Function 8 is holding a discussion, “POFMA: More Harm than Good?” on the Protection from Online Falsehoods and Manipulation Act (POFMA) which was recently passed into law by Parliament. This law is has been widely criticised and debated since it was first introduced in April, with many groups and organisation raising several concerns over provisions in the legislation which gives …
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There is still time to “appropriately revise” the Protection against Online Falsehoods and Manipulation Bill before its Second Reading in Parliament this week to ensure that the proposed Act is passed in accordance with international law, said the ASEAN Parliamentarians for Human Rights (APHR) in Jakarta on Tue (7 May). In its statement on Tue, APHR urged the Singapore government …
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by Front Line Defenders On 29 April 2019, the High Court of Singapore fined human rights defender Jolovan Wham 5000 SGD (about 3280 EUR) for contempt of court. If he refuses to pay the fine, he will be jailed for one week. He is also required to pay an additional 5000 SGD in legal costs to the Prosecutor and 2997.82 …
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On Sunday (28 April), a gathering was held at Hong Lim Park where members of the public voiced their concerns over the proposed Protection from Online Falsehoods and Manipulation Act. The two hour event was moderated by Kwan Yue Keng and say speakers including lawyer turned advocat Khush Chopra, former politician and founder of Asia Centre Dr James Gomez, media …
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by Elaine Yu and Catherine Lai HONG KONG — Four prominent leaders of Hong Kong’s democracy movement were jailed on Wednesday (24 Apr) for their role in organising mass protests in 2014 that paralysed the city for months and infuriated Beijing. The prison terms are the latest hammer blow to the city’s beleaguered democracy movement which has seen key figures …
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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 …
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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 …
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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 …
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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 …
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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 …
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