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The Home Affairs Minister has instructed the POFMA Office to issue correction directions to Terry Xu and The Online Citizen Asia (TOCA), the publication that Xu runs from Taiwan where he is now based at.

This was after Xu, 40, attempted to rehash issues already considered by the court in Singapore regarding an incident at Yishun Avenue 5 on May 17, 2021, MHA said in a news release on May 7.

The latest attempt to "exploit a case involving an elderly and vulnerable woman" was described as "contemptible" by MHA.

Xu and TOCA will be required to carry a correction notice alongside their publications.

Removing the original posts is not part of the requirements, as the clarification sets out the falsehoods and facts for the public to examine.

What happened

MHA said it is aware of the publication of various posts and article by Xu and TOCA social media accounts on Facebook, Twitter, Instagram and LinkedIn, which made false allegations against the police concerning the May 2021 incident in Yishun.

Xu's latest Facebook post appeared on April 30, 2023, and the TOCA article appeared on its website on May 2, 2023, alongside TOCA’s social media posts that referenced the TOCA article.

MHA said: "These allegations are wholly unfounded. They may affect public trust and confidence in the Singapore Police Force."

The May 2021 Yishun incident

In May 2021, The Online Citizen (TOC), which is now defunct and the predecessor of TOCA, had made claims falsely accusing police officers of reprimanding and taunting an elderly woman for not wearing a mask, MHA said.

"The truth was that the police had received a call for assistance from a member of the public, and were rendering assistance to the elderly woman and trying to help her find her way home," MHA added.

The police issued two clarification statements regarding this incident on May 19 and 25, 2021, the MHA statement said.

At that time, TOC was already issued a correction direction on May 21, 2021 under the Protection from Online Falsehoods and Manipulation Act 2019 for publishing the falsehoods.

TOC appealed to set aside the correction direction, but the appeal was dismissed by the High Court in 2022.

MHA said: "The High Court found that TOC had published a false statement of fact, and that the police officers had in fact expressed concern for the elderly woman, with the aim of rendering assistance to her."

"The court observed that the original publisher could not, in good faith, have concluded that there was reprimanding or taunting by the police," MHA said.

Article to raise funds

MHA highlighted that it bears noting that the TOCA article is one of 60 written by Xu to raise funds to pay for the fine imposed upon him by the courts for various offences, including contempt of court and POFMA offences.

What happened on May 17, 2021

According to Factually, which is run by the Singapore government to debunk misinformation and disinformation, the events on May 17, 2021 were:

• On May 17, 2021 at 6:43pm, the police received a call for assistance from a member of the public, reporting that an elderly woman, who was not wearing a mask, looked lost. The police officers who responded to the incident were concerned that the elderly woman had lost her way and their primary aim was to render assistance to her and help her find her way home. This is very clear from the footages captured by the officers’ body worn cameras.
• In view of the Covid-19 situation at that time, and the prevailing requirements to wear a mask in public places, the police officers had reminded the elderly woman to wear her mask. Their primary concern, however, was to help her find her way home.
• The police did not make any misrepresentations to the family members of the elderly woman; she was indeed lost. While the elderly woman’s daughter-in-law had lodged a police report, this was because: (a) The Online Citizen (TOC) (now defunct) had released an article spreading falsehoods about the interactions of the police officers with the elderly woman; and (b) TOC had interviewed her mother-in-law (i.e. the elderly woman) without her permission, and she was afraid that TOC would follow her mother-in-law home or attempt to interview her mother-in-law again.
• Prior statements by the police and the Minister for Home Affairs had accurately presented the facts in relation to the incident.
• The police did not withhold any evidence that would disprove their narrative or provide false evidence to the court. All footage from the body worn cameras of the police officers at the scene which captured their interactions with the elderly woman were submitted to the court.
• The High Court dismissed TOC’s appeal against the POFMA correction direction issued in relation to the incident. It found that the police officers who had approached the elderly woman believed that she had lost her way.

Top photos via Terry Xu Facebook post