Hong Kong-based crowdfunded investigative news agency FactWire has responded to Transport Minister Khaw Boon Wan’s latest remarks about its scoop on Singapore’s defective MRT trains being returned to China last week.

FactWire published a Facebook note, “An Open Letter to Singapore’s Transport Minister”, taking issue with Khaw’s comments, which were made in a press conference held on Tuesday, July 12.

Khaw said Singapore was caught in a power struggles between China and Hong Kong, which FactWire said is false.

This is the FactWire note in full:

Singapore’s Transport Minister Khaw Boon Wan appeared at the SMRT’s Bishan Depot on Wednesday, July 13, 2016 to explain why “hairline” train cracks were not made public. He is the highest ranking Singapore official to speak about the issue eight days after FactWire’s investigative report revealed the cover up of the train recalls. However, instead of taking responsibility for an incident which has damaged the Singaporean public’s trust in the authorities, the minister blamed the Hong Kong news agency for exposing the cover up of the recalls of defective trains, claiming that Singapore has been used as a “convenient bullet” in a “crossfire” between factions in Hong Kong:

“We are caught in a crossfire and there are factions in Hong Kong who wanted to cause some difficulties for mainland China. I have no inside information on whether that is true or not, but it’s possible. Unfortunately, we become a convenient bullet and collateral damage.”

FactWire deeply regrets the false statements that Singapore’s Transport Minister made against this news agency. Founded by 3,300 Hong Kong people in a journalism crowdfunding campaign that broke records in Asia, FactWire is entirely funded by the public. Thus, it is the public that this new agency serves, independent of any commercial or political interests.

Every investigative report published by FactWire must be founded on impregnable evidence and cover serious public interests at stake. We will never allow commercial or political considerations to override our professional journalistic judgement.

As a news agency committed to serving the public, when public officials are riled by our reporting, it is merely proof that we are doing the right thing.

FactWire News Agency

July 14, 2016. Hong Kong.

Related article:

What is FactWire & why did they report on defective SMRT train carriages in S’pore?

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