Forum: Does Facebook post making false claim about National Anthem fall under Pofma?

On Tuesday (Dec 3), a new recording of the National Anthem, Majulah Singapura, was played at a flag-raising ceremony and on radio stations to commemorate the 60th anniversary of the national symbols (New Majulah Singapura recording makes its debut, Dec 4).

It was unfortunate timing that a music video of singer-songwriter Ramli Sarip singing his rendition of the National Anthem was launched around the same time as the official recording by the Singapore Symphony Orchestra. Many were confused and conflated them.

Among those was People's Voice Party chief Lim Tean. Not unexpectedly, he politicised the issue, blamed the Government for making the change without any public consultation and said the version sounded sorrowful - all published on his Facebook page.

Whether a consultation was necessary or if the new recording sounded nice is debatable. Given that Mr Lim argued on the basis that Mr Ramli's version was the new official recording when it is not, I am concerned about him spreading misguided reactions towards the establishment.

To make things worse, netizens who corrected Mr Lim on his Facebook post had their comments deleted and were blocked from commenting on his page.

As a politician who advocates free speech and transparency, Mr Lim is being hypocritical by deleting comments and blocking users not aligned to his political agenda.

In a democracy, it is normal for the opposition to disagree with the government and to politicise issues to gain political mileage. But this should not be based on blatant falsehoods. That would be a dangerous way to conduct politics.

Fortunately, many Singaporeans, even those in the anti-establishment camp, saw through his sophistry and called him out. This shows that Singaporeans do not tolerate falsehoods in political discourse.

Can the authorities clarify if Mr Lim's use of falsehoods in his post falls under the Protection from Online Falsehoods and Manipulation Act?