elections looming, Singapore aims to curb news website (News Feature)

By Kai Portmann Jan 14, 2011, 2:32 GMT

Singapore - With general elections likely to be called later this year, Singapore aims to curb a popular news website known for its critical stance on government policies.

But on Friday the editors of The Online Citizen (TOC) urged Prime Minister Lee Hsien Loong to reverse a decision to classify the blog as a political association, a move critics see as an attempt to draw boundaries for the website's activities.

'We believe that the decision [...] was borne of political paranoia,' TOC's editors said in a statement, warning of 'significant chilling effects on free expression in Singapore.'

'TOC is political to the extent and in the exact same way that all ordinary Singaporeans are political: by being interested in, and talking about, political issues that impact us and our country,' it said.

However, the editors said that 'if registering is what it'll take to continue our contribution to Singapore, we'll do it.'

'Whatever Mr Lee's response and however he chooses to label us [...]: TOC is here to stay.'

TOC, set up in 2006 and run by volunteers, and other critical blogs like Temasek Review have become popular with Singaporeans looking for views different from those carried by the generally pro-government mainstream media in the tightly controlled city-state.

On Monday, the Registry of Political Donations under the Prime Minister's Office informed TOC that the government intended to classify the website as a political group, banning it from receiving donations from abroad and forcing it to declare its owners, editorial team and administrators.

'As a website that provides coverage and analysis of political issues, TOC has the potential to influence the opinions of their readership and shape political outcomes in Singapore,' the registry said.

'It has been gazetted to ensure that it is not funded by foreign elements or sources,' it added, noting that 'apart from this, TOC is entirely free to continue with its normal, lawful operations.'

The same day, TOC was also told by the Media Development Authority to register as a political site under its regulations, which include vague clauses, saying, for example, that editors had to make sure that programmes did not contain anything that 'is against the public interest, public order or national harmony.'

Observers said the government's move was linked to the next general elections, which could take place as early as March, although they need not to be held before spring 2012.

The government's plan 'can be seen as administrative house-keeping by the authorities in the lead-up to the hustings,' Singapore Management University's assistant law professor Eugene Tan told local media.

'After all, the content of TOC is as political as those of the political parties in Singapore,' he said.

Critics claimed the government tried to clamp down on political debate ahead of the elections.

'When the elections come, liberalisation goes,' former nominated legislator and activist Siew Kum Hong told the Straits Times newspaper.

Prime Minister Lee's People's Action Party (PAP) has ruled Singapore ever since independence in 1965 with opposition parties currently holding two of 84 seats in parliament.

Singapore has come under international criticism for its supposed restrictions of press freedom after it repeatedly took foreign media to court.

Reporters Without Borders currently ranks the city-state 136th of 178 countries in its World Press Freedom Index.

The government, however, questions the objectivity of such rankings, arguing that it had no problems with criticism, but only tussled with media when reports carried 'untrue and scurrilous personal attacks.'

The government's move to have TOC registered has a precedent.

In July 2001, ahead of the general elections, Singapore's media authority demanded the founder of the popular internet forum Sintercom to have his blog registered as a political website.

Tan Chong Kee complied, but just weeks later shut down the forum because he felt that under the authority's guidelines 'a lot of content in Sintercom can already be interpreted as unacceptable.'

'The government wants you to volunteer, but I feel they don't want you to be critical and try to change the system through civil society activism,' Tan said in a 2001 interview.

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