S'pore TikToker issued POFMA order for comments on Chinese community leadership programme

TikToker Jay Ish’haq Rajoo has been issued a correction direction relating to a TikTok post he had published on Aug. 26.

Correction Direction

On Sep. 7, the Ministry of Culture, Community and Youth released a press statement saying that Jay Ish’haq Rajoo (Mr Jay) had made false statements in this Aug. 26 TikTok post.

MCCY said that Jay had alleged that Minister for National Development Chee Hong Tat had announced that the Singapore government would be “providing money and resources to attract mainland Chinese to Singapore, and nurture them for leadership positions”.

Jay had also alleged that the Singapore government is “using its money and resources to nurture leaders only from the Chinese race.

MCCY said that such false statements “cause serious misunderstandings and erode public confidence in the Government’s commitment to serve the interests of Singapore and Singaporeans, regardless of race, language, or religion”.

Because of these statements, the Acting Minister for Culture, Community, and Youth, David Neo, had instructed the Protection From Online Falsehoods and Manipulation Act (POFMA) Office to issue a Correction Direction notice to Jay, to “protect public trust and ensure that an accurate account of the facts is conveyed”.

Jay was required to publish a correction notice on his TikTok account.

Post deleted

The offending post appears to have been removed, and Jay has posted a simple text-only image stating:

CORRECTION NOTICE:

An earlier post (dated 26 Aug 2025 that has since been deleted) contained false statements of fact. For the correct facts, visit: https://www.factually.gov.sg/corrections-andclarifications/070925

The text is repeated in the post’s caption, although the link appears to be incorrectly affixed, leading to a 404 page.

Factually rebuttal

The link, which MCCY also provides, leads to a Factually.gov page which rebuts Jay’s comments.

Referring to the initiative, which Chee had introduced on Aug. 20, Factually said that:

“Only Singapore citizens who are active in the community and have demonstrated a passion to serve are eligible for the Chinese Community Leadership Course.”

Citizens from other countries would not be eligible, and participants would be nominated by local Chinese clans and business groups.

Selection of participants would be managed by the Singapore Federation of Chinese Clan Associations (SFCCA) and the Singapore Chinese Chamber of Commerce and Industry (SCCCI).

The correction goes on to state that the initiative is “part of a larger movement to groom young leaders of all races in Singapore and strengthen the leadership pipeline in our community organisations”.

It gave several examples, such as the Our Singapore Leadership Programme, run by the National Youth Council, which is open to youths from all races and backgrounds.

The Singapore government also provides funding to all communities, through self-help groups, to invest in programmes similar to the Chinese Community Leadership Course.

Factually noted the Tunas Bersama M3 programme, started by Yayasan MENDAKI, and the SINDA Young Leaders Programme, run by the Singapore Indian Development Association Youth Club, were programmes available for youths from the Malay and Indian communities respectively.

Previous POFMA orders

Jay has faced orders from the POFMA office before, such as in August 2023, when he received three correction directions for separate videos sharing what the POFMA office deemed to be false information on voting secrecy, CPF policies, and HDB flat affordability.

After he failed to put up the required correction notice on time, he was given a 24-month conditional warning in July 2024, The Straits Times reported.

Top image via jay.ishhaq.rajoo/TikTok