The Singapore government is at it again, fixing opposition who dare openly challenge the incumbent.
For opposing the incumbent Football Association of Singapore (FAS) and contesting in the upcoming FAS election, the Singapore government launched a corruption investigation on donor Bill Ng and Tiong Bahru Football Club where he is Chairman.
Last week, Bill Ng told the state media that he donated S$500,000 to the ASEAN Football Federation (AFF) through the FAS, and that he did not know where the money go to. FAS denied the accusation and said PAP MP Zainudin Nordin, the former FAS president, was the one who approached him for the donation. FAS then made public emails that prove that Bill Ng was aware that the PAP MP was the one who approached him, but Bill Ng denied saying the letters were “prepared”. PAP MP Zainudin Nordin refuse to comment on the incident. Yesterday (Apr 20), Bill Ng made a public statement inviting anyone to inspect his finances at Tiong Bahru Football Club.
Singapore government agency SportsSG then reported the case to the police and the Commercial Affairs Department (CAD) started raiding Tiong Bahru Football Club, Woodlands FC, Hougang FC and the FAS office. State propaganda media TodayOnline then run a politically-motivated article highlighting the casino machines at Tiong Bahru Football Club making S$36 million in revenue a year.
The corruption probe has damaged Bill Ng’s election campaign and he is unlikely to win against the incumbent FAS president Lm Kia Tong. The FAS election will be held on April 29 and decided by 44 FAS delegates.
Singapore’s football FIFA ranking is always a bottom scrapper like its mainstream media, now ranked at 159th.