Issuance of Correction Directions under the Protection from Online Falsehoods and Manipulation Act to Kenneth Jeyaretnam and Thamil Selvan

16 JUL 2023

16 July 2023 Posted in Press releases

  1. The Minister for Culture, Community and Youth and the Second Minister for Law Mr Edwin Tong has instructed for Correction Directions, under the Protection from Online Falsehoods and Manipulation Act (POFMA), to be issued to Mr Kenneth Jeyaretnam and Mr Thamil Selvan for falsely stating that the Singapore Land Authority (SLA) gave the contract to renovate 26 Ridout Road and/or 31 Ridout Road to home interior and renovation company Livspace, and this was done because the Chief Executive Officer (CEO) of the company is the son of Minister for Law Mr K Shanmugam in the following posts:

    (a) The article published by Kenneth Jeyaretnam, “Will SLA issue a statement denying the rumours that they have awarded any contracts to Shanmugam’s son’s company?” dated 2 July 2023 on his website The Ricebowl Singapore. The article was also shared on Mr Kenneth Jeyaretnam’s Twitter page.

    (b) Mr Thamil Selvan’s Facebook post dated 1 July 2023.

  1. Mr Kenneth Jeyaretnam and Mr Thamil Selvan will be required to carry a correction notice on their website, Twitter page, and Facebook page respectively, stating that their posts contain false statements of fact.

Clarifications on the False Statements

  1. As stated by the Minister for Culture, Community and Youth and Second Minister for Law Edwin Tong during the Parliamentary sitting on 3 July 2023, neither Livspace nor Minister Shanmugam’s son was appointed by SLA to carry out works for 26 Ridout Road or 31 Ridout Road.
  1. As with its approach for other State properties, SLA had engaged an external consultant to assess the works needed to be carried out for the two properties. Thereafter, contracts to carry out the works were awarded to separate contractors through open tenders. SLA did not award any contract to Livspace to carry out works to 26 Ridout Road or 31 Ridout Road. SLA has not had any transactions with Livspace for these or other properties.

Publication of a Correction Notice

  1. As required by the Correction Directions, Mr Kenneth Jeyaretnam and Mr Thamil Selvan must publish a correction notice on the said posts on their website, Twitter page, and Facebook page respectively. The correction notice will provide a link to the Factually article, which lays out the facts and clarifications on the matter, at the following link: https://https://www.gov.sg/article/factually160723-a

MINISTRY OF LAW
16 JULY 2023

Last updated on 16 July 2023