Kenneth Tiong refutes Singapore Matters claim that WP MPs hold fewer MPS sessions

Workers' Party (WP) Member of Parliament (MP) Kenneth Tiong has publicly rebutted a claim by Facebook page Singapore Matters that he and fellow WP MPs Pritam Singh and Gerald Giam hold Meet-the-People Sessions (MPS) only twice a month.

In a Facebook post accompanied by a screenshot of the Singapore Matters post, Tiong wrote that the claim was false, stating that all three MPs hold MPS four times a month, across two locations each, "so that we can better serve the estates under our care".

Tiong's post laid out each MP's schedule in full. Singh, who represents the Eunos division of Aljunied Group Representation Constituency (Aljunied GRC), holds sessions on the first and third Monday of each month at 615 Bedok Reservoir Road, and on the second and fourth Monday at 672 Jalan Damai.

Giam, who represents the Bedok Reservoir-Punggol division, holds sessions on the first and third Wednesday at 522 Hougang Avenue 6, and on the second and fourth Wednesday at 713 Bedok Reservoir Road. Tiong, who represents Serangoon, holds sessions on the first and third Monday at 146 Serangoon North Avenue 1, and on the second and fourth Monday at 213 Serangoon Avenue 4.

Tiong added that, as with all WP MPS sessions, there are no sessions held on public holidays or on a fifth Monday or Wednesday in months where one occurs. "Residents deserve accurate information. We serve our residents faithfully, week after week," he wrote.

The original Singapore Matters post had argued that supporters should "know your own MPs first" before criticising People's Action Party (PAP) MPs, claiming PAP MPs hold MPS four times a month while Giam, Singh and Tiong held theirs "only twice a month". The post also referred to WP MPs as "part time MPs".

Shortly after Tiong's rebuttal was published, Singapore Matters posted an apology on its own page.

"We have removed the post on MPS after being alerted that the WP MPs hold their MPS also 4 times a month but in different locations," the page wrote, adding that it would "do a fresh post tomorrow to correct the error".

The exchange drew a large volume of public comment on both Tiong's and Singapore Matters' Facebook pages, with many commenters calling on the Workers' Party to pursue further action, including a police report, a defamation suit, or a direction under the Protection from Online Falsehoods and Manipulation Act (POFMA). Under Singaporean law, POFMA correction directions can only be issued by government ministers, not by individual MPs or opposition parties.

A pattern of falsehoods

This is not the first time Singapore Matters has been found to have circulated inaccurate claims about WP figures. In May 2025, AFP's fact-checking service found that the page had published a graphic falsely attributing a quote to WP candidate Siti Alia Abdul Rahim Mattar, claiming she had said the "Israel-Palestine conflict is more important than bread and butter issues" during her campaign for the 2025 General Election.

AFP traced the actual quote to a campaign rally speech, in which Alia had instead questioned the Ministry of Education's introduction of a course on the Israel-Palestine conflict without prior parental consultation. The graphic was posted on 1 May 2025, hours before the start of the mandated cooling-off period, limiting Alia's ability to respond before polling day.

Singapore Matters later issued a clarification on 20 May 2025, saying its post reflected "the general sentiment" of Alia's speech, though the exact phrasing had been inaccurate.

WP member Jackson Au subsequently criticised what he called a lack of scrutiny from mainstream media and regulators over the incident, contrasting it with what he described as swift correction orders issued against opposition figures and independent platforms in other cases.

Separately, Leader of the Opposition Pritam Singh publicly challenged an affiliated page, SG Matters, on 19 May 2025, after it published a post defending Singapore's foreign policy neutrality as "not a sign of indifference" and captioned "we are simply pro-Singapore".

Singh argued Singaporeans should not be expected to accept a "one-dimensional narrative" on international affairs, citing historical policy disagreements among Singapore's founding leaders over Israel's 1967 conduct as evidence that diverse views have long been normal in the country.

He also referenced the AFP-flagged falsehood directly, noting that Singapore Matters had "quickly deleted the post, no doubt, in their 'self-interest'" when called out, and questioned why local fact-checkers had been silent on the matter. Singh warned against outsourcing public debate on national issues to "partisan or self-appointed platforms".

Domain registration records for the associated website, sgmatters.sg, list the registrant as an individual named Realm Chua. Reporting by The Online Citizen (TOC) has suggested this may be an alias for Facebook user Cai Zhiwen, who confirmed in a Facebook post that he manages the associated pages, though he denied personal involvement in the flagged 2025 post and said he no longer holds any position at the National Trades Union Congress (NTUC).