Update [June 20, 1430hrs]: Jason Chua commented on Mothership.sg's FB page, claiming that he has no affiliation to the PAP and is not a member of the party. He said that he "support(s) a party of choice that is deemed best to run the country". 

The message appears to be clear enough: Regardless of political affiliation, you will be investigated by the authorities if you violate Cooling-Off Day rules.

Violation of Cooling-Off Day rules first made the news on June 1 when former SDP candidate and lawyer Teo Soh Lung and CPF blogger Roy Ngerng -- who are not exactly the biggest fans of the ruling party -- were questioned, had their homes raided and devices seized by police.

And it appears that the police will take action against such violations even if you are the People's Action Party (PAP)'s biggest fan.

Jason Chua Chin Seng, the founder of Fabrication about the PAP fanpage, posted three Facebook posts in the past 24 hours, saying that his phone, iPad and two laptops were "taken" by the police for investigations.

The founder of the pro-PAP FB page added that two female police officers even took photos of his room.

In response to Mothership.sg's queries about Chua's posts, the police can "confirm that a report has been lodged and investigations are ongoing".

Police report was made against FAP on June 13

Augustine Lee Zixu, the Organising Secretary of opposition party People's Power Party, emailed Mothership.sg yesterday (June 17), and wrote that he had made a police report on June 13 against FAP.

The police report was filed against FAP for allegedly violating the Parliamentary Election Act (PEA) for their Facebook posts made on Polling Day.

Lee also said that he has written to ELD about the breaches on May 30 but did not receive any reply.

In light of this new development on Friday, we’ve got a few questions for the police and the ELD:

1. With the prevalence and influence of social media, how does one assess whether a person’s Facebook page or Twitter account is deemed as a news media platform or as an individual?

We observed that the mainstream media like Channel NewsAsia, Today, The Straits Times, The New Paper and other language papers are permitted to post freely about the election on Cooling-Off and Polling Day.

It is noted that mainstream media sites like Channel NewsAsia appreciate the spirit of cooling off day and chose not to circulate their election-related web articles via their social media platforms. However, they are able to publish articles online, in print and broadcast, on Cooling-Off Day.

2. In its background information about Cooling Off Day, ELD gave exceptions to the prohibition of campaign activities on Cooling-off Day. It allowed for "the transmission of personal political views by individuals to other individuals, on a non-commercial basis, using the Internet, telephone or electronic means".

If individuals are permitted to express their opinions, why are Chua, Teo and Ngerng being taken to task?

Are they not individuals, or are their Facebook posts deemed to be media platforms?

There is a distinction that should be made between Chua and Teo or Ngerng.

Chua is affiliated to a political party that was involved in the by-election.

This is not the case for Teo (a former SDP candidate) and Ngerng (a former Reform Party candidate).

If the punishments meted are different for the three cases, more eyebrows will be raised.

Related articles:

What the Police and ELD said on investigating alleged cooling-off day breaches doesn’t explain everything. Yet.

Police seize computers, phones of individuals implicated in alleged cooling-off day breaches

Workers’ Party ‘concerned’ with how Cooling Off Day investigations are being conducted

Top photo from FPAP Facebook page.

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