(delivering the judgment of the court): This appeal is from a judgment of the Court of Appeal of Singapore (Wee Chong Jin CJ, Lai Kew Chai and Chua JJ) dated 19 August 1986 reported at [1987] 1 MLJ 176 dismissing an appeal from a judgment of Thean J which dismissed the appellant's claim against the respondent for damages for slander. That claim arose out of certain events which took place in 1981. At 6.30pm on 21 September 1981 the Singapore Democratic Party ('the SDP'), a registered political party in Singapore held its inauguration meeting at the Singapore Conference Hall auditorium. At that time the appellant was the secretary-general of the Workers' Party ('the WP') which was another registered political party in Singapore. The secretary-general of the SDP, Chiam See Tong, accorded to the appellant, in the words of Thean J, the 'unusually high honour' of being invited to this ceremony as the first main speaker and the only guest speaker, taking precedence over the speeches of all the leaders of the SDP. Such an honour was a clear indication that at the material time the relations between these two political parties were friendly.

On receipt of the invitation, the appellant had informed the secretary-general of the SDP that he would have to leave after his speech due to a dinner engagement on the same evening as the inauguration. This was acceptable to the SDP. From the reports of the meeting and according to the evidence of representatives of the press, who were present, the appellant was the most popular man that evening, receiving rounds of applause even before he spoke, as well as during his speech. After his speech he left the meeting, as did a large proportion of the 300-strong audience.

The respondent, who was the defendant in the action, was at all material times Minister for Defence and Second Minister for Health in the government of Singapore and organizing secretary of the People's Action Party, the party in government in Singapore. On 26 October 1981, the respondent held a press conference at Blair Plain at which representatives of the media were present. At that conference he said, inter alia:

SDP had their inaugural earlier this month. Mr Jeyaretnam attended. After Mr Jeyaretnam had spoken, he left the hall, and when he left the hall, 200 participants left with him. I believe the exodus was engineered. I don't think it was a spontaneous exodus. If it were, it did not speak well for the SDP. It shows that the crowd, the limited crowd still looks towards Mr Jeyaretnam, for the time being, as a leader of the opposition. But I am inclined to believe that the exodus was contrived by the leader of the Workers' Party to show who is boss at this stage. And surely Mr Chiam cannot take that trick lightly.

On 23 November 1981 the appellant issued his writ claiming damages for slander and in his statement of claim delivered on 10 February 1982 he alleged that the words set out above were both defamatory and calculated to injure him in his office as leader of a political party. In his defence the respondent denied that the words which he had used were defamatory of the appellant and he denied that they were calculated to disparage the appellant in his office as the secretary-general of the WP. He raised two further defences, namely, that the words were fair comment spoken without malice upon a matter of public interest, namely, the conduct of leaders of the opposition parties including the appellant, and further or alternatively that the occasion on which the words were uttered was one of qualified privilege. The decision of the trial judge

The judge held that the words complained of in their natural and ordinary meaning were defamatory of the appellant. He said this:

The crucial point in this issue is this: did the words complained of in their natural and ordinary meaning impute to the plaintiff any dishonourable or discreditable conduct or motives or lack of integrity on his part? If they did, then inescapabl