Ma Su Nandar Htwe and founder of Wake Up Singapore, Ariffin Iskandar Sha Ali Akbar, are set to plead guilty to charges of criminal defamation against KK Women’s and Children’s Hospital.
Ma Su Nandar Htwe, a 28-year-old Singapore permanent resident from Myanmar, is accused of fabricating a story of suffering a miscarriage at KKH in February 2022 and messaging it to Wake Up Singapore.
Ariffin Iskandar Sha Ali Akbar, 27, published the false account on Wake Up Singapore’s platform in an article titled “The baby is probably dead” – Women shares a harrowing account of her miscarriage at KKH A&E.
According to CNA, both defendants are scheduled to plead guilty on August 26. They face penalties of up to two years in jail, a fine, or both.
Ariffin, represented by lawyer Gino Hardial Singh, was assigned a date to plead guilty at a subsequent hearing on Wednesday (Jul 3) for his case. The co-accused, represented by attorneys Jacintha Gopal and Mohamed Hashim H Sirajudeen, had already expressed their intention to plead guilty the previous day.
After scrutiny of the fabricated story, Ma Su Nandar Htwe admitted to lying and Wake Up Singapore publicly apologized for publishing the false claims. The Health Ministry confirmed that the patient identified in the story did not suffer any miscarriage.
READ : Fake KKH Miscarriage Article : Wake Up Singapore admin to be charged with defamation
The hospital lodged a police report after the article was published, leading to a correction directive under the Protection from Online Falsehoods and Manipulation Act (POFMA) in March 2022.
Who Is Ariffin Iskandar Sha Ali Akbar
Ariffin Sha, a law graduate, founded Wake Up Singapore an alternative news platform and serves as its Editor-in-Chief, focusing on discussing socio-political issues in Singapore through speaking engagements and writing.
Who Is Ma Su Nanda Htwe
According to local news site kuanyewism, Ma Su Nanda Htwe is a Myanmar national who holds Singapore Permanent Residency. She has been studying in Singapore at St Anthony’s Canossian Secondary School and earned her business degree from SIM – University at Buffalo (UB).
Despite previously claiming to be a lawyer like her husband, she is actually employed as a Project Analyst at OCBC bank. In a now-deleted tweet, she expressed her opinion that Singaporeans should be more discerning in their behavior, rather than blindly following trends.
BACKSTORY
The 28-year-old woman had shared her account of the alleged incident via the alternative news source Wake Up Singapore, along with a redacted hospital bill dated Feb 28. In her story, she mentioned being 20 weeks pregnant and testing positive for COVID-19.
After experiencing severe abdominal pains, she claimed to have been denied treatment by two private hospitals due to her COVID-19 status, before finally arriving at KKH’s emergency department around 2pm. According to the woman, she was told to wait at the drop-off area and started bleeding profusely at 5pm without receiving any medical attention. It was only at 6pm that a doctor informed her of a miscarriage.
Prof Tan responded to the alleged incident by stating that there were discrepancies between the story and the bill information shared online. He mentioned that preliminary investigations indicated no such case at the hospital on the reported date. He also said that KKH does not turn away patients in need of medical care, and patients are triaged and attended to based on the severity and urgency of their condition.
The KK Women’s and Children’s Hospital (KKH) later denied any records of a pregnant woman who allegedly lost her baby after waiting at the accident and emergency department for about four hours. In response to queries from media, Professor Tan Hak Koon, chairman for the Division of Obstetrics and Gynaecology (O&G) at KKH, stated that the hospital was unable to identify the patient despite their best efforts.
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