SINGAPORE: Authorities in Singapore will take a firm
stand against any leaks in official government
documents.
The Home Affairs Ministry made this clear in
Parliament on Monday in response to questions on the impact of
WikiLeaks on Singapore.
Like many other countries, Singapore was affected by
the WikiLeaks revelations of US cables.
MP for Hong Kah GRC Zaqy Mohamad wanted to know if
Singapore plans to implement new measures to prevent classified
information from falling into the wrong hands.
In response, Law Minister K Shanmugam said the country has clear
policies and measures to prevent security breaches, under the
Official Secrets Act, which covers even the layman.
The Government has on occasion charged private citizens over their
roles in leaking Government data.
Mr Shanmugam cited a proposed Shield Bill in the US which seeks to
prevent such leaks.
The law applies to all including non-Government employees.
Opponents of the law in the US argue that this should not apply to
private citizens.
They say freedom of information should be protected, but it is a
different approach in Singapore.
"If recipients of official information who are not themselves
public servants cannot be prosecuted or prevented from publishing
it, it would create an unacceptable situation where people outside
(the) Government would have every incentive to obtain confidential
information from public servants in every way possible," Mr
Shanmugam said.
"And public servants would constantly be weighing the benefits to
themselves of releasing the confidential information against the
likelihood of getting caught and punished.
"Meanwhile, the broader public interest will suffer.
"We believe that everyone involved in a leak of information,
whether in Government or outside, should be dealt with firmly. We
do not intend to encourage cat and mouse games.
"Public interest in free flow of information cannot justify the
abuse of confidential Government information." he said.
On the same issue, Foreign Affairs Minister George Yeo said the
selective disclosure of communications divorced from their context
will only serve to sow public confusion.
He added it would also undermine essential work of governments,
particularly when many of the leaks were interpretations of US
diplomats on conversations they heard.
That was the reason Singapore does not comment on specific
leaks.
Mr Yeo added diplomats need to be candid in their analysis, with
the assurance of confidentiality.
"So I think it's not wise for us to go into details (because) then
people will ask, 'so you didn't say this? You said this, Did you
say that?'
"And if we allow such a train of questioning, then eventually
everything comes out!" Mr Yeo said.
Describing WikiLeaks as "disastrous" for US diplomacy, Mr Yeo
acknowledged that Singapore officials would need to be more
guarded, not just in their talks with the US but with any country,
given the advent of technology.
He added the advent of sophisticated miniature recording devices
will also mean a loss to human relationships because one "must be
able to share more when you trust someone more".
Mr Yeo also revealed he had called his Malaysian counterpart Anifa
Aman following a report in Channel NewsAsia, quoting Mr Anifa as
saying that the WikiLeaks incident has a created a setback in
bilateral relations.
The US cables had allegedly quoted remarks made by Singapore
diplomats over Malaysia's leadership and politics.
Mr Yeo said he told Mr Anifa that "there were significant
inaccuracies in some of the leaked reports".
He added both also agreed on the importance of good bilateral
relations and strengthening cooperation further.
-CNA/wk