Last month, SPH Media Trust (SMT), whose mission it is to be a “trusted source of credible news“, announced that it will be setting up a fact-checking service to “debunk fake news“. Yesterday, the Straits Times republished a Reuters Article on Israeli hacking, but left out entire paragraphs relating to Singapore. There were 4 paragraphs that were omitted from the Straits Times’ print edition, 2 of which make reference to Singapore.
According to the Reuters exclusive, an Isreali spy company named QuaDream gained the ability to remotely break into iPhones in 2021. The paragraphs that were omitted in the Straits Times’ report are set out below for ease of reference:-
One of QuaDream’s first clients was the Singaporean government, two of the sources said, and documentation reviewed by Reuters shows the company’s surveillance technology was pitched to the Indonesian government as well. Reuters couldn’t determine if Indonesia became a client.
Mexican, Singaporean, Indonesian and Saudi officials did not return messages seeking comment about QuaDream.
Scroll to the bottom of the Reuters Article to see the paragraphs that were not printed by Straits Times.
Although Reuters’ sources allege that the Singapore government was a client of QuaDreams, it must be stressed that this claim has yet to be addressed by the Singapore Government. At this juncture, it is unclear if this assertion is true. To this end, some clarifications from our Government as to the engagement (if there was any), and the parameters thereof, would be helpful.
Be that as it may, the Straits Times’ inexplicable omission raised many eyebrows.
Teo Kai Xiang, a student of Cambridge University, called the move “old school censorship“. Teo’s tweet attracted more than 200 reactions within a few hours.
https://twitter.com/teo_kai_xiang/status/1489969405815631878
Teo also noted that while the said paragraphs were omitted from the print edition of the Straits Times, they were included in the online edition.
https://twitter.com/teo_kai_xiang/status/1489971812226191366
Dr Chong Ja Ian, who is an associate professor of political science at the National University of Singapore, stated that there was “nothing surprising” at Straits Times omission.
Nothing surprising there, I suppose. https://t.co/BGmwNk1XaN
— Ian Chong 莊嘉穎 (@ChongJaIan) February 5, 2022
Angela Faye Oon, a former Workers’ Party candidate, wondered if this was something that the Straits Times could even do.
Wake Up Singapore accepts submissions. If you wish to pen your thoughts on an issue, please send a draft to admin@wakeupsg.com.
Since you have made it to the end of the article, follow Wake Up Singapore on Telegram!
