On Tuesday last week, The Online Citizen (TOC) went into hiatus after electronic devices belong to the publication and me were seized by the Singapore Police Force under a court order granted to investigate into a case of Criminal Defamation.
The alleged offence is in regards to a letter written by a member of public, who called himself, Willy Sum which shared his opinion about the government and the current state of affairs in Singapore.
While we leave the investigation into the allegations to the police, TOC will continue its publication from today as new hardware has been purchased with the aid of helpful members of public and readers.
Other than purchase of new hardware, a number of kind hearted individuals have signed up as supporters on Patreon or subscribers to the site. In light of such support, we cannot but to continue our work to repay their kindness.
We would like to express our thanks to all who have contributed so far, whether it is in monetary or in contribution of article and information.
We will be running a fund raising campaign soon to prepare and expand our team so as to deal with the election next year. As there is the risk of me being arrested and put to jail, there is an urgent need to ensure that the publication is able to run even with me behind bars especially during the election period.
With your support, my team and I pledge to continue our work till the day we have exhausted all available resources or forced to have our operations ceased.
As we say, “Democracy is best served by having an informed and involved citizenry that has access to a wide range of sources of news and views and an open and vibrant environment in which to share and to debate ideas and opinions.”
