POFMA Office issue correction directions to TOC Asia, Terry Xu over police bullying allegations

SINGAPORE: Home Affairs Minister K Shanmugam has instructed the Protection from Online Falsehoods and Manipulation Act (POFMA) office to issue correction directions regarding an article and social media posts that reference a 2021 incident in which the police were falsely accused of taunting an elderly woman.

The directions were issued against alternative news platform The Online Citizen Asia and its publisher Terry Xu, the Ministry of Home Affairs (MHA) said in a news release on Sunday (May 7).

They involve a May 2, 2023 article published on The Online Citizen Asia website, as well as posts referencing the article on its Facebook, Twitter, Instagram and LinkedIn accounts on the same day. Xu also posted the false allegations on his Facebook account on Apr 30, 2023.

Xu and The Online Citizen Asia (TOCA) will be required to carry a correction notice alongside their publications.

“In May 2021, The Online Citizen (now defunct) made publications falsely accusing police officers of reprimanding and taunting an elderly woman for not wearing a mask,” MHA said.

“The truth was that the police had received a call for assistance from a member of the public and were rendering assistance to the elderly woman and trying to help her find her way home.”

An Instagram user posted a story on May 18, 2021 alleging that four officers had “clustered an elderly auntie that took off her mask because she was feeling breathless” and continued to “tell her off” even though she had put her mask on.

The post also said someone had to step in to “salvage the situation”.

The police issued two statements on the incident on May 19, 2021 and May 25, 2021.

On May 21, 2021, a correction direction was issued against The Online Citizen for publishing the falsehoods. The publisher appealed to set the correction direction aside, but it was dismissed by the High Court in 2022.

“The High Court found that TOC had published a false statement of fact and that the police officers had in fact expressed concern for the elderly woman, with the aim of rendering assistance to her,” MHA said on Sunday.

“The Court observed that the original publisher could not, in good faith, have concluded that there was reprimanding or taunting by the police.

“Despite the Government’s clarifications and the High Court’s clear findings on the matter, Xu and TOCA have persisted in making false allegations pertaining to the case. These allegations are wholly unfounded.”

The ministry added that the continued allegations may affect public trust and confidence in the police.

“Xu’s attempt to rehash issues already considered by the Court, and exploit a case involving an elderly and vulnerable woman, are contemptible,” MHA said.

The ministry added it “bears noting” that the article is one of 60 written by Xu to raise funds to pay for the fine imposed upon him by the courts for various offences, including contempt of court and POFMA offences.

On Thursday, Xu successfully appealed to have his jail term for criminal defamation replaced with a fine of S$8,000.

He received a three-week jail term for defaming members of the Cabinet of Singapore. This was for approving the publication of a letter in September 2018 that alleged “corruption at the highest echelons”. 

Xu served that jail term in April 2022 when he was sentenced by a district court.

POLICE RESPONSE

In a statement on Sunday, the police said they were aware of the recent posts made by The Online Citizen Asia and Xu on May 2 and Apr 30 respectively, labelling them as "wholly unfounded".

Addressing Xu’s claims that the police knew the woman was not lost but wanted to send her home nevertheless, the police said this was untrue.

The police said a member of the public asked for assistance on May 17, 2021 at 643pm, reporting that an elderly woman, who was not wearing a mask, looked lost.

“When officers located the elderly woman, she repeatedly said she knew where she stayed, but was unable to provide her address,” the police said.

The police added that the woman’s address was later established after a member of the public recognised her and recalled that she lived in a nearby block.

“The High Court has in fact found that the police officers believed that the elderly woman was lost,” the police said.

The police also refuted Xu’s claim that the main reason its officers approached the elderly woman was because she was not wearing a mask, which at the time was mandatory under Singapore's COVID-19 rules.

“This is untrue as the police’s primary concern was to help the elderly woman find her way home,” the police said. “They were attempting to contact her next-of-kin, so they could escort her home safely.”

The police added its officers also advised her to wear a mask for her own safety due to the severe COVID-19 situation at the time and that it was also a requirement back then that masks had to be worn in public.

“The fact that they had asked her to put on a mask does not detract from the fact that they were trying to get her home safely,” the police said.

Xu also alleged that the police misrepresented and lied to the elderly woman's next-of-kin that she was lost, resulting in the next-of-kin filing a police report on the issue.

"This is a blatant fabrication," the police said. "The next-of-kin had lodged a police report against The Online Citizen and not the police, over the falsehoods The Online Citizen had spread about the police officers' interactions with the elderly woman, and for interviewing the elderly woman without the family's permission."

The police added that its resources are better used to deter and solve crimes, and to assist members of the public, rather than to repeatedly address such "baseless allegations".