• About Us
    • Fact Checking Policy
    • Ownership & funding information
    • Volunteer
  • Subscribe
  • Letter submission
    • Submissions Policy
  • Contact Us
The Online Citizen Asia
  • Opinion
    • Editorial
    • Commentaries
    • Letters
    • Comments
  • Current Affairs
    • Singapore
    • Malaysia
    • Indonesia
    • China
    • ASEAN
    • Asia
    • International
  • Finance
    • Economics
    • Labour
    • Property
    • Business
  • Community
    • Arts & Culture
    • Consumer Watch
    • NGO
    • Lifestyle
    • Travel
  • Politics
    • Civil Society
    • Parliament
    • Transport
    • Education
    • Environment
    • Health
    • Housing
  • Law & Order
    • Legislation
    • Court Cases
No Result
View All Result
  • Opinion
    • Editorial
    • Commentaries
    • Letters
    • Comments
  • Current Affairs
    • Singapore
    • Malaysia
    • Indonesia
    • China
    • ASEAN
    • Asia
    • International
  • Finance
    • Economics
    • Labour
    • Property
    • Business
  • Community
    • Arts & Culture
    • Consumer Watch
    • NGO
    • Lifestyle
    • Travel
  • Politics
    • Civil Society
    • Parliament
    • Transport
    • Education
    • Environment
    • Health
    • Housing
  • Law & Order
    • Legislation
    • Court Cases
No Result
View All Result
The Online Citizen Asia
No Result
View All Result

Director of Function 8 says govt itself secretly recorded closed-door events; tells SCCCI president “don’t worry” about audio leak

by Rubaashini Shunmuganathan
20/02/2020
in Current Affairs
Reading Time: 4 mins read
0

On Wednesday (19 February), director of Function 8 and former ISA detainee, Teo Soh Lung, highlighted in a Facebook post that the government itself had secretly recorded her speech in the 1980s without her permission.

“Recording private meetings are done by governments all the time,” Ms Teo asserted.

The former politician and lawyer, said this in reference to the leaked audio recording of Minister of Trade and Industry Chan Chun Sing last week.

Mr Chan was at a closed-door meeting with a group of business leaders organised by the Singapore Chinese Chamber of Commerce and Industry (SCCCI), in which a snippet of the dialogue was recorded and circulated to various group chats.

In the audio, Mr Chan addressed a number of issues pertaining the nation’s economy and society, including people’s behaviour of panic buying and hoarding essential items in Singapore.

Following that, the President of SCCCI Roland Ng released a letter stating that the act of one of its members of leaking the audio snippet is “unacceptable and deeply disappointing.”

He explained that recording the meeting was unauthorised and a clear breach of trust, noting that all its participating members were already informed that it was a closed-door dialogue and should be off-the-record before, during and after the session.

“It has done damage to SCCCI’s standing as a chamber of high repute,” SCCCI stated in the notice. “This has betrayed the trust that SCCCI has built with Minister Chan over the years.”

In response to Mr Ng’s letter, Ms Teo said that she was “exceedingly amused” upon reading his letter.

“His letter expressed the fear that its standing of ‘high repute’ has been damaged by the leak. It also expressed the disappointment and regret about the conduct of one of its members and the erosion of trust between the Chamber and the minister,” she wrote.

She added, “Don’t worry about the leak. Recording private meetings are done by governments at all time. You member’s conduct is not disgraceful at all.”

Ms Teo explained that while she was giving a speech at a private general meeting of the Singapore Law Society in the 1980s, someone present at the event “secretly recorded and reproduced verbatim” for the former prime minister, the late Mr Lee Kuan Yew. She said that Mr Lee at that time was  trying to “run me down” at the Parliamentary Select Committee hearing on the Amendment to the Legal Profession Act in 1986.

As such, the organisation’s director told Mr Ng not to “worry” about the audio leak as the member’s act is “quite in order”.

“So Mr President, don’t worry. If the government can behave in such a disgraceful manner when dealing with a professional body like the Law Society, which in my view is much more important than your business Chamber, your member’s leak of an audio clip of the minister is quite in order,” she wrote.

SCCCI has “no reputation”

Ms Teo also mentioned that there’s no reason for SCCCI to think that its member has actually brought down the chamber’s good name. This is because Mr Ng and his council is “too conceited” to think that SCCCI is “a chamber of high repute”.

“To me, your chamber has done nothing for the ordinary people of Singapore. Indeed your chamber merely caters for the rich and powerful, the ministers and the business people,” she wrote.

As an example, she said that in 2015, she booked an auditorium for the “launch of LIVING IN A TIME OF DECEPTION by Dr Poh Soo Kai, who is actually the grandson of Mr Tan Kah Kee.

For those who are unaware, Mr Tan was a renowned philanthropist, activist and one of the founders of SCCCI and the auditorium that Ms Teo booked for the event was actually named in honour of him.

However, Ms Teo said that the council rejected the booking just few days after she paid the rental deposit of S$510. To make it worse, she said that no reason was given regarding the rejection.

“I immediately wrote to the chamber to reconsider the irrational decision of your council members. I copied my letter to all the council members who had valid email addresses,” she noted.

She continued, “Your chamber of so called “high repute” did not even bother to respond or give reasons why the grandson of your founder could not even launch his book at the auditorium that is named after his grandfather.”

Additionally, Dr Poh also commented about this incident at the actual launch of the book at a new venue, Holiday Inn Singapore Atrium, in 2016.

He said: “It is sad to note that I, a grandson, cannot make use of a hall that is in my grandfather’s name to launch my memoir which also pays homage to the old man. This, to me, is a sign of a very sick society.”

As such, Mr Teo pointed out that there’s no reason for the President of SCCCI to investigate on the leaked audio recording of Minister Chan. “You don’t have a reputation as far as I am concern. And I am sure, the public don’t care,” she lamented.

For just US$7.50 a month, sign up as a subscriber on The Online Citizen Asia (and enjoy ads-free experience on our site) to support our mission to transform TOC into an alternative mainstream press.

Related Posts

Can Malaysia review its current practices on foreign worker management?
Asia

Can Malaysia review its current practices on foreign worker management?

07/02/2023
Forum Asia calls for India to revoke arbitrary ban on BBC documentary
Civil Society

Forum Asia calls for India to revoke arbitrary ban on BBC documentary

07/02/2023
AFP

Google to release ChatGPT rival named Bard

07/02/2023
Earthquake kills more than 3,800 in Turkey, Syria
AFP

Earthquake kills more than 3,800 in Turkey, Syria

07/02/2023
Leong Mun Wai calls for a reset of housing policies to deliver affordable and accessible HDB flats and protect retirement adequacy
Politics

Leong Mun Wai calls for a reset of housing policies to deliver affordable and accessible HDB flats and protect retirement adequacy

07/02/2023
LTA revises ERP rates up after latest review; Gantries reach as high as S$5 for 8:30am – 9:00am
Singapore

LTA revises ERP rates up after latest review; Gantries reach as high as S$5 for 8:30am – 9:00am

07/02/2023
Subscribe
Connect withD
Login
I allow to create an account
When you login first time using a Social Login button, we collect your account public profile information shared by Social Login provider, based on your privacy settings. We also get your email address to automatically create an account for you in our website. Once your account is created, you'll be logged-in to this account.
DisagreeAgree
Notify of
Connect withD
I allow to create an account
When you login first time using a Social Login button, we collect your account public profile information shared by Social Login provider, based on your privacy settings. We also get your email address to automatically create an account for you in our website. Once your account is created, you'll be logged-in to this account.
DisagreeAgree
0 Comments
Inline Feedbacks
View all comments

Latest posts

Can Malaysia review its current practices on foreign worker management?

Can Malaysia review its current practices on foreign worker management?

07/02/2023
Forum Asia calls for India to revoke arbitrary ban on BBC documentary

Forum Asia calls for India to revoke arbitrary ban on BBC documentary

07/02/2023

Google to release ChatGPT rival named Bard

07/02/2023
Earthquake kills more than 3,800 in Turkey, Syria

Earthquake kills more than 3,800 in Turkey, Syria

07/02/2023
Leong Mun Wai calls for a reset of housing policies to deliver affordable and accessible HDB flats and protect retirement adequacy

Leong Mun Wai calls for a reset of housing policies to deliver affordable and accessible HDB flats and protect retirement adequacy

07/02/2023
LTA revises ERP rates up after latest review; Gantries reach as high as S$5 for 8:30am – 9:00am

LTA revises ERP rates up after latest review; Gantries reach as high as S$5 for 8:30am – 9:00am

07/02/2023
Stern warnings was an “in-between” solution as CPIB lacks sufficient evidence to prosecute six former KOM executives for bribery, said Indranee Rajah

Stern warnings was an “in-between” solution as CPIB lacks sufficient evidence to prosecute six former KOM executives for bribery, said Indranee Rajah

06/02/2023
19-year-old delivery rider in China covers 5km in 22 minutes to deliver antivenom to woman who had bitten by snake

19-year-old delivery rider in China covers 5km in 22 minutes to deliver antivenom to woman who had bitten by snake

06/02/2023

Trending posts

Cognizant India transfers staff to work in Singapore as recently as this year

Local IT grads can’t find jobs while engineers constantly transferred from India to work in SG under CECA

by Correspondent
05/02/2023
104

...

They have done a fine job of confusing us about the jobs situation

They have done a fine job of confusing us about the jobs situation

by Augustine Low
01/02/2023
47

...

Adani’s brother runs SG company and registers as director with local ID

Adani’s brother runs SG company and registers as director with local ID

by Correspondent
03/02/2023
26

...

Former Singaporean shares change of life in Australia with annual pay of S$80,000 as a plumber

Former Singaporean shares change of life in Australia with annual pay of S$80,000 as a plumber

by Yee Loon
30/01/2023
25

...

No response from Josephine Teo on whether Mediacorp has been instructed to stop coverage of SMT circulation scandal

No response from Josephine Teo over alleged blackout of coverage by Mediacorp over SMT circulation scandal

by Terry Xu
06/02/2023
11

...

Singapore Law Watch removes commentary on CPIB’s decision to not prosecute former Keppel executives

Singapore Law Watch removes commentary on CPIB’s decision to not prosecute former Keppel executives

by The Online Citizen
02/02/2023
19

...

February 2020
M T W T F S S
 12
3456789
10111213141516
17181920212223
242526272829  
« Jan   Mar »

The Online Citizen is a regional online publication based in Taiwan and formerly Singapore’s longest-running independent online media platform.

Navigation

  • Editorial
  • Commentaries
  • Opinion
  • Politics
  • Community

Support

  • Contact Us
  • Letter submission
  • Membership subscription

Follow Us

  • Facebook
  • Twitter
  • YouTube
  • Instagram
  • Fact Checking Policy
  • Privacy Policy

© 2022 - 2023 The Online Citizen Asia

No Result
View All Result
  • Opinion
    • Editorial
    • Commentaries
    • Comments
  • Current Affairs
    • Malaysia
    • Indonesia
    • China
    • ASEAN
    • Asia
    • International
  • Finance
    • Economics
    • Labour
    • Property
    • Business
  • Community
    • Civil Society
    • Arts & Culture
    • Consumer Watch
    • NGO
  • Politics
    • Parliament
    • Transport
    • Education
    • Environment
    • Health
    • Housing
  • Law & Order
    • Legislation
    • Court Cases
  • Lifestyle
    • Travel
  • Subscribers login

© 2022 - 2023 The Online Citizen Asia

wpDiscuz