Prime Minister Lee Hsien Loong was in Malaysia for one day on April 9 for the 9th Singapore-Malaysia Leaders’ Retreat.

At a joint press conference with Malaysia's Mahathir Mohamad after the retreat, a reporter asked for Lee's comments on Reporters Without Borders' (RSF) criticism of Singapore's new Protection from Online Falsehoods and Manipulation Bill (POFMB).

What did Reporters Without Borders Say?

On April 8, Reporters Without Borders (RSF) released a statement claiming that the POFMB gave the government near-total control of content circulating online.

Daniel Bastard, the head of RSF's Asia-Pacific desk said:

"In its current form, this Orwellian law establishes nothing less than a ‘ministry of truth’ that would be free to silence independent voices and impose the ruling party’s line. We condemn this bill in the strongest possible terms because, in both form and substance, it poses unacceptable obstacles to the free flow of journalistically verified information."

PM Lee: RSF criticises many things but what we've done has worked for Singapore

Lee defended the Bill in his response.

He said the government had always done what worked for Singapore, despite criticism from RSF over various aspects of Singapore's media management.

The passing of the POFMB was a significant step forward in what would continue to work for Singapore.

Lee added that Singapore was not the only country passing legislation on the issue of fake news and deliberate false statements, given that it was a global problem.

"This is a problem of fake news, of deliberate false statements being proliferated online, it's a serious problem which confronts many countries."

He noted that other countries such as France, Germany and Australia had passed laws dealing with fake news as well -- even calling Australia's measures "draconian".

Mahathir: We have made a promise that we will do away with the anti-fake news law

Speaking after Lee, Mahathir explained that his government had made a promise to Malaysians that they would do away with their own anti-fake news law out of respect for the people who voted for his coalition.

On Aug. 13, 2018, Mahathir said that the Pakatan Harapan coalition made all kinds of promises without expecting to win the election.

Mahathir's response then took a turn when he implied that fake news laws effectively prevented people from airing their views, thereby opening up the potential for the government to abuse the law.

Here is the full video of their response:

Conflating expressing an opinion and a misleading statement of fact

However, Mahathir's reply may have conflated an expression of an opinion with a misleading statement of fact.

According to the phrasing of the POFMB, an example of an opinion might be “the government is to blame for the crisis of inequality”. 

This is not covered under the bill according to the authorities.

What is covered in the bill, on the other hand, is a false or misleading statement of fact such as, “The Singapore government has declared war against all our neighbours”.

Additionally, to get into trouble, such a statement must also be considered in the public interest for the government to take action.

However, even with the qualifiers, the POFMB has been met with reservations from some quarters of Singapore:

What do I need to know about S'pore own POFMB?

What is Malaysia's anti-fake news law?

Top image screenshot from CNA video