Election petition: Chee Siok Chin v AG

Chee Siok Chin from the Singapore Democratic Party (SDP) filed an Originating summons in the High Court of Singapore challenging the validity of the results of the 2006 General Election.

She also wanted the High Court to declare the ban on podcasting during campaigning period as unconstitutional.

Chee was a candidate for Sembawang GRC and the younger sister of Chee Soon Juan, the Secretary General of SDP. I have blogged that Chee Soon Juan was declared bankrupt and therefore barred from participating in the 2006 General Election.

Unfortunately, she did not seek any legal advice before submitting the OS. Her case was thrown out as she failed to adhere to one of the requirement of the Election Regulation that is to pay the deposit of S$5000 within 3 days. In short, it was struck down purely on technicality.

The relevant rule is as following;
"At the time of the filing of the application under section 90, or within 3 days afterwards, security for the payment of all costs, charges and expenses that may become payable by the plaintiff shall be given on behalf of the plaintiff."

For the full judgment, please click here.

Malaysia has a similar rule - Rule 12 of Election Petition Rules 1954 (Malaysia).
The amount of deposit is RM10,000.

"12.(1) At the time of the presentation of the petition, or within three days afterwards, security for the payment of all costs,charges, and expenses that may become payable by the petitioner shall be given on behalf of the petitioner.

(2) The security required by this rule shall be given by a deposit of money of not less than ten thousand ringgit, and the Judge, in the course of the trial, may require the petitioner to deposit an additional sum of money by way of security as the Judge may think fit.

(3) If security as in this rule provided is not given by the petitioner, no petition shall be registered at such Court. "


Chee Siok Chin issued an open letter on 28 June 2006 thanking the SDP supporters who have chipped in for the legal expenses.

This is what she said:
"As I was the litigant-in-person, I had filed the OS and affidavit, and had personally served them on the AG. At that point, I had not engaged a counsel. As a lay person, I was unaware of the fact that I had to put in the deposit within three days after I had filed the OS. It was only when I received a letter from the AG Chambers that they were moving to dismiss the case because I had not put in the deposit that I realized the requirement"

M Ravi is the counsel for Chee Siok Chin. He acted on pro bono basis. Anyway, he is in trouble now. As reported in Singapore Straits Time, he is going to face a Court of Three Judges, the legal profession's highest disciplinary body, for being disrespectful to a district judge.