East Asia Forum issued POFMA over alleged misleading claims on Singapore’s governance

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SINGAPORE: The Protection from Online Falsehoods and Manipulation Act (POFMA) Office has issued a correction direction to the Australia-based academic website East Asia Forum (EAF) on 22 January over an article it published last week.

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According to the statement issued by the office, the article, titled “Singapore’s New Prime Minister Entangled in Old Politics,” contained several false statements regarding Singapore’s governance, prompting the government to take action.

The correction direction was issued following an instruction from Minister in the Prime Minister’s Office, Indranee Rajah, after the article made claims about the alleged misuse of government resources and ‘improper conduct’ by various political figures.

The POFMA Office ordered EAF to carry correction notices against the article on its website and on social media platforms, including X (formerly Twitter), Facebook, and LinkedIn.

Alleged ‘False Claims’ and Government Response

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According to the government’s fact-checking website, Factually, the article, written by Michael Barr, an associate professor of international relations at Flinders University, contained assertions that were not only “misleading but also factually incorrect.”

One of the most notable claims was that the Singapore government “misused the resources and time of the Cabinet, Parliament, the police… to pursue Senior Minister Lee Hsien Loong’s private agenda against his siblings and turn his family home into a memorial to his father, Mr Lee Kuan Yew, and himself.”

Addressing this allegation, Factually explained that investigations involving Lee Hsien Loong’s sibling, Lee Hsien Yang, were due to findings from a disciplinary tribunal that concluded that Lee Hsien Yang and his wife, Lee Suet Fern, had lied under oath.

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Additionally, Factually clarified that no decision had been made regarding the family home at 38 Oxley Road, as NHB’s Preservation of Sites and Monuments Advisory Board will make an independent assessment on the site’s eligibility and suitability for preservation, in accordance with section 4(a) of the Preservation of Monuments Act.

Factually accused the article also erroneously claimed that Leader of the Opposition, Pritam Singh, was prosecuted without basis, suggesting that his prosecution was part of a political agenda.

Factually pointed out that Singh’s conduct was referred to the Public Prosecutor for investigation under the Parliament Act, and charges were filed following that review.

Further inaccuracies were noted in the article’s references to the prosecution of six senior executives from Keppel Offshore & Marine.

Factually alleged that the article incorrectly stated that the prosecution had declined to charge them due to a lack of laws requiring political officeholders to declare their financial interests.

Factually, however, highlighted that the issue of political transparency had been addressed in past discussions, and the government maintains a strict stance against corruption, with full transparency for public officeholders’ financial interests.

Action Taken by POFMA Office

Under the Correction Direction, EAF is required to display a notice clarifying that the statements in the article were false.

The correction notice will also include a link to the government’s clarification, allowing readers to view both versions and make their own informed conclusions.

Factually reaffirmed Singapore’s commitment to preserving public trust by addressing and rectifying misinformation.

“The Singapore government remains steadfast in its commitment to earning and preserving the people’s trust, including countering those who attempt to erode it by spreading falsehoods,” the statement said.

EAF’s Failure to Comply with Previous CD Led to Website Blocking in September 2023

This latest correction direction follows an earlier action taken against EAF in August 2023.

The website had been issued a correction direction for an article titled “A Spate of Scandals Strikes Singapore,” which contained similar misleading claims.

After the site failed to comply with the initial order in September 2023, Singapore’s internet service providers were instructed to block access to EAF’s website.

The website had only posted a link to the government statement in the article’s comment section instead of following the directive to publish the correction at the top of the article and on its main page.

However, the correction direction was later lifted in September 2023 after the article was removed upon the author’s request, and an apology issued by the article’s author, Assistant Professor Chan Ying-Kit.

Under the POFMA Act, non-compliance with a correction direction can result in severe consequences.

Individuals who refuse to comply may face fines up to S$20,000, imprisonment for up to 12 months, or both.

For entities like EAF, the fines can escalate to as much as S$500,000.

What Michael Barr’s article was accused of by the Singapore government, according to Factually

What Barr actually discussed in his original article

Factually asserts that Barr’s article falsely claims the Singapore government misused resources and time from the Cabinet, Parliament, the police, URA, and BCA to pursue LHL’s private agenda against his siblings.This was allegedly to turn his family home, 38 Oxley Road, into a memorial to his father, Mr Lee Kuan Yew, and himself.

“… The Singapore state has deployed the power of the cabinet, the parliament, the police, the Urban Redevelopment Authority and the Building and Construction Authority to advance Lee Hsien Loong’s agenda of turning the family home into a memorial to his father and himself.”

Barr was accused of implying that the prosecution of Opposition Leader Pritam Singh was without basis and motivated by something other than the proper enforcement of the law.. Barr’s actual statement:

 

“The least edifying stories were those about elite politics, in which story after story featured the government devoting the resources and the time of the cabinet, the parliament, the Attorney-General’s Chambers and the police variously pursuing Lee Hsien Loong’s private agenda against his siblings, prosecuting the Leader of the Opposition and cleaning up the ruling elite’s dirty laundry.”

 

(Barr did not directly claim the prosecution of Mr Singh was “without basis.”)

Barr’s article was accused of suggesting that the prosecution declined to charge six senior executives of Keppel Offshore & Marine, without basis.  

“…In 2023, after the US Department of Justice caught six senior executives of a Singapore-based government-linked company paying US$55 million in bribes, the company was fined US$422 million but the executives were not charged or publicly identified due to ‘lack of evidence’.”

 

The government accused Barr of suggesting that there were no laws or conventions requiring political officeholders to declare their financial interests, assets, or conflicts of interest.  

”Singapore’s ruling elite has never been shy about pursuing self-interest while in office as long as no laws were broken and no conflicts of interest became subjects of common gossip – a standard that was easy to maintain because of the complete absence of any laws or conventions requiring political office holders to declare their financial interests, assets or conflicts of interest.”

 



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