People’s Voice Party (PVP) leader Lim Tean has responded to the correction direction issued by the Protection from Online Falsehoods and Manipulations Act (POFMA) office by the education minister to amend two of his Facebook posts deemed to contain false statements.

Lim posted his response via a Facebook post at 11:23am, about two hours after he was given notice of the correction direction.

In his post, Lim called the POFMA legislation a "Cry Baby" legislation and a "pathetic demand" by the government.

He also said he is contemplating his next course of action as he wrote that he is "considering my legal options regarding this notice".

This is Lim's response in full:

I Have Been Given A Notice Under The “Cry Baby” Legislation.

This morning at 9.05 am I received an email from the POFMA office alleging that I had made false and misleading statements in one of my FB posts published on 12 December at 4pm.

This is a pathetic demand by a government that is obviously nervous about public reaction to the established fact that it spends $238 million on grants and scholarships on foreign students compared to $167 million on grants and bursaries on local students every year. And I am being generous when I use the figure of $167 million because it was $44 million less until Lee Hsien Loong announced the $44 million increase in his National Day Rally speech in August this year.

And Singaporeans should have no illusion that this is a government that was spending close to $500 million on grants and scholarships for foreign students before that figure was halved to $238 million compared to $123 million on Singaporean students.

Anyone who read my post and the series of posts I made on this subject last week would have been under no mistaken impression that I was discussing the amount of money spent on grants and scholarships and not the overall spending on ALL Singaporean students.

I am considering my legal options regarding this notice. It is so absurd it is laughable and to me POFMA is the “ Cry Baby “ legislation that must be repealed on the very 1st day a non-PAP Government is elected into office.

It is clear to me that POFMA is being used by this government ahead of the upcoming GE to silence its Opponents and chill public discussion of unpopular government policies.

This was my Statement issued to the Straits Times and Channel News Asia who requested my response.

Background

Two Facebook posts on Dec. 12

The Facebook posts, which were related to education spending for grants and bursaries, claimed that the “PAP spends S$167 million on grants &; bursaries for Singaporeans, but S$238 million on foreign students".

https://www.facebook.com/PeoplesVoiceSingapore/posts/2430331170568408

Statements are "false and misleading"

On Dec. 16, MOE said that his Facebook posts contain "false and misleading statements".

His claims of MOE spending S$167 million on Singaporean students compared to the S$238 million for foreign students imply that MOE spends less on Singaporean students, MOE said.

However, MOE said that the figures are actually not comparable.

It clarified that the S$167 million cited by Lim refers only to bursaries for Singaporean tertiary students and "grossly understates" the total spending on Singaporeans for education.

MOE explained that nearly S$13 billion is spent on Singaporean students to provide subsidised education for all Singaporean students at all levels, and the S$167 million comprises less than 2 percent of the total education budget.

Much of MOE's budget goes towards costs such as infrastructure, facilities, laboratories and teaching.

These include fixed and non-variable costs.

MOE stated that much of the S$238 million attributed to spending on foreign students would have to be incurred anyway, regardless of whether a "small proportion of foreign students (currently 5 percent)" are being admitted in the system.

POFMA office to issue correction direction

MOE said that it has instructed the POFMA office to issue a correction direction to Lim regarding these posts.

The correction direction requires Lim to carry, in full, a correction notice at the top of both Facebook posts.

Lim, a lawyer, has not updated the posts with the correct direction.

This is the first time that POFMA has been invoked against a post made by a leader of political party.

This is the fourth time that correction directions have been issued since October, when the Protection from Online Falsehoods and Manipulation Act (POFMA) came into force.

On Dec. 14, directions were issued to Singapore Democratic Party (SDP).

Previously, directions were issued to Progress Singapore Party (PSP) member Brad Bowyer and the States Times Review.

Top photo via Lim Tean's Facebook post