A former Reform Party member has apologised to Law and Home Affairs Minister K Shanmugam for anyhowly spreading rumour that the minister is involved in an extramarital affair.
In a Facebook post, Mr Thaddeus Thomas admitted having purposely spread false rumours about Mr Shanmugam. He also said that he had “intentionally ignored” a letter sent by Mr Shanmugam’s lawyer when they tried to reach out to him on the matter as he thought that Mr Shanmugam’s team would not be able to identify him.
He only realises that daiji dua diao (shit hits the fan) when he read in a Straits Times article that Mr Shanmugam had applied for court orders to compel TikTok to disclose user information about him.
According to Zaobao, last year in November, Mr Shanmugam applied for court orders to compel TikTok to disclose user information of 3 TikTok accounts which were spreading false information about the minister, accusing him of having an extramarital affair.
One of the TikTok accounts, which goes by the handle @thaddeusthomas81 had uploaded a video on 17 August last year which alleged that the minister is having an extramarital affair with another member of parliament.
On 21 December 2023, Mr Thomas first issued an apology on his TikTok admitting having posted false information about Mr Shanmugam through the TikTok account @thaddeusthomas81 after following the advice and encouragement of others.
He later also took to his Facebook to share the same statement on 25 December 2023.
Thaddeus Thomas: deeply regret posting false posts under the advice and encouragement of others
“I deeply regret the false and defamatory remarks I made on TikTok and apologize unreservedly to Mr Shanmugam. I admit that I posted the false posts with the advice and encouragement of others, and I regret it,” said Mr Thomas.
He confirmed that he had deleted the relevant posts on TikTok and promised not to make relevant remarks in any way or make any accusations with the same or similar effect.
Mr Thomas also said that he had requested that Mr Shanmugam not ask for damages, and Mr Shanmugam has “kindly agreed” to his request. However, Mr Thomas said he would foot the legal costs incurred by Mr Shanmugam.
In response to an inquiry from Lianhe Zaobao on Tuesday (2 January), Reform Party chief Kenneth Jeyaretnam confirmed that Mr Thomas is no longer a member of the Reform Party.
He also added that Mr Thomas left the party due to personal reasons and that the Reform Party had nothing to do with Thomas’ social media posts, and hence would not comment on the personal behavior of former party members.
