Today, hopes for a city-state that can be more relaxed about criticism and more open to frank debate appear to have been too high.
When Lee Hsien Loong became Singapore's prime minister after his father, Lee Kuan Yew, four years ago, he encouraged citizens to "feel free to express diverse views, pursue unconventional ideas, or simply be different". Today, these hopes for a city-state that can be more relaxed about criticism and more open to frank debate appear to have been too high.
While Singapore's restrictions on the media are no surprise to anyone, the ongoing legal action against a foreign blogger who criticised the country's justice system has raised fears that these tight controls are now being pushed into what has so far been a freer environment -- cyberspace.
On Jun. 2, U.S. blogger Gopalan Nair, who used to be a Singaporean citizen, became the first foreign blogger to be arrested and charged with "threatening, abusing or insulting a public servant" -- a High Court judge. His trial was scheduled to start Friday.
Writing about testimony given by the older and younger Lee in connection with a defamation suit they brought against opposition leader Chee Soon Juan, Nair accused Judge Belinda Ang of "all throughout [the Chee libel case] of prostituting herself during the entire proceedings, by being nothing more than an employee of Mr. Lee Kuan Yew and his son and carrying out their orders."
Nair, who runs the blog 'Singapore Dissident' (http://singaporedissident.blogspot.com/), called Ang a "stooge of a judge" and a "kangaroo judge".
A lawyer, Nair openly challenged the statements of Lee Kwan Yew -- now called Minister Mentor -- at the hearing and provided details of his own identity and location on his blog.
How this case plays out is being closely watched in the region, including in neighbouring Malaysia where Internet-based independent media have a strong presence.
Over the last decade or so, the Internet has provided alternative space for media, giving audiences more options in writing, reading and discussing viewpoints not always possible for mainstream media to carry. Views expressed on the Internet have also been more protected than those appearing in traditional media, such as print, television or radio.
"Nair's arrest is a confirmation that Singaporeans do not have the supposed privilege of being safe on the Internet," Supinya Klangnarong, vice chair of the Bangkok-based Campaign for Popular Media Reform, said in a telephone interview.
Singapore ranks at 141 out of 169 countries in the 2007 Worldwide Press Freedom Index, released by the Paris-based Reporters Sans Frontiers.
In recent years, Singapore has acquired a reputation as a country where lawsuits are used against political opponents of the ruling party, in some cases leading to situations where the accused face bankruptcy due to the costs of the legal proceedings.
In the ongoing case, Singaporeans were preoccupied with a three-day court hearing in May for the Lees' defamation suit against Chee, whose Singapore Democratic Party newsletter was charged with defaming them as key figures in the government. The publication had compared the furore over the disclosure of the huge sums of money that the executives of the non-profit National Kidney Foundation (NKF) were earning, with what it called unjustifiably high salaries of government officials.
"It is impossible not to notice the striking resemblance between how the NKF operated and how the PAP [People's Action Party] runs Singapore," the newsletter said in February 2006.
In reply to a question posed by an SDP lawyer on the first day of the damages hearing against Chee, Lee Hsien Loong was quoted as saying by local media: "I do consider Dr. Chee as a Liar, as a cheat, somebody who has brought discredit to the opposition in Singapore, but I do not hate him."
Singaporeans have also been following reporting on a raid on the private screening of the anti-government documentary 'One Nation Under Lee' on May 19. Made by political activists, this 45-minute video is about Lee Kuan Yew's rise to power and his crackdown on dissidents.
These incidents were covered by the pro-government print media including the English-language daily 'Straits Times', which focused on Nair's political background and referred to him as either a "former Singaporean" or "former [opposition] Workers' Party member".
The blogger Kengho Yap also said that the free daily newspaper 'Today' had two versions of reporting on Nair's arrest. Yap posted photos of the paper on his blog 'News Release by Uncle Yap' (http://uncleyap- news.blogspot.com/2008/06/146th-today-changed-title-of-gopalan.html). The first version carried the headline "American Jailed for Insults", and the second one that was actually released said "Man 'Threatened Judge'".
"They had first wanted public perception of Mr. Gopalan Nair to be American," Yap wrote.
But reactions on the Internet to Nair's blog postings and views also vary. "I think he went too far," said Singaporean blogger Havok in an interview. "After reading some of his older posts, I can only say that he is looking for trouble."
Nair's actions and disclosure of his personal details and location in Singapore, which to many sounded like an open challenge, were probably "the most daring or foolish act ever in the history of the blogosphere," added the writer of the blog called 'I.Z. Reloaded' (http://izreloaded.blogspot.com/2008/05/blogger-challenges-mm- lee.html).
But in his blog 'Sheep City' (http://aidilomar.com/), Aidil Omar wrote that the real lesson in the Nair case is that "we common sheep are not allowed to air our disgust and frustrations towards the incorruptible and infallible members of the ruling government".
"The thing is no government is really true and honest, so every government tries to clamp down on these things [criticism]. But Singapore overdid it," said Tyler Goh, a Malaysian studying in Singapore." He added that "everything praises the People's Action Party," the ruling party of the Singaporean government.
Nair's lawyer Chia Ti Lik wrote in his blog (http://chiatilik.wordpress.com), "Perhaps the case concerned Mr. Gopalan Nair. Perhaps the case centred on Gopalan Nair's support for Chee Soon Juan and [his sister] Chee Siok Chin. Perhaps it was because Gopalan had the audacity to insult/threaten a High Court judge," he wrote. "Perhaps it was because of Gopalan's open challenges to the Minister Mentor in his blog."
Nair was released on bail Jun. 5 for 5,000 Singapore dollars [3,663 U.S. dollars] and his passport was confiscated. Chia wrote in his blog that sedition charges are also expected to be filed by the government against his client.
Nair was an active member of the Workers' Party, and had stood for elections in 1988 and 1991. He later moved to California where he practised law, but had returned to support oppositionist Chee and his sister, who are in the midst of their own defamation court hearing.
Sources and Relevant Links:
IPS Restrictions Follow Critics to Cyberspace
