Tan Kin Lian threatens legal action against content creators over ‘malicious and harmful’ content

SINGAPORE: Tan Kin Lian, a former NTUC Income chief and two-time Presidential candidate, took to social media to issue a stern warning to content creators regarding their “malicious and harmful content,” against him, and he cautioned that legal action might be pursued.

On Monday (11 Sept), he shared a video clip on his TikTok account, expressing his concern about recent incidents where several content creators on platforms such as TikTok, Facebook, and various websites had intentionally and maliciously insulted and defamed him.

He said these offensive contents have significantly harmed his reputation, and he strongly urged the creators to promptly remove them.

“If they still remain on the websites, I will ask my lawyer to send a letter to the creator with a demand for an apology, and an undertaking not to repeat the harmful actions, and for this message to be broadcast to all of their audience.”

“The content creator will also have to pay the legal fees of my lawyers.”

Tan cautioned that individuals who fail to adhere to his requests will face legal action, potentially resulting in damages ranging from ” hundreds or thousands of dollars.”

“I don’t intend to cause financial hardship to the creators,” Mr Tan said. “So I advise them to act now and to remove the harmful and malicious content.”

For those who maintain anonymous identities, Tan Kin Lian warned that he will take measures to identify them, and the extent of damages sought will depend on the efforts required to do so.

@kinliantan750

Warning

♬ original sound – Tan Kin Lian

Mr Tan elaborated to Singapore media outlet AsiaOne that the culprits behind this “malicious content” are anonymous social media pages that distorted facts, made defamatory remarks, and spread them widely by taking content from his interviews with the media and podcasters during the presidential campaign trail.

“They distorted the facts and made defamatory remarks, and spread them virally and widely,” he said these clips are taken of out context to “twist his words”.

In a Facebook post on Tuesday (12 Sept), Tan conveyed his disappointment with a few individuals who had maliciously suggested that he received commissions for promoting Forest City in Johor Bahru and accused him of acting as a property agent, among other insulting remarks.

“It is deplorable of these people to cast these aspersions. It shows their low character.”

“They will be sued for defamation and will then learn an expensive lesson.”

He clarified that he shares his posts and videos primarily for individuals genuinely interested in Forest City. He underscored that he does not endorse it for property investment or speculative purposes.

“As a place to live during retirement or while working, it has its benefits and disadvantages. Each person should make his or her own evaluation. ”

Tan Kin Lian says LHY’s criticism on two Singapore’s PAP ministers ‘quite mild’ compared to ‘racist’ and ‘sexist’ attacks on him

Last week, Mr Tan penned his thoughts on the news that the two Singapore’s PAP ministers filed a defamation lawsuit against Lee Hsien Yang, the son of Singapore’s founding father, Lee Kuan Yew.

Mr Tan perceives that Lee Hsien Yang (LHY)’s remarks, which the two ministers found issues with, are “quite mild”, especially when contrasted with the personal attacks he faced during the presidential campaign, where he was labelled as ‘racist’ and ‘sexist.’

“Is that all? This is quite mild, compared a post by a prominent ex-diplomat that called me a “racist” and ” sexist” during the presidential campaign. These unfounded accusations were magnified manifold in the social and mainstream media.”

Mr. Tan’s motivation to stand in support of LHY stems from his own past experiences as a victim of such practices.

“I made a light hearted post 10 years ago about being in Mumbai. It was used to label me as a “racist” and I had to receive countless attacks.”

“I followed the advice of my friends to apologize for the incident. It did not help. The attacks continued in an uncontrolled manner,” said Mr Tan in a comment section on his Facebook post.

Tan Kin Lian’s son counters online smear campaign during PE 2023

During the 2023 Singapore Presidential Election campaigning period, Tan Boon Keng, Mr Tan Kin Lian’s son, also addressed and criticized manipulated posts featuring a photo taken on Nomination Day.

These posts were maliciously edited to present an unfavourable angle of Mr Tan holding a young girl.

He clarified that in fact the little girl is his own daughter and serves as the granddaughter of Tan Kin Lian, who was supporting her grandfather on the field on the Nomination Day.

“This is a loving moment between a grandfather and his granddaughter but the photo was maliciously angled and captioned. ”

He went on to criticize those who chose to distort this heartfelt interaction.

“For those of you haters who took such a loving moment and smeared him, shame on you. ”

Tharman’s landslide win with 70.40% of Votes in PE 2023

In the recent concluded PE 2023, Mr Tharman Shanmugaratnam, a former senior minister of the People’s Action Party secured an impressive 70.40% of the votes cast by Singaporean citizens, elected as Singapore’s ninth President.

Out of the 2,480,760 votes cast, Mr Tharman garnered a total of 1,746,427 votes, solidifying his position as the new head of state.

Mr Tharman’s fellow contenders, Mr Ng Kok Song, the former GIC investment chief, received 15.72% (390,041 votes), while Mr Tan Kin Lian secured 13.88 % (344,292 votes).

In the 2011 presidential election, Mr Tan Kin Lian obtained 4.91% of the vote, while his fellow contenders, Dr Tan Cheng Bock received 34.85% of the votes, Mr Tan Jee Say secured 25.04%.

Dr Tony Tan clinched the victory with 35.2% of the votes, subsequently becoming Singapore’s seventh president with a narrow margin of 0.35%.