Under ther proposed amendments towards the bill, any minister has the power to decide if a statement is false or misleading and against public interest. Something many Singaporeans were afraid of.
Pritam Singh said:
“Mr Speaker, the Workers’ Party opposes this Bill. All the Workers’ Party MPs will speak against it. Our objections centre primarily around a fundamental matter.”
He mentioned that while we have to find a way to deal with fake news, but it should not be up to the ministers subjective opinion that a false or misleading statement is not in the public interest. He noted that the select committee was aware of the public's sceptism with letting the executive decide what is a falsehood instead of the courts, yet they still went ahead to propose this bill. He also said:
“To reinforce this point, it is apparent that the Bill gives remarkable leeway to the Executive to define what a falsehood, especially since the Government has said that it will not act on all falsehoods.”
Do you oppose this bill as well? What do you think will happen if we just let the government decide what is a falsehood? Would there be any potential abuse of power if this bill comes in place? Let us know!
