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Man faces POFMA charges over TikTok videos
The 59-year-old will also be charged with defamation and attempting to promote ill will between racial groups.
The TikTok app icon is seen on a smartphone on Oct 27, 2025. (File photo: Reuters/Dado Ruvic)
10 Mar 2026 03:56PM (Updated: 10 Mar 2026 04:33PM)
www.channelnewsasia.com
SINGAPORE: A 59-year-old man will be charged in court on Wednesday (Mar 11) over four videos he posted on TikTok between 2023 and 2025, the Singapore Police Force (SPF) and the Protection from Online Falsehoods and Manipulation Act (POFMA) Office said on Tuesday.
The videos contained content which promoted ill will between different racial groups as well as false statements of fact, SPF and the POFMA Office said in a joint news release.
He will be charged with two counts of defamation and one count of attempting to promote feelings of ill will between different racial groups on grounds of race, as well as three counts of communicating false statements of fact under POFMA.
"In a video posted on Aug 26, 2025, on his TikTok account, the man made remarks which promote ill will between the Chinese community and other racial groups in Singapore, the police and the POFMA Office said.
"The video also stated that the government is using its money and resources to nurture leaders only from the Chinese race – which is false.
"The man also made statements which are criminally defamatory of various public officials."
The man had previously posted videos on TikTok on Jul 17, 2023, and Aug 12, 2023, that contained false statements of fact.
In 2024, he was issued with 24-month conditional warnings by the police and the POFMA Office over those videos.
"The conditional warnings required him to refrain from criminal conduct within the specified period," SPF and the POFMA Office said.
"As he breached the conditional warnings by allegedly committing the offences arising from the video posted on Aug 26, 2025, he is now being charged also for the offences arising from the 2023 videos."
In the Jul 17 video, the man said that the government can trace votes in order to penalise voters.
In the Aug 12 video, he said that no one among low- and middle-income Central Provident Fund (CPF) members who utilised their CPF funds to repay their Housing and Development Board loans had met either the Basic Retirement Sum or Full Retirement Sum in their CPF accounts.
"These statements are false," SPF and the POFMA Office said.
CNA understands the man in question is Mr Jay Ish'haq Rajoo, who was issued a POFMA order last September over a TikTok post that made false claims about the new Chinese Community Leadership Course.
In his post, Mr Jay alleged that National Development Minister Chee Hong Tat had announced that the government would be providing money and resources to attract mainland Chinese to Singapore and nurture them for leadership positions.
He also claimed that the government was only using its money and resources to nurture leaders from the Chinese race.
Mr Jay was issued a conditional warning by the POFMA Office in 2024 for failing to comply with previous POFMA correction directions.
He posted four TikTok videos between July and August 2023 that contained falsehoods relating to voting secrecy, CPF policies and the affordability of HDB flats.
Those convicted of defamation face a fine, up to two years in prison, or both.
Those convicted of attempting to promote feelings of ill will between different racial groups on grounds of race face a fine, up to three years in prison, or both.
Individuals who are convicted of communicating false statements of fact face a fine of up to S$50,000 (US$39,329), up to five years’ jail, or both.
