Minister of Law and Home Affairs, K Shanmugam at the Select Committee of Deliberate Online Falsehoods

Speaking on sidelines of a grassroots event on Sunday, Home Affairs and Law Minister, K Shanmugam made comments about historian Thum Ping Tjin and his meeting with Malaysian Prime Minister Mahathir Mohamad, indirectly suggesting that Dr Thum had invited a foreign politician to intervene in Singapore’s domestic politics.

Just yesterday, Member of Parliament Seah Kian Peng published a Facebook post, alleging that Dr Thum is inviting PM Mahathir to bring democracy to Singapore and suggest that Singapore is part of Malaya. Seah’s post was widely reported by the Mainstream Papers and shared by pro-PAP fan pages including the People’s Action Party’s official fan page.

Mr Shanmugam also shared Mr Seah’s FB post, saying that Seah made some good points about the very surprising statements that are being made of Singapore’s sovereignty.

It is unknown what the minister was asked for the statement he made, but as shown in the video by Channel News Asia, Mr Shamugam said:

[box type=”shadow” align=”” class=”” width=””]

I think the whole conduct is a little bit sad, quite regretful

We can have political differences within Singapore. That is normal, it is people’s right. But we should never go out and invite someone foreign, foreign politician to intervene in our domestic politics.

I think that is an absolute no-no.

I mean Dr Thum puts up a photo holding his book on politics in Singapore shaking hands with a Malaysian Prime Minister. then puts up a foreign post saying that he invites Dr Mahathir to take a leading role in promoting democracy, human rights, freedom of speech in South East Asia.

I think it is quite clear what that means.

Kirsten Han then puts up a post saying that is for South East Asia, not Singapore. Where is Singapore if not in South East Asia. Do we need a geography lesson?

[/box]

The Minister – being a top lawyer – chooses his words very wisely without making any direct allegations but directs anyone who read the report of his statement or views his video to have an impression that Dr Thum had invited the Malaysian Prime Minister to intervene in Singapore politics.

Two things with no direct connection, one is a gift while another is the content of the meeting but linked in a sentence to create one.

The minister does not have proof of the invitation, for if he has, he would have sent the Internal Security Department after the professor. Instead, the reporters from the Mainstream Media are called down to his event to capture his quote which is nothing but a soundbite that will be amplified through the government’s propaganda channels with no questions asked of his indirect insinuations.

Just think about it, how many Ministers are walking the ground on Sunday and attending events, and the reporters happen to just turn up at the Minister’s event to ask him about Seah’s Facebook post?

Also based on Mr Shanmugam’s interpretation of Han’s explanation, Singapore ought to voice complaints to pageant contestants about foreign intervention when they advocate for world peace in their respective countries because Singapore is part of the world after all.

Subscribe
Notify of
0 Comments
Inline Feedbacks
View all comments
You May Also Like

三周后才通知客工确诊 人力部、卫生部称“行政疏失”向雇主道歉!

上周二,名为詹德拉的雇主,在脸书分享,在7月13日收到通知旗下一名客工确诊,但迟迟未被当局安排送往隔离中心,客工仍继续和11名室友同处一室。焦急万分、求助无门下,雇主只得上网把这件事情公开,求各界帮忙想办法。 卫生部和人力部在7月19日的联合文告,承认出现“行政疏失”(administrative error),迟至三周后才通知雇主有客工确诊,并向有关雇主道歉。 两个部门指出,上述确诊客工住在卓源宿舍,当局已联系雇主作出解释;与此同时,12名同室客工状况良好,且测试期间仍有医疗人员观察他们情况,也未出现急促呼吸症状。 有关客工和七名室友已痊愈,其余四名中,有三名新近感染,被送到社区护理中心,还有一名未被传染,但会在政府的隔离设施完成最后的隔离期。 根据早前詹德拉的脸书贴文,他指出客工是在6月22日接受冠病检测,但迟至7月13日才收到卫生部的简讯通知客工确诊。然而,即使客工主动要求隔离,也被宿舍保安告知没有空房,结果12客工仍继续共处一室,仅被要求戴上口罩。 詹德拉曾联系卫生部告知此事,但之后却仍没有动静,15日再拨电询问,岂知却被告知“系统中没有记录”,令詹德拉感到不论是宿舍和政府机构好像都在“踢皮球”。 根据卫生部文告,卓源宿舍从4月6日起就已被令隔离,6月22日,当局为客工进行抽样检测,以评估病毒的传播程度,让当局制定排查宿舍疫情的策略。 文告澄清,有关抽样检测不是针对个人的检测。上述客工和他11位室友,都被选中参与群体样本检测,而检测结果显示12位同室客工,有很大可能都被感染。 然而该部称,当局进行群体检测时却出现行政疏失,结果取样回来的拭子样本,只拿到上述确诊客工的。

SMRT Shortlisted For Employer of the Year Award 2016

Human Resources (HR) Excellence Awards 2016 Singapore  announced the finalists on its…

Dyson abandons its electric car project as it’s not “commercially viable”

In a shocking statement released on Thursday evening (10 October), British technology…