Singapore orders Australia-based website under fake news law to issue correction

The article published on August 18 was written by a Singaporean academic from the National University of Singapore (NUS).

East Asia Forum is a website that carries commentaries on politics, economics, business, law, security, international relations and society in the Asia-Pacific region. Its base is the Crawford School of Public Policy at the Australian National University in the Australian city of Canberra.

NUS’ website states that Chan is with its department of Chinese studies and his research interests focus on Chinese history.

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He graduated with a bachelor’s and a master’s degree in Chinese studies from NUS before obtaining a doctorate in East Asian Studies from Princeton University in the United States.

PMO said that the article contained four falsehoods.

First, it falsely claimed that Lee had conflated marital infidelity and corruption as well as equated three issues that the People’s Action Party (PAP) had faced with one episode of marital infidelity that the Workers’ Party (WP) had faced.

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PMO said that at a press conference on July 17, Lee had given his views in relation to both the CPIB investigations and extramarital affairs in response to a question posed to him by the media.

“Any concurrent mention of both the CPIB investigations and extramarital affairs related only to the close proximity of the timing in which the incidents were made public, and not the substance of these incidents,” it added.

Lee said in a ministerial statement in Parliament on August 2 that the government took different approaches towards allegations of corruption or other wrongdoing in the discharge of official duties on the one hand, and cases involving misconduct in personal lives on the other hand.

Second, the article also mentioned that the CPIB is not independent in deciding whether to carry out investigations because it reports directly to the prime minister alone; and that the prime minister alone has the power to refuse approval for CPIB to investigate, which PMO said is untrue.

It added that the article has omitted various safeguards put in place to ensure CPIB’s independence.

Third, the article falsely suggested that there was a cover-up of wrongdoing or corruption in having only former finance minister Richard Hu speak with the late founding prime minister Lee Kuan Yew and then-deputy prime minister Lee Hsien Loong, in relation to their purchase of properties from Hotel Properties Limited.

PMO said that investigations had found no wrongdoing or impropriety by Lee Kuan Yew and his son Lee Hsien Loong and the matter was openly debated in Parliament in 1996, with full facts disclosed in ministerial statements.

Fourth, the commentary falsely suggested that there was a cover-up of wrongdoing or corruption by having only Senior Minister Teo Chee Hean, and not CPIB, investigate the matter concerning the lease of state-owned properties on Ridout Road to Cabinet Ministers K Shanmugam and Vivian Balakrishnan.

PMO said that the two ministers had asked Lee Hsien Loong for an independent investigation into their respective rentals of the properties and the prime minister had tasked CPIB to conduct the probe.

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Teo was separately asked to establish whether proper processes had been followed and if there had been any wrongdoing.

“While the author is free to express his views on the above matters, his article makes false and misleading statements while omitting key facts on these matters of public interest,” PMO said.

East Asia Forum will be required to carry a correction notice on its website and its Facebook page, with a link to the PMO’s clarification.

The commentary also appeared to have wrongly featured a photo of businessman George Goh, who recently tried to run for the presidency in Singapore, even though he was not mentioned in the article.