Lee Hsien Loong v Leong Sze Hian [2021] SGHC 66 broadly categorised as issues relating to (a) meaning, (b) publication and republication, (c) quantum and loss, and (d) the available remedies, including whether or not these proceedings were an abuse of process. The Relevant Background to the Dispute Brief facts 3 As I had previously outlined the salient facts of this dispute in an earlier judgment on the striking out of the defendant’s counterclaim in the tort of abuse of process (see Lee Hsien Loong v Leong Sze Hian [2019] SGHC 66), I will only briefly set out the facts most pertinent to the instant dispute. 4 The plaintiff, the Prime Minister of the Republic of Singapore,3 brings this suit in his personal capacity. The defendant is, among other roles, a columnist who describes himself as a well-known campaigner for human rights and a government critic.4 It is uncontested that the defendant’s Facebook page is in his own name, and that he owns and manages the Facebook account from which the Post which forms the subject of this Suit was posted. 5 On or around 7 November 2018, the Article was published on a website titled “The Coverage”. “The Coverage” describes itself as a Malaysia-based social news network. The Article stated, inter alia, that ongoing Malaysian investigations concerning Malaysia’s 1Malaysia Development Berhad (“1MDB”) fund were “trying to find the secret deals between the two corrupted Prime Ministers of Singapore and Malaysia”. It is not in contention that this referred to the plaintiff and former Malaysian Prime Minister Mr Najib Razak. 3 Affidavit of evidence-in-chief (“AEIC”) of Lee Hsien Loong (“LHL”) at [5]. 4 LHL at [5] and [6]. 2