On September 21, 1981 the Singapore Democratic Party ("SDP"), a registered political party in Singapore, held its inauguration at the Singapore Conference Hall auditorium starting at 6.30 p.m. To this inauguration was invited the Plaintiff who was at that time, and still is, the secretary-general of the Workers' Party ("WP"), another registered political party in Singapore. At the time when the Plaintiff was invited he intimated to Chiam See Tong, secretary-general of the SDP, that he (the Plaintiff) had a dinner engagement on the same evening as the inauguration and would therefore have to leave after his speech, and this was acceptable to the SDP.

The Plaintiff and the chairman of the WP, Wong Hong Toy, attended the SDP's inauguration, and as a guest speaker the Plaintiff took his seat at the rostrum in the company of the leaders of the SDP, whilst his chairman sat with the audience. The Plaintiff was the first main speaker after words of welcome from the leaders of the SDP, adoption of the SDP's constitution and the swearing-in ceremony of the office bearers of the SDP. The Plaintiff was the only guest speaker and was the most popular man that evening; he received rounds of applause even before he spoke and he made a fairly long speech. After his speech he left the meeting and at that time or immediately following his departure a large section of the audience also left. In fact, from that time onwards, people began to trickle out of the hall, presumably because the meeting was quite prolonged; it did not really conclude until 10.30 p.m. or thereabout.

On the following day the popularity of the Plaintiff at the SDP's inauguration was reported in the Business Times as follows:

"If applause were considered a good measure of popular support, Mr. J.B. Jeyaretnam, secretary-general of the Workers' Party, was definitely the most popular person at the Conference Hall last night.

Ironically, the occasion was the inauguration of the Singapore Democratic Party. Mr Jeyaratnam, the guest speaker received four rounds of loud hand claps — before he uttered his first words — as he was introduced.

Several of the some 300-strong audience even walked out after his speech …"

On 3October 14, 1981 a writ was issued for a Parliamentary by-election for the constituency of Anson, and the nomination day for candidates for the by-election was fixed for October 21, 1981 and the by-election was to be held on October 31, 1981. On October 20, 1981, on the eve of the nomination day, the following report appeared in the then afternoon newspaper, New Nation under the heading, "Chiam, Jeya keep mum":

"Today is the eve of Nomination Day for the Anson by-election but the Workers' Party and the Singapore Democratic Party are still keeping mum.

Mr. J.B. Jeyaretnam, secretary-general of the Workers' Party, said party members will meet today but declined to elaborate.

Mr. Chiam See Tong, secretary-general of SDP, said last week that his party chairman, Mr. Fok Tai Loy, is a likely candidate for the by-elections. But this morning, he would not confirm this. However, he maintained that the party will be contesting.

The United People's Front secretary-general, Mr Harbans Singh, has said that he will be contesting.

The PAP has named Mr Pang Kim Hin as its candidate for the by-election on October 31."

On the nomination day, the People's Action Party ("PAP") nominated Pang Kim Hin, as their candidate and the WP nominated the Plaintiff as their candidate for the by-election. The SDP on seeing that the Plaintiff was nominated did not field a candidate to contest the by-election.

The Defendant is the Minister for Defence and Second Minister for Health in the Government. He was appointed the first organising secretary of the PAP on April 17, 1979 and has continued to hold that post. As such he was responsible for, inter alia, the party's election activities. He was therefore most concerned at securing the return of the PAP's candidate at the by-election. On October