THIS was one of the many questions thrown at Prime Minister Lee Hsien Loong as he took the witness stand in the High Court yesterday.

But Senior Counsel Davinder Singh, one of PM Lee's lawyers, objected to the question by lawyer M Ravi.

He told Justice Belinda Ang: 'Your honour, the damages are going this way (pointing to PM Lee), not that way (pointing to Mr Ravi).'

Mr Ravi replied: 'What is important is to do the balancing exercise at the end of the day...'

Mr Lee then replied: 'I do consider Dr Chee as a liar, as a cheat, somebody who has brought discredit to the opposition in Singapore, but I do not hate him.'

Mr Ravi, who was representing the Singapore Democratic Party (SDP), then asked PM Lee if he disliked Dr Chee, to which he replied that he did not, but he was 'impassive' and had an objective assessment of him.

There was high drama, objections and accusations in the hearing, which was to assess damages in the defamation suit by PM Lee and Minister Mentor Lee Kuan Yew against the SDP, its chief, Dr Chee, and his sister, Ms Chee Siok Chin.

In 2006, the High Court ruled that the SDP and the Chee siblings had defamed PM Lee and MM Lee.

There was also some humour, with several comments drawing guffaws from the gallery. But it was mostly confrontation right from the morning, with the Chees firing the first round in Justice Ang's chambers.

Earlier, the Lees' lawyers applied successfully to strike out the affidavits of the Chees and former solicitor-general Francis Seow on grounds that they contained irrelevant and scandalous material and were mainly a way to air the Chees' grievances against the Lees.

When Mr Ravi and the Chees wanted to have other documents admitted as evidence to help their cross-examination, Justice Ang ruled against them.

They then applied for an adjournment to let them appeal against Justice Ang's decisions but their request was denied.

PM Lee was scheduled to start the hearing by taking the stand that afternoon.

When the hearing began, Mr Singh calmly fired his first salvo.

Noting that Dr Chee and his sister were late for the 2.30pm start of the hearing, he told Justice Ang: 'The second and third defendant strolled in at 2.42pm without any hint of apology and this is a note of disrespect to the court.

'I had hoped that they would come on time, but that was not to be.'

Dr Chee then said he wished to address the court. Mr Singh countered that 'the time for applications to be made is past'.

Then, just as PM Lee was about to take the witness stand, Dr Chee jumped up and loudly requested for a week's adjournment so that he, his sister and Mr Ravi could better cross-examine the Lees.

He agitatedly told Justice Ang that by striking out their affidavits, she had 'chopped off our legs, lopped off our arms' and still expected them to continue the hearing.

Mr Singh calmly replied: 'I would like to say that Dr Chee has clearly gone weak in the knees. I have been saying for the past few days that Dr Chee wants to avoid cross-examining my client.

'He is afraid of my client and he is afraid of Mr Lee Kuan Yew... the one thing that they don't want to do and they have been avoiding is to cross swords with my client.'

Dr Chee defiantly shot back: 'I want to ask Mr Lee many questions, many questions including questions to do with the entire situation going on in Singapore right now.'

Ms Chee then asked for the hearing to be adjourned as half her face was swollen and she was having a fever.

She said: 'Mr Singh will of course accuse me of trying to use delay tactics but if Mr Singh would look at me and see that half my face is swollen... So I apply to this court to adjourn this afternoon's proceedings to tomorrow.'

Mr Singh objected, saying that Miss Chee had informed Justice Ang of her condition and could ask for short breaks to take her medication. He added that Ms Chee had not produced a medical certificate.

By this time, PM Lee had been standing in the witness box for a few minutes, ready to take his oath.

Eventually, Mr Ravi began his cross-examination.

When he asked PM Lee why he knew of the articles in The SDP newsletter only in April 2006 when they were published in February, PM Lee said with a smile that the SDP did not extend him a complimentary copy.

Soon afterward, there was a 10-minute break, after which there was a flurry of activity when some security personnel and MM Lee entered the courtroom.

ANGRY

Dr Chee jumped up and angrily asked what MM Lee and the others were doing there. He vehemently objected to their presence and wanted them to leave.

Mr Singh objected, and Dr Chee then gave the court his word that nothing would happen to MM and PM Lee during the hearing, to the amusement of those present.

Justice Ang eventually allowed MM Lee to stay.

When Mr Ravi suggested that PM Lee had planned to launch the defamation suit as a calculated move to split the SDP, he answered: 'No, that was not my plan. I could not have planned such a remarkable outcome.'

In contrast to Mr Ravi, Dr Chee was agitated when he cross-examined PM Lee. He sometimes asked PM Lee to answer his questions with 'yes' or 'no' and often raised his voice.

PM Lee, on the other hand, was calm and composed in answering his questions.

After repeated objections by Mr Singh to his line of questioning which he said was irrelevant, Dr Chee told him to 'stop jumping up like a jackrabbit'.

At 5.35pm, Ms Chee again asked for an adjournment as she could not follow the arguments and needed to see her doctor.

Mr Singh said that arrangements had been made for PM Lee, who had other commitments, to give evidence before the court and the defendants should not be allowed to take advantage of their delaying tactic.

He told Justice Ang that most of what Mr Ravi had said and all of what Dr Chee had said was irrelevant, so if the hearing was adjourned, it was going to waste the court's time.

Mr Singh added that Ms Chee could rest in court while her brother cross-examined PM Lee and her note-taker could take notes.

An angry Ms Chee then accused Mr Singh of 'bulldozing' his way through the case while Dr Chee likened him to a bully.

Justice Ang acceded to Ms Chee's request and adjourned the hearing to 10am today.

THE CASE

Defamation suit centres on articles in SDP newsletter The New Democrat about National Kidney Foundation (NKF) saga.

The February 2006 articles drew parallels between how NKF and Government were run.

PM Lee and MM Lee sued Dr Chee, his sister and the SDP's leadership for alleging that they were corrupt. High Court ruled SDP and Chees had defamed Lees.

Current hearing is to assess damages due to the Lees.

This story was first published in The New Paper on 27 May 2008.