Singapore

(SEAPA/IFEX) – Prime Minister Lee Hsien Loong and his father, former premier turned Minister Mentor Lee Kuan Yew, are suing the “Far Eastern Economic Review” (FEER) for libel, reports Reuters. The two Lees filed the suit against “FEER” publisher, the Hong Kong-based Review Publishing Company Ltd, and editor Hugo Restall on 22 August 2006, over […]

(SEAPA/IFEX) – Singapore appears to be tightening control mechanisms over foreign publications operating in the city-state, ahead of an upcoming International Monetary Fund (IMF)-World Bank (WB) meeting in September 2006. The “Far Eastern Economic Review” (FEER) and four other foreign newspapers and magazines – the “International Herald Tribune”, the “Financial Times”, “TIME Magazine”, and “Newsweek” […]

(RSF/IFEX) – Reporters Without Borders has hailed a decision by the Singaporean authorities to drop all charges against a 21-year-old blogger who had been accused of violating the Sedition Act by posting cartoons of Jesus on his blog. The authorities said they let him off with a warning. Posted in January 2006, the cartoons were […]

(SEAPA/IFEX) – A showdown may be looming in Singaporean cyberspace, with the censure of a popular blogger sparking a rare protest in the city state and the government insisting that the suspension of his column is merely consistent with the city-state’s notorious policies for managing public discussions in any form of medium. The censure of […]

(SEAPA/IFEX) – A state-owned newspaper has suspended the column of blogger Lee Kin Mun, following an information ministry official’s warning that “it is not the role of journalists or newspapers in Singapore to champion issues.” A 30 June 2006 article by Lee in the state-owned “Today” newspaper sarcastically discussed how many Singaporeans cannot make ends […]

(RSF/IFEX) – It is not the job of government officials to take a position on newspaper articles or blog posts unless they are clearly illegal, Reporters Without Borders pointed out on 5 July 2006 after the Singaporean newspaper “Today” published an opinion piece by a government official on 3 July condemning a recent post by […]

(SEAPA/IFEX) – A Singaporean blogger faces sedition charges for posting cartoons mocking Jesus Christ, reports coming out of the city-state are saying. The unidentified blogger has taken down the offending cartoons from his website, the “Singapore Straits Times” reported, even as police are said to be pressing on with an investigation. The Agence France Presse […]

(CPJ/IFEX) – The following is a CPJ press release: SINGAPORE: Politicians file defamation charges over critical commentary New York, May 5, 2006 – The Committee to Protect Journalists is deeply concerned about criminal defamation charges recently filed by Singapore Minister Mentor Lee Kuan Yew and Prime Minister Lee Hsein Loong against politicians responsible for the […]

(RSF/IFEX) – Reporters Without Borders has accused the Singaporean government of placing increasing curbs on online free expression after the electoral authorities ordered the opposition Singapore Democratic Party (SDP) to withdraw a podcast from its website on 26 April 2006, 10 days before parliamentary elections. “A new form of protest on the Internet and in […]

(RSF/IFEX) – Reporters Without Borders has condemned rules gagging free expression online, in the same way as for traditional media, in the run-up to parliamentary elections in Singapore. Singapore Information, Communications and Arts minister, Balaji Sadasivan, repeated on 3 April 2006, the strict rules in force since 2001 on Internet use in electoral periods. The […]

(SEAPA/IFEX) – On top of his financial bankruptcy and conviction for defamation, Singapore opposition leader Chee Soon Juan is now being charged with contempt of court for criticizing the country’s judicial system as unfair and biased. In a statement issued on 2 March 2006, Chee, who is secretary-general of the Singapore Democratic Party (SDP), said […]

(SEAPA/IFEX) – The Southeast Asian Press Alliance (SEAPA) has expressed alarm over the recent ruling by a Singaporean High Court judge to dismiss a lawsuit which charged the country’s public institutions with trampling the rights of their citizens to free assembly and free speech. SEAPA is concerned that “this ruling will have implications for the […]

(SEAPA/IFEX) – Singapore’s Media Development Authority (MDA) withheld a license from a local theatre group to stage a play about the execution of a drug courier until it revised some scenes and took out all references to the death penalty, the English daily “Today” reported. The play “Human Lefts” was supposed to be staged at […]

(RSF/IFEX) – The following is an RSF open letter to Singaporean Prime Minister Lee Hsien Loong: Open letter to Prime Minister Lee Hsien Loong Prime Minister Lee Hsien Loong c/o The Embassy of Singapore 12 square de l’Avenue-Foch 75116 Paris Paris, 29 November 2005 Dear Prime Minister, Reporters Without Borders would like to take advantage […]

(SEAPA/IFEX) – On October 11 2005, the outgoing U.S. ambassador to Singapore criticized the city-state’s suppression of political expression and suggested that its repression of dissent and criticism is incongruent with its aspirations in a century driven by access to information. “In this era of weblogs and webcams, how much sense does it make to […]

(SEAPA/IFEX) – SEAPA is seriously concerned over deepening police investigations into the work and causes of Singaporean filmmaker Martyn See, and urges free expression advocates worldwide to condemn this latest harassment of a citizen for the “crime” of having spoken his mind. At the same time, SEAPA said the case of Martyn See highlights the […]