Workers' Party's Leon Perera steps down as advisor of The Independent Singapore website

SINGAPORE - Workers' Party (WP) Non-Constituency MP Leon Perera has stepped down as advisor of socio-political website The Independent Singapore (TISG), amidst a police probe into its possible violation of election advertising rules.

The announcement came in a Facebook post Mr Perera made today (June 8), adding that he is in the process of divesting his shares in Protegesoft, the company that owns and runs the website.

The Straits Times reported that Mr Perera is one of six shareholders and owns two million of the company's 8.51 million shares, according to official records.

In his post, he said: "I was not involved in the operation or management of TISG. However, I have decided to take this additional step to ensure that any perceived link to TISG does not distract public attention when policy positions are taken by the Workers' Party, particularly on issues related to media regulation".

According to The Straits Times, the announcement came after People's Action Party MP Tan Wu Meng commented about Mr Perera's links to TISG when talking about current investigations into online posts made on Cooling-off Day and Polling Day for the Bukit Batok by-election.

The MP for Jurong GRC had said that given Mr Perera's links to TISG, the WP "could be seen as having an interest in the outcome of the investigation".

WP had earlier said it was concerned about the current investigation into the possible violations during the Bukit Batok by-election.

prabukm@sph.com.sg