17-7-2023 (SINGAPORE) The Ministry of Law (MinLaw) has instructed Reform Party leader Kenneth Jeyaretnam, Facebook user Thamil Selvan and website Jom to publish corrections under the Protection from Online Falsehoods and Manipulation Act (Pofma), after they posted articles and social media posts containing false statements about the Ridout Road saga. The orders were issued by Second Minister for Law Edwin Tong. The false statements pertain to the renovation of two colonial-era bungalows in Ridout Road, which are being rented by Home Affairs and Law Minister K. Shanmugam and Foreign Minister Vivian Balakrishnan.
Jeyaretnam had published an article titled “Will SLA issue a statement denying the rumours that they have awarded any contracts to Shanmugam’s son’s company?” on July 2 on his website The Ricebowl Singapore, while Thamil Selvan had posted on Facebook on July 1. Both falsely stated that the Singapore Land Authority (SLA) had given the contract to renovate 26 Ridout Road and/or 31 Ridout Road to home interior and renovation company Livspace, claiming this was done because the CEO of Livspace is the son of Minister Shanmugam.
In response, MinLaw clarified that Livspace and Shanmugam’s son were not appointed by SLA to carry out works for the two properties. The contracts were awarded to separate contractors through open tenders, after SLA engaged an external consultant to assess the works needed to be carried out for the two properties. A Corrupt Practices Investigation Bureau (CPIB) probe found no evidence of corruption or criminal wrongdoing in the rentals of the Ridout Road properties by Shanmugam and Balakrishnan.
Under Pofma, Jeyaretnam and Thamil Selvan are required to carry a correction notice on their website and social media accounts stating that their posts contain false statements and provide a link to the Government’s Factually article that lays out the facts and clarifications on this matter. Jom has also been issued a correction direction by Tong, for falsely stating that Senior Minister Teo Chee Hean did not respond to questions “concerning the issue of actual or apparent conflicts of interest and possible breach of the code of conduct for ministers beyond replying that it is more important to observe the spirit rather than just the letter of the code”.
Jom had claimed that SLA spent more than $1 million on the renovation of 26 Ridout Road and 31 Ridout Road as the tenants were the ministers involved. However, the article omitted important information from what Teo said in Parliament on July 3, which clarified that Shanmugam had recused himself and removed himself from the chain of command and decision-making process entirely in the case of 26 Ridout Road. Teo had also highlighted that the CPIB had established that no matter was raised by SLA to MinLaw and to any of the ministers during the entire rental process.
Minister for Communications and Information Josephine Teo has also issued a correction direction against Jom for falsely stating that the Government caused Instagram to geo-block a post by opposition figure and fugitive lawyer Charles Yeo in the same article on July 7. Jom has published the required correction notices, stating that the article contains false statements of facts and provided a link to the Factually article on its website and social media pages.
