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

This is news how?

[Anonymous Coward]

Singapore is a very nice country (I've lived there), but really, to call it a democracy is a farce. It's authoritarian rule. There's just enough "democratic hooks" that get everyone thinking it's a free country, when it really isn't. (If you remember Malaysia where the leader of the opposition party was arrested on some trumped up homosexuality charges that really weren't proven, just he ended up jailed anyhow because the ruling party felt threatened in the opposition's rise).

It's just the government is a far more subtle about what they do, but yes, all media is censored (TV, movies, newspapers, Internet (you have to use their proxy servers - no fake TCP RST's here)). When you visit, take note. From the looks of it, it looks a lot like any western country - well run, good order, clean streets, fairly affluent. You just don't notice that the government has a lot of control in many areas. (It's a bit of the "let foreigners pour money into this country, but don't let them dare infect our 'culture'" - there's a lot of anti-foreigner bias in Singapore, though you'll have a very hard time getting someone to admit it). China's worse, yes, but they're not as subtle about it. If the ruling party of Singapore feels threatened by what you write, well, expect to disappear. This guy got off lucky by only having his column cancelled (so far).

Re:This is news how?

[Anonymous Coward]

i would disagree about the part on people disappearing. PAP (the governing party) has a tendency to sue people for defamation. Also, they get discredited in the local media (since local media is controlled by the PAP). Alternative views on singapore politics can be found from this blog: http://singabloodypore.blogspot.com/

Re:This is news how?

[Rude Turnip]

"From the looks of it, it looks a lot like any western country - well run, good order, clean streets,..."

That's the first sign that something is amiss.

"If the ruling party of Singapore feels threatened by what you write, well, expect to disappear."

And, we have confirmation.

Re:This is news how?

[nursegirl]

I remember that when I was in Singapore a few years ago, the national media there was full of articles talking about how their students had shown high ratings in maths and sciences, but low ratings in things related to creativity, innovation, and entrepreneurship . The advantage of a culture of control is that Singapore is clean, organized and a great place to head the Pacific region branches of multinationals. The problem is that innovation and growth will always come from elsewhere.

Innovation, lack of strict governmental control, and freedom to think differently are intimately connected.

Well thank God

[IAmTheDave]

Well thank God I live in the United States!

Re:How Is this Funny??!!

[IAmTheDave]

I know the poster and moderator who modded this "funny" are trying to be ironic jackasses, but the comment is absolutely dead on. Whatever faults or problems you have with the US, there can be no denying the freedom of speech we have and uphold.

Actually, my statement was a bit of a back-handed compliment. Yes, the US does have more freedoms than do most countries - and it seems that Singapore is coming up quite the jerks on this one. But with the feds looking at the possibility of prosecuting the NY Times for treason for reporting leaked classified information, and the prosecution of ordinary citizens under the espionage act for even possessing information that is considered classified...

Then add domestic spying, etc. - and you can see that we have a government of extreme secrecy that WILL go to measures to stop people from critisizing the current administration. How many times has the current Executive branch of this government used the State Secrets privledge to dismiss lawsuits against it that seek to check the power of the federal government against the Constitution?

Don't be surprised at Singapore. In at least one forseeable scenario, you're looking at the future of the United States.