‘False allegations may dent confidence’ in MINDEF, Govt
TODAY file photo
SINGAPORE — False allegations that impinge on the integrity of the Ministry of Defence (MINDEF) could dent public confidence in the ministry and the Government, said MINDEF after two parties yesterday (Feb 10) rejected its demands to stop commenting on a dispute over the intellectual property rights of a mobile medical station it bought.
The allegation centres on the Battalion Casualty Station that MINDEF bought from Syntech Engineers, which MobileStats Technologies co-founder Ting Choon Meng said had copied his design.
Sociopolitical blog The Online Citizen (TOC) published an article and video interview on Jan 15, where Dr Ting repeated his allegation.
A letter from the Attorney-General’s Chambers (AGC) on Jan 28, published on TOC’s website yesterday, called for TOC to remove the article or append a preface to it that redirects to MINDEF’s clarification statement on the issue. It said it would take out an application under the Protection from Harassment Act if TOC did not do so.
In another letter from the AGC to Dr Ting, also posted on TOC’s website, the AGC also threatened to use the Protection from Harassment Act if Dr Ting did not sign a written undertaking to “cease and desist making false statements about MINDEF”.
Today, MINDEF pointed out that the High Court had issued a judgment in January last year ruling that the patent claimed by MobileStats was invalid and revoking it. However, “false allegations of patent infringement continued to be made against MINDEF”, the ministry said.
It added: “MINDEF takes these allegations very seriously and has provided opportunities for the false allegations to be corrected, but without success. MINDEF has thus referred the matter to the AGC.”
TOC and Dr Ting have declined to comply with the demands. Their lawyers have said MINDEF has no basis to invoke the Act.
