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On 21 May, WP candidate Jackson Au has called out the silence of Singapore’s mainstream media and regulators after a pro-PAP Facebook page posted a false quote about WP candidate Siti Alia just before Cooling-Off Day. The post was flagged by Meta and debunked by AFP, but drew little official response.
Workers’ Party (WP) member Jackson Au has criticised what he described as a glaring lack of scrutiny from mainstream media and regulators, after a false social media post misquoting WP candidate Siti Alia Abdul Rahim Mattar surfaced just before Cooling-Off Day.
The post, published on 1 May 2025 by pro-PAP Facebook page Singapore Matters, claimed that Alia had said the “Israel-Palestine conflict is more important than bread and butter issues.” The post featured her image alongside the fabricated quote.
AFP’s fact-checking service debunked the claim on 5 May, confirming that the quote was never made during Alia’s campaign events.
Despite this, Au noted that regulatory bodies and major media outlets had not issued any public statements addressing the post.
Singapore Matters issued a clarification on 20 May, admitting that the post was based on a video with subtitles that were not verbatim.
The page described its update as a “long overdue” clarification and stated that it removed the post after internal review.
According to the clarification, the video used in the original post reflected “the general sentiment” of Alia’s speech, but the exact phrasing was inaccurate.
“In keeping with our editorial standards, the post was removed,” the page stated, adding that it believes in transparency with readers.
They reiterated that Alia’s candidate introduction video highlighted an incident involving the portrayal of the Israel-Palestine conflict in schools as a key reason she decided to enter politics.
Published
on
The Online Citizen
SINGAPORE: Workers’ Party (WP) member Jackson Au has criticised what he described as a glaring lack of scrutiny from mainstream media and regulators, after a false social media post misquoting WP candidate Siti Alia Abdul Rahim Mattar surfaced just before Cooling-Off Day.
The post, published on 1 May 2025 by pro-PAP Facebook page Singapore Matters, claimed that Alia had said the “Israel-Palestine conflict is more important than bread and butter issues.” The post featured her image alongside the fabricated quote.
AFP’s fact-checking service debunked the claim on 5 May, confirming that the quote was never made during Alia’s campaign events.
Despite this, Au noted that regulatory bodies and major media outlets had not issued any public statements addressing the post.
Singapore Matters issued a clarification on 20 May, admitting that the post was based on a video with subtitles that were not verbatim.
The page described its update as a “long overdue” clarification and stated that it removed the post after internal review.
According to the clarification, the video used in the original post reflected “the general sentiment” of Alia’s speech, but the exact phrasing was inaccurate.
“In keeping with our editorial standards, the post was removed,” the page stated, adding that it believes in transparency with readers.
They reiterated that Alia’s candidate introduction video highlighted an incident involving the portrayal of the Israel-Palestine conflict in schools as a key reason she decided to enter politics.
AFP traced the misquote to a rally speech on 24 April.
The full video was uploaded by the WP to YouTube on 25 April.
In that speech, Alia had said: “We meet our MPs to discuss bread and butter issues, yes, but we would also like to meet our MPs to discuss the effects of certain laws or the government’s positions on certain global issues.”
She questioned the Ministry of Education’s decision to introduce a course on the Israel-Palestine conflict in schools without parental consultation, but at no point claimed the issue was more important than domestic concerns.
Workers’ Party (WP) member Jackson Au has criticised what he described as a glaring lack of scrutiny from mainstream media and regulators, after a false social media post misquoting WP candidate Siti Alia Abdul Rahim Mattar surfaced just before Cooling-Off Day.
The post, published on 1 May 2025 by pro-PAP Facebook page Singapore Matters, claimed that Alia had said the “Israel-Palestine conflict is more important than bread and butter issues.” The post featured her image alongside the fabricated quote.
AFP’s fact-checking service debunked the claim on 5 May, confirming that the quote was never made during Alia’s campaign events.
Despite this, Au noted that regulatory bodies and major media outlets had not issued any public statements addressing the post.
Singapore Matters issued a clarification on 20 May, admitting that the post was based on a video with subtitles that were not verbatim.
The page described its update as a “long overdue” clarification and stated that it removed the post after internal review.
According to the clarification, the video used in the original post reflected “the general sentiment” of Alia’s speech, but the exact phrasing was inaccurate.
“In keeping with our editorial standards, the post was removed,” the page stated, adding that it believes in transparency with readers.
They reiterated that Alia’s candidate introduction video highlighted an incident involving the portrayal of the Israel-Palestine conflict in schools as a key reason she decided to enter politics.
The Online Citizen
Jackson Au slams ELD and media silence over false quote targeting Siti Alia before Cooling-Off Day
On 21 May, WP candidate Jackson Au has called out the silence of Singapore’s mainstream media and regulators after a pro-PAP Facebook page posted a false quote about WP candidate Siti Alia just before Cooling-Off Day. The post was flagged by Meta and debunked by AFP, but drew little official response.
Published
on
The Online Citizen
SINGAPORE: Workers’ Party (WP) member Jackson Au has criticised what he described as a glaring lack of scrutiny from mainstream media and regulators, after a false social media post misquoting WP candidate Siti Alia Abdul Rahim Mattar surfaced just before Cooling-Off Day.
The post, published on 1 May 2025 by pro-PAP Facebook page Singapore Matters, claimed that Alia had said the “Israel-Palestine conflict is more important than bread and butter issues.” The post featured her image alongside the fabricated quote.
AFP’s fact-checking service debunked the claim on 5 May, confirming that the quote was never made during Alia’s campaign events.
Despite this, Au noted that regulatory bodies and major media outlets had not issued any public statements addressing the post.
Singapore Matters issued a clarification on 20 May, admitting that the post was based on a video with subtitles that were not verbatim.
The page described its update as a “long overdue” clarification and stated that it removed the post after internal review.
According to the clarification, the video used in the original post reflected “the general sentiment” of Alia’s speech, but the exact phrasing was inaccurate.
“In keeping with our editorial standards, the post was removed,” the page stated, adding that it believes in transparency with readers.
They reiterated that Alia’s candidate introduction video highlighted an incident involving the portrayal of the Israel-Palestine conflict in schools as a key reason she decided to enter politics.
AFP traced the misquote to a rally speech on 24 April.
The full video was uploaded by the WP to YouTube on 25 April.
In that speech, Alia had said: “We meet our MPs to discuss bread and butter issues, yes, but we would also like to meet our MPs to discuss the effects of certain laws or the government’s positions on certain global issues.”
She questioned the Ministry of Education’s decision to introduce a course on the Israel-Palestine conflict in schools without parental consultation, but at no point claimed the issue was more important than domestic concerns.
Next time, better consult your gsb gang first. You should also throw away your CDC vouchers. 
