POFMA correction order issued to Wake Up S'pore over social media posts on Feb. 10 COP report

The order required Wake Up Singapore to carry correction notices alongside its posts, stating that the posts contain a false statement of fact.

Lean Jinghui | February 13, 2022, 02:26 PM

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A correction direction has been issued to alternative news source Wake Up Singapore.

The correction was issued on Feb. 12 under the Protection from Falsehoods and Manipulation Act (POFMA), in relation to Wake Up Singapore's Feb. 10 posts on Facebook and Instagram.

The posts:

View this post on Instagram

 

A post shared by Wake Up Singapore 🇸🇬 (@wakeupsingapore)

The falsehood

According to an article on Gov.sg site Factually, Wake Up Singapore's posts falsely conveyed that the Committee of Privileges recommended that Singh and Faisal "be referred for criminal proceedings, even though there was no finding by the Committee that they lied".

The article noted that "this is false in various aspects":

"The Committee expressly found that Mr Singh, Ms [Sylvia] Lim and Mr Faisal had lied in their evidence before the Committee.

The Committee’s recommendation that Mr Singh be referred to the Public Prosecutor was based on this finding which it made, that Mr Singh had lied on oath (which is a possible offence of perjury).

The Committee did not recommend referring Mr Faisal Manap to the Public Prosecutor for lying to the Committee. The Committee recommended referring Mr Faisal for repeatedly refusing to answer relevant questions put to him by the Committee."

Correction order issued

Indranee Rajah, Minister in the Prime Minister’s Office and Leader of the House, had instructed the Pofma Office to issue the correction order, according to a press release posted to Wake Up Singapore.

The order required Wake Up Singapore to carry correction notices alongside its posts, stating that the posts contain a false statement of fact.

The corrections have since been posted, and an Instagram Story was also shared on Feb. 12 announcing the correction.

Via Wake Up Singapore Instagram

Background

The Committee of Privileges (COP) had presented its report to Parliament on Feb. 10, regarding the lie made by former Workers' Party (WP) Member of Parliament (MP) Raeesah Khan.

It recommended that Singh and Faisal be referred to the Public Prosecutor; for Lim, it suggested that any appropriate sanctions be deferred until after the conclusion of investigations against Singh.

Singh is the party's Secretary-General, while Faisal is the party's Vice-Chair and Lim is the party's Chair.

The COP also recommended that Raeesah be fined S$35,000 for lying in parliament.

In its report, the COP noted that Singh, based on evidence, had lied on oath.

This means that Parliament can impose sanctions on Singh based on their findings. However, the report explained that the committee had recommended referring Singh to the Public Prosecutor, so that Singh will "have the opportunity to defend and vindicate himself, with legal counsel, if criminal charges are brought".

The court can also look at the matter afresh, consider any further evidence that may emerge, and decide whether any charge has been proven, or not proven, beyond reasonable doubt.

As for Faisal, he was referred to the Public Prosecutor as he had deliberately refused to answer a question put by the Committee.

The COP noted: "He refused eight times, even though he was told that such refusal to answer may be an offence."

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Top images via WakeupSG/FB, Gov.sg's YouTube