Singapore said it was tightening the rules on a handful of
foreign publications previously exempt from part of the
city-state's media code, which a watchdog ranks among the world's
toughest.
The government announced that Newsweek, Time, the Financial Times,
the Far Eastern Economic Review (FEER) and the International Herald
Tribune were the media outlets that would be affected.
Since 1990, offshore papers have been required to appoint a
publisher's representative in Singapore who could be sued, and to
pay a security deposit of 200,000 Singapore (126,500 US)
dollars.
The exemption for those publications named by the information and
communication ministry was lifted due to what it called a changing
media landscape.
"These newspapers now regularly report on political issues in the
region and Singapore and have significant circulations in
Singapore," the Ministry of Information, Communication and the Arts
(MICA) said late Thursday.
MICA said the press act "serves to reinforce the government's
consistent position that it is a privilege, and not a right, for
foreign newspapers to circulate in Singapore.
"They do so as foreign observers of the local scene and should not
interfere in the domestic politics of Singapore."
In its July-August edition, FEER wrote about opposition politician
Chee Soon Juan's campaign for more democratic freedoms in the
city-state and how the ruling People's Action Party have responded
with a barrage of lawsuits.
Singapore has strictly regulated the foreign media, and foreign
publications have paid heavy legal damages or suffered circulation
restrictions after publishing articles critical of Singapore's
leaders.
The city-state's founding father, Lee Kuan Yew, said in April he
would not allow foreign journalists to tell his country what to do
on domestic issues.
Paris-based Reporters Without Borders (RSF) last year ranked
Singapore 140th out of 167 countries in its annual press freedom
index, alongside the likes of Egypt and Syria.
