Further to breaking news that the New Naratif, (NN) founded and managed by historian Thum Ping Tjin, is being investigated by the Elections Department (ELD) for allegedly breaching election rules over the period of the 2020 general elections in July, it has been revealed that Thum has also had his phone and laptop seized.
According to the ELD, the NN had published paid advertisements that amounted to the illegal conduct of election activity over the general election period. Given that the NN is neither a candidate nor a political party plus the fact that the People’s Action Party (PAP) already won the general election decisively, this seeming persecution of Thum and the NN seems petty, needlessly vindictive and a potential waste of public resources.
The ELD and the Singapore Police Force (SPF) are all funded by public funds. As Singaporeans, do we give consent to our money being spent in such a seemingly spurious manner?
Worse still, is the question of consistency when government agencies are utilised.
The PAP dominated Government has permitted both the SPF and the ELD to investigate Thum. Yet, nothing has been done where Michael Petraeus’s Critical Spectator (CS) is concerned. Patraeus is a Polish national talking about Singaporean politics. Given the Government’s repeated sensitivities when so called foreign intervention is concerned, why has neither the CS nor Patraeus been hitherto censured?
The Online Citizen (TOC)’s editor, Terry Xu had earlier filed a police report against CS for posts it uploaded in relation to the General Election in July 2020. Since his report, there has been no follow up from the Police on the matter.
It is concerning that while the authorities have seen it fit to clamp down on Thum with such vigour, they have completely ignored Xu’s police report. Not to mention the catalogue of other breaches identified by this publication that the ELD has seemingly also ignored.
The PAP was returned to power by a wide majority in July 2020. This means that people still put their trust in the PAP. With that in mind, why is the PAP seemingly bent on punishing people who might have a different opinion? It is completely unnecessary!
Why is the ELD seemingly acting like some kind of attack dog when it is supposed to be impartial? Impartially demands fair and equal treatment. If you want to investigate NN, please investigate the PAP breaches as well!
As a nation, do we condone this seemingly selective treatment of people? Does this not dampen the credibility of publicly funded institutions? Do Singaporeans agree to OUR money being spent in such a way?
