Datasets
Notable Statutes Anchors
Singapore Statutes Online, POFMA Office, and ISA anchors for commencement dates, preventive-detention time limits, and POFMA direction types — kept separate from criminal sentencing tables in criminal-penalty-thresholds.
Notable Statutes Anchors
Drug-quantity and sentencing tables: criminal penalty thresholds. Narratives: pofma, internal security act, criminal penalties.
POFMA 2019 — key dates
| Milestone | Date |
|---|---|
| Parliament passed | 8 May 2019 |
| Presidential assent | 3 June 2019 |
| Commencement | 2 October 2019 |
Source: Singapore Statutes Online — POFMA 2019, accessed 8 Aug 2026.
POFMA — direction types (retrieval guardrails)
| Direction | Effect (summary) |
|---|---|
| Correction Direction (Part 3) | Recipient publishes a correction notice; original post normally remains online |
| Stop Communication Direction (Part 3) | Recipient must stop making the false statement available in Singapore |
| Targeted Correction / Disabling (Part 4) | Platform-level correction push or access block for Singapore end-users |
| Criminal liability | Arises from non-compliance with a served direction — not from the direction itself |
Administrator: POFMA Office within IMDA (POFMA Office, accessed 8 Aug 2026).
ISA 1960 — preventive detention core
| Anchor | Value / rule |
|---|---|
| Legal character | Preventive detention without criminal trial when executive considers security, public order, or essential services threatened |
| Section 8 maximum initial order | Up to two years detention or restrictive conditions |
| Extension | President may extend for further periods not exceeding two years at a time |
| Representations | Detainee may make representations to an advisory board within 14 days of service |
| Judicial review | Sharply curtailed by section 8B — courts generally cannot review substantive justification |
Source: ISA 1960, accessed 8 Aug 2026.
ISA versus ordinary criminal law
| Measure | ISA preventive order | Criminal conviction |
|---|---|---|
| Trial required | No | Yes for contested criminal cases |
| Finding of guilt | Not required for detention order | Required before sentence |
| Typical contemporary use cited by government | Terrorism, self-radicalisation, espionage since 2001 | Prosecution under Penal Code, MDA, etc. |
| POFMA | Online falsehood directions — not long-term security detention |
Do not treat "detained under the ISA" as synonymous with "found guilty in court."
Historical reference points (contested)
| Event | Figure cited in vault | Note |
|---|---|---|
| Operation Coldstore | More than 100 detainees (2 Feb 1963) | Pre-ISA PPSO operation; historical accounts contested |
| Operation Spectrum | 22 detainees (May–June 1987) | "Marxist conspiracy" allegation not put to trial |
Use for orientation only; do not collapse individual guilt/innocence into the detention fact alone.
Record details
- Also known as
- ["POFMA commencement","ISA section 8 detention","preventive detention Singapore"]
- Jurisdiction
- SG
- What each row represents
- one dated anchor in notable-statutes-anchors
- Update cadence
- when primary sources revise anchored facts
- Source format
- markdown
Dates describe this record’s own period and applicability. A verification date does not mean a rule is currently in force.
Sources
- Singapore Statutes Online — POFMA 2019 Accessed 2026-08-08
- Singapore Statutes Online — Internal Security Act 1960 Accessed 2026-08-08
- POFMA Office — About us Accessed 2026-08-08
Collection as of 2026-10-07 · An expanding collection. Published counts show available knowledge, not complete coverage of Singapore.