The Independent Singapore retracts articles alleging NTUC Foodfare bullied hawkers

SINGAPORE — Socio-political website The Independent Singapore has retracted two articles that made allegations against food-centre operator NTUC Foodfare Co-operative, saying on Friday (March 1) it has since learnt that “some of the facts in the articles were not as what we were led to believe”.

On Nov 19 last year, it published an article alleging that an elderly hawker died of exhaustion after working 18-hour days to avoid hefty penalties from NTUC Foodfare.

Another article that ran on the same day alleged that the social enterprise had imposed a fine of S$3,500 on an “elderly and injured tenant” who had to close the stall for a few days because he was unable to work and could not find replacement workers.

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Both articles have since been taken down from The Independent Singapore’s website and Facebook page.

In a retraction statement published on its website, The Independent Singapore said that it had clarified the facts with the food-centre operator and was “satisfied that NTUC Foodfare did not act in the manner that the articles implied”.

“Specifically, it did not cause the death of any elderly stall operator nor forced him to work 18-hour days. We have therefore decided to remove these articles,” it added.

The retraction comes after NTUC Foodfare said on Nov 21 — two days after both articles were published — that it would take legal action against the website. At the time, The Independent Singapore refused to comply with demands by the co-operative’s lawyers for an apology and retraction of the allegedly defamatory articles, maintaining that its articles were “based on facts” and should remain published until proven to be “false and baseless”.

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NTUC Foodfare had also issued two separate media releases responding to the allegations made by The Independent Singapore.

Responding to TODAY’s queries, a spokesperson for NTUC Foodfare said on Monday that a settlement had been reached and it was satisfied with The Independent Singapore’s statement.

In a publisher’s note appended to its statement, the socio-political site said that as part of its “social responsibility”, it was prepared to provide all hawkers here with a free legal clinic for a day each month to help them “be better placed to deal with matters” relating to their contractual obligations.

While Mr Kumaran Pillai, the publisher of The Independent Singapore, declined to comment on the settlement and its talks with NTUC Foodfare, he said that the team is working with a panel of lawyers to run the legal clinics for hawkers and small-business owners.