KUALA LUMPUR, MALAYSIA — Threatening a Malaysian news portal with contempt of court action over its article on a landmark lawsuit by Changi Prison death row inmates is a “disproportionate and heavy-handed response” by the Singapore government, said human rights NGO Lawyers For Liberty (LFL).
The article referenced by LFL is a publication dated 31 Aug by MalaysiaNow, containing details of a lawsuit filed by 17 Malay death row inmates against the Singapore Attorney-General.
In the lawsuit, the inmates alleged being subjected to racial discrimination, unequal treatment and systematic targeting of Malays by government institutions in the Republic in their investigations and proceedings.
All but one — Rahmat Karimon, a Malaysian citizen — of the 17 prisoners are Singapore citizens.
They are represented by Singaporean human rights lawyer Ravi Madasamy, known as M Ravi.
Mr Surendran said that the “threat” was made by the Attorney-General of Singapore in a letter on Thursday to Mr Ravi’s law firm, KK Cheng Law LLC.
In a statement on Friday (3 Sep), LFL’s advisor N Surendran said that such a response “over a mere news article on the filing of a lawsuit” is “difficult to understand”.
“Clearly the Singapore government is extremely fearful of any public discussion of racially discriminatory practices in the city state.
“As regards the threat against the Malaysians, this is not the first time Singapore has threatened criminal sanctions or legal action against Malaysian activists or entities exercising freedom of speech within Malaysia,” said Mr Surendran.
Highlighting that LFL is also faced with possible contempt of court action from the Singapore government for sharing details on the 17 inmates’ lawsuit, Mr Surendran said that the organisation was previously threatened with “their notorious POFMA (Protection from Online Falsehoods and Manipulation Act) law”.
In Jan last year, LFL filed an originating summons in the Kuala Lumpur High Court against Singapore’s Home Affairs Minister K Shanmugam for the correction direction issued against the organisation under POFMA for publishing details on the alleged brutal execution methods employed in Changi Prison.
Mr Surendran told reporters at the lobby of the Kuala Lumpur Court Complex on 24 Jan that the correction direction “is an attempt to reach out their tentacles and impose their own oppressive fake news act on Malaysians issuing statements in Malaysia”.
“The reason we’ve brought this suit is that — for us — this is an attempt by Singapore to encroach upon, to stifle, or to crack down on freedom of speech in our country,” he said.
Commenting on the Ministry for Communications and Information (MCI)’s direction to the Infocomm Media Development Authority (IMDA) to block LFL’s website in Singapore at the time, Mr Surendran said: “Of course we find this very disappointing.”
“[B]efore we even revealed the details … We had written to them and offered to give evidence to them privately so that something can be done about this method of execution,” he clarified.
Mr Surendran elaborated that the human rights organisation had even previously issued public statements indicating its willingness to “cooperate with the Singapore authorities to put an end to this practice”, but that such attempts were purportedly ignored by the authorities.
“They ignored and they did not respond to our attempts, which is why we felt compelled — and had no choice — but to go public with the [allegations regarding] the method of execution [in Changi Prison],” he added.
In the statement on Friday, Mr Surendran said that Singapore’s “repeated attempts to reach across the causeway and silence critics” in Malaysia shows “disregard” for the country’s sovereignty and “utter disrespect for free speech, open public discourse as well international human rights norms”.
“Singapore should defend the lawsuit by the 17 prisoners in court in the usual way, and not exert state power to intimidate the litigants, lawyers, activists and news media,” he added.
Mr Surendran called on the Singapore government to promptly withdraw the threat of contempt action against M Ravi, MalaysiaNow and LFL.
“Mr Ravi is Singapore’s most prominent human rights lawyer, who is known internationally for his pro bono advocacy in death penalty cases.
“Apart from this latest threat, Singapore has also hit Mr Ravi with multiple professional disciplinary complaints over arguments he had made in court on behalf of death row inmates,” he added.
Mr Surendran also urged the Malaysian government to “make the necessary representations to Singapore, and do the necessary to protect its citizens carrying out activities lawful under Malaysian law”.
