The founder of States Times Review (STR) Alex Tan has refused to comply with an order issued against him by the Ministry of Home Affairs (MHA) under the Protection from Online Falsehoods and Manipulation Act (POFMA), on the grounds that he is now an Australian citizen.

STR stated in a Facebook post on Nov. 28 that it had not received any request from the Australian Federal Police to take down any of its articles, and added that it will not comply with orders from foreign governments such as Singapore or North Korea.

Is Alex Tan a Singaporean or an Australian?

In its statement, MHA noted that STR is run by Tan, "a 32-year-old Singaporean".

Earlier in April 10, the Immigration & Checkpoints Authority (ICA) responded to media queries that Tan has been living outside of Singapore on an expired passport.

ICA added that his application for a new passport has been processed.

When contacted by Mothership.sg about Tan's citizenship, the Australian High Commission in Singapore replied:

"The Department does not comment on individual cases."

What exactly was the order issued against STR?

On Nov. 28, the MHA issued a correction direction under the POFMA to Tan.

Under POFMA, a correction direction requires its recipient to publish a correction notice and providing access to the correct facts.

However, it does not require the recipient to take down their post or make edits to their content, and does not impose criminal sanctions.

In a Facebook post, MHA highlighted that the direction's issuance had been done in relation to a post put up by STR, and added that the allegations made in the post were "baseless" and the claims were "absurd".

What did MHA say?

In its response on both Facebook and Factually, MHA stated the following:

• That the allegations of people being arrested and charged are baseless, as no such thing has happened with regard to the NUS Students' United (NUSSU) post in question.
• This post was created by a fake page and has nothing to do with the genuine NUS Students' Union page.
• That NUSSU's page was taken down not by the government, but by Facebook as both the page and the accounts linked to it violated the platform's community and authenticity guidelines,
• That STR has also made "scurrilous allegations" against the Elections Department, the Prime Minister, and the election process in Singapore, and
• That this is not first time STR has perpetuated outright fabrications, including casting aspersions on the integrity of public institutions.

On Nov. 23, STR put up a Facebook post alleging that the whistle-blower from NUSSU who exposed a potential People's Action Party (PAP) candidate's Christian affiliations has since been arrested, and facing police charges for "fabricating fake news".

What was the NUSSU post about?

On Nov. 17, the NUSSU fake page shared the following graphic, asserting that a potential PAP candidate had to resign from executive positions in consultancy firm ROHEI before running for elections, as politics and religion should not mix.

In another post, the NUSSU fake page quoted the late Lee Kuan Yew on religion and politics, adding that it would not hesitate to call out anyone whom they feel crosses this line, regardless of party affiliation.

In response, the Press Secretary to the Minister of Home Affairs, Goh Chour Thong, refuted the post as deliberately misleading and stated that the page was "run by people with no integrity, bent on sowing discord and hatred".

Subsequently, on Nov. 24, the page released a statement to the media in which it said that STR's post about its situation was "fake news" for the moment.

Top image collage from Alex Tan Facebook and Gov.sg

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