Singapore Paper Yanks Blogger Critique of Gov't

Hou writes "mr brown — aka Lee Kin Mun, Singapore's most famous blogger, has been writing a weekly column for a local Singaporean newspaper called 'Today.' Recently, one of his columns was more critical than the powers-that-rule liked, which was a satire on the increasing costs of living in Singapore. They issued a statement through the press secretary for the Ministry of Information, Communication and the Arts, and sternly chastised Mr. Brown for having expressed anti-government views. Not surprisingly, a few days later, Mr. Brown posted a notice saying that his column had been suspended by Today. " (More below.) "Here's a snip from the government representative's statement:

It is not the role of journalists or newspapers in Singapore to champion issues, or campaign for or against the Government. (...) If a columnist presents himself as a non-political observer, while exploiting his access to the mass media to undermine the government's standing with the electorate, then he is no longer a constructive critic, but a partisan player in politics.

Link to post on mr brown's blog, and the report from Reporters Without Borders. More blog entries can be found from fellow outraged bloggers here."

Comments

Model 21st century state?

[Distinguished Hero]

Many people actually believe that Singapore is the model 21st century state. There exists within Western Europe and Canada a very strong movement to shift those countries toward the Singapore model. Many Western European states, Canada and Australia already have state operated media monopolies, and many of the aforementioned states also have ruling parties which have a tendency to hold on to power for the majority of the time (e.g. Canada). Furthermore, in many states such as Belgium, the judiciary (appointed by the the ruling party, more often than not) has the ability to (and does) declare parties (e.g. the most popular party in the Dutch portion of Belgium -- Flanders) illegal. In addition, Free Speech is not considered absolute in any of these countries, with the majority of the population accepting that "limits" exist to "free speech," and the ruling parties having recently introduced legislation further cementing this stance (e.g. in the UK); these limits are indeed often enforced by the judiciary in many of these countries.

Incidentally, Singapore has undergone a very rapid demographic shift. The once majority population has, within less than three generation, been replaced primarily by Chinese immigrants who now make up 76.8% of Singapore's population. Aside from this, Singapore is considered one of the most diverse and multi-cultural places on Earth (supporting link). To enforce this utopian vision, and ensure harmony, freedom of speech has been restricted, in a manner similar to that of Western European states and Canada; from Wikipedia: "Laws restricting the freedom of speech are justified by claims that they are intended to prohibit speech that may breed ill will or cause disharmony within Singapore's multiracial, multi-religious society. For example, in September 2005, three bloggers were convicted of sedition for posting racist remarks targeting minorities.[5]." Once people accept that freedom of speech has "limits," perhaps the remaining portions of the Singaporean model flow naturally.