The Public Security Police (PSP) arrested a local man on Monday for spreading false rumours on social media about his mother’s injuries, which he claimed were due to an erroneous warning about Severe Tropical Cyclone “Tapah” issued by the Civil Protection Operations Centre (COPC) on Monday, PSP spokesman Cheong Heon Fan said during a regular press conference yesterday.
Cheong identified the suspect as a male surnamed Lai, who is in his fifties and told the police that he is jobless.
According to Cheong, during the cyclone on Monday, a video circulated online in which Lai claimed that his 80-year-old mother had fallen and sustained injuries while outside during Tropical Cyclone Signal No. 8. He alleged that her injuries were due to a verbal error in the official warning about the storm issued by the Civil Protection Operations Centre (COPC), which mistakenly encouraged people “to go outside”.
In fact, the COPC spokesperson misspoke. The error was later corrected by the centre, which – as originally intended, urged the public “not to go outside”.
Cheong noted that Lai’s mother went out for breakfast on Monday morning at around 8:30 a.m. On her way home at 9:27 a.m., she fell on Istmo de Ferreira do Amaral (關閘馬路) due to strong winds and was immediately rushed to the hospital, where it was confirmed that she had a fractured pelvis, requiring hospitalisation. The Civil Protection Operations Centre (COPC) had issued its erroneous warning at about 10:15 a.m. that day, indicating that Lai’s mother had left home an hour and a half before the inadvertently wrong announcement was made. The timeline confirmed that her injuries were not caused by the erroneous warning, Cheong said.
Cheong added that Lai had received a call from his younger sister at around 11a.m., saying that their mother had fallen and fractured her pelvis. Shortly after, he received a message from a friend clarifying that the Civil Protection Operations Centre (COPC) had made an error in an earlier announcement. At around 2 p.m., he contacted the Civil Protection Operations Centre (COPC) to report his mother’s injuries, hoping they would follow up on the case. Lai recorded their conversation and later edited the video, uploading it to social media to spread false rumours claiming that the COPC’s erroneous warning had indeed caused his mother to fall, as well as resulting in other elderly people being hospitalised due to similar incidents.
The police contacted his mother at the hospital on Monday night and subsequently summoned Lai to a police station. Under questioning, he admitted to the offence but claimed he was unaware of the correct timing of his mother’s injury, which led him to mistakenly believe it was related to the erroneous warning.
Lai has been transferred to the Public Prosecutions Office (MP), facing charges for spreading rumours on social media about the authorities.
Public Security Police (PSP) spokesman Cheong Heon Fan looks on during yesterday’s regular press conference. – Photo: Ada Lei
