SINGAPORE – The founder of alternative news website Wake Up, Singapore (WUSG) was fined on Monday (26 August) for defaming the KK Women’s and Children’s Hospital (KKH) for publishing a false story about a woman who suffered a miscarriage at the hospital.
Ma Su Nandar Htwe, a 28-year-old Myanmar national and permanent resident of Singapore who sent WUSG the story allegedly concerning herself, was also fined for fabricating the miscarriage story and submitting it to WUSG with the intent to publish it.
Both pleaded guilty to one count of defamation. The 27-year-old WUSG founder and sole operator at the time, Ariffin Iskandar Sha Ali Akbar, was fined S$8,000, while the woman received a fine of S$10,000.
If Ariffin does not pay the fine, he faces 20 days in prison instead. Su faces 25 days in prison instead.
Court documents show that the woman made up the story about her miscarriage in the hospital and admitted that she did it because she was “bored” and “wanted drama.”
The woman’s invented story
On March 21, 2022 at 5:46 p.m., Su sent a message to WUSG’s Instagram account and shared the following story with the platform:
- Sometime in February 2022, when she was 20 weeks pregnant, she tested positive for Covid-19. She visited several hospitals to seek treatment for her abdominal pain and Covid-19 symptoms, but they all turned her away and sent her to the KKH.
- She arrived at the hospital at around 2 p.m. that same day. At around 5 p.m. she started having vaginal bleeding. She was not examined by a doctor until around 6 p.m.
- The doctor told her: “No ultrasound necessary, the baby is probably dead, the bleeding is too heavy.”
- She then “excreted” her baby on the hospital bed and lost consciousness.
- When she regained consciousness, she asked to have her baby’s body for proper burial, but she was informed by the hospital that the fetus had been disposed of as medical waste.
- When she visited her gynecologist about a week after the incident, she discovered that her placenta had not been properly removed at the hospital and was “literally rotting inside.”
- She had to undergo an outpatient operation to remove the remains of the placenta.
Court documents say the entire story is fabricated, except for the fact that Su was pregnant when she visited the hospital on February 28, 2022, to seek treatment for Covid-19 and abdominal pain.
She was discharged from the hospital the same day in good health. She gave birth safely to her baby on July 6, 2022.
WHAT WUSG AND KKH HAVE DONE
After receiving Su’s messages on March 21, Ariffin replied the same day, asking her for any medical documents that could support her claims. Su sent a scanned copy of a KKH medical bill dated February 28, 2022.
On March 23, 2022, at 8:32 p.m., Ariffin sent an email to KKH informing KKH that WUSG intended to publish the article and asking if KKH would like to respond.
Court documents show that Ariffin did not wait for a response from KKH to his email before proceeding with publishing the story.
He published the story on the website as well as on the WUSG’s Instagram and Facebook pages. The story was published under the title “The baby is probably dead” – woman tells a shocking account of her miscarriage in the emergency room of the KKH.
Shortly after WUSG published the story, other local news outlets picked it up and published it.
After the story was published, KKH conducted an internal investigation. According to court documents, KKH found significant discrepancies between Su’s testimony and what was documented in her medical records.
Ms Ong Sau Fong, senior manager of the Patient Experience Office of KKH, called Su on March 24, 2022.
During this phone call, Su stated that her legal team had advised her not to discuss the matter. The woman also stated that her legal team would contact KKH soon.
On 25 March 2022, between 8:52 a.m. and 10:02 a.m., Ms. Ong called Su four times to continue her conversation from the previous day. Su did not answer any of the calls.
At 10:07 a.m. on March 25, 2022, Su sent Ms. Ong an email instructing her to stop “bombarding” her with calls. In the email, she asked Ms. Ong to schedule a call or communicate via email.
An hour and a half later, Su sent Ms Ong another email, stating that she did not care about the KKH’s actions regarding her case, but did not wish to communicate with the KKH any further.
Su also rebuked KKH for the alleged “lack of compassion” among staff. Su also supported the report shared on WUSG, telling KKH, “What happened to me happened and I have given my report exactly as I remembered it.”
WHAT HAPPENED AFTERWARDS
Ariffin stayed in touch with Su between March 23 and 25, 2022. He continued to exchange text messages with Su through the WUSG Instagram account.
He was aware that Su was communicating with KKH.
On 25 March 2022 at 1:50 p.m., Ms Ong filed a police report and Ariffin was alerted by reports from local news agencies.
At around 3 p.m., Ariffin Su sent a message via the WUSG Instagram account informing her that KKH had filed a police report.
Around 4 p.m., Ariffin began removing the story and the subsequent update from WUSG’s various channels.
Then he wrote to Su and asked her, “Is everything OK?”
At this point, Su admitted to Ariffin that her account of events was not true and asked him to remove the story and all related posts from WUSG’s platforms.
Su also informed Ariffin that “I sent you the items in the heat of the moment because I was also suffering from the loss of a previous miscarriage that was treated by KKH.”
Court documents show that this additional claim by Su was investigated and found to be another fabrication.
The woman had not previously suffered a miscarriage that would have been treated by the hospital.
After Su informed him that everything she had told him was fabricated, Ariffin sent a private email to KKH from his administrator email address at 4:59 p.m. the same day.
In the email, Ariffin apologized to KKH for publishing the story, which he found out was not true. He also asked to be put in touch with the investigating officer handling the police report filed by KKH.
Later at 5:09 p.m., Ariffin posted a retraction of the story on the WUSG Facebook page and apologized to KKH.
The next day, Ariffin posted an article on WUSG’s various channels outlining the timeline of events, including the exchange between Ariffin and the woman.
In the article, he stated that Su had deceived him and apologized for publishing the story.
On March 27, 2022, the Ministry of Health issued a correction order to the story, which was published under the Protection from Online False News and Manipulation Act 2019.
Ariffin then published a correction on the various WUSG channels.
Deputy Public Prosecutor Sheldon Sim called for a fine of between S$8,000 and S$9,000 for Ariffin and between S$9,000 and S$10,000 for Ma Su Nandar Htwe.
District Judge Shawn Ho said their actions had “weakened public confidence in Singapore’s healthcare system”.
To make matters worse, they did so at a time of “heightened concern” over the Covid-19 pandemic, when frontline workers and healthcare professionals were putting themselves at risk, he said.
Anyone who defames another person may be punished with a prison sentence of up to two years or a fine, or both.
