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27/03/2007
FEER and Singapore
Listen to this article
Access at the Washington Post is restricted but thankfully someone at SammyBoy's forum has posted it.
March 26, 2007; Page A14
Our sister publication, the Far Eastern Economic Review, has been defending itself against a lawsuit in Singapore after it published an article last year on opposition leader Chee Soon Juan. So we hope you'll forgive us if we take some pride that the Review has now been honored by its peers for its journalism.
Review Editor Hugo Restall received first place in the magazine category of the annual Human Rights Press Awards [pdf], organized by the Hong Kong Journalists Association, the Hong Kong Foreign Correspondents Club and Amnesty International. Among the attributes the judges look for is "courage on the part of the journalists or publisher." The monthly Review is published by Review Publishing Company Ltd., a subsidiary of Dow Jones & Co., which also publishes this newspaper.
In Singapore, reporting on the political opposition carries risks, as virtually every Western publication that circulates in the city state has been the subject of a lawsuit or been threatened with one. The Review and Mr. Restall are being sued by Lee Kuan Yew, Singapore's founding Prime Minister who is now Minister Mentor, and his son, current Prime Minister Lee Hsien Loong, who claim the article on Mr. Chee defamed them. The Review is also banned in Singapore, where it is a criminal offense to subscribe to the magazine or to import or reproduce it for distribution. The Review is defending itself against the defamation claims.
The Review's award is a rebuke to Singapore's attempt to silence anyone who reports on the political opposition and is especially welcome support for a vigorous and free press in Asia.
CNN
And here is a CNN news report on the issue of the lawsuit.
10:20 Posted by soci | Permalink | Comments (3) | Email this | Tags: Singapore, FEER
Comments
Hugo Restall, you rock dude!
Posted by: Matilah_Singapura | 28/03/2007
I don't know if this url is accessible from S'pore, or if it has been posted before.
http://www.feer.com/articles1/2006/0610/free/p006.html
If the website is inaccessible, you might want to try going this way:
www.privax.us/
From the FEER website:
> Corruption undoubtedly exists in Singapore, as the National Kidney Foundation scandal shows, but asserting this is not a slur—no country is entirely free of this taint. The key thing to watch is whether a government uses sunlight as a disinfectant, or sweeps its errors under the rug. Singapore’s use of press restrictions and politically motivated libel actions makes us wonder whether its reputation for clean government is deserved. ” <
*Smack*! Ouch! Ooh, dude, that has gotta hurt.
Posted by: Matilah_Singapura | 29/03/2007
Me thinks "someone" has pulled a Durai in suing the biggest media company in the world (owners of Feer). Murdock's new strategy is to write shit about the family biz and then pay off. Just look to "a whole lot of loving going on" in the FT. And DOW's downgrading of credit rating. 400k is less than Murdock spends on toilet paper for all his offices in a month. Dow Jones, FT, WSJ, all remember past burns. Reminds me of the old joke that predicts the way MM will pass; choking on his own words.
Feer has multimillion dollar defence budget, and summary judgements in civil cases cannot be enforced in HK. A hearing WILL be held if "someone" want to collect. Feer will take this all the way. And their defense is simple and provable in open court; it's not libel if it's true.
Singapore leaders didn't know about corruption at NKF? So the NKF's patron kept her activities a secret from them? Remember Yong trying to bring in the rest of the board as parties to the suit? And how quickly that was shot down? That's the connection. Just what do you think Richard was doing in HK? Feer headquarters? Why he got such a light punishment (a deal not to confirm the story?) and why the 'summary judgement' has taken so long.
Grounds for appeal in world court? Or international court of arbitration? S'pore judge's ruling that HK is not part of China, and the writ of summons was legally served. Real lawyers say "not".
One day the media will be free to write. It is inevitable. The 80s are over.
Posted by: Bunt | 29/12/2007