 Print Article
|
Potshots and political speeches filled Day 2 of the open court hearing to assess the damages that the SDP, its chief and his sister Chee Siok Chin have to pay Prime Minister Lee Hsien Loong and MM Lee, following a defamation judgment in 2006.
Under cross-examination by SDP's lawyer M. Ravi, MM Lee declared of Dr Chee: 'He's a liar, a cheat, and altogether an unscrupulous man. I could also add that I've had several of my own doctors who are familiar with such conduct... tell me that he is near-psychopath.'
The SDP leader, he added later when cross-examined by Dr Chee himself, should take a leaf from veteran opposition politician J. B. Jeyaretnam's book. He recently set up the Reform Party.
The latter had discharged himself from bankruptcy so that he can contest future elections, while Dr Chee had 'neutered' himself politically by remaining a bankrupt.
'You may believe that being bankrupt does not mean anything, but then, you are a political juvenile,' he charged.
Dr Chee's conduct had destroyed the SDP, he said.
'The SDP was doing very well under Mr Chiam See Tong, and at one time captured three seats (in Parliament), and it became the de facto leader.
'You came in, and destroyed the SDP. As a result, the Workers' Party has become the de facto leader.'
Dr Chee, said Mr Lee, ought to emulate opposition MPs such as Mr Chiam and Mr Low Thia Khiang who had managed to get elected without defaming anyone.
'They have won successive elections, but you have lost successively, because we have proved to the people that you are not to be believed,' said Mr Lee.
MM Lee took the stand at 12.50pm, after PM Lee, who stepped down from the witness box at 12.15pm.
Where Monday's hearing had been fraught with delays and disruptions, yesterday's proceeded with speed and efficiency - even to the extent of skipping lunch.
This was because Justice Belinda Ang granted a request from Senior Counsel Davinder Singh, lawyer for the Lees, to impose a guillotine time of two hours for the questioning of MM Lee.
After the cross-examination of PM Lee on Monday, said Mr Singh, it became obvious that the Chees simply wanted to 'insult', 'annoy' and 'scandalise', and to turn the hearing into 'political theatre', rather than to make a substantive case.
Both sides spent 50 minutes arguing the guillotine issue.
'You've already chopped off our arms, legs, what do you want next, our heads?' said Ms Chee, in a direct reference to the guillotine.
Still, when Dr Chee resumed his cross-examination of PM Lee yesterday, his first 20 or so questions did not get a reply as they were ruled irrelevant by the judge.
Nearing lunch time, Mr Singh asked for the hearing to continue over the lunch hour, but with a 10-minute break, so that MM Lee could attend to 'important matters' later in the afternoon.
Ms Chee objected, arguing that she needed to eat so that she could take medication, while Mr Ravi quipped: 'My stomach has not been given notice.'
Ms Chee brought food into the courtroom later but did not eat it.
The cross-examination of MM Lee lasted till 3.15pm, after which he and PM Lee left the court.
The hearing continues at 2.30pm today, with each side having an hour-and-a-half each to make its closing statement.
