Support Soh Rui Yong – Battle For The Truth

On 5 June 2015, Ashley Liew finished 8th at the 2015 SEA Games Marathon. He later told the media that he "dramatically slowed down to wait" for runners who had missed a u-turn in the race (Reference: https://www.todayonline.com/sports/liew-shows-what...) to allow them to catch up and "wait for the order to somewhat resume" before continuing his race (Reference: https://video.toggle.sg/en/series/the-5-show/ep111...). It was later widely reported that Liew had "slowed to a crawl" and that the act "probably cost him a medal", earning Liew sportsmanship accolades (https://www.facebook.com/internationalfairplay/photos/a.868130596574126/1833290336724809/?type=1&theater).

My name is Soh Rui Yong, and I was one of the runners in that race. Unfortunately, I am of the view that Ashley Liew's story was untrue.

Believing that the public should not be mislead by this story, I spoke up on the truth of the issue - that Ashley Liew's account of events was inaccurate. I was in the pack of runners who missed the wrong turn, and Ashley did not slow down to wait for us. We took approximately 2km (7 minutes) to close down the 50m gap had on us. Had Ashley indeed dramatically slowed down "to a crawl", it would have been obvious and we would all have caught him without 20-30 seconds.

In July 2019, Ashley Liew said the following:

1) He never claimed to slow "to a crawl" to wait for other competitors to catch up after the wrong turn.

That is contrary to what is reported in CNA here:
"Liew said then that he slowed down to almost a crawl in order to wait for them to catch up."
Read more at https://www.channelnewsasia.com/news/sport/marathoner-soh-rui-yong-ashley-liew-sea-games-2015-10866740

And in TODAY here:
"He said then that he slowed down to almost a crawl in order to wait for them to catch up."
https://www.todayonline.com/singapore/marathoner-ashley-liews-account-act-sportsmanship-2015-sea-games-untrue-claims-gold

2) He never claimed that his actions cost him a medal or a podium finish.

Straits Times article dated 25 July 2019 (https://www.facebook.com/sohruiyong/photos/a.591089277633393/2290344231041214/?type=3&theater)

In April 2019, Ashley elected to pursue legal proceedings against me accusing me of lying, and demanding that I agree with his story. I declined to comply, and will be submitting the relevant evidence for the Honourable Court to the make the necessary finding and for the truth to be revealed during trial.

I understand from well-wishers who have contacted me of their interest to assist with legal fees. I have decided that it is apt timing to launch a go-fund me campaign, particularly as trial is about to commence (estimated May/June 2020), and significant preparation for trial work will need to be undertaken. This is particularly seen in light where a lot of non-essential issues are being thrown up as a distraction to the real issues at hand, but will still have to be addressed.

If you'd like to support my push for justice, do consider sending in a few dollars and I hope this will send a message to all, and authorities who have taken issues against me that the truth will ultimately prevail.

Any help, both in forms of donation and by sharing this campaign link, is much appreciated. Thank you!

-Rui Yong