By People’s Action Party (PAP) Member of Parliament (MP) for Tampines GRC Baey Yam Keng took to his Facebook last Wednesday (3 Mar) to share a commentary on Singapore national reserves made by a foreign commentator.
In his Facebook post, Mr Baey, who is also the Senior Parliamentary Secretary for Transport, shared a post, titled ‘Debunking the myths about Singapore’s national reserves‘, by Critical Spectator, a commentary blog which is run by a Polish national named Michael Petraeus.
Mr Petraeus gained national recognition sometime in late 2018 and 2019 due to his series of posts that were somewhat deemed as pro-Government.
While his early posts discussed issues like Brexit, China’s work culture, and US politics, he later on became critical of Malaysia’s former Prime Minister, Dr Mahathir Mohamad. His commentaries also painted Singapore in a positive manner, causing many to question his motivation.
In the recent post that Mr Baey shared, the Polish national discussed which element of the national reserves that the Government has kept as a secret, justifications on why such is done, as well as Workers’ Party (WP) MP Jamus Lim’s points on currency speculation.
Legislative levers may be needed to address the threat of foreign interference: Josephine Teo
Interestingly, just two days before Mr Baey shared the commentary by Mr Petraeus, Second Minister for Home Affairs Josephine Teo said in Parliament that legislative “levers” may be needed in Singapore in order to respond better to “hostile information campaign”, as part of efforts to fight against foreign interference in the country’s politics.
Mrs Teo explained that these levers will permit the Government to get necessary information to investigate hostile information campaigns to determine if they are of foreign provenance or artificial.
Additionally, they would also allow authorities to “break the virality” of such campaigns if they are indeed conducted by foreign actors to subvert Singapore’s politics, and to push for counter-messaging to warn the people of Singapore of these campaigns, she noted.
“Singapore needs to be open to the world to make a living. But our diversity and openness also present opportunities for foreign actors,” said Mrs Teo during the Ministry of Home Affairs’ (MHA) Committee of Supply debate on 1 March.