Chee Soon Juan to explore legal options after receiving POFMA order
On Thursday (22 Feb), Desmond Lee, the Minister of National Development, instructed the Protection from Online Falsehoods and Manipulation Act (POFMA) office to issue Singapore Democratic Party (SDP) secretary-general Chee Soon Juan with a correction direction.
This was after Dr Chee posted a video to Facebook, Instagram, and TikTok addressing public housing policies.
According to the Ministry of National Development (MND), the video contained “false and misleading statements.”
In response, Dr Chee said he categorically rejects the government’s explanation on the matter.
He will be exploring the option of mounting a legal challenge to the government’s stance.
Chee Soon Juan posted video containing falsehoods
According to a press release by MND, Dr Chee’s video posted on 17 Feb to his Facebook, TikTok and Instagram accounts contained false and misleading statements regarding public housing policies.
In the video, he claimed that the government rejected the idea of building flats to accommodate multi-generational living.
Source: Chee Soon Juan on Facebook
An article by Factually has stated this claim is false, as the Housing and Development Board (HDB) builds and offers five-room and 3Gen flats for larger families and multi-generation families wishing to live together.
3Gen flats have been introduced since 2013.
These apartments are generally larger at about 115 square metres, with an extra bedroom compared to the typical five-room Build-To-Order (BTO) flat.
In addition, all BTO launches in 2023 had five-room flats available. 3Gen flats were offered in two of the four launches.
POFMA office issues Chee Soon Juan with correction direction
Mr Lee has thus instructed the POFMA Office to issue Dr Chee with a correction direction for the posts. TikTok will also receive a targeted correction direction for the video on its platform.
Dr Chee will have to carry correction notices on his Instagram and Facebook accounts. In addition, he must create a new TikTok post containing a correction notice.
The notices will state that the video on 17 Feb contains a false statement of fact, with a link provided for viewers to refer to the government’s clarification.
“This will allow viewers to consider both versions and draw their own conclusions,” said MND in the press release.
TikTok will additionally have to communicate a correction notice to all end-users in Singapore that accessed the TikTok post.
Chee Soon Juan says he will explore legal options
On 22 Feb, Dr Chee posted to his social media accounts on Facebook, Instagram, and TikTok informing viewers of the correction direction and directing them to the government’s clarification.
Source: Chee Soon Juan on Facebook
“Under POFMA rules, I have to comply with the order to post this notice,” he said.
But I categorically reject the government’s interpretation/explanation on the matter.
Dr Chee added that he will explore the option of mounting a legal challenge to the government’s stance.
MS News has reached out to him for more information on the matter.
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Featured image adapted from Inconvenient Questions on YouTube for illustration purposes only.
