{"id":11637,"date":"2025-11-15T05:14:47","date_gmt":"2025-11-14T21:14:47","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/sgbuzz.com\/?p=11637"},"modified":"2025-11-15T05:14:47","modified_gmt":"2025-11-14T21:14:47","slug":"we-should-not-demonise-him-tommy-koh-voices-concern-over-media-portrayal-of-ong-beng-seng-singapore-news","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/sgbuzz.com\/?p=11637","title":{"rendered":"&#8216;We should not demonise him&#8217;: Tommy Koh voices concern over media portrayal of Ong Beng Seng, Singapore News"},"content":{"rendered":"<p><br \/>\n<\/p>\n<div>\n<p>Veteran diplomat Prof<strong> <\/strong>Tommy Koh has voiced his dismay at the recent media portrayal of property tycoon Ong Beng Seng, calling him a &#8220;good man&#8221;.<\/p>\n<p>The Ambassador-at-Large at Singapore&#8217;s Ministry of Foreign Affairs made the Facebook post on Wednesday (Nov 12), two days after media reports on Ong being issued a letter of warning from the Immigration and Checkpoints Authority (ICA).\u00a0<\/p>\n<p>ICA had allowed Ong to retain his Permanent Resident (PR) status but cautioned<strong> <\/strong>that future adverse conduct could lead to revocation.<\/p>\n<p>In his post, Prof Koh included a picture of a Straits Times article with the headline &#8220;Property tycoon Ong Beng Seng retains PR status, issued ICA warning letter&#8221;, saying that he is &#8220;not happy&#8221; with media coverage of the topic.<\/p>\n<p>&#8220;He is a good man and not a bad man and we should not demonise him,&#8221; wrote the lawyer and academic.\u00a0<\/p>\n<p>He also said that Ong, a Malaysian citizen, has made &#8220;enormous contributions to Singapore&#8221;, especially in the hospitality industry, the entertainment industry and the real estate industry.<\/p>\n<p><iframe loading=\"lazy\" frameborder=\"0\" height=\"474\" width=\"500\" scrolling=\"no\" src=\"https:\/\/www.facebook.com\/plugins\/post.php?href=https%3A%2F%2Fwww.facebook.com%2Ftommy.koh.752%2Fposts%2Fpfbid02ZTTpE1RQtWqSGVyqet41LZKYtHWSXH6LX4Hgqdb48Ji6H5eWTcPpAPzA6bCqmRySl&amp;show_text=true&amp;width=500\" allowfullscreen=\"\" allow=\"autoplay; clipboard-write; encrypted-media; picture-in-picture; web-share\">\u00a0<\/iframe><\/p>\n<p>Prof Koh went on to list several of Ong&#8217;s contributions, including bringing Formula One and world-renowned opera singer Luciano Pavarotti to Singapore.<\/p>\n<p>Ong had also donated all the proceeds from Pavarotti&#8217;s performance in Singapore to the National Arts Council.<\/p>\n<p>&#8220;He asked for nothing in return and I gave him nothing in return except my friendship and gratitude,&#8221; Prof Koh said.<\/p>\n<h2>Netizens divided on Prof Koh&#8217;s criticism<\/h2>\n<p>Netizens were quick to react to Prof Koh&#8217;s post, which has gone viral and amassed over 1,100 comments.<\/p>\n<p>One user disagreed with his perspective, saying that &#8220;public kindness does not erase private misconduct&#8221;.<\/p>\n<p>While Ong might have made significant contributions to the country, he needs to be held accountable for his wrongdoings, the user said, adding that &#8220;Singapore&#8217;s integrity depends on one standard for all&#8221;.<\/p>\n<p><img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" data-entity-uuid=\"b81b1642-142e-4741-9f13-4437141217f9\" data-entity-type=\"file\" height=\"630\" width=\"1200\" src=\"PHOTO: Screengrabs\/Facebook\"\/><\/p>\n<p>Veteran journalist Bertha Henson also questioned his disapproval, saying that the article he referenced was &#8220;a straightforward news report&#8221;.<\/p>\n<p><img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" data-entity-uuid=\"38c806df-5035-4842-ad1f-96ffef24d908\" data-entity-type=\"file\" height=\"630\" width=\"1200\" src=\"PHOTO: Screengrabs\/Facebook\"\/><\/p>\n<p>Other netizens showed support for Prof Koh&#8217;s views, agreeing that Ong should not be painted in a negative light.<\/p>\n<h2>Ong spared jail under judicial mercy<\/h2>\n<p>79-year-old Ong was <a href=\"https:\/\/www.asiaone.com\/singapore\/cancer-stricken-ong-beng-seng-court-fined\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener\">sentenced to a maximum fine of $30,000<\/a> on Aug 15 for abetting the obstruction of justice.<\/p>\n<p>Ong suffers from multiple myeloma, a form of incurable cancer, and was subsequently granted judicial mercy by the courts given that imprisonment would pose a clear danger to Ong&#8217;s health.<\/p>\n<p>The offence of abetting the obstruction of justice carries a jail term of up to seven years, or a fine, or both.<\/p>\n<p>Ong pleaded guilty on Aug 4 to one charge of abetting former Transport Minister S. Iswaran in obstructing the course of justice.<\/p>\n<p>[[nid:725115]]<\/p>\n<p>dana.leong@asiaone.com<\/p>\n<\/div>\n<p><br \/>\n<br \/><a href=\"https:\/\/www.asiaone.com\/singapore\/tommy-koh-voices-concern-over-media-portrayal-ong-beng-seng\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener\">Read Full Article At Source <\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>Veteran diplomat Prof Tommy Koh has voiced his dismay at the recent media portrayal of property tycoon Ong Beng Seng, calling him a &#8220;good man&#8221;&#8230;.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":11638,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"fifu_image_url":"","fifu_image_alt":"","footnotes":""},"categories":[2611],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-11637","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-buzz-headlines","wpcat-2611-id"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/sgbuzz.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/11637","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/sgbuzz.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/sgbuzz.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/sgbuzz.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/sgbuzz.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcomments&post=11637"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/sgbuzz.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/11637\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/sgbuzz.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/media\/11638"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/sgbuzz.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fmedia&parent=11637"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/sgbuzz.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcategories&post=11637"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/sgbuzz.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Ftags&post=11637"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}