The following is an open letter to Prime Minister Lee Hsien Loong from Reporters Without Borders
Prime Minister Lee Hsien Loong
Prime Minister’s Office
Orchard Road
Istana
Singapore 238823
Paris, 25 March 2010
Dear Prime Minister,
A foreign news organisation has yet again been forced to apologise to you and your father and pay you a large sum of money for publishing an article you did not like. This time it is the New York Times Co. that is a victim of this double punishment because of a compliant judicial system that always rules in favour of you and your family in all the lawsuits you bring against foreign news media.
Before the New York Times Co., you succeeded in punishing the Far Eastern Economic Review (FEER), FinanceAsia.com, The Economist, International Herald Tribune and Asian Wall Street Journal for their coverage of the political and economic situation in your country.
Threatened by a trial, the New York Times Co. apologised to you and your father, Lee Kuan Yew, for the article “All in the Family,” written by Philip Bowring and published in the 15 February issue of the International Herald Tribune. As well as an apology, this US media company had to pay 114,000 US dollars in damages.
Your lawyer, Davinder Singh, said Bowring’s article violated an “agreement” between your family and the International Herald Tribune, which was sentenced in 1994 to pay a large sum in damages for an article entitled “The claims about Asian values don’t usually bear scrutiny.”
The now defunct Far Eastern Economic Review agreed last November, after a long legal wrangle, to pay you and your father 290,000 US dollars in damages. Despite a lack of evidence, Singaporean judges ruled in favour of your family both in the original trial and on appeal without a thought for media freedom.
Reporters Without Borders condemns the judicial harassment which you and your father have practiced for years in order to prevent foreign news media from taking too close an interest in how you run your country. It does serious and lasting harm to press freedom in Singapore.
Your government has repeatedly displayed a disturbing inability to tolerate foreign journalists. Last October, for example, Benjamin Bland, a British freelancer who strings for The Economist and The Daily Telegraph, was denied a visa and permission to cover an APEC summit in Singapore. “I was forced to leave Singapore after the government refused to renew my work visa without any explanation,” Bland told Reporters Without Borders.
But the censorship has above all affected local media and local artistic production. In October 2009, for example, the ministry of information, communication and arts upheld a ban on a documentary by Singaporean filmmaker Martyn See about government opponent Said Zahari.
In response to the publication of the Reporters Without Borders 2009 press freedom index, in which Singapore was ranked 133rd out of 175 countries, your law minister, K. Shanmugam, described it as “absurd” and “disconnected from reality.”
Unfortunately, the facts show that we are right.
In the six years since you became prime minister and said you favoured an “open” society, we have seen very few improvements in the situation of free speech.
We therefore think your government should take the following measures as a matter of urgency:
1. Put a stop to the libel actions which you and your relatives have been bringing against Singaporean and foreign media that cover Singaporean developments in an independent manner. As the UN special rapporteur for freedom of expression recently said, the prime minister, his minister and high officials must refrain from suing journalists over their articles and comments.
2. Amend the criminal code so as to abolish prison sentences for press offences.
3. Amend the press law, especially the articles concerning the granting of publication licences. The current restrictions are preventing the emergence of independent media. The film law should also be relaxed.
4. Reform the national security law so as to abolish administrative detention, which allows the authorities to imprison people because of what they think.
5. Reform the Media Development Authority so that it is no longer able to censor and can solely make recommendations about TV programmes and films.
6. Allow government opponents and civil society representatives unrestricted access to the public media.
7. Guarantee the editorial independence of all the media owned by Singapore Press Holdings (SPH) and Media Corporation of Singapore (Mediacorp).
8. Transfer the money that your family has obtained in damages from foreign and Singaporean news media to a support fund for imprisoned journalists that Reporters Without Borders proposes to set up.
We regret that you, the members of your government and your father keep citing the need to guarantee Singapore’s stability as grounds for controlling the media and maintaining its draconian laws. Countries that show the most respect for press freedom, such as Finland and Norway, are peaceful and prosperous democracies. Freedom of expression is not a source of political unrest. Quite the contrary.
You have perpetuated your father’s legacy by continuing to harass and intimidate news media. As a result, aside from a few websites specialising in Singapore, no news outlet can publish independent news and information about issues affecting the political situation in your country.
We would be very honoured to be able to meet with you in order to talk about our observations and our proposals for guaranteeing press freedom in Singapore in person.
Respectfully,
Jean-François Julliard
Secretary-General
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Hi smallvoice585,
I get your point which is basically to do in Rome what the Romans do. Unfortuntately,
that’s the mindset of one from at least one century ago.
We are now living in a world without borders, one in which the Singapore government
has been trying hard to inculcate in its citizens.Now, if it wants to be a part of this
global community, then it makes sense that it aligns itself with some of the more common
practices of this global community.
The first thing it should do when looking at itself is to see whether it can stand up
to scrutiny. Why is there this need to seek legal recourse each time something that is
not to its liking is written?
I believe a body like Reporters without Borders serves to give voice to those voiceless
citizens in this global village, be it in Singapore or any other country, particularly
from regimes that are authoritarian.
In this regard, this is not a body that makes trouble for the sake of making trouble.
Look at the changing perception of what Chee Soon Juan stands for. Gradually, more and
more are begining to understand why he is doing what he is doing.
Likewise, all these reports we are beginning to see and read are going to change
Singaporean’s mindsets. This is why it will be to the PM’s detriment if he chooses to
throw the letter into the wastebin.
Our government used to be our pride. I remembered feeling proud that we are called a green and clean city. There are times when foreign leaders praised our government, namely LKY, of doing miracles in Singapore,tranforming it into a developed city. I remembered supporting and trusting our government so that they can build a better lives for everyone.
BUT NOW .. .. ……
What a shame. Our government have been a laughing stock of foreign countries. I think our government have changed from serving the people to serving themselves to remain in power in this new and knowledgable generations. They have failed to convinced their own people they are the best party ruling this country, so they resort to shut up all criticisms and use fear tactics to put them away for good.
Their actions may seemed of no consequence now but in the near future it will eventually destroy the integrity of Singapore and affecting foreign investments.
This government has proven themselves to be unable to deal with critics wherever they are. They have betrayed us all by taking away basic human rights. They have even placed machanism that will ensure their power even in a freak election when they lost their ruling power. They have given up hope on it’s own citizens and became focus of serving and providing for the foreign workers here. WHAT A SHAME !!!
They are no longer the government we once knew and now I felt so shameful of them.
I am ashamed of the NYT Corp to have apologized for this article and caved in so easily. It’s all about money and they know they would lose and have to pay even more. They only wrote the truth, that Singapore is governed by the son of the former prime minister and founding father. As a matter of fact, dynasties in politics are quite common, esp. in the US: http://www.brookings.edu/opinions/2000/0227elections_hess.aspx However, in Singapore you can’t say that it’s a dynasty and you may be sued. If Lee Hsein Loong got his position because of his merits, why are they so afraid of the fact that its a dynasty? I thought Lee Kuan Yew thinks that smart people get smart children, so it is only natural for the son to follow his father, isn’t it? By suing, I think they are making it clear that they themselves believe it was improper, that Lee Hsien Loong did not get the position because of his merits. But why do this???
China or Vietnam or even Mynamar. You can alawya choose to live there
Just suppose you call me a bastard and I produce my birth certificate to show you that my parents were married long before I was born. Haven’t I the right to seek redress?
God forbid but if one day Singapore goes down the drain, do you honestly think that these newspaper men are going to write to the world about our predicament and ask the world to help us? Give me a break. If our present PM’ son can prove himself and run this country the way his father and grand-father did, there are more than 3 million people who will say yes, let him be our next Prime Minister. You know what is great about this Govt? They never prevent you from leaving…so why don’t you go..where? Australia maybe…but the only reason they and other countries will take its because you come from Singapore and was ruled over by the two Lees’
Kenneth, your point is contradicting, IF current PM’s son can prove that he can run the country … how does he prove before he gets the job ?? and why not other able men ?
We don’t believe PAP had no better men than the current PM ? did he “got 3Million votes” before he was elevated to the post ? did PAP ever get 100% voters to the poll with the current GRC ?
3Million people ? including the babies and pets ? and well, in last election, PAP gathered 747,860 votes out of total eligible 2,158.439 voters, the effcetive votes PAP get is only 34.6%.
You may wnat to argue that, if PAP gwill get proportionally same % votes in those uncontested seats, then the extra-polated votes that PAP might gathered is only 1,438,800 votes, did he get 3million votes ?
Ken, do your math before u continue to promote the current distorted political system, I assume you are educated, so thick 1mm deeper before your judgement !
Kenneth
I find your arrogant and rude
who are you to ask yoyur fellow Singaporean to leave their mother land just because they criticise the PAP govt, did Obama chase away 53% of american who registered their disapproval of his medic-care policy ?
You think Sinagpore belongs to the 2 Lee’s and families ?
Singapore was built up by the hardworking citizens, British left behind a hightly effiicent governing structure and PAP took from there… don’t give all credit to the Rooster when mother hen work hard to produce eggs…. you are left with no logical senses and coutesy learned in your school days, are you the typical PAP product ?
has anyone read the nyt article? the original article has been removed from the mainsite and i am quite sure that by now the libraries will have taken out all the offending copies from their archives.
it will be great if anyone can republish the article here.
by the way, i was doing some thinking (30 seconds perhaps), and i suppose the only way for the masses to stop this blind following of lee family is for everyone to be aware of the deficiencies of our government. it can be started by pushing this letter to a wider audience, let them form their opinions about press freedom in singapore rather than being fed a second rated analysis through a rubbish newspaper.
aetheling
Mar 27, 2010 18:39
Mr Jean Francois Julliard
It is funny you western hypocrites still want to tell us what we should do.You chaps have a huge pile of bones in your closet eg Haiti,Polynesian islands where you guys tested your nuclear bomb (against the will of the inhabitants and where were you?). Senegal, Ghana and the list goes on.In short we don’t rape and pillage from third world nations .If we do have issues with our press we will iron it out.We really don’t need you to tell us what to do. I think you have your hands full with the North African issues back home old chap. Cheerio froggy!
That went against so many human rights issues.
Well said aetheling! These westerners must learn manners and to look after their own backyard. As I said before it is CSJ who help draft the letter. It is of no use.
i think many of the people mistake RSF for the government of the respective countries the writers are from, in this case, France.
All the RWB, there are injustices everywhere, western, eastern and even middle east. The thing is and get this clear, any free man with logical thinking, common sense and sense of independence know without a reasonable doubt that Singapore is not democracy by any standards eastern or western.
So stop comparing countries, governments, etc. The right to speak out is the right for every human being living on this earth. If you deny that one right to anyone by any means, you are not no more than a statistic, a digit which they can just minus off whenever and however they want to. If everyone in Singapore allows themselves to be just digits, than we might as well just as well give up our freedom, which more or less is happening right now. Go on live your lives this way, you’ll end up frustrated like most of us here or disillusioned for some. Do we want to be mere digits on a chart or someone who has a voice.