Is he the man behind Temasek Review?

Mystery man behind website critical of S'pore government exposed by his smear ca
mpaign against MP Lee Bee Wah. -TNP
Mon, Oct 11, 2010
The New Paper
By Ng Wan Ching
NEWS website Temasek Review has earned a reputation for its sharply critical vie
ws of the Government.
But the person behind the website has remained a mystery to the public - until n
ow.
Despite his attempts to remain anonymous, a smear campaign he launched against M
ember of Parliament Lee Bee Wah proved to be his undoing.
After finding out about the incident, The New Paper, through its checks, has lea
rnt of his identity.
The man behind Temasek Review and some of its most caustic articles, often poste
d anonymously, is Dr Joseph Ong Chor Teck.
The medical doctor works at a clinic that is part of a chain here.
Dr Ong admitted he was the man behind posters which showed Ms Lee's photograph o
n the cover of a toilet bowl, with lines below it imploring Khatib residents to
ask the MP to step down as the president of the Singapore Table Tennis Associati
on (STTA).
Among the words were "Jamban MP", a term coined after an exchange between NCMP S
ylvia Lim and Ms Lee, who used the word "jamban" (Malay for toilet) to make a po
int during a Budget debate in Parliament in 2007.
The poster appeared around Block 868 Yishun Street 81 in May last year, around t
he time the STTA refused to nominate former national head coach Liu Guodong, who
led the women's team to a historic Olympic silver medal in 2008, for the Singap
ore Sports Awards.
A man had approached a Bangladeshi cleaner for help to put up the posters.
The New Paper tracked down the worker through his colleagues.
The worker, who wanted to be known only as Ali, confirmed that he had helped to
put up the posters but said he had no clue what they were about.
He said: "He asked for my help to put up about 100 posters around the RC (reside
nt's committee) corner, the barbecue area and some lamp-posts.
"I told him I was busy and couldn't spare the 10 minutes he had asked for but he
kept pleading, so I finally agreed."
He described the man as a medium-built Chinese in his late 20s or early 30s with
fair complexion. Ali, who has been working for the town council for six years,
said he was questioned by police following the incident.
RC members who turned up early for a brisk walk event at 7am spotted the posters
and removed them before Ms Lee showed up.
The former chairman of Zone F, Nee Soon South, then made a police report.
When contacted, he confirmed the report and said that action was taken.
"It's all in the past now so I don't think there's a need to go over old ground,
" he said and declined to elaborate.
The New Paper understands that police investigations led them to Dr Ong, who was
then called in to give statements.
Dr Ong confessed to getting the posters placed around Yishun Street 81.
The New Paper understands that he also identified himself to the police as being
the founder of Wayang Party and later, Temasek Review.
Dr Ong was again called in about two months ago.
A police spokesman said: "In response to media queries, police confirmed that a
subject was administered a conditional stern warning on Sept 3 for the offence o
f intentional harassment."
A conditional warning requires, among other things, that the offender must maint
ain a clean record for a specified period, typically about 12 months.
If he commits another offence, he can be charged with the new offence as well as
the previous one.
Closed down
Soon after police started investigating the matter, Wayang Party was closed down
and Temasek Review was launched.
By then, word had gone around the Yishun estate that a medical doctor was implic
ated in the poster saga.
Dr Ong graduated in 2004 and had worked with the Health Sciences Authority (HSA)
before taking on his present job as a GP for a Healthway Medical Group clinic i
n Sengkang.
An ex-Raffles Junior College student, Dr Ong is described as a quiet and reserve
d man by friends.
When approached at his clinic on Thursday, Dr Ong looked surprised that The New
Paper had learnt of the warning he had received.
He said: "How do you know about the warning? How do you know about the case? I w
as told it would be confidential. As long as it did not make it to court, it wou
ld be confidential."
When The New Paper asked him about Temasek Review, he blinked and said: "The cas
e is not supposed to be made public. As long as you put my name in your paper, I
will sue you."
He asked this reporter to leave the clinic and threatened to call the police.
When The New Paper contacted Ms Lee for comments on the poster incident, she rep
lied in an SMS that the issue was water under the bridge for her.
About two hours after he was approached, Dr Ong called The New Paper and threate
ned to take legal action.
That night, a posting appeared on Temasek Review purportedly written by an Amand
a Tan revealing specific details that emerged in the interview between The New P
aper and Dr Ong.
Posting removed
At 7pm yesterday, the posting was removed.
Dr Ong again called the The New Paper after 7pm yesterday to say that he has not
hing to do with Temasek Review, other than being a reader.
But some time later, he called and said he was no longer the webmaster of Temase
k Review.
When asked whether that meant he was once the webmaster, he declined to answer.
He asked that we e-mail him questions so he could put everything on record.
We sent him five questions, but he answered only three.
The two questions he refused to answer were:
Did you start the Temasek Review?
Did you start and close down Wayang Party?
He said he did not want to answer questions that were not pertinent to the "Jamb
an MP" affair.
Asked why he carried out the poster campaign against Ms Lee, Dr Ong said: "I hav
e nothing personal against Ms Lee Bee Wah.
"I just felt strongly she should resign as President of STTA after what had happ
ened under her watch. That's all."
He denied having any political affiliations. He also said he's not politically m
otivated.
He added: "The STTA fiasco has nothing to do with politics. I am only asking her
to step down as President of STTA, not as a MP."
In an earlier phone interview, when asked to deny that he's the founder of Temas
ek Review and Wayang Party, Dr Ong refused to respond.
>> Next: Little known about people behind news site
Little known about people behind news site
INDEPENDENT, balanced and unbiased.
That is how online news portal Temasek Review describes its coverage of social a
nd political affairs in Singapore.
But fair-minded readers would disagree with this self-description.
The website's About Us page states its aim: "To provide space for columnists and
reader comments from across the political spectrum to foster, facilitate and pr
omote serious debate and discourse which is sorely lacking in Singapore."
Its editorial position, it adds, "is consistently based on social justice, human
rights, democracy, civil liberties, and governance centred around the principle
s of transparency, accountability and responsibility from which we will endeavor
to foster an informed, educated, thinking and proactive citizenry".
It claims to have no links to any political party or commercial entity.
But little is known about the people behind it.
Click on the Columnists tab on the website and you get a drop-down list of write
rs.
On the Contact Us page you get a form that allows you to send a message to the r
elevant department.
A Molina Han, based in Panama, is named as the site's managing editor.
Apart from that, the identity and number of the editorial team remain a mystery.
This anonymity has sparked much speculation. Netizens have pointed to the creato
rs of the now-defunct socio-political blog Wayang Party as the founders of the T
emasek Review.
An Internet search showed the last publicly accessible postings on Wayang Party
to be around the middle of last year. A Wayang Party blog still exists, but it c
an be viewed only by invited users using a password.
The web server used by Temasek Review is based overseas.
wanching@sph.com.sg
Previous <<
>> Next: Different version of interview on website
Different version of interview on website
By Melvin Singh
The New Paper's attempts to interview Dr Joseph Ong made it to the Temasek Revie
w online site for about eight hours yesterday.
Details of the Thursday meeting with our reporter, Ms Ng Wan Ching, at his clini
c were posted yesterday.
Ms Ng had identified herself to the clinic's receptionist and requested an inter
view with Dr Ong.
He agreed to the interview and shook Ms Ng's hand. But when asked about the poli
ce warning issued to him, he expressed surprise that she knew of the case.
He maintained that the information was confidential.
He rapidly became upset and said he did not want to be interviewed. He threatene
d to sue if his name appeared in The New Paper.
He also repeatedly threatened to call the police. Ms Ng left the clinic after ab
out 10 minutes.
But the posting on Temasek Review gave a different version of events.
It said that Ms Ng gave details of the warning, which only the police would know
about.
The posting included a letter sent by Dr Ong to the Ministry of Home Affairs sug
gesting a police leak had led to his being exposed by this paper.
But around 7pm yesterday, the posts and related documents were removed from the
site.
So how did TNP get the story?
A resident who has assisted at RC events first alerted us to the posters.
An Internet search turned up a picture of the toilet bowl poster stuck on a pill
ar on a blog by someone named Edwin.
TNP spoke to residents in Khatib and learnt that Dr Ong had approached a cleaner
to distribute the posters.
After interviewing the Bangladeshi worker, who is employed by the town council,
TNP approached the police for confirmation.
As for Dr Ong's link to Temasek Review, TNP understands that after he was summon
ed by the police, he confided in at least one friend, a former schoolmate.
Dr Ong has since contacted TNP to say he has made complaints against our journal
ist and the leak of confidential information to the press.
melvin@sph.com.sg
This article was first published in The New Paper.
http://www.asiaone.com/print/News/The%2BNew%2BPaper/Story/A1Story20101011-241663
.html