Historian Dr Thum Ping Tjin’s lecture of the actual Singapore history to Law Minister K Shanmugam left the Select Committee speechless, for good reasons. The Oxford academic’s 6-hour long debate with the law minister was focused on the events that happened from the Independence period of 1960s to the clampdown in the 1980s. The historian succinctly pointed out that the Singapore government cannot be trusted with censorship powers, based off on historical records.
However, fake news did not go away in the 1990s to present. In fact, it got more sophisticated and worsen especially in the last decade. Many of these state-sponsored fake news can still be found in today’s internet age:
1) State media The New Paper 1997
NewPaper 1997
Voting for the Opposition means voting for racists of unacceptable character with no concrete plans. Right.
2) State media Straits Times 2007
Screenshot from Roy Ngerng
The Singapore government still denied using CPF funds for GIC investments in 2001, 2006 and 2007, and eventually they made a U-turn to admit so only in 2014.
3) State media Straits Times and The New Paper 2011
The New Paper 2011
Straits Times 2011
In the past three decades, opposition member Dr Chee Soon Juan suffered full-page defamation and fake news from the state media.
4) State media The New Paper 2015
The New Paper 2015
5) Straits Times 2016
ST 2016
6) Straits Times 2016
ST 2016
7) PAP MP Charles Chong 2015
Charles Chong 2015
The Chairman of the Select Committee used fake news to win his 2015 election.
8) State media CNA 2017
CNA 2017
9) Straits Times 2017
ST 2017
For the record, Wee Kim Wee is not the country’s first elected President, and Halimah Yacob is not Malay.
10) State media Mothership 2017
MS 2017