LETTER
‘Correction Notices’: Singapore Responds
The Singapore government defends its policy of issuing corrections to online posts.Jan. 27, 2020
To the Editor:
“Want to Criticize Singapore? Expect a ‘Correction Notice,’” by Kirsten Han (Op-Ed, nytimes.com, Jan. 21), is wrong on several counts.
First, criticisms of Singapore, including this article by Ms. Han, do not receive correction notices. Only deliberate online falsehoods do.
Second, Ms. Han repeats the falsehoods that have already been corrected, and ignores the corrections the Singapore government has published.
Ms. Han asks whether Singapore is cracking down on fake news or the opposition. That depends on the answer to another question: Which are true: the corrections or the offending posts?
Corrections issued by the government can be overturned by the courts. Thus far, only one entity has challenged a correction in court, and the case is pending. If corrections remain unchallenged, the question is not why opposition activists were the subject of corrections, but why they posted so many false statements in the first place.
All articles served with correction notices remain available online. No one’s speech has been curtailed. Surely, enabling people to decide for themselves whether the original post or the correction is true is what freedom of speech is about.
Ashok Kumar Mirpuri
Washington
The writer is Singapore’s ambassador to the United States.
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