Wake Up Singapore (WUSG) founder Ariffin Iskandar Sha Ali Akbar, 27, and Ma Su Nandar Htwe, 28, who submitted a false miscarriage story to the site, were fined in court on Aug. 26, 2024.

The pair pleaded guilty to one count each of criminal defamation.

Htwe, a Myanmar national and Singaporean permanent resident, was fined S$10,000 while Ariffin, a Singaporean was fined S$8,000.

CNA reported that Htwe submitted the fake story as she wanted "drama" as she was bored.

False claims

The woman had sent a fake story to WUSG via Instagram on Mar. 21, 2022.

She said she tested positive for Covid-19 in February 2022 when she was 20 weeks pregnant, and visited multiple hospitals to seek treatment but was turned away and directed to go to KK Women's and Children's Hospital (KKH).

In the post, the expectant mother alleged that she was made to wait for four hours after arriving at the hospital, and that she suffered a miscarriage while waiting.

She also alleged that when she asked if she could have the foetus returned to her for a proper burial, she was told it had been dumped out together with the medical waste.

Was "bored" and wanted "drama"

The story was indeed a fabrication.

She had in fact visited KKH on Feb. 28, 2022 while pregnant, to seek treatment for Covid-19 and abdominal pains.

However, she was discharged the same day, and in July 2022, delivered her baby safely.

She said she sent WUSG her fabricated story because "she wanted drama as she was bored".

Ran the story without waiting for a response

Ariffin was solely operating WUSG at the time and responded to Htwe, asking for medical documents to support her account.

She sent him a scanned copy of a medical receipt from KKH dated Feb 28, 2022.

Ariffin then emailed KKH on Mar. 23, 2022, saying that WUSG intended to run the story, and invited KKH to respond.

Without waiting for KKH's response, Ariffin published the story on WUSG's website, Instagram page, and Facebook page.

KKH performed internal investigations

Through internal investigations, KKH deduced that the patient in question was Htwe.

However, they noticed major discrepancies between her account and documented medial records.

A senior manager with KKH's Office of Patient Experience called Htwe on Mar. 24, but she said her legal team had advised her not to speak about this.

She ignored four calls from the KKH manager and sent an email saying they should stop "bomabarding" her with calls.

She also emailed KKH saying that she did not wish to communicate with KKH any further.

"What happened to me has happened and I shared my account exactly as how I remembered," she wrote, scolding KKH for their "lack of compassion".

Admitted to her lie

After KKH lodged a police report on Mar. 25, 2022, Ariffin removed the story from WUSG's platforms.

He asked Htwe is everything was "okay".

Htwe admitted that the story was false, and that she sent it "in the heat of the moment because I was also agonising over the loss of a previous miscarriage which was handled by KKH."

However, KKH also found this claim to be false.

Ariffin emailed KKH privately and apologised for publishing the story once he realised that it was fake, and published the correction direction on WUSG's pages.

He published an article on WUSG on Mar. 26, 2022, detailing the timeline of events and issuing an apology.

The Ministry of Health (MOH) then instructed the Protection from Online Falsehoods and Manipulation Act (POFMA) Office to issue a correction direction to WUSG over the fabricated story.

MOH said the allegations were serious, and that they "could lead to the erosion of public trust in the credibility and professionalism of our healthcare system and institutions".

Top photo via Wake Up Singapore & Google Maps