Singapore has arrested a man linked to a popular socio-political Web site for conducting an exit poll ahead of the general election in May, the island’s leading Sunday newspaper said.
Joseph Ong Chor Teck was arrested for offences under the Parliamentary Elections Act and has since been released on bail pending further investigations, a police spokesman said, confirming a story in the Sunday Times.
The police did not provide more details. It is an offence to carry out private polls around an election in Singapore.
The newspaper said that Ong was linked to Temasek Review, a popular Web site for political commentary that is mostly critical of the ruling People’s Action Party (PAP). The site went off-line about a month ago.
Ong was arrested on Sept. 3 for conducting an exit poll during the general election on May 7, said the Sunday Times, part of the Straits Times group, which usually reflects government views.
Singapore’s long-ruling PAP swept back to power in May in the most hotly contested general election since independence, but the opposition also made historic gains.
PAP’s share of the vote fell to a record-low 60 percent in the election against 67 percent in 2006, because of discontent over income gaps and immigration policy seen as too lax.
Singapore, the Asian base for many banks and multinational companies, gets top rankings as an investment destination and for ease of doing business in international surveys.
However, critics say the city-state has few of the outlets for grievances found in a democratic society.
Amnesty International regularly criticizes the government for penalizing activists for exercising their right to free speech.
STEPPING UP: Diminished US polar science presence mean opportunities for the UK and other countries, although China or Russia might also fill that gap, a researcher said The UK’s flagship polar research vessel is to head to Antarctica next week to help advance dozens of climate change-linked science projects, as Western nations spearhead studies there while the US withdraws. The RRS Sir David Attenborough, a state-of-the-art ship named after the renowned British naturalist, would aid research on everything from “hunting underwater tsunamis” to tracking glacier melt and whale populations. Operated by the British Antarctic Survey (BAS), the country’s polar research institute, the 15,000-tonne icebreaker — boasting a helipad, and various laboratories and gadgetry — is pivotal to the UK’s efforts to assess climate change’s impact there. “The saying goes
Police in China detained dozens of pastors of one of its largest underground churches over the weekend, a church spokesperson and relatives said, in the biggest crackdown on Christians since 2018. The detentions, which come amid renewed China-US tensions after Beijing dramatically expanded rare earth export controls last week, drew condemnation from US Secretary of State Marco Rubio, who on Sunday called for the immediate release of the pastors. Pastor Jin Mingri (金明日), founder of Zion Church, an unofficial “house church” not sanctioned by the Chinese government, was detained at his home in the southern city of Beihai on Friday evening, said
TICKING CLOCK: A path to a budget agreement was still possible, the president’s office said, as a debate on reversing an increase of the pension age carries on French President Emmanuel Macron yesterday was racing to find a new prime minister within a two-day deadline after the resignation of outgoing French Prime Minister Sebastien Lecornu tipped the country deeper into political crisis. The presidency late on Wednesday said that Macron would name a new prime minister within 48 hours, indicating that the appointment would come by this evening at the latest. Lecornu told French television in an interview that he expected a new prime minister to be named — rather than early legislative elections or Macron’s resignation — to resolve the crisis. The developments were the latest twists in three tumultuous
FIRST STAGE: Hamas has agreed to release 48 Israeli hostages in exchange for 250 ‘national security prisoners’ as well as 1,700 Gazans, but has resisted calls to disarm Israel plans to destroy what remains of Hamas’ network of tunnels under Gaza, working with US approval after its hostages are freed, it said yesterday. Israeli Minister of Defense Israel Katz said that the operation would be conducted under an “international mechanism” led by the US. “Israel’s great challenge after the hostage release phase will be the destruction of all Hamas terrorist tunnels in Gaza,” Katz said. “I have ordered the army to prepare to carry out this mission,” he added. Hamas operates a network of tunnels under Gaza, allowing its fighters to operate out of sight of Israeli reconnaissance. Some have passed under
RSS