SINGAPORE: The editor of The New Paper (TNP) Lim Han Ming said on Friday evening (Oct 25) that a controversial comment in an article about Raffles Girls’ School (RGS) moving away from Orchard Road was confirmed by a member of the school staff.

TNP had published a report on Tuesday titled Raffles Girls’ School Moves To New Home, which included a quote attributed to an RGS spokesman: “Moving away from the luxurious condominiums in Orchard Road will allow our girls to reach out more to the ordinary Singaporean."



The comment drew widespread criticism.

Responding to queries from CNA, RGS had said earlier on Friday that the TNP report had “referenced an informal conversation with a staff member who was not the school’s spokesperson”.

The employee "had also not identified himself as such to the reporter", RGS said.

The comments were “off-the-record” and had been “intended to convey that the move would allow students to engage more deeply with the local community, given the school's proximity to the Braddell area", RGS added.



"At no point of time did he say 'ordinary Singaporean'," it said.

Responding to CNA queries, TNP editor Mr Lim said on Friday evening: “Our reporter spoke to the RGS staff, who confirmed the quote and asked for it to be attributed to an RGS spokesman."

RGS moved from its Anderson Road campus to 2 Braddell Rise on Monday, and is now connected to Raffles Institution via an overhead bridge linking the bus stops on both sides of Braddell Road.

The new S$90 million campus was co-funded by the school and the Ministry of Education.