Enforcing a “fake news” law in the run-up to a national election, authorities in Singapore have ordered that online references to some comments made by opposition figures on key issues must carry a warning that the content contains false information.
Rights groups have long warned that the law, which came into effect last year and has repeatedly been directed at opposition figures, might be used to silence criticism of the government ahead of the vote on Friday.
TABOOS
Since campaigning began on Wednesday last week, opposition candidates have been taken to task under the law over comments made on three issues: government spending for foreign students, plans to grow the city-state’s 5.7 million population to 10 million and government advisories that discouraged COVID-19 testing for foreign workers.
Concerns about immigration and jobs have dominated discussions during campaigning as Singapore faces its deepest ever recession due to the coronavirus pandemic.
As yet, no lawmakers from the ruling People’s Action Party — which has governed since independence in 1965 — have been served correction orders.
The government has denied suggestions that the Protection from Online Falsehoods and Manipulation Act (POFMA) could be used to stifle opposition, and says the law does not curb legitimate criticism or restrict free speech.
The POFMA office did not immediately respond to a request for comment.
Government ministers usually have the power to exercise the law, but during the election period this responsibility has been handed to senior civil servants. Under the law, authorities can order political parties, news outlets and social media users to carry warnings that their pages or posts contain false statements, and to include links to a government fact-checking Web site.
‘CORRECTION’
The Social Democratic Party, one of the opposition parties that has fallen foul of the law, said in a post that carried the warning that it disputed the “correction,” but was bound to comply and would appeal.
Rights groups and opposition parties have criticized the government for calling the election while Singapore was still trying to stamp out COVID-19 infections, although most cases have been in migrant worker dormitories.
The government says it needs a fresh mandate to tackle the economic and social challenges ahead.
The Palauan president-elect has vowed to stand up to Chinese “bullying” in the Pacific, saying that the archipelago nation is set to stand by its alliances with “true friends,” Taiwan and the US. Surangel Whipps Jr, 52, a supermarket owner and two-time senator from a prominent Palauan family, is to be sworn in as the new president tomorrow, succeeding his brother-in-law, Tommy Remengesau Jr. In a forthright interview, Whipps said that the US had demonstrated over the years that it was a reliable friend of Palau, most recently shown by its delivery of 6,000 doses of the Moderna COVID-19 vaccine. “It’s important for
DELIVERING HOPE: The Japanese PM pledged to push ahead with plans to stage the Games, despite polls showing about 80% think they will not or should not happen Japanese Prime Minister Yoshihide Suga yesterday vowed to get the COVID-19 pandemic under control and hold the already postponed Olympic Games this summer with ample protection. In a speech opening a new session of parliament, Suga said that his government would revise laws to make disease prevention measures enforceable with penalties and compensation. Early in the pandemic, Japan was able to keep its caseload manageable with nonbinding requests for businesses to close or operate with social distancing, and for people to stay at home, but recent weeks have seen several highs in new cases per day, in part blamed on eased attitudes
On Sunday last week, in a nondescript building in the Indian city of Gwalior, 322km south of Delhi, a large crowd of men gathered. Most wore bright saffron hats and scarves, a color evoking Hindu nationalism, and many held strands of flowers as devotional offerings. They were there to attend the inauguration of the Godse Gyan Shala, a memorial library and “knowledge center” dedicated to Nathuram Godse, the man who shot Mahatma Gandhi. The devotional yellow and pink flowers were laid around a black and white photograph of Godse, the centerpiece of the room. On Jan. 30, 1948, Godse stepped out in
CAN ‘STILL DREAM’: Lai Chi-wai said he hoped the event would send the message that people with disabilities can ‘bring about opportunity, hope’ Lai Chi-wai (黎志偉) became the first person in Hong Kong to climb more than 250m of a skyscraper while strapped into a wheelchair, as he pulled himself up for more than 10 hours on Saturday to raise money for spinal cord patients. The 37-year-old climber, whose car accident 10 years ago left him paralyzed from waist down, could not make it to the top of the 300m-tall Nina Tower on the Kowloon peninsula. “I was quite scared,” Lai said. “Climbing up a mountain, I can hold on to rocks or little holes, but with glass, all I can really rely on is
RSS