On
August 9, five Singaporeans will launch The Independent, which they describe
as a new commercial Internet news operation intended to provide professional
independent news, comment and analysis for the island republic.
Even before the publication goes live officially, however, it has attracted
the attention of a suspicious government, whose Media Development Authority
on July 29 posted a statement on the authority's website saying it had
"notified the promoters of The Independent…to register under the
Broadcasting (Class License) Notification… As part of the registration, they
will be required to undertake not to receive foreign funding for its
provision, management and/or operation. The promoters of The Independent have
agreed to register and to undertake not to accept foreign funding."
The government, the statement said, "has received specific information
which gives it cause for concern over foreign interest to fund The
Independent. The registration and undertaking will not in any way affect what
The Independent can publish on its website. However, it will prevent The
Independent from being controlled by, or coming under the influence of,
foreign entities or funding, and ensure that Singapore politics remain a
matter for Singaporeans alone.
"We have been called up," said Kumaran Pillai, the fledgling
publication's managing editor. "But we are locally funded by local
shareholders, there are five of us, we are bootstrapping it." The
website hopes to earn income through advertising and subscriptions and will
pay its contributors, Pillai said, unlike volunteer publications such as The
Online Citizen and TR Emeritus.
Although the news site is independent, its chief editorial voice should allay
government suspicions. He is PN Balji, former editor in chief of the TODAY
newspaper, a unit of the Straits Times family of newspapers and a veteran of
editorial positions with the Straits Times, all of which have been squarely
under the government's thumb.
"Singapore's media scene is crying out for an independent organization
that can entrench itself in a space that is left vacant by both the
mainstream media and the online world," the news site announced on its
Facebook page. "These two groups occupy two extremes in the media space
- the MSM that is seen to be too pro-government, the online world that,
generally speaking, shoots from the hip with the government as the main
target."
That is an understatement. Despite being publicly owned, Singapore's
newspapers have famously toed the government line after having been cowed by
former Prime Minister Lee Kuan Yew, and growing legions of bloggers have
greeted every government action with a barrage of criticism.
Pillai himself is the former editor in chief of The Online Citizen, a website
that has had its share of problems with the government. The others in the
leadership team are lawyer Alfred Dodwell of Dodwell & Co and an alumnus
of Drew & Napier, which has long represented the family of former Prime
Minister Lee Kuan Yew in a series of defamation suits against political
enemies and international news organizations. The other directors are Leon
Perera, CEO of Spire Research and Consulting, and Edmund Wee, managing and
creative director of Epigram, a Singaporean design agency.
The launch of the Independent comes about two months after the Media
Development Authority on June 1 issued strict guidelines requiring online
news sites that report regularly on issues relating to Singapore and have
more than 50.000 unique readers over two months to obtain an individual
license from the MDA if they report an average of at least one article per
week on Singapore's news and current affairs. The license requires the sites
to remove content within 24 hours that the government deems to be "in
breach of content standards." They are also required to put up a
performance bond of S$50,000.
The regulations drew immediate protest from the existing news sites such as
the Online Citizen and TR Emeritus as being unusually restrictive. The
blogging community has organized protests against the regulations, which so
far haven't been used against any publications.
Singapore's Communications and Information Minister, Yaakob Ibrahim, denied
in parliament that the government had any intention of stifling bloggers from
commenting on government policies. The licensing policies, according to the
MDA, were aimed at 10 sites, including Asiaone.com, businesstimes.com.sg,
channelnewsasia.com, omy.sg, sg.news.yahoo.com, stomp.com.sg,
straitstimes.com, tnp.sg, todayonline.com, and zaobao.com. Nine of the 10 are
under the unofficial control of the Singapore government.
Only Yahoo, the giant news aggregator that claims nearly 700 million internet
readers across the planet, is not under strict government control, raising
suspicions that the government's patience was tried by reporting by Yahoo
News's carrying stories on the arrest and deportations of striking Chinese
bus drivers last December and the aftermath, and the arrest of a Singapore
cartoonist who has been charged with contempt of court.
Both TR Emeritus and The Online Citizen have occasionally dared the
government's wrath. The Online Citizen was forced to register as a political
party, bringing it under a series of restrictions, despite the fact that the
website denied it has ever had anything to do with political activity. TR
Emeritus has been forced to take down comments on its site or face the potent
threat of libel suits.
The Singapore government and the Lee family have long been criticized by
international press protection organizations and international bar
associations for being unnecessarily restrictive on press freedom. Reporters
Without Borders ranks Singapore 149th of 179 countries, or did before the
Internet crackdown. The Washington, DC-based Freedom House ranks it lower, at
153rd globally. Asia Sentinel
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