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https://www.todayonline.com/singapo...hind-online-citizen-reiterates-need-laws-curb
SINGAPORE — Online sites that receive funding from and hire foreigners can easily be used to advance foreign interests, Home Affairs Minister K Shanmugam said on Wednesday (Sept 25).
He highlighted sociopolitical website, The Online Citizen (TOC), as an example, noting that it received support from foreigners and employs foreigners — including Malaysians — who write “almost exclusively negative articles” on social and political matters in Singapore.
Speaking at a RSIS conference on foreign-interference tactics and countermeasures on Wednesday (Sept 25), Mr Shanmugam pointed out that the site was responsible for an article at the heart of a defamation lawsuit brought by Prime Minister Lee Hsien Loong.
Mr Lee’s lawyers had described content in the article as false, including allegations that Mr Lee had misled his late father into thinking the Government had gazetted their Oxley Road family home.
Mr Shanmugam said he was not commenting on the legal merits of the article and only that it was written by a Malaysian named Rubaashini Shunmuganathan, who is said to reside in Shah Alam, Selangor.
She was also behind another article urging Singaporean civil servants to follow the example of their counterparts in Hong Kong, which has been in the grip of months of protests.
Noting that the writer has written many other articles to try to influence views in Singapore, Mr Shanmugam said this raised questions of who controls and pays her, and what purposes her work serves.
Mr Shanmugam, who was speaking at the Parkroyal hotel on Beach Road, pointed out that most readers would assume that a Singaporean contributor was behind TOC’s articles.
Only five out of 14 administrators of the website, which is helmed by chief editor Terry Xu, are in Singapore, he pointed out.
Nine are based elsewhere, including four in Malaysia and two in Indonesia.
“We don’t know who they are. Are they Singaporeans? Are they foreigners?,” said Mr Shanmugam, who is also Law Minister.
ACTIVISTS WHO MET DR MAHATHIR
In another example cited by Mr Shanmugam, historian Thum Ping Tjin, political dissident Tan Wah Piow, freelance journalist Kirsten Han, civil-rights activist Jolovan Wham and graphic novelist Sonny Liew met Malaysian Prime Minister Mahathir Mohamad in Kuala Lumpur last year.
They urged the Malaysian leader to bring democracy to Singapore and other countries, with Dr Thum saying Singapore should be a part of Malaysia and celebrate independence on Malaysia Day on Sept 16.
Ms Han and Dr Thum also set up New Naratif, a self-described movement for democracy and freedom of expression in the region, which receives foreign funds, Mr Shanmugam said.
Ms Han recently said Singapore had failed in comparison to Hong Kong because the masses have not fanned out onto the streets here.
She wants to change that through classes run by New Naratif.
“(This) will seem ridiculous on so many levels, but leave that aside because everyone is entitled to their views, however reasonable or unreasonable,” said Mr Shanmugam.
But he asked: “Should foreign contributions be received in order to push these lines?”
He noted that these online sites are “only interested to get eyeballs” and have been used by other countries to attack and deepen divisions.
LAWS NEEDED
Mr Shanmugam reiterated that legislation was necessary and the state cannot take a hands-off approach because foreign interference in Singapore’s affairs is “an issue of national sovereignty and national security”.
Laws must be able to counteract foreign interference, including giving the Government powers to make targeted, “surgical” interventions to investigate and respond quickly to hostile information campaigns.
The authorities must also have access to information to investigate the provenance of content, ascertain the extent to which it is being influenced by foreign parties and respond appropriately.
“The serious impact of hostile information campaigns on the social fabric, political sovereignty, peace, stability and national security has to be met head-on by states, working with technology companies as partners,” he said.
Other countries have done this, including France, which has introduced an information-manipulation law that mandates transparency over social-media platforms’ algorithms and election advertising.
It also allows the French national broadcasting agency to suspend television channels controlled or influenced by a foreign state.
Stressing that foreign interference is an “age-old threat” going back thousands of years, Mr Shanmugam said: “Governments have to lead from the front and we need to ensure we have the right tools to fight this.”
Read more at https://www.todayonline.com/singapo...hind-online-citizen-reiterates-need-laws-curb
***
But then Singapore can interfere in other countries, no problem.
SINGAPORE — Online sites that receive funding from and hire foreigners can easily be used to advance foreign interests, Home Affairs Minister K Shanmugam said on Wednesday (Sept 25).
He highlighted sociopolitical website, The Online Citizen (TOC), as an example, noting that it received support from foreigners and employs foreigners — including Malaysians — who write “almost exclusively negative articles” on social and political matters in Singapore.
Speaking at a RSIS conference on foreign-interference tactics and countermeasures on Wednesday (Sept 25), Mr Shanmugam pointed out that the site was responsible for an article at the heart of a defamation lawsuit brought by Prime Minister Lee Hsien Loong.
Mr Lee’s lawyers had described content in the article as false, including allegations that Mr Lee had misled his late father into thinking the Government had gazetted their Oxley Road family home.
Mr Shanmugam said he was not commenting on the legal merits of the article and only that it was written by a Malaysian named Rubaashini Shunmuganathan, who is said to reside in Shah Alam, Selangor.
She was also behind another article urging Singaporean civil servants to follow the example of their counterparts in Hong Kong, which has been in the grip of months of protests.
Noting that the writer has written many other articles to try to influence views in Singapore, Mr Shanmugam said this raised questions of who controls and pays her, and what purposes her work serves.
Mr Shanmugam, who was speaking at the Parkroyal hotel on Beach Road, pointed out that most readers would assume that a Singaporean contributor was behind TOC’s articles.
Only five out of 14 administrators of the website, which is helmed by chief editor Terry Xu, are in Singapore, he pointed out.
Nine are based elsewhere, including four in Malaysia and two in Indonesia.
“We don’t know who they are. Are they Singaporeans? Are they foreigners?,” said Mr Shanmugam, who is also Law Minister.
ACTIVISTS WHO MET DR MAHATHIR
In another example cited by Mr Shanmugam, historian Thum Ping Tjin, political dissident Tan Wah Piow, freelance journalist Kirsten Han, civil-rights activist Jolovan Wham and graphic novelist Sonny Liew met Malaysian Prime Minister Mahathir Mohamad in Kuala Lumpur last year.
They urged the Malaysian leader to bring democracy to Singapore and other countries, with Dr Thum saying Singapore should be a part of Malaysia and celebrate independence on Malaysia Day on Sept 16.
Ms Han and Dr Thum also set up New Naratif, a self-described movement for democracy and freedom of expression in the region, which receives foreign funds, Mr Shanmugam said.
Ms Han recently said Singapore had failed in comparison to Hong Kong because the masses have not fanned out onto the streets here.
She wants to change that through classes run by New Naratif.
“(This) will seem ridiculous on so many levels, but leave that aside because everyone is entitled to their views, however reasonable or unreasonable,” said Mr Shanmugam.
But he asked: “Should foreign contributions be received in order to push these lines?”
He noted that these online sites are “only interested to get eyeballs” and have been used by other countries to attack and deepen divisions.
LAWS NEEDED
Mr Shanmugam reiterated that legislation was necessary and the state cannot take a hands-off approach because foreign interference in Singapore’s affairs is “an issue of national sovereignty and national security”.
Laws must be able to counteract foreign interference, including giving the Government powers to make targeted, “surgical” interventions to investigate and respond quickly to hostile information campaigns.
The authorities must also have access to information to investigate the provenance of content, ascertain the extent to which it is being influenced by foreign parties and respond appropriately.
“The serious impact of hostile information campaigns on the social fabric, political sovereignty, peace, stability and national security has to be met head-on by states, working with technology companies as partners,” he said.
Other countries have done this, including France, which has introduced an information-manipulation law that mandates transparency over social-media platforms’ algorithms and election advertising.
It also allows the French national broadcasting agency to suspend television channels controlled or influenced by a foreign state.
Stressing that foreign interference is an “age-old threat” going back thousands of years, Mr Shanmugam said: “Governments have to lead from the front and we need to ensure we have the right tools to fight this.”
Read more at https://www.todayonline.com/singapo...hind-online-citizen-reiterates-need-laws-curb
***
But then Singapore can interfere in other countries, no problem.
