According to this Facebook post, the apology TNP carried was also run on Stomp and AsiaOne. All three websites belong to the Singapore Press Holdings.

The original article, titled, "They own posh unit, says S'porean student", was published in TNP on March 4, 2015.

The defamatory portion of the article stemmed from an unverified claim that originated from a quote by a student who accused Yang of going into hiding after taking money from a business partner.

Stomp's republication of the article has since been scrubbed clean of the defamatory statement.

So has AsiaOne's piece.

However, a cursory online search easily threw up the original article in its entirety, as it has been copied and pasted on forums such as this.

We cannot republish the defamatory statement, but we can point you to it via negativa:

They own posh unit, says S'porean student

It is about a 20-minute bus ride from Brisbane's Central Business District. Many residents of the apartment complex in the Australian state of Queensland are professionals. This paper was alerted to the address of Miss Ai Takagi and Mr Robin Yang Kaiheng by Mr Joshua Chern, a fellow Singaporean student there.

[Entire chunk missing]

He said: "My sister met Robin in Brisbane and then he asked her to invest in 'boboshooter', a business selling game consoles and other gaming accessories.

[Entire chunk missing]

The apartment is a ferry ride away from the University of Queensland campus where Mr Yang and Miss Takagi are also students.

A check with the Brisbane real estate company involved in the sale of the apartment listed Miss Takagi as the purchaser on the sales chit. That is a document held by the developer and the agent. An online real estate search showed the apartment was bought in December 2013 for A$355,000 (S$379,000).

TRS's counter-claim against SPH

This apology by publications belonging to the Singapore Press Holdings is amusing, to say the least.

Previously, TRS faced a copyright infringement suit filed by SPH.

SPH alleged that content from its newspapers were reproduced on the TRS website without permission.

TRS's Takagi subsequently took out an apology that was printed in the SPH newspaper and paid an undisclosed sum of money as settlement.

Yang, a Singaporean student, and his fiancee Takagi, a Japanese-Australian law student from the University of Queensland, were charged in April 2015 with seven counts of sedition for publishing articles that allegedly promoted ill will and hostility between difference races or classes in Singapore.

The maximum punishment under the Sedition Act is a $5,000 fine and three years' jail on each charge.

Their case is currently before the courts.

Related article:

The Real Singapore errorist apologises to SPH for infringing copyright of its articles

If you like what you read, follow us on Facebook and Twitter to get the latest updates.