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Pofma correction order issued to Wake Up, Singapore over posts on findings of Committee of Privileges

SINGAPORE — A correction order has been issued to alternative news source Wake Up, Singapore over its social media posts on the Committee of Privileges’ recommendation that Workers’ Party (WP) leaders Pritam Singh and Faisal Manap be referred to the Public Prosecutor.

Workers' Party chief Pritam Singh (left) and vice-chair Faisal Manap (right) testifying at Parliament's Committee of Privileges' hearings.

Workers' Party chief Pritam Singh (left) and vice-chair Faisal Manap (right) testifying at Parliament's Committee of Privileges' hearings.

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SINGAPORE — A correction order has been issued to alternative news source Wake Up, Singapore over its social media posts on the Committee of Privileges’ recommendation that Workers’ Party (WP) leaders Pritam Singh and Faisal Manap be referred to the Public Prosecutor.

The directive — issued on Saturday (Feb 12) under Singapore's anti-fake-news law, the Protection from Online Falsehoods and Manipulation Act (Pofma) — relates to the platform's Facebook and Instagram posts of Feb 10.

It requires Wake Up, Singapore to put up a correction notice alongside their posts.

An article published on the Government’s fact-checking website Factually said: “The posts falsely convey that the Committee of Privileges recommended that Mr Pritam Singh and Mr Muhamad Faisal Abdul Manap be referred for criminal proceedings, even though there was no finding by the Committee that they lied.

“This is false in various respects. The Committee expressly found that Mr Singh, Ms (Sylvia) Lim and Mr Faisal had lied in their evidence before the Committee.

“The Committee’s recommendation that Mr Singh be referred to the Public Prosecutor was based on this finding which it made — that Mr Singh had lied on oath (which is a possible offence of perjury).

“The Committee did not recommend referring Mr Faisal Manap to the Public Prosecutor for lying to the Committee. The Committee recommended referring Mr Faisal for repeatedly refusing to answer relevant questions put to him by the Committee.”

Ms Lim is WP's chairman, while Mr Pritam is its secretary-general and Mr Faisal its vice-chairman. 

Ms Indranee Rajah, Minister in the Prime Minister’s Office and Leader of the House, had instructed the Pofma Office to issue the correction order. Wake Up, Singapore posted the required correction notices just after 6pm on Saturday.

The committee had on Thursday released its final report on a complaint made against former WP Member of Parliament Raeesah Khan for lying in Parliament about a sexual assault case. It recommended that she be fined S$35,000 for telling a false anecdote in Parliament on Aug 3 last year and repeating it on Oct 4 that year.

The committee also recommended that Mr Pritam, who is Leader of the Opposition, as well as Mr Faisal be referred to the Public Prosecutor for possible criminal charges, saying it was “satisfied” that they were untruthful while testifying under oath.

Parliament is expected to debate and vote on the committee's report when it sits next week. CNA

For more stories like this, visit cna.asia

Related topics

Wake Up Singapore Pofma Committee of Privileges Raeesah Khan Pritam Singh Faisal Manap

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