Advocating legal action over PAP’s wiki page edits not a priority: Baey

SINGAPORE — Tampines GRC Member of Parliament (MP) Baey Yam Keng today (June 13) said it was “never on top of my mind, nor is it PAP’s (People’s Action Party) priority” to advocate for legal action against those who launched “a coordinated attack with malicious edits” on the party’s Wikipedia page.

His statement came after a Straits Times report earlier today quoted Mr Baey as saying that the PAP should consider legal action after the edits were made: “Whether any legal action can be taken is something we need to consider. We need to look at whether there is indeed any legal recourse for us. Ultimately it is quite a vicious attack.”

Some of the edits include changing the name of the party to “Party Against People” and added lines such as “down with the fascists” and “vote for Opposition” into the text.

Mr Baey subsequently wrote on his Instagram account this afternoon: “Changing the name of a party and launching a coordinated attack with malicious edits is not an acceptable code of conduct. There are avenues available to express one’s views, however differing and dissenting.”

He added that he believed the Internet community and public at large will “be able to make their own judgement” of the incident. “Therefore, advocating legal action for this instance is never on top of my mind, nor is it PAP’s priority,” Mr Baey said.

He added a follow-up statement to his Instagram post, saying: “I have requested Straits Times to make a file correction as I did not ‘call on ruling party to consider legal action’.” CHANNEL NEWSASIA