More Lies

From Reporters Sans Frontiers: Singapore Annual Report 2007

The authorities tried to browbeat the foreign press into submission in 2006, in particular the Far Eastern Economic Review (FEER). After the paper carried an article about opposition leader Chee Soon Juan, which it called the “country’s martyr” because of the numerous legal suits which he has had to face, the prime minister unleashed a series of retaliatory measures against the Hong Kong-based FEER. Lee Hsien Loong and his father brought a “defamation” case at the end of August against editor Hugo Restall and the magazine’s publisher. They were also told to conform to section 23 of the law on newspapers and the written press which obliges foreign media to recruit a legal representative in the country and to pay a deposit of 200,000 Singapore dollars (100,000 euros). Four other English-language newspapers the International Herald Tribune, Time, the Financial Times and Newsweek, all received instructions to comply with the same rules when their licence expired.

For your convenience, the relevant parts of Section 23 of Newspaper and Printing Press Act (NPPA)

(1) No person shall sell or distribute, or import for or possess for sale or distribution any offshore newspaper in Singapore unless there is in force a permit granted by the Minister to the proprietor of the newspaper or his agent authorising the sale or distribution of that newspaper in Singapore.
[sic]
(2) The Minister may grant the permit subject to such conditions as he may impose or may refuse to grant or revoke the permit without assigning any reason.
[19/90]

(3) Without prejudice to the generality of subsection (2), the Minister may in imposing conditions under that subsection —

(a) specify that the maximum number of copies for each issue of the newspaper which may be sold or distributed in Singapore shall be determined from time to time by the Minister;

(b) require the proprietor of the newspaper to appoint a person within Singapore authorised to accept service of any notice or legal process on his behalf and on behalf of the publisher and to furnish the Registrar with the name and address of the person so appointed; and

(c) require the proprietor of the newspaper to furnish to the Registrar a deposit or some other form of security of such amount as the Minister may determine for the purpose of meeting any liability or costs arising out of any legal proceedings in connection with the publication of the newspaper.
[19/90]

i.e. the Minister is not under compulsion by law to impose these regulations. Note the year in which this provision was instated

Quoting Reporters Sans Frontieres again: (who in turn quoted MICA)

"We are rectifying an anomaly for FEER which has been a declared foreign newspaper since December 1987,” the ministry said in a prepared release. ”It was an administrative oversight not to have subjected FEER to the conditions which are required for declared foreign newspapers to circulate in Singapore.”

The FEER was duly served a Writ of Summons. (The FEER chronicles the saga here:

(Scroll to around the end of Lee Hsien Loong vs Review and Lee Kuan Yew vs Review for a list of successful lawsuits of the past, testament to their infallibility. Look around the middle, where Chee Soon Juan is mentioned, for reasons behind the summons.)

Faced with a ban since September last year, FEER has "struck back", according to the words of Asian Sentinel.

But importantly, let's see FEER's recalcitrant response.

Singapore's Founding Myths vs Freedom.

The Charade of Meritocracy (on alleged discrimination against non-Chinese in Singapore).

Financial Center Pipedreams (on Singapore's weaknesses as a financial hub).

More Reporters Sans Frontieres (sans the diacritics, technical limitations, sorry) stuff:
Singapore Annual Report 2006.

Singapore Annual Report 2005.