I refer to the CNA article published 04 July 2024, “Kenneth Jeyaretnam given 8th POFMA order, under police probe over possible offences under contempt laws”

This article portrays me, and is intended to portray me, as a criminal who is not cooperating with the authorities. Further it ascribes to me a false and wholly unproven intent of wanting to undermine Singapore as a whole. I am a Singaporean born and bred and a patriot. I also support democracy as a system of government. I refute all of these insinuations and accusations. Please see the facts below.

CNA states:

“He ( Kenneth Jeyaretnam) has “not made himself available to assist in investigations by attending any interviews”

The facts are that I was overseas with a health condition that prevents me flying long haul, when I received the respective invitations from the agencies. I nonetheless communicated with the agencies and RSVPd within the time frame given.

The agencies, on the other hand, have not made themselves available by making arrangements for any interviews that I could attend. I, for my part, have assisted to the best of my ability. Unlike the infamous polling station incident during the 1997 GE, I haven’t perfected the art of being in a place whilst simultaneously not being in a place.

I am in the UK, where I am in plain sight and not in hiding. As many of you know I have been seriously ill which includes a DVT, a bilateral pulmonary embolism, simultaneous with pneumonia (now cleared) and current investigations into indications thrown up by scans and tests. I am currently unable to fly long haul.

It was exactly to avoid these kinds of false accusations by insinuation, namely that I have absconded or am absconding and evading my obligations, that i responded immediately and politely with a full explanation of my situation. I received no response to my replies, not even an acknowledgment. The fact is that the government has chosen to proceed to trial by State media where I am historically denied the right of reply. *

The report states, “Agencies […] and have invited him… ” At no point did I receive any communication obliging me to attend or ordering me to attend. As reported these are invitations only at this stage and as not reported, I assisted to the best of my ability given the physical limitations.

I have made myself available by email. The agencies have chosen not to respond and engage in a constructive and meaningful manner.

Further, whilst I am cooperating fully to the best of my physical ability, neither of the agencies has suggested an alternative arrangement. A reasonable arrangement to allow assistance with the investigations could include an invitation to an interview by Zoom, an interview at the High Commission in London or other similar location.

” he has thus far remained out of jurisdiction” The means for inter jurisdictional cooperation are available between the UK and Singapore. Indeed Interpol were called to intervene when my wife recevied a death threat as she was en-route to Singapore with the subject line “Dead On Arrival”‘ The threat went on to say that our son would be killed when she touched down in Singapore. Interpol liaised between the various jurisdictions, as our son ( British) was with a grouo of school children on a school trip in another country at that time. Should the agencies deem it necessary or have cause they could request an interview at a London poilice staion and/or request international law agencies such a Interpol to assist. As I have reasonably responded and told the agency I would be updating them with my plans I imagine they would have to show evidence that I was a criminal fleeing the jurisdiction and justice, before they could invoke these steps. Being the target of insinuation by the state media would not satisfy even basic requirements.

In addtiion to cooperating by replying within the time frame set by the agencies I wrote to the police asking for details of the in investigation or specifics in an effort to be able to assist more fully from where I am currently sitauted. The police failed to respond which is surely unhelpful for progressing any potential investigation. I also asked who had filed the police report prompting their investigation and they have not responded to that request for information either.

I have complied with all of the POFMA oblibgations including pinning the notices and the various restrictions. However of course the seven previous POFMA directions requiring me to pin a notice to my social media page have expired. The last one expired at the end of June and I took it down just before purely by coincidence i am sure, the new POFMA direction arrived.

I have stated quite clearly and publicly that I intend to appeal these POFMAs. I am not going to prejudice my chances of a fair trial should my appeal be denied by arguing my cases here but I beleive I have a good case.

However until an appeal is allowed or denied and any subsequent court case heard and decision made, then it seems the matters are not proven beyond reasonable doubt. They are surely still subject to appeal.

I note that in the exercising of POFMA there is no presumption of innocence until guilt is proven. Without the benefit of a trial the POFMA Office decides on guilt and then the guilty person must prove their innocence. This undermines the rule of law and the basis of what should be our most important and vital institution, that of democracy itself. In fact it does more than undermine – it turns it on its head

Please note that on May 24 2024 a statemnt by Factully (the POFMA Office) wrote : “his latest post […] refelcting a deliberate intent to undermine our public institutions.”

How is that a fact suitable for “Factually” to express? It is at best an opinion. A biased and unsupported inference leading to a predetermined and prejudiced conclusion. I absolutely deny this intent as ascribed to me. I am at all times intending only to build up our institutions . To see that our democratic institutions work as they were intended to work. In a democracy we must be able to ask questions and engage in debate.

The form of langauge used by Factually is also eerily close to the appalling so -called letter of condoence that then PM Lee Hsien Loong wrote about my father J B Jeyaretnam:
” [..] he sought by all means to demolish the PAP and our sytem of government” That also was not true of my father but of course being dead he could not defend himself against the PM’s slurs.

Again, I remind you all that our system of government was intended to be democracy, albeit one that has currently fallen so far from that ideal as to be no democracy at all. And that principles like democracy, accountability, transparency and rule of law are the principles that must be robustly defended.

There is no obligation to protect one political party over another. The Constitution of Singapore does not accord the PAP any special position as a protected class, vulnerable minority or confer heritage status. A basic precondition of democracy is that political parties can lose power as well as gain it. The UK witnessed this last night.

Recently, we witnessed Shanmugam enthusiastically joining in with Alastair Campbell, a former Labour spokesperson at Downing Street and currently a senior advisor director to PR company Portland which has an office in Singapore, to undermine the Conservative Party. I am not here to defend the Tories or Boris Johnson. However, make no mistake, a serving senior minister in Singapore, publicly undermined the serving government of another country, one of our closest allies. Extraordinary behaviour. A case of fit for the goose is not fit for the gander? What is more, that way of government that Shanmugam derided, is the same system that has now removed the Tories from power.

What we are dealing with here is an Act which undermines our fundamental rights and is further not fit for purpose. We have known this since it was first proposed. An amended Act with an independent office separate from the Government and appropriate safeguards could be a force for good in countering he spread of dangerously misleading information on public health and more. The way it is actually used against the Opposition is nothing less than an abuse of power and an outrageous silencing of criticism and valid dissenting views.

What Singaporeans will take away from this incident is more fear. Self-censorship and unwillingness to question the Government’s paradigm and make an effort to hold it to account will increase exponentially. This is exactly what the PAP want and what they all along intended POFMA to achieve.

The ultimate intention of this exercise is clear to me. It is obviously to use these unjust laws to try me on criminal charges and prevent me from standing, just as they ensured my father was barred once he was deemed a threat to Singapore’s totalitarian regime.

Please see below my replies as sent to the agencies in question.

Kenneth Jeyaretnam

Published by kjeyaretnam

I'm a Singaporean economist who became an opposition activist. I blog to provide an alternative to the porkies that the Pinkies tell. It just so happens that my alternative is the truth. That's why I've never been sued in any civil or criminal court no matter how hard hitting my criticism. I'm quoted and interviewed and asked to speak across the world but largely censored in Singapore in an effort to silence my political opinions. The left hate me because they think I split their vote and because I eschew their outmoded economic models. Models that don't work. The Right and the Conservatives hate me because I'm a liberal. I'm not sure what the middle think of me. I don't think there are more than a handful of people in the middle, here in Singapore. I'm a Singaporean born and bred, dual heritage, my parents Singaporean established here before the State of Singapore was created. I'm not Eurasian. I read economics at Cambridge and could be broadly described as from the Keynesian school but I believe in interventions. I was formerly a successful hedge fund manager. After economics and politics my greatest interests are history, film and Makan. I run but I run so I can eat like a Singaporean. View all posts by kjeyaretnam