The Minister for Home Affairs has instructed the POFMA Office to issue a Correction Direction to Asia Sentinel over an article containing factual inaccuracies.

Context

The Asia Sentinel article "Singapore kills a Chicken to Scare the Monkeys", published on May 24, 2023, is a political commentary by co-founder and editor-in-chief of Asia Sentinel John Berthelsen.

The article made several allegations about the Singapore government's handling of the Covid-19 pandemic and multiple unrelated court cases, such as those involving Andy Wong Ming Jun, lawyer M Ravi, as well as Lee Hsien Yang and Lee Suet Fern.

MHA: Asia Sentinel article contains many factual inaccuracies

The Ministry of Home Affairs (MHA) pointed out several factually inaccurate statements in the Asia Sentinel article.

On an allegation that the Singapore government threatened to end Nikkei Inc.’s business operations in Singapore, MHA said that a senior official from the ministry responded to the Nikkei Asia article with the facts. This response was published as a letter to the editor.

"At no point did the Singapore government threaten to end Nikkei Inc.’s operations in Singapore," said the ministry.

MHA also said the allegation that Ravi was suspended from practice for five years for criticizing the government is false.

"He was suspended because the Court of Three Judges found that his various allegations against the Attorney-General, Deputy Attorney-General and prosecutors, and the Law Society, had recklessly and baselessly undermined the pillars of Singapore’s legal system and would cause grave injury to public confidence in the legal profession and the administration of justice in Singapore."

The ministry gave an example of how Ravi threatened to commence proceedings against the Law Society and accused the prosecution of being "overzealous" in a death row case.

Lastly, the ministry also clarified that Lee Hsien Yang and Lee Suet Fern left Singapore after the police tried to engage them in an investigation into possible offences of giving false evidence in judicial proceedings and charges of professional misconduct; they were "not forced to leave Singapore under threat of government action for warring with Lee Hsien Loong".

"The government takes a serious view of the communication of malicious falsehoods," said MHA.

"The Minister for Home Affairs has instructed the POFMA Office to issue a Correction Direction to Asia Sentinel in respect of its article. Asia Sentinel will be required to carry a correction notice alongside its article."

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