Opposition politician told to put up correction notices for online posts
MOE says posts wrongly imply Govt spends more on foreign than Singaporean students
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The government notice on its website Factually says opposition politician Lim Tean's Facebook posts contain false and misleading statements. Mr Lim put up the correction notices on his posts at about 10pm yesterday.
PHOTO: POFMA OFFICE
Opposition politician Lim Tean was asked yesterday to put up correction notices on two of his Facebook posts, which the Ministry of Education (MOE) said implied wrongly that the Government spends more on foreign than on Singaporean students.
Mr Lim, who is the founder of political party People's Voice, had contrasted in two Dec 12 Facebook posts the amount of money the MOE spent on Singaporean and foreign students.
He wrote that "the total pot available for Singaporean students (is) $167 million compared to the $238 million that is spent on foreign students". He further stated: "PAP (People's Action Party) spends $167 million on grants and bursaries for Singaporeans but $238 million on foreign students??"
The "false and misleading" comparison led Education Minister Ong Ye Kung to instruct the Protection from Online Falsehoods and Manipulation Act (Pofma) Office to issue a correction directive to Mr Lim yesterday morning.
The directive requires Mr Lim to carry the full correction notice at the top of both Facebook posts.
It is the fourth time Pofma is being used since it came into effect two months ago.
In response, Mr Lim, who put up the correction notices at about 10pm, said he is considering his legal options.
The government notice, on its website Factually, pointed out that the $167 million cited by Mr Lim refers only to bursaries for Singaporean tertiary students and "grossly understates MOE's total spending on Singaporean citizens for education".
It said "almost all" of MOE's annual budget of $13 billion was spent on Singaporeans. The figures of $167 million and $238 million are therefore not comparable, it added.
"The more appropriate comparison should be (the) nearly $13 billion spent on Singaporean students to provide subsidised education for all Singaporean students at all levels, as against the $238 million attributed to foreign students referred to by Mr Lim Tean, which is less than 2 per cent of the total education budget" it said.
The notice also said that much of MOE's budget goes towards costs such as infrastructure, facilities, laboratories and teaching staff, "which are either fixed or non-variable up to the medium term to provide education for Singaporean students".
It added: "A large part of the $238 million attributed to foreign students comprises these fixed and non-variable costs we have to incur anyway, whether or not we admit a small proportion of foreign students in the system."
Foreign students now make up 5 per cent of all the students, it noted.
The Straits Times has asked MOE for a breakdown of spending on Singaporean students.
When contacted, Mr Lim, who is a lawyer, said the Government's response was "absurd". "Anyone who read my post and the series of posts I made on this subject last week would have been under no mistaken impression that I was discussing the amount of money spent on grants and scholarships and not the overall spending on all Singaporean students," he told The Straits Times.
"It is clear to me that Pofma is being used by this Government ahead of the upcoming general election to silence its opponents and chill public discussion of unpopular government policies," he added.
He also said the Government was spending nearly $500 million on grants and scholarships for foreign students until it was halved to $238 million.
Before Mr Lim, the Singapore Democratic Party (SDP) was directed last Saturday to correct two Facebook posts and an article on its website on manpower issues.
The following day, SDP posted an online letter citing news sources that it claimed backed up its allegations that more local professionals, managers, executives and technicians were being retrenched.
The SDP said it will apply to cancel the correction directions.
Directives have been issued to Progress Singapore Party member Brad Bowyer and the States Times Review too.
Correction notices include a link to Factually, where the Government makes corrections and clarifications on what it sees as "false and misleading" statements. But the posts do not have to be taken down.
