First Mainstream Media Has Been POFMA-ed & They Ownself Report Ownself After That

The Protection from Online Falsehoods and Manipulation Act (POFMA) office has been hard at work these two weeks.

First, it was the issue about the 10-million population claims by the Singapore Democratic Party.

And now, it’s about the comments made by Dr Paul Tambyah about the Ministry of Manpower’s (MOM) handling of the Covid-19 situation back in early this year.

What Dr Paul Tambyah Said:

• MOM issued a statement to all the employers that if they brought their foreign workers for COVID-19 testing, they would lose their work pass privileges.
• MOM actively discouraged the testing of workers.
• MOM made these decisions without consulting public health medical professionals or MOH.

POFMA Correction Directions Issued, One Of Them Is CNA

Now, here’s the most interesting POFMA to date.

Instead of the usual alternate media or parties, one mainstream media is also subjected to a POFMA notice this time; and they reported on it themselves.

On 5 Jul 2020, CNA reported that four organisations were issued with correction directions from the POFMA office.

They are:

• The Online Citizen (TOC)
• NUSS
• New Naratif
• ChannelNews Asia

The correction notices were issued against:

• a video posted by NUSS (Dr Paul Tambyah was at the NUSS Pre-General Election Forum 2020 on 3 July)
• an article published by CNA
• a video, post and livestream video from TOC
• and an audio recording published by New Naratif.

Why His Claims Are False:

A Factually article on Gov.sg denied the allegations, explaining why his claims are false:

The article explains that MOM did not say that employers can bring their workers for testing nor did they actively discourage testing.

What they wanted to say was that workers shouldn’t be sent to hospitals unless it is a medical emergency; if the worker is unwell, send him to a general practitioner who will then decide if he needs to go to the hospital.

They also did not say employers who brought their workers for testing would lose their work pass privileges. They merely said any employer who acts irresponsibly by misusing medical facility may have their work pass privileges suspended.

The Multi-Ministry Taskforce had instructed MOM to issue the advisory on the advice of the Ministry of Health (MOH) and medical professionals, based on information available at that time, they claimed.

What Led Up To The Advisory?

During that time, the article said, employers were sending their healthy workers to the hospitals’ A&E departments to be tested and certified fit for work.

Changi General Hospital (CGH) raised up this issue to MOH on 8 Feb, saying that they’re afraid this will lead to an influx of healthy workers coming in to be tested, clogging up the A&E, distracting them from handling the (real) emergency cases that come in.

On 12 Feb, an advisory was issued to employers, telling them that their workers can still work even if they’re unwell.

However, it didn’t work and employers were still sending their healthy workers to A&E, which is why the advisory asking employers not to send healthy workers to hospitals was disseminated by the MOM.

The advisory says that this will help the hospitals prioritise their time and resources into providing medical attention to those who are in need.

This decision was also based on information available at that time. You got to remember that back in Feb 2020, asymptomatic cases and its transmission was not known yet.

It was added that it wasn’t just foreign workers; residents in Singapore were also told the same thing: go to the GP for non-emergency cases and let them decide if you should be sent to the hospital.

Lawrence Wong: Using Covid-19 To Score “Political Points”

Speaking to the media, Mr Lawrence Wong calls his allegations “baseless and false”.

He said that the Multi-Ministry Taskforce has always operated on the advice of medical professionals and the available information and data at that point in time.

“Medical experts are an integral part of our team, we involve them in all our deliberations.”

He added that he had expected the SDP to do this, but had “expected better of Professor Tambyah”.

It was added that Mr Wong’s work at the Multi-Ministry Taskforce isn’t neglected due to GE2020 campaigning. He claims that the work comes first, and “any spare time” after that was spent on the ground.

Elections Not To Be Blamed For Covid-19

In an interview on 4 Jul, Mr Wong emphasised that the increase in Covid-19 case numbers isn’t due to elections, but the gradual resumption of Phase Two activities.

He pointed out that in other countries around the world, the same trend (of an increasing number of cases) has been observed, elections or not.

While he admitted that the various political parties could’ve done better, he pointed out that it’s not just candidates and their teams, but F&B outlets and more who could do a lot better too.

So, he said, it’s not about elections; it’s about people in Singapore learning to live with Covid-19.

Lest you’ve forgotten, polling day will be on this Friday (10 July). So what happens if you didn’t vote? Would you be jailed? Would you be barred from buying bubble tea for the next five years? Watch this video and you’ll know the consequences: