S'porean website accuses PJ Thum & Kirsten Han of treason

Character assassination is part and parcel of Singapore politics.

Belmont Lay | April 12, 2018, 10:33 PM

A website supposedly run by Singaporeans has publicly accused historian Thum Ping Tjin and activist Kirsten Han of treason.

The Singaporean website, Five Stars And A Moon, wrote in the conclusion of an April 12, 2018 piece:

And if you accept his money and collaborate with him in politics, it is in essence treason.

The him referred to is George Soros, a renowned Hungarian-American billionaire, philanthropist and political activist. The piece attempted to make the link between Soros' funding and Thum and Han as recipients.

Five Stars And A Moon was latching on the news that the Accounting and Corporate Regulatory Authority (ACRA) had rejected the application by Thum and Han to register a company in Singapore, as there is reason to believe foreign influence could be brought to bear on local politics.

Background of issue

The reason for the ACRA rejection is convoluted, but as follows:

• The company in Singapore, if Thum and Han started operations, will be rendered "political".

• It would have been linked to a British firm that received funding from a Swiss organisation.

• That British firm in question is OSEA UK.

• OSEA UK received a US$75,000 (about S$98,100) grant from Foundation Open Societies Institute (FOSI), Switzerland.

• Soros donated US$18 billion of his wealth to start a foundation called Open Society Foundations.

• According to ACRA, OSF is “closely associated” with FOSI, and by extension, to Soros.

New Naratif responds:


[related_story]

Demonised George Soros

The Five Stars And A Moon article aggregated a series of cartoons by other outlets from previous years. The aggregation of unflattering characterisations of Soros sought to demonise him as an international manipulator.

The piece briefly also listed Soros' alleged modus operandi, where it is explained in a simplistic manner that he has a financial interest in destabilising countries to rattle economies, due to his habit of shorting markets when they are at their peak to bring them down to accumulate personal wealth.

The piece tried to show the financier having an interest in using his own money to support organisations that carry out actions that lead to societies being destabilised in the name of openness and anti-authoritarianism.

One classic oft-cited example is the 1997 Asian financial crisis, where Southeast Asian countries underwent a paroxysm of violence and implosions following a decent multi-year run of economic growth and optimistic outlook driven by strong fundamentals and equally potent hubris.

Article written using pseudonym

The irony is that the Five Stars And A Moon article was written by individuals who are not identified individually.

It is attributed to Tay Leong Tan. The byline details only mentioned that Tay Leong Tan is a collective of three writers comprisig Tay, Leong and Tan.

Five Stars And A Moon also did not disclose how it was being funded and if it has overseas connections.

According to a 2015 Straits Times report on political websites, Five Stars And A Moon was "accused of being a People's Action Party (PAP) mouthpiece" over the Hong Lim Park saga, as it was one of the first sites to say protesters were "heckling" -- a word later used by PAP MPs commenting on the incident.

Character assassination not unusual

The nature of the content to discredit Soros, Thum and Han is not unusual though.

Previously in June 27, 2017, anonymous Facebook pages began a campaign to character assassinate Lee Hsien Yang, during the 38 Oxley Road saga.

Some six Facebook pages began seeding anti-LHY content and all of them share the same distinction of being run anonymously by administrators whose identities are unknown.

This is the Soros article in its entirety: