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Veteran diplomat, lawyer, academic, and author Tommy Koh, 88, has expressed his unhappiness over media coverage of property tycoon Ong Beng Seng, calling him a “good man”<\/a><\/span> – a statement that drew much disagreement online.<\/p>\n Posted on the morning of Nov 12, Prof Koh’s comments have since garnered more than 3,100 reactions and some 770 comments as of press time, with many commenters voicing their dissent.<\/p>\n Attaching a photo of a Straits Times article with the headline “Property tycoon Ong Beng Seng retains PR status, issued ICA warning letter”, Prof Koh wrote that he was “not happy with the way the media has reported on (Ong)”.<\/p>\n “He is a good man and not a bad man, and we should not demonise him,” he said, adding that Ong made “enormous contributions” to Singapore’s hospitality industry.<\/p>\n Prof Koh, who invited Ong to join the National Arts Council during his tenure as chairman, noted that the billionaire had brought Italian opera singer Luciano Pavarotti to Singapore and donated the “entire proceeds” of the concert to NAC.<\/p>\n “He asked for nothing in return and I gave him nothing in return except my friendship and gratitude,” he added.<\/p>\n Stomp has reached out to Prof Koh for comment.<\/p>\n Among the many comments on Prof Koh’s post was one from former ST editor Bertha Henson, attracting more than 470 likes, who asked him to clarify what he meant by being “not happy with the reporting”.<\/p>\n She pointed out that the article was “straight forward” and did not include background on Ong’s “past history with the “Lees on Nassim condos”, which she said would have been “legitimate backgrounding”.<\/p>\n Ms Henson was alluding to a 1996 episode when the late Lee Kuan Yew and then Deputy Prime Minister Lee Hsien Loong revealed that they had bought four Hotel Properties Limited-developed luxury condominium units in Orchard at discounted prices, sparking a public uproar.<\/p>\n Ong co-founded HPL in 1980 and serves as its managing director.<\/p>\n‘He is a good man’<\/h3>\n
Netizens voice disagreement<\/h3>\n