A correction direction, under the Protection from Online Falsehoods and Manipulation Act (POFMA), has been issued to a blog, "Political Sophistry", which comments on Singapore politics.

The correction direction was made at the instruction of Indranee Rajah, the minister in the Prime Minister's Office (PMO).

Stuck to CPIB lines

The PMO issued a statement on July 20 that said an article published by the blog on July 16, “Upfront and transparent? A timeline of the CPIB investigation into Transport Minister Iswaran”, had falsely conveyed that Prime Minister Lee Hsien Loong and Deputy Prime Minister Lawrence Wong did not want to disclose that Transport Minister S Iswaran had been arrested because it was "politically embarrassing".

PMO added that both PM Lee and Wong did not want to deviate from what the Corrupt Practices Investigation Bureau (CPIB) had announced in its initial statement on the anti-graft probe involving Iswaran, as it was "related to operational matters".

The PMO statement accompanied the correction direction issued.

PMO also said the statements in the article that suggested that Wong had “deliberately withheld information” as he wanted to "conceal the truth" are false.

What CPIB release said

The July 12 CPIB release stated that Iswaran was assisting the bureau with an investigation, and PM Lee's statement and Wong's interview with the press on the same day kept to the CPIB lines.

PMO explained: “It is CPIB’s call to make, on the operational information it was comfortable to provide in the CPIB’s press releases.”

Both of the leaders' statements on the same day were consistent with the CPIB’s July 12 press release, the PMO said.

“It is therefore untrue that PM Lee or DPM Wong did not want to disclose the fact of minister Iswaran’s arrest because it was politically embarrassing, or that DPM had deliberately withheld information on the arrests because he wanted to conceal the truth,” it added.

“It is also not a case of PM Lee and DPM Wong abdicating their responsibility to disclose such information.”

CPIB update in response to media queries

Two days later, on July 14, CPIB provided an update in response to media queries that Iswaran and billionaire hotelier Ong Beng Seng were arrested on July 11 and released on bail.

The PMO also said ministers have to let the CPIB independently decide on the release of operational information.

Correction notice put up

The blog, Political Sophistry, started putting up commentaries in February 2023.

It has has written on the debate about Ridout Road, as well as the government's handling of the resignations of Speaker of Parliament Tan Chuan-Jin and MP Cheng Li Hui.

The blog will be required to publish a correction notice stating that the post contained a false statement of fact, together with a link to a Factually article that sets out the correct facts, as part of the correction direction.

Political Sophistry has put up the correction notice on its home page as of July 20.

Top photos via S Iswaran LinkedIn & Google Maps