Workers’ Party can’t be bothered with Ministers’ hounding
March 13, 2018
Opposition party WP has chosen to ignore the comments of Minister Indranee Rajah and Minister Chee Hong Tat, telling state media reporters that they would not entertain them with a response.
The two PAP Ministers joined the foray after two Parliament sessions where Law Minister K Shanmugam, Finance Minister Heng Swee Keat and Culture Minister Grace Fu made disparaging remarks on WP MP Sylvia Lim when she presented her opposition to the GST increase.
Minister Grace Fu sought the Attorney-General’s advice and issued a threat last Monday, demanding that the opposition MP “apologise by Thursday or else”. The opposition MP then were made to repeat three times that she is not apologising or retracting her statements, infuriating Minister Grace Fu. The Leader of the House is now contemplating to set up a Select Committee to prosecute the opposition MP, who may face a 2 year’ jail and a fine up to S$50,000.
Despite being silent during the debate in Parliament, Minister Indranee Rajah and Minister Chee Hong Tat followed up on the parliament session calling MP Sylvia Lim “dishonourable”. State media reporters were however disappointed that the WP MP and the opposition party has chosen not to respond to the Ministers’ defamatory remarks.
Many Singaporeans have rallied behind MP Sylvia Lim saying that she should not apologise for questioning the government, and that the purpose of Parliament is exactly to question government policies. Political observers commented that the Ministers are being belligerent and arrogant, with former PAP MP Dr Tan Cheng Bock singling out Law Minister K Shanmugam. Ground sentiments have also been one-sided, with few agreeing with the ruling party Ministers.
continue reading here :
http://statestimesreview.com/2018/03...ters-hounding/
Despite the negative feedback regarding about the GST hike the PAP government choose to proceed with it .
Fake news turning Singaporeans against each other? Could be already happening, says expert
National security expert Dr Shashi Jayakumar proposes countermeasures such as a grassroots body, “Centre of Excellence”, and doing more to teach children how to spot fake news.
By Justin Ong @JustinOngCNA
15 Mar 2018 01:34PM (Updated: 15 Mar 2018 03:01PM)
SINGAPORE: Organised fake news and disinformation campaigns could already be influencing and undermining Singaporean society, said national security expert Shashi Jayakumar on Thursday (Mar 15) in both written and oral submissions to the Select Committee on Deliberate Online Falsehoods.
“An aggressor could attempt to ‘peel off’ one particular ethnic group or religion, using social media and disinformation to appeal … to deeply ingrained historical, cultural issues, setting off one group against others, or even against the Government,” he wrote. “Singapore can be a sandbox for subversion.”
Speaking on the committee’s second day of public hearings, Dr Jayakumar, who heads the Centre of Excellence for National Security at the S Rajaratnam School of International Studies (RSIS), added: “I don’t want to cast allegations or smears or be a fear-monger, but in my view, it would be a mistake to assume that this is not already happening in Singapore.
“These are advanced, persistent threats. You deploy them long in advance, before you actually need to use them.”
In his written representation, he explained how state actors could employ such techniques and tactics, using the example of Russia and its alleged manipulation of the 2016 US presidential election.
“Spreading rumours to discredit politicians (and to play up certain themes – such as negative portrayals of immigration policy) have been aimed at undermining public trust towards democracy and systematically influence populations to become less trusting of mainstream, established news networks,” said Dr Jayakumar, who also coordinates the Future Issues and Technology programme at RSIS.
“Some researchers think they have found fake Facebook groups almost entirely populated by bots. These fake groups, convincingly operated and orchestrated but operated by bots and AI, leveraged on existing ideological filter bubbles and echo chambers, eventually attracting real fans.
“It is possible, as some researchers have posited, that many Trump fans were emboldened to declare their support for the candidate by the artificially created perception of a swell in support for him.”
He added: “There exist individual ‘consultants’ and private sector entities specialising in hacking or interfering with elections with the aim of achieving the desired election result for the client. Their methods include smears, hacking, spoofing webpages, and sending mass emails to influence outcomes.
Read more at
https://www.channelnewsasia.com/news...ld-be-10045444
So how does one identify what is fake news ? Or is it another attempt by the government to control views and information which they do not agree with?
Despite military prowess, S’pore ‘vulnerable to disinformation campaigns’
By Kelly Ng
Published 14 March, 2018
Updated 14 March, 2018
SINGAPORE — For all its relative military might compared with neighbouring countries, Singapore is especially vulnerable to cyber or information warfare, at a time when some countries around the world are seriously building up their capabilities on this front, warned a military expert on Wednesday (March 14).
Testifying at the first day of the public hearing conducted by the Select Committee studying online falsehoods, Assistant Professor Michael Raska from the Nanyang Technological University’s S Rajaratnam School of International Studies underscored the threats posed by unconventional warfare against Singapore’s “traditional security conceptions of defence and deterrence”.
“Of course, there has been a lot of work that Singapore has done in terms of the (five pillars) of Total Defence, but the key question is, really, whether Singapore can cope with the multi-type spectrum of attacks that could happen,” said Asst Prof Raska, whose research focuses on East Asian security and defence. He was one of eight individuals and groups who gave evidence on Wednesday.
His views prompted Law and Home Affairs Minister K. Shanmugam — one of 10 Members of Parliament on the Select Committee — to question how “attractive” a target the Republic may be to a country that “feels it is not militarily able to challenge Singapore”.
continue reading here :
https://www.todayonline.com/singapor...tion-campaigns
How does one prevent fake news ? The state media needs to provide true ; accurate and honest information to the people . It should also be independent of the government . People are not stupid you know .
K Shanmugam spent first day talking nonsense: Fake news is stronger than alcohol and sex
March 14, 2018
Law Minister K Shanmugam and government scholars were have a fun day at the first day of public hearing for new censorship laws, talking about alcohol, sex and fake news. Government researcher from Institute of Policy Studies Carol Soon told the Law Minister that fake news is like alcohol and sex, with Minister K Shanmugam agreeing with her:
“A quote in the 2017 IPS report on how decisions based on confirmation bias make people feel good in the same way drugs and alcohol might sparked a flurry of discussions. The report stated: Individuals get a rush of dopamine when they find confirming data similar to when they eat chocolate, have sex or fall in love, thus people tend to focus on information that supports their confirmation bias, and ignore information that contradicts their beliefs. Falsehoods leave a greater impression, while the truth limps behind slowly and does not quite eradicate the original false impression. Research had shown that attempts to debunk falsehoods may sometimes in fact reinforce them.”
Government researcher Carol Soon then provocatively flirted with the Law Minister in the public hearing saying she support new censorship laws:
“Attempts to correct these to be done quickly, and for these messages to be designed in an appealing way. Talking about chocolates and sex, these messages have to be as sexy as the falsehoods.”
continue reading here :
NTUC confessed “test balloon” survey for GST increase
March 14, 2018
In yet another damning evidence proving the Ministers wrongly accused Sylvia Lim for lying, government statutory board NTUC today (Mar 15) confessed that they conducted “test balloon” survey for GST increase in Nov 2017.
The survey questioned 440 respondents if GST should be increased and when should it be done. The majority 38% chose “Between 2021 to 2025”, which coincides with the actual announcement 3 months later on Budget 2018. NTUC said that the feedback was not released to the public and only presented to the government.
A director of NTUC, Steve Tan, admitted he conducted the survey on GST increase on behalf of the government:
“NTUC have been conducting an average of 10 feedback exercises each year since I started heading it in 2015. As the voice for working people, the labour movement needs to be on top of their concerns. As such, we regularly gather feedback, both formally and informally… Naturally, this would include the national Budget.”
A search on state media news articles proposing a GST increase found that there were at least 26 such articles prior to the actual announcement.
WP MP Sylvia Lim has earlier in Parliament pointed out that the government floated test balloons to check ground reactions for the GST increase. The statement warranted a strong rebuff from Law Minister K Shanmugam, Finance Minister Heng Swee Keat and Culture Minister Grace Fu. All three Ministers demanded her to apologise which WP MP Sylvia Lim, in a later parliamentary session, categorically refused. The opposition MP is now facing possible parliamentary actions for being “dishonourable”, which could see her being jailed for 2 years and fined up to S$50,000.
continue reading here :
Ministers silenced, no longer asking Sylvia Lim for apologies
March 16, 2018
After States Times Review released two articles proving that the Singapore government has indeed issued “test balloons” prior to the GST increase announcement, 5 PAP Ministers – Law Minister K Shanmugam, Finance Minister Heng Swee Keat, Culture Minister Grace Fu, Minister Indranee Rajah and Minister Chee Hong Tat – have since kept silent and are no longer asking WP MP Sylvia to apologise.
In the first article by States Times Review, over 13 state media articles and reports proposed to increase GST prior to the actual announcement. Interestingly the Singapore government which often praised itself for fighting “fake news”, did not rebut any of the reports if they did not have the intention to raise GST as they claimed.
In the second article, a director with the government’s labour arm NTUC admitted he supervised a survey questioning respondents what they think of a GST increase and when would they prefer to have the GST increase.
All 5 PAP Ministers have since developed selective amnesia and stopped pursuing Workers’ Party MP Sylvia Lim for apologies. Minister Grace Fu had earlier threatened to take parliamentary actions against the opposition MP, which could see Sylvia Lim jailed up to 2 years until the end of the government’s term and fined up to S$50,000.
None of the PAP Ministers has retracted their statements or even apologise to MP Sylvia Lim, especially Law Minister K Shanmugam and Culture Minister Grace Fu who launched personal attacks calling her “dishonourable”, “dishonest” and “lacking in integrity”.
continue reading here :
http://statestimesreview.com/2018/03...for-apologies/
Strongly suggest to WP & Slyvia Lim to consider legal action against those ministers who attack you and your character . Sure to win case since got video evidence .
Fake news and what you can do about it
Published on 2018-03-19 by The Online Citizen
by Robin Low
The term “Fake News” is of great concern for many governments around the world. And why is there such a fake news problem, and do we fall for fake news?
Cognitive dissonance is one of the main reasons why people fall for fake news. The term cognitive dissonance is used to describe the feelings of discomfort that result from holding two conflicting beliefs.
In the case of Singapore, when a report of a roof collapse at the Housing and Development Board project Punggol Waterway Terraces, with a photo of the upper storeys in a crumbled state, many people are unhappy about high HDB prices, and the use of cheap foreign labor and lowest tender to get the job done, but they also feel bad that such a tragedy would happen. Even I choose to believe this incident, and I felt like this would get into HDB and the government into trouble for using cheap foreign labor and the lowest bid tender. When I believed in this and complain about it, my conflict is resolved – it fits my narrative that such a tragedy would happen, like the MRT breakdowns, and deaths of the MRT service crew due to negligence.
In a society with many inequalities, and not a high amount of trust, fake news divides us further. Today, it is very difficult for me to tell if the information I receive is 100% accurate and reliable. I can easily read fake news on both sides. On one hand, the Government Controlled Media keeps talking about criminal offences and governance lapses in AHPETC in an article “WP town council flagged for potential criminal offences”, which turns out to have the audit issues resolved in 2018. Much of the news I read on these platforms are simply one-sided story, praising the greatness, but not addressing the issues.
And on the other hand, in 2015, The Real Singapore posted an article on a Pinoy family complaining about Thaipusam, resulting in police commotion with the participants. The source cannot be verified, but many people including me shared the article, and were outraged. There were many other articles out there that could not be verified, but it fell into my narrative and biases, and I am inclined to believe them and share them with my friends to validate my views. For example, there was a recent case about lone woman parking in a family parking lot, getting on video saying she is rich and has 3 cars so she can do what she wants. I’ve personally experienced such behaviors and shared the video, but it turned out that she moved her vehicle later, and did it due to a heated argument with the poster of video, which was omitted in the video.
continue reading here :
https://www.theonlinecitizen.com/201...n-do-about-it/
Fake news are everywhere . Just don’t totally believe what you read online until you check out the facts.
Lianhe Zaobao reports Ng Chee Meng is likely to become new labour chief; where will Chan Chun Sing go?
March 21, 20184054
Lianhe Zaobao reported today that Minister of Education (Schools) and Second Minister for Transport Ng Chee Meng will likely be taking on the role of Deputy Secretary-General of the National Trades Union Congress (NTUC).
The Chinese daily reported that reliable sources revealed that members of NTUC’s Central Committee were informed of the move and were asked to support Ng, so he could be elected as Deputy Secretary-General. The daily speculates that this will pave the way for Ng to eventually assume the position of NTUC’s Secretary-General — a post that is currently occupied by Minister in the Prime Minister’s Office Chan Chun Sing.
The daily further postulated that this would mean that Chan may be moved to another post in the upcoming Cabinet reshuffle, which Prime Minister Lee Hsien Loong confirmed would occur after Parliament takes a mid term break this year, late last month.
This next Cabinet reshuffle would be a significant one as it is expected to precede the selection of the Prime Minister’s successor. The reshuffle is also designated to give younger ministers more exposure and responsibilities so that they can better support the next Prime Minister, according to PM Lee.
If the report by the Chinese daily is correct, Ng replacing Chan as labour chief may free Chan up to take on a different portfolio. This is notable, given rife speculation that Chan is one of the three front-runners who could succeed PM Lee and become Singapore’s next Prime Minister.
The other two candidates who are tipped to give Chan competition are Finance Minister Heng Swee Keat and Minister for Education (Higher Skills) and Second Minister for Defence Ong Ye Kung.
continue reading here :
Mediacorp, SPH editors voice support for regulation of social media, mobile platforms
Published 22 March, 2018
Updated 23 March, 2018
SINGAPORE — Top editors of the Republic’s main media outlets voiced support on Friday (March 23) for regulation of major mobile and social media platforms like Facebook, calling for a “level playing field” in terms of taking responsibility for the distribution of online content.
Speaking at a public hearing before the Select Committee studying online falsehoods, the editors, however, cautioned against overly broad new legislation against acts such as hate speech and defamation, which should be dealt with under existing laws.
“There should be thresholds with a combination of metrics to determine reach and frequency to decide what a deliberate online falsehood is, and whether and how to address it,” Mr Walter Fernandez, Mediacorp’s editor-in-chief, said in the broadcaster’s written submission to the committee.
He added: “Where necessary, other areas of so-called ‘fake news’ which may not meet such thresholds in specific instances, for example, hate-speech and defamation, can and should be dealt with under existing legislation and policy. Where gaps exist that such legislation cannot sufficiently deal with specific instances of deliberate online falsehoods, the select committee should identify these gaps, and explain why existing tools are inadequate.”
Echoing similar comments in its separate written submission, editors of Singapore Press Holdings (SPH) argued that any new or amended legislation should focus on distribution platforms which are relatively unregulated, such as social media and messaging applications like WhatsApp and Telegram.
“Legislation that restricts the investigative and reporting power of the media would hit the wrong target, as newsrooms already have rigorous and effective mechanisms to check and counter falsehoods. It might also inadvertently curb the media’s ability to fulfil its critical role in informing society, or to remain credible in the eyes of its readers,” added SPH.
continue reading here :
https://www.todayonline.com/singapor...bile-platforms
Sure state sponsored government media sure to support what the government wants .
Facebook admits it should have informed public earlier about data breach
By Siau Ming En
Published 22 March, 2018
Updated 22 March, 2018
SINGAPORE — For more than half of Thursday’s (March 22) marathon public hearing before the Select Committee studying online falsehoods, Law and Home Affairs Minister K Shanmugam and Facebook’s Asia-Pacific vice-president of public policy Simon Milner went toe to toe over the company’s failure to tell users when it found out about political data firm Cambridge Analytica’s misuse of data in 2015, among other issues.
Mr Shanmugam’s questioning of Mr Milner during the hearing, which became testy at times – though interspersed with moments of levity – saw the latter admitting before the committee that Facebook should have informed users earlier of this breach of policies.
Hours before the hearing, Facebook chief executive Mark Zuckerberg had apologised for the mistakes his company made in how it handled data belonging to 50 million of its users, and promised tougher steps to restrict developers’ access to such information.
There were allegations by a whistleblower that Cambridge Analytica improperly accessed users’ information to build profiles on American voters that were later used to help elect United States President Donald Trump in 2016. Its researcher Aleksandr Kogan was said to have ran a survey app on Facebook, which saw responses from 300,000 Facebook users. That also gave the researcher access to those people’s Facebook friends as well, who had not agreed to share information, producing details on 50 million users.
continue reading here :
https://www.todayonline.com/singapor...ut-data-breach
Should we start deleting our facebook account ? Can we trust facebook with our personal data ?