The Minister for Home Affairs has instructed the Protection from Online Falsehoods and Manipulation Act (POFMA) Office to issue a Correction Direction to Plan B, a podcast show.

Plan B published three podcast episodes on Sep. 6 featuring James Raj Arokiasamy.

James was involved in a number of hacking incidents in 2013.

He defaced the People's Action Party Community Foundation (PCF) website, illegally accessed and modified Ang Mo Kio Town Council's website, The Straits Times blogs, a fan site for Sun Ho, and Fuji Xerox's website.

During the podcast interview, James made several false claims about his experience in prison from 2013 to 2016, as well as an encounter with the police in 2021.

He also claimed that he hacked the systems of the Ministry of Defence (MINDEF) and the Singapore Land Authority (SLA).

Some of the false claims were also reproduced on Plan B's Instagram account on Sep. 7.

Claimed he hacked SLA and MINDEF

In the podcast episode, James claimed that he hacked the systems of the SLA and MINDEF — both of these claims were rubbished by the government.

The government said that MINDEF's systems have never been breached.

This has been confirmed by the Defence Ministry's cyber and security agencies.

While James did scan SLA's servers for vulnerabilities, the government said he did not hack, successfully or otherwise, into SLA’s systems.

Claimed he was deprived of human interaction in prison

James was imprisoned from December 2013 to December 2016 for drug offences and acts of computer misuse.

He said he was isolated and deprived of human interaction.

MHA said this claim was baseless.

James Raj was housed with other inmates during his remand period. He was only housed in an isolation cell between Mar. 28 and Mar. 30, 2014 for having committed prison disciplinary offences.

During his time in prison, he was visited by his family members and lawyers several times.

Claimed that he was not charged in assault case because of fear of retaliation

James was involved in a dispute and assault in 2021 where he fought and kicked a customer in a shop.

However, he was not charged.

James claimed that the authorities did not prosecute him out of fear of retaliation.

MHA clarified that James was issued a stern warning in lieu of prosecution because of several factors, including his cooperation in admitting he kicked the other party, his lack of violent antecedents, and the fact that he was not the aggressor.

More details about the case can be found here.

Plan B is required to insert a notice against each original post, with a link to the government’s clarification.

Top images: Planb.sg/Instagram