Photo by Terry Xu

The Singapore Democratic Party (SDP) was granted leave on Wednesday (26 Feb) to appeal a ruling in its case against correction orders issued under the Protection from Online Falsehoods and Manipulation Act (POFMA) and will argue before the Court of Appeal at a later date.

Last year on 14 December, the Ministry of Manpower (MOM) issued three correction directions under POFMA against SDP over two Facebook posts and an article related to employment trends in Singapore posted by the opposition party.

SDP then complied with the request under POFMA to carry a correction notice that includes a link to the government’s Factually site on each of the Facebook posts and the article.

On 3 January, SDP submitted its application to cancel the three correction directions, but MOM minister Josephine Teo refused and claimed that the application does not provide sufficient grounds for cancellation.

In response to MOM’s rejection, SDP indicated that the answer given “is not a rational answer” and added, “SDP had submitted a detailed account – including analyzing MOM’s own statistics – of the reasons for the statements in our posts.” SDP then pursued the matter in Court and filed an originating summons against the MOM in the High Court. The hearing commenced on 16 January.

However, on 5 February, the High Court dismissed SDP’s challenge and ruled that the government has to prove a statement is false after it has been issued a correction under POFMA.  

Justice Ang Cheng Hock ruled that the statements made by SDP were “false in the face of statistical evidence against them”, thus SDP cannot remove the correction notices it was required to add to the online posts.

SDP expressed its disappointment with the verdict in a statement and said, “We reiterate our case which we argued in Court: POFMA must only be applied to clear cut cases of falsehoods, not for interpretations of statistical data.”

Following that, the party decided to apply for leave to appeal against the High Court decision which was then granted yesterday (26 Feb).

The Online Citizen’s (TOC) POFMA appeal

On the other hand, TOC has also applied for its appeal under POFMA to be heard by the court of appeal and will be having the matter heard on 12 March 2020 at the High Court.

Attorney-General Chambers (AGC) has said that it has no objection to the leave.

Earlier on 19 February, the High Court dismissed TOC’s appeal against the Home Affairs Minister K Shanmugam’s Correction Direction issued under the POFMA which was made pertaining to an article published on TOC regarding Malaysian-based human rights organisation Lawyers For Liberty’s (LFL) allegations on the judicial execution methods employed in Changi Prison.

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

The CRI, the CHI and the WEF Competitiveness rating – what does this all mean for the PAP govt?

Singapore has fared very well in two international rankings recently. Hot on…

Heng Swee Keat to be promoted to Deputy Prime Minister

Mr Heng Swee Keat will be promoted to Deputy Prime Minister as…

心酸!清寒子弟因欠费未能领成绩单正本 幸得善心人解围

因家里经济状况因素,学校费用未缴清,一名家长的女儿只能领取小六会考(PSLE)成绩单的影印本,幸得善心人士解围,才顺利获得成绩单正本。 失业者互助网站 Transitioning.org创办人吴家和(Gilbert Goh)昨日分享这则心酸故事,一名家长告诉他,由于家庭的经济因素,致使学校方面仍拖欠约156元费用,不料这导致女儿无法获得成绩单正本,只能领到影印副本。 要知道,在申请登记中学时,他们是需要出示正本证书,否则可能会无法入学。幸好,一名好心人士协助他们付清学费,最后才顺利获得正本。 对此,吴家和表示,虽然他们最终还是顺利获得正本证书,但他很担忧,我国到底有多少贫困人士,可能会出现类似的情况-因无法缴清学费,而无法领取成绩单正本。 他感慨,尽管他们并没有欠下巨额学费,但却因此只能获得副本成绩单,这对他们而言,无疑是一种羞辱与负担,重重压在贫困的人身上,尤其当小孩发现,自己的同学们都拿到了成绩单正本。 吴家和最后措辞强烈抨击教育部“|可耻”,每年将花费数以万计津贴外籍学生提供奖学金与助学金,却忽略了自己公民的困难。 同天,吴家和又发文表示,另一户家庭也遭遇类似的事情,但幸运的是,小学承诺将证书发放给孩子,但前提是必须让母亲先支付50元的保证金,并签下保证书,才愿意把成绩单交给孩子。 据悉,该名母亲在PSLE成绩出炉前两天才刚刚诞下新生儿,而近几个月父亲又因病入院,家庭状况堪忧。 所幸的是,另一名好心人士在他们领拿证书前,慷慨协助支付所有学费。 吴家和也上传孩子的成绩,并赞扬孩子获得很好的成绩,可能会被安排进入更好的学校,不会再因为成绩单耽误了学习。…

Meteorological Service Singapore: More rainy days on October

Singaporeans can expect thundery showers mostly in the afternoon on six to…