Wake Up S'pore founder considered 'fit & proper' for lawyer bar admission despite being fined for criminal defamation: Chief Justice

Wake Up Singapore (WUSG) founder and 2025 General Election candidate Ariffin Iskandar Sha Ali Akbar has been admitted to the Bar in Singapore.

This was despite both the Attorney-General and the Singapore Institute of Legal Education (SILE) objecting to Ariffin’s application to the Bar on the grounds that his admission would risk undermining public confidence.

AG and SILE had requested that Ariffin be excluded for 12 months from the date of his criminal conviction, until Aug. 26, 2025.

However, the Law Society of Singapore did not object to Ariffin's admission, stating that his offence was not one of "serious gravity and did not involve any dishonesty".

In a judgment filed by Chief Justice Sundaresh Menon dated Aug. 8, Menon said he declined to impose any period of deferment on Ariffin, as he considered that Ariffin was "fit and proper for admission to the Bar".

Background

In 2024, Ariffin was charged with criminal defamation regarding the publication of a since-removed 2022 article where a woman claimed she had a miscarriage at KK Women's and Children's Hospital (KKH).

The woman had accused the hospital staff of displaying a lack of professionalism and dumping out her dead foetus with the medical waste.

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

The woman sent a scanned copy of a medical receipt from KKH.

Ariffin then emailed KKH, saying 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.

The woman later admitted that she lied, and had sent WUSG her fabricated story because "she wanted drama as she was bored".

Ariffin pleaded guilty and was fined S$8,000.

The objections

The AG and SILE objected to Ariffin's application as they considered Ariffin, at the time of his application, was not capable of being entrusted to "aid in the administration of justice" as a lawyer without the risk of "undermining public confidence".

AG argued that while Ariffin's defamation offence did not involve dishonesty, his offence was "incompatible with the values which the legal profession stood for, namely integrity, probity and trustworthiness".

It added that Ariffin was negligent in failing to verify the allegations leveraged against KK Women and Children's Hospital (KKH) before publishing them on WUSG, despite knowing that it could damage KKH's reputation.

"It should be noted that the AG's concern was over Ariffin's carelessness in failing to take reasonable care to verify the story before it was published," said Menon.

AG contended that Ariffin should have known the importance of ascertaining the truth before making public allegations, having worked in law firms since November 2019.

Given the nature of his offence, the AG also argued that the fine "may not have sufficiently rehabilitated" Ariffin to warrant his admission to the Bar, as it had only been eight months since his conviction and fine.

SILE also argued that the nature of Ariffin's offence was "relatively serious" and that only a short time had passed since his conviction and punishment.

It highlighted that the offence was committed against a public hospital and had "a ripple effect of spreading falsehoods about KKH".

Not one that suggested dishonesty

In his judgment, Menon stated that Ariffin's offence did not suggest dishonesty, as there was no basis that he knew the story was false before he published the article.

He also noted that it was not fair to say Ariffin was "indifferent to the truth" at the time. Once the story was published, he was quick to apologise to KKH for publishing the false story and even offered to assist KKH in its police report on the matter.

Ariffin had also taken public accountability for having been deceived by the woman and wanted to make the full facts of his interactions known.

Menon pointed out that Ariffin had taken positive steps to re-establish his suitability for legal practice, supporting lawyers in pro-bono and community work as a legal executive.

Speaking to CNA, Ariffin said he was "humbled and honoured".

"I hope to use this privilege of practice to serve the community and help those in need. I would like to thank the honourable court, the stakeholders, my lawyers from Audent Chambers and Eugene Thuraisingam, and my mentors in law. I will do my best to make them proud," he added.

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Top images via Mothership