Academic apologises for article on political controversies

Dr Chan Ying-Kit, who wrote an article for East Asia Forum, an Australia-based academic website that was issued with a correction direction from a Singapore government agency on 13 September, has apologised for the distress it has caused, writes Sufiyan Samsuri for Channel News Asia.

In response to TODAY’s queries on 18 September, the Singaporean academic from the National University of Singapore (NUS) said in a statement that the 18 August commentary titled “A spate of scandals strikes Singapore” has also been retracted from the website. Chan said that he “sincerely and unreservedly apologise(s)” for the errors, omissions and false statements made in his article, which was written on his own volition without NUS’ knowledge.

On 13 September, Indranee Rajah, minister in the Prime Minister’s Office, instructed the Protection from Online Falsehoods and Manipulation Act Office to issue the correction direction to East Asia Forum over the article, which she said contained false statements on recent political controversies in Singapore. The controversies included the rental of bungalows by two cabinet ministers, the extramarital affair between former speaker of parliament Tan Chuan-Jin and member of parliament Cheng Li Hui that led to their resignations, and a Corrupt Practices Investigation Bureau (CPIB) probe of Transport Minister S Iswaran for alleged corruption. The falsehoods pertained to the independence of CPIB and Prime Minister Lee Hsien Loong’s approach in addressing certain matters.
Full report on the CNA site