By Walter Sim, The Straits Times, 28 Nov 2013
THE High Court yesterday granted permission for contempt of court action to be taken against blogger Alex Au Wai Pang, but only for one of two articles which had been flagged by the Attorney-General's Chambers (AGC).
Justice Belinda Ang ruled in a closed-door hearing, in which Mr Au's lawyers were allowed to sit in, that the AGC can proceed on the Oct 5 post titled "377 Wheels Come Off Supreme Court's Best-Laid Plans".
But she did not find sufficient basis for contempt on the Oct 12 article "Church Sacks Employee And Sues Government - On One Ground Right, On Another Ground Wrong".
The AGC now has 14 days to apply for an order of committal - the next step for instituting action against contempt of court. After that, it can serve papers on Mr Au, 61, who runs sociopolitical blog Yawning Bread. A hearing date will then be decided.
Mr Au claimed that a seven- month delay between the hearing of businessman Tan Eng Hong's case against Section 377A in March and High Court Justice Quentin Loh releasing his decision last month was "deliberate".
He pointed out how the same judge took just two months to reject a similar case by a gay couple, which was heard in February. This was to allow them to file their appeal first, Mr Au claimed.
The problem with Mr Tan's case, the blogger alleged, was that it was first filed in 2010, when the CJ was the Attorney-General. That meant he would have had to recuse himself from any involvement in Mr Tan's case.
If Mr Tan's case went to appeal first, or if he applied for the appeal to be heard together with the gay couple's case, the CJ would not be able to sit on the three-judge bench for the appeal court's final decision on Section 377A.
That, Mr Au theorised, was behind the seven-month delay.
In the Oct 12 post, Mr Au expressed doubt that the judiciary was capable of making independent judgments on two cases initiated by Mr Wee Kim San Lawrence Bernard, a homosexual man.
Mr Wee lost his first case, in which he sued his former employer Robinsons for discrimination, after the High Court "erroneously decided" it, claimed Mr Au.
He suggested that this would also lead the High Court to rule against Mr Wee in his subsequent application for a declaration that bias against homosexuals is unconstitutional.
The AGC has said it had already given Mr Au "a chance" in July last year, when he put up a post alleging that well-connected people received special treatment in court. The blogger was let off with a warning after he withdrew the article and apologised.
Ahead of yesterday's ex-parte hearing, Mr Au's lawyers, Mr Peter Low and Mr Choo Zheng Xi, argued for the right to oppose the AGC's leave application, saying "it would save judicial time and assist the court to come to a clearer determination at the early stage".
Justice Ang only let the lawyers observe the hearing, but did not allow them to oppose the leave application.
Contempt: Hearing on blogger put off to today
By Walter Sim, The Straits Times, 27 Nov 2013
By Walter Sim, The Straits Times, 27 Nov 2013
THE High Court adjourned for a day the hearing on the Attorney- General's Chambers' (AGC) application for leave to start contempt action against sociopolitical blogger Alex Au Wai Pang, after one of his lawyers showed up at yesterday's closed-door hearing.
Justice Belinda Ang ordered the delay for parties to make submissions on whether the defence is allowed to sit in at this preliminary stage.
"We will be arguing that we should be allowed to oppose the application at the early stage," lawyer Choo Zheng Xi of Peter Low LLC, who turned up for the hearing on behalf of Mr Au, told The Straits Times. "Alternatively, we should be allowed to hold a watching brief for our client, meaning that we can sit in for the hearing, but we don't make submissions."
The AGC has accused the 61-year-old of "scandalising the judiciary" in two articles he wrote and published on his site, Yawning Bread, last month.
But before it can start action, the AGC must let the court decide if there is enough basis for a case. That was the reason for yesterday's ex-parte hearing, which did not require the presence of the other party - in this case Mr Au, or his representatives.
The articles in question - "377 Wheels Come Off Supreme Court's Best-Laid Plans" on Oct5, and "Church Sacks Employee And Sues Government - On One Ground Right, On Another Ground Wrong" on Oct 12 - dealt with alleged discrimination against homosexuals.
In the earlier post, Mr Au allegedly accused the Supreme Court of "deliberately manipulating hearing dates". A week later, he alleged the judiciary was incapable of making independent judgments.
Both posts are still on the site, which Mr Au, a gay rights activist and the vice-president of migrant workers' group Transient Workers Count Too, began in 1996.
The AGC said it had already given Mr Au "a chance" in July last year, when he put up a post alleging that well-connected people received special treatment in court. The blogger was let off with a warning after he withdrew the article and apologised.
In January, Mr Au apologised for defaming Prime Minister Lee Hsien Loong in an article on his blog. Last year, he was asked to remove a defamatory comment made against Law Minister K. Shanmugam.
AGC wants to take blogger to court for contempt
By Walter Sim, The Straits Times, 26 Nov 2013
By Walter Sim, The Straits Times, 26 Nov 2013
THE Attorney-General's Chambers (AGC) will today seek the High Court's permission to take legal action against blogger Alex Au Wai Pang for contempt of court.
If the judge rules that there is sufficient basis for the case to proceed, court papers will then be served on Mr Au, who will be entitled to a full hearing to decide if he has "scandalised the judiciary", as claimed by the AGC.
The blogger is alleged to have done so through two articles he wrote and published last month on his sociopolitical blog Yawning Bread, the AGC said yesterday.
The AGC's application, filed at the High Court on Nov 14, is over the blog posts "377 Wheels Come Off Supreme Court's Best-Laid Plans", published on Oct 5, and "Church Sacks Employee And Sues Government - On One Ground Right, On Another Ground Wrong", put up on Oct 12.
The AGC claims that in the first post, the 61-year-old had accused the Supreme Court of "deliberately manipulating hearing dates" to allow the Chief Justice to influence a case to determine the constitutionality of Section 377A, which criminalises sex between men.
This year, two similar cases on Section 377A came before the courts.
In one case, which was first filed in 2010, the CJ "would have to recuse himself... since he was the Attorney-General at the time" to avoid a conflict of interest, wrote Mr Au. Thus, the way out for the courts was to actually delay the judgment in this case. This was done so that it could then take into account how the CJ may rule in the second Section 377A case, Mr Au claimed.
In the Oct 12 post, Mr Au allegedly accused the judiciary of being incapable of making independent judgments.
This was over two cases filed by Mr Wee Kim San Lawrence Bernard, a homosexual man.
He lost his first case, in which he sued his former employer Robinsons for discrimination, after the High Court "erroneously decided" it, claimed Mr Au.
He suggested that this would lead to the High Court also ruling against Mr Wee in his subsequent application for a declaration that bias against homosexuals is unconstitutional.
This is not Mr Au's first run-in with the AGC for contempt of court. In July last year, he was let off with a warning after he suggested in a blog post that prominent plastic surgeon Woffles Wu had received special treatment before the Singapore courts. This was after the surgeon was fined $1,000 for abetting an employee to take the rap for two speeding offences.
After the AGC said the post alleged that "our courts are biased towards those whom you describe as well-connected", he withdrew the article and published an online apology.
In his apology, Mr Au admitted that he had committed an act of contempt of court, and that he had "seriously misrepresented various facts". He wrote: "I will not in future put up any post to the same or similar effect."
The AGC yesterday said that Mr Au was already "given a chance" on that occasion.
Mr Au is not required to attend today's hearing.
The AGC added: "Pending the outcome of the leave application, it would not be appropriate to comment on the merits of the contempt application."