Pofma orders issued to Kenneth Jeyaretnam, FB user and online site over Ridout Road rentals

An opposition politician, a Facebook user and the website Jom have been asked to put up corrections under the law against fake news, over articles and social media posts that contain false statements about the Ridout Road saga.

The Ministry of Law (MinLaw) on Sunday said Second Minister for Law Edwin Tong had issued the instructions to Reform Party leader Kenneth Jeyaretnam and Facebook user Thamil Selvan.

The orders are in relation to an article published by Mr Jeyaretnam 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, as well as Mr Thamil’s Facebook post on July 1.

In the article and post, they had “falsely stated that the Singapore Land Authority (SLA) gave the contract to renovate 26 Ridout Road and/or 31 Ridout Road to home interior and renovation company Livspace”. They had also claimed this was done because the chief executive officer of Livspace is the son of Home Affairs and Law Minister K. Shanmugam.

The two colonial-era bungalows in Ridout Road are being rented by Mr Shanmugam and Foreign Minister Vivian Balakrishnan.

In its statement, MinLaw said that Livspace and Mr Shanmugam’s son were not appointed by SLA to carry out works for 26 Ridout Road or 31 Ridout Road, as stated by Mr Tong during a parliamentary sitting on July 3.

“As with its approach for other state properties, SLA had engaged an external consultant to assess the works needed to be carried out for the two properties,” the statement added.

MinLaw also said that the contracts were awarded to separate contractors through open tenders.

A Corrupt Practices Investigation Bureau (CPIB) probe found no evidence of corruption or criminal wrongdoing in the rentals of the Ridout Road properties by Mr Shanmugam and Dr Balakrishnan. The matter was also raised in Parliament on July 3, when Mr Shanmugam, Dr Balakrishnan, Mr Tong and Senior Minister Teo Chee Hean gave ministerial statements.

Under the Protection from Online Falsehoods and Manipulation Act (Pofma), Mr Jeyaretnam and Mr Thamil are required to carry a correction notice on their website and Twitter and Facebook accounts stating that their posts contain false statements. The correction notice will also have to carry a link to the Government’s Factually article that lays out the facts and clarifications on this matter, said MinLaw.

Mr Tong also issued a correction direction to online publication Jom, said MinLaw and the Ministry of Communications and Information in a joint statement on Sunday.

In an article titled “Singapore This Week” on July 7, Jom had falsely stated that Mr Teo 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”, according to the joint statement.

It also 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.

The joint statement said that the article by Jom omitted important information from what Mr Teo said in Parliament on July 3 in which he “expressly clarified that he meant it was important to observe the spirit as well as the letter of the code”.

“Mr Teo also said that Mr Shanmugam had recused himself, and this meant that he no longer had any duty in the matter. There could thus be no potential or actual conflict of interest,” said the statement.

Mr Teo had also highlighted that the CPIB had established, as part of its independent investigation, that no matter was raised by SLA to MinLaw and to any of the ministers during the entire rental process, said the statement.

The statement clarified that the identity of the tenants had no bearing on the amount spent by SLA on the works it carried out on both properties.

“The article implies that this sum was unusually large, and omits important information that the works done by SLA were consistent with SLA’s general practice, and were assessed to be necessary in the circumstances, as explained by Mr Tong in Parliament on July 3,” said the statement.

“In the case of 26 Ridout Road and 31 Ridout Road, most of the costs incurred by SLA were for works that external consultants had determined to be necessary, in the light of the condition of the properties and to comply with the relevant conservation requirements. The remaining costs were incurred as part of the usual works done before the commencement of a tenancy to ensure that the property is habitable,” the statement added.

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, said the joint statement.

“The Government did not issue any directions or requests on this matter to Meta, Instagram’s parent company, that caused Instagram to geo-block the post in question,” the statement said.

As of Sunday afternoon, 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 the posts on its website and social media pages.