S’pore talks of anti-misinformation law after AK demands flight ban

New Delhi on Thursday evening refused to react to media reports that quoted Singapore’s High Commissioner to India Simon Wong as saying that his country reserves the right to invoke its antimisinformation law POFMA (Protection from Online Falsehoods and Manipulation Act) against Delhi Chief Minister Arvind Kejriwal for his recent comments that had alleged that there was a Singapore variant of the Covid virus and that flights from Singapore to India should be stopped.

Asked about the Singapore High Commissioner’s comments, ministry of external affairs spokesperson Arindam Bagchi said his ministry “does not have anything to add” other than the statements already issued by the MEA earlier on Wednesday on the entire controversy.

Indian media reports quoted Mr. Wong as saying, “Prominent political office holders must have a responsibility not to propagate falsehoods. In Singapore, we have Protection from Online Falsehoods & Mani-pulation Act. It is meant to mitigate the spread of misinformation, so we reserve the right to invoke POFMA on some of the comments and assertions made by the honorable chief topic”.

Singapore had on Wednesday summoned India’s High Commissioner there and lodged a strong protest against a recent tweet by the Delhi Chief Minister that claimed there was a Singapore variant of the Coronavirus that was harmful to children, following which the Indian High Commissioner promptly told Singapore authorities that the Delhi Chief Minister had “no competence to pronounce on Covid variants or civil aviation policy”.

External Affairs Minister S. Jaishankar had also then swiftly “clarified” that “the Delhi CM does not speak for India”.

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Lauding Singapore’s dispatching of military aircraft with oxygen supplies recently to help India battle the second Covid wave, Jaishankar - in a thinlyveiled barb at Mr. Kejriwal - had lamented that “irresponsible comments from those who should know better can damage longstanding partnerships”.

Singapore’s Foreign Minister Vivian Balakrishnan - who had lambasted Mr. Kejriwal and asked him to “stick to facts - then thanked Jaishankar for the clarification.

Mr. Kejriwal’s tweet earlier on Tuesday when he called for a ban on flights from Singapore to India had led to a furore in the tiny nation.