"In its history, the OSA has
only been used once against the press, in 1994. This case, however,
caused a considerable amount of uproar, especially from the foreign
press. Debate poured forth on press freedom, as well as on the role
of investigative journalism.
In this case, the then director of the Monetary Authority of
Singapores (MAS) economics department, Tharman Shamugaratnam, was
charged with compromising the secrecy of a piece of information
specifically, the official flash estimates of Singapores economic
growth in the second quarter of 1992. This information was
communicated to Bhaskaran, an economist from a broking firm, who
had then told it to, among others, the Business Times senior
correspondent Kenneth James.
From James, the flash estimate was e-mailed to several Business
Times colleagues, including the Business Times editor, Patrick
Daniel. An article in the Business Times then communicated this
figure before it was officially released. Daniel was charged with
communicating the information to "unauthorised persons, namely, the
readers of the Business Times".
What followed was an inquiry by the Internal Security Department.
Finally, all five accused were found guilty and fined.
"
- Singapore Press wiki.
Interesting to note that Patrick Daniel is now the Editor in Chief
of SPH.
