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Chairman of the Singapore Democratic Party (SDP) Dr Paul Ananth Tambyah was recently interviewed by The Online Citizen (TOC) regarding the history and motives behind his political career, his perspectives on Singapore’s public healthcare system, the controversy of his political donations and contributions, his opinions on the alternative parties alliance, the effect of the fake news bill on the imminent …

23 April 2019 — Gender-equality group AWARE today released a statement on the proposed Protection from Online Falsehoods and Manipulation Act (POFMA), announced earlier this month. This statement follows the group’s February 2018 submission to the Select Committee on Deliberate Online Falsehoods. Echoing the opposition and caution sounded by other groups before it, AWARE detailed how the Act could stymie …

Singapore’s Protection from Online Falsehoods and Manipulation Bill, at least in its current form, is “vague” and “inconsistent” with international legal standards, said the International Commission of Jurists (ICJ). In an open letter to Prime Minister Lee Hsien Loong, Deputy Prime Ministers Teo Chee Hean and Tharman Shanmugaratnam, Law Minister K. Shanmugam, and Parliament Speaker Tan Chuan-Jin on 12 Apr, ICJ’s …

Nine activists who led the 2014 Umbrella Movement in Hong Kong were convicted today of public nuisance charges. In one of the city’s most politically charged trials in recent years, legal scholar Benny Tai and sociology professor Chan Kin-man were convicted of two public nuisance charges each while Reverend Chu Yiu-Ming was convicted of one charge of conspiracy to commit …

Singapore’s new anti-“fake news” legislation, the Protection from Online Falsehoods and Manipulation Bill, “entrenches and legalizes censorship in all forms”, warns local civil society group Function 8. In its statement on Facebook on Wed (10 Apr), Function 8 stressed that the proposed Act, once enacted and enforced, “will adversely affect every person (Singaporean or foreigner), and every social or business …

The Ministry of Law has lambasted international non-governmental organisation Human Rights Watch (HRW)’s highly critical statement against the introduction of the Protection from Online Falsehoods and Manipulation Bill on Monday (1 Apr), branding HRW’s statement “part of its longstanding practice of issuing biased and one-sided statements about Singapore”. HRW’s deputy director for Asia Phil Robertson, according to the NGO’s statement …

A chance meeting in a coffee-shop in Potong Pasir between a wheelchair-bound resident and a potential Singapore People’s Party (SPP) candidate at the next General Elections has led to what can only be described as a life-changing meeting. On 2 April, when details of the upcoming 2019 World Para-Swimming World Series Singapore leg which will be held in May at …

Proposed Law Would Excessively Restrict Online Freedom of Speech Singapore’s proposed law on “online falsehoods” is sweepingly broad and threatens to stifle discussion on websites worldwide, Human Rights Watch said today. The government should withdraw the Protection from Online Falsehoods and Manipulation bill, introduced in Parliament on April 1, 2019, and significantly revise it to comply with international protections for freedom of speech. …

by Kirsten Han It’s late on a Friday night, close to closing time for most of the shops and restaurants in the area. Outside the Harbourfront Centre, a video is still playing on the big screen at the Singapore Heritage Festival, but the stalls have already begun winding down and packing up. Double-decker buses are roaring up the road to …

Yesterday (30 Mar), at least 500 people went to Hong Lim Park to protest against Hyflux. Many are looking at losing 80-97% of their life savings and retirement funds which they have invested in Hyflux preference shares and perpetual securities (i.e, high-risk bonds). In the case of Hyflux, under the current deal, investors can only get back 10.7 per cent …