PMO Explain Why They Didn’t Reveal Iswaran’s Arrest Initially

With all the drama that has happened in the world of Singaporean politics, most people would now be familiar with CPIB’s probe into Minister of Transport S. Iswaran and property tycoon Ong Beng Seng. 

While it was initially known that Iswaran was under investigation based on a statement made by CPIB on 12 July, CPIB made an announcement two days later revealing that Iswaran had been arrested since 11 July.

Most people would have shrugged off the sudden news in light of all the other sagas that were happening among other ministers, but it did not stop others from speculating why it took CPIB so long to disclose the news of Iswaran’s arrest.

Speculation was exactly what Singaporean blog Political Sophistry did, which spurred the Prime Minister’s Office (PMO) to release a post correcting false information suggesting Prime Minister Lee Hsien Loong and Deputy Prime Minister Lawrence Wong’s alleged involvement in CPIB’s delayed announcement. 

Political Sophistry Article Made False Statements Related to PM Lee Hsien Loong and DPM Lawrence Wong’s Knowledge About Iswaran’s Arrest

In case you haven’t seen the original article by Political Sophistry, the blog post aimed to decipher what “really” happened in the days between Iswaran and Ong Beng Seng’s actual arrest and the announcement of their arrest made by CPIB. 

Political Sophistry made the (incorrect) assumption that Singapore’s ministers, especially PM Lee and DPM Wong were aware of the arrests but decided to withhold such information and “abdicate responsibility” to CPIB to make the announcement. 

While not explicitly stated in the article, the post implies that PM Lee and DPM Wong did not decide to publicly announce Iswaran’s arrest on 11 July out of “political embarrassment”.

The post also references DPM Wong’s pledge that the Government would be “upfront and transparent” concerning CPIB’s investigation. It then claimed that despite his promise, DPM Wong was “omitting important information” about Iswaran and Ong’s arrests that were made in connection to the case. 

With these false claims, Political Sophistry‘s post then questioned the transparency of how the case was handled.

The post’s falsehoods ultimately led the PMO to release a response clarifying CPIB’s decision-making process behind the announcement.  

PMO Explains that Ministers have to let CPIB independently decide on the release of operational information

The PMO clarified that only the CPIB has the judgment to make arrests related to individuals under investigation. The decision on when to make public and release information that Iswaran was arrested was something that only CPIB (and not the ministers) could make.

So, when CPIB made a statement on 12 July that Iswaran was still under investigation, it did not state any details of his arrest. 

When PM Lee announced that formal investigations began on 11 July and DPM Wong announced that CPIB needed to interview Minister Iswaran as part of further investigations, they were consistent with what was disclosed by CPIB. 

Hence, PM Lee or DPM Wong were not obscuring the truth about Minister Iswaran’s arrest because it was “politically embarrassing”, and DPM Wong was not trying to withhold information on the arrests because he wanted to conceal the truth.

Basically, they were parroting what CPIB does lah.

POFMA Has Since Issued a Correction Direction to Political Sophistry

As a result of the falsehoods and misinformation brought about by Political Sophistry‘s post, the Protection from Online Falsehoods and Manipulation Act (POFMA) Office issued a Correction Direction to Political Sophistry.

This means that the blog has to insert a notice against the original post and share a link to the Government’s clarification. Political Sophistry‘s post has since been rectified according to the Correction Direction issued against it.