Singapore government again uses fake news law against opposition

SINGAPORE: The Singapore government again invoked its recently enacted law against false information, ordering the opposition party to correct social-media and website posts about local employment rates.

The Ministry of Manpower called for the changes to a Facebook post sponsored by the Singapore Democratic Party, the government agency said in a statement. The Dec. 2 post carried agraphic showing falling employment of local executives and a report promoting the party's population policy, according to the statement.

There is a “rising proportion of Singaporean” executives and managers being retrenched, the statement cited the report as saying.


Both the graphic and statement are incorrect, said the ministry. There is no rising trend in retrenchment of local professionals, managers, executives and technicians, it said.

“The number of local PMETs retrenched in 2018 was the lowest since 2014,” the ministry said. The rate of retrenchment among this level of local employees has also declined since 2015, it said. “These false statements by the SDP have a singular objective - to stoke fear and anxiety among local PMETs. It is important to set the facts straight so that Singaporeans are not misled.”