On Wed (24 Oct), WP MPs, Low Thia Kiang, Sylvia Lim and Pritam Singh, launched a public appeal for financial help amid an ongoing lawsuit against them by two town councils alleging improper spending of public funds.
“We need financial resources to fight the legal battle and to deal with the prospect of being made a bankrupt,” said.
They added that $600,000 of legal fees have been paid to lawyers for work done so far, using their own savings and contributions from friends. This has “depleted our personal resources”, they revealed.
“We have not used any funds from the Workers’ Party,” they emphasized.
They were appealing for public donations to help them pay further legal fees in their continuing lawsuit.
Presumably, the 2 town councils suing them would be using town councils’ monies to pay for their legal expenses without the need to ask for any public donations.
Members of public donate to WP MPs enthusiastically
As at 10 am this morning (27 Oct), a total of $1,008,802 have been raised from members of public for the 3 WP MPs and they have stopped accepting further donations.
This is quite an achievement in view of the fact that the amount was raised very quickly within 3 days.
They wrote on their blog:
Dear Friends,
We are very touched by the incredible outpouring of support from the public for the appeal that we launched barely three days ago.
The amount raised has crossed a million dollars. We are closing the appeal for now, as the amount raised substantially covers the legal fees required at this point in time.
We would like to ask you to hold your contributions if you have not transferred them. We will provide updates here on how the funds are used.
We thank you from the bottom of our hearts. The financial support is crucial but the moral support you have given us is incalculable.
Sylvia, Pritam and Mr Low
It is understood that at least 5,000 people from all walks of life, averaging more than $200 per donor, have contributed to help the 3 WP MPs in their efforts to defend themselves against the 2 town councils.
Yesterday (26 Oct), Yahoo also did a poll to find out how many people were willing to donate to help the 3 MPs. Nearly 7,000 people voted with an overwhelming 74% said ‘yes’.
