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Terry Xu, editor of The Online Citizen, which was recently taken offline, has raised more than S$210,000 in 19 days to pay off all the defamation damages owed to Prime Minister Lee Hsien Loong.

Xu, who is 39 in 2021, hit his fundraising target on Sep. 19, 2021, after 19 days of appealing for public monies.

The total amount declared by Xu was S$210,230.90, or 100.11 per cent of the requested donation.

Fundraising efforts appeared to have slowed after the first nine days, where close to 80 per cent of the money was raised.

The final 20 per cent of funds came in over the next 10 days.

More than 2,000 donors

PM Lee was awarded S$210,000 in damages for two defamation suits he filed over an article published on TOC.

According to Xu, 2,055 donors gave money to him.

The donation amounts ranged from S$0.01 to S$5,000.

However, this current sum that Xu raised is only to pay for defamation damages.

Further costs

Further costs to be incurred will be decided upon on a later date in October by the court.

These other costs pertain to legal costs to be awarded to PM Lee's lawyers.

Xu's own estimation puts the legal costs above S$150,000.

He derived this figure based on legal costs incurred in a previous defamation suit pursued by PM Lee against Leong Sze Hian.

In Leong's case, he had to pay S$129,327.22 in legal costs on top of defamation costs.

Money awarded to PM Lee to be donated

Costs awarded to PM Lee will be donated to charities.

Responding to media queries, PM Lee's press secretary Chang Li Lin previously said: "The judgement has been made. As usual, Prime Minister Lee intends to donate to charity the damages he has been awarded".

As further legal costs are still pending, Xu is leaving his donation channel open for people to give, but he will not be providing updates on the total amount received.

Xu wrote in his post a message of thanks to his donors:

I would like to express my greatest of appreciation to all of whom have kindly contributed to the amount raised over the past 19 days, those who have donated most generously and those who have donated even though they are in a tough patch amidst this pandemic. Many of whom I have never been contact before this fundraiser.

He also thanked the donors for donating to charity:

I also thank the donors on behalf of the charities that the Prime Minister will be donating this sum of money to. After all, it is a hard time for many of the charities to solicit donations during these trying times of the country.

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Top photos via Terry Xu and Lee Hsien Loong