated space". They described that "Han's group encroached into the YMCA event area, holding placards and shouting slogans, disrupted performances and frightened participants, including special needs children who were performing at the charity event". NParks and SPF also said that final approval to hold the event was given to YMCA on 9 September 2014, while Han's application for the protest was received and approved on 22 September 2014. The YMCA stated that NParks on 11 April 2014 had acknowledged their intent to hold the carnival.

On 27 October 2014, in relation to the YMCA event disruption, Ngerng, Han, and four others were charged for public nuisance, which can incur a maximum fine of S$1,000; Ngerng and Han were also charged for organising a demonstration without approval, which can incur a maximum fine of S$5,000. In October 2015, Ngerng pleaded guilty to charges of public nuisance and organising a demonstration without approval. His lawyer, Eugene Thuraisingam, said he committed the offence because of ignorance. Ngerng was fined S$1,900.

Personal life

Raised in a family of five, Ngerng has an elder sister and a younger sister. His father is a hawker chef. During his early life, Ngerng and his family lived in Ang Mo Kio and later moved to Sembawang.

Ngerng attended the Hong Dao Primary School for a few years then transferred to Ang Mo Kio Primary School. He later studied at Mayflower Secondary School and then Serangoon Junior College before going to the National University of Singapore to major in sociology. During his junior college and university years, he excelled and got the top grade in English literature, Geography and arts. He was also on the dean's list of his university for one semester.

Ngerng is gay, as stated in his personal blog, ''My Right To Love'', in 2011. He has written on topics related to the LGBT community, such as relationship woes and AIDS. Ngerng's family has long accepted his homosexuality even though they did not react positively when first revealed of his sexual orientation decades ago; his mother initially cried and for a few years refused to acknowledge his homosexuality.

Ngerng has been residing in Taipei since October 2016.

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Ngerng, Roy
Singaporean LGBTQ writers
Singaporean LGBTQ politicians
Living people
Singaporean activists
Singaporean bloggers
Gay politicians
Reform Party (Singapore) politicians
Singaporean people of Chinese descent
Singaporean people of Teochew descent
1981 births
Male bloggers