Kenneth Jeyaretnam Among 3 Parties To Receive POFMA Orders Over Ridout Road Rentals
On 16 July, Reform Party Leader Kenneth Jeyaretnam, a Facebook user and a website, Jom, received correction directions under the Protection from Online Falsehoods and Manipulation Act (POFMA) regarding the Ridout Road properties.
The directions apply to an article by Mr Jeyaretnam and a Facebook post by the user. Both contained falsehoods regarding the rentals.
In addition, Jom published an article containing several allegations concerning the matter.
Kenneth Jeyaretnam & Facebook user publish falsehoods about Ridout Road
Through a press release on 16 July, the Ministry of Law stated that the Second Minister for Law Edwin Tong had instructed the POFMA Office to issue correction directions to Mr Jeyaretnam and a Facebook user, Thamil Selvan.
Kenneth Jeyaretnam. Source: Facebook
Both had falsely stated that the Singapore Land Authority (SLA) gave the contract to renovate the Ridout Road properties to Livspace.
They alleged this was possible due to Livspace’s Chief Executive Officer (CEO) being the Minister for Law K Shanmugam’s son.
Mr Jeyaretnam made the claim via an article titled, “Will SLA issue a statement denying the rumours that they have awarded contracts to Shanmugam’s son’s company?”
He published it on his website, The Ricebowl Singapore, on 2 July and shared it on Twitter.
Mr Selvan posted his allegation on Facebook on 1 July.
SLA engaged external contractor
The POFMA office will thus require the duo to carry a correction notice on their website, Twitter and Facebook page.
They will have to state that their posts contain false statements of fact.
The ministry pointed out that SLA did not appoint Livspace or Mr Shanmugam’s son for works on the properties, per Mr Tong’s clarifications in Parliament on 3 July.
In accordance with their approach for other state properties, SLA engaged an external consultant for these works.
Separate contractors subsequently received the contracts through open tenders.
“SLA has not had any transactions with Livspace for these or other properties,” the ministry asserted.
Website receives corrective orders regarding falsehoods
In a second press release, the Ministry of Law revealed that Jom, a website, published an article called “Singapore This Week” on 7 July.
Source: Jom
The article contained the following statements:
- Senior Minister Teo Chee Hean did not address questions regarding the actual or apparent conflicts of interest and possible breach of the Code of Conduct for Ministers. The website said he only replied that it was more important to observe the spirit than the letter of the Code.
- The Singapore Land Authority (SLA) spent more than S$1 million on renovating the two Ridout Road properties as the ministers were about to be tenants.
- The Government caused Instagram to geo-block a post by Charles Yeo.
As a result, Mr Tong and the Minister for Communications and Information Josephine Teo instructed the POFMA office to issue Jom with correction directions.
Jom will also have to carry the correction notices stating that the article contains false statements of fact.
Clarifications regarding Mr Teo’s speech in Parliament
In response to the first statement, the Ministry of Law said Jom had omitted important details from Mr Teo’s speech in Parliament on 3 July.
Mr Teo had meant that it was necessary to observe the spirit in addition to the letter of the Code. He had also noted that Mr Shanmugam’s act of recusing himself led to him having no duty in the matter.
As such, there was no potential or actual conflict of interest.
The senior minister then explained that for the case of 26 Ridout Road, Mr Shanmugam had removed himself from the chain of command and decision-making process entirely.
Mr Teo also highlighted that SLA had not raised any matter to the Ministry of Law or any ministers during the rental process.
The Corrupt Practices Investigation Bureau (CPIB) established this during their independent investigation.
Tenants’ identity did not affect SLA’s expenditure on renovation works
As for the second statement of SLA spending more than S$1 million on the Ridout Road properties, the Ministry of Law stated that the tenants’ identity did not affect how much the SLA spent on the works.
Implying the sum to be unusually large, the article avoided mentioning that the works by SLA were in line with their general practice.
SLA had further considered it necessary in the circumstances, as Mr Tong explained in Parliament. This involves investing a significant amount in maintaining conserved properties.
The works were also done in the lead-up to a confirmed tenancy to avoid disturbing existing tenants and ensure recovery of costs from the prospective one.
SLA has posted details showing similar and larger amounts spent on other black-and-white bungalows.
For the Ridout Road properties, external consultants had deemed most of the costs of the works to be necessary due to their condition and the need to comply with conservation requirements.
The rest of the costs resulted from the usual works done before the beginning of a tenancy.
Josephine Teo issued the correction order for the last statement, which involved the claim that the Government had caused Instagram to geo-block Charles Yeo’s post.
She said there were no such requests to Meta, Instagram’s parent company.
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