Singabloodypore

Tue Nov 4, 2008 3:04am EST

SINGAPORE (Reuters) - Singapore's attorney general accused the Wall Street Journal on Tuesday of waging a two-decade campaign to besmirch the Singapore judiciary, at the start of a contempt of court case brought against the newspaper.

Singapore's attorney general is seeking contempt proceedings against the publisher of the Asian edition of the Wall Street Journal, News Corp's Dow Jones & Co, and two of the newspaper's editors, Daniel Hertzberg and Christine Glancey.

"Freedom of speech in Singapore allows a person to criticize government policy and the decisions of the courts. There is no fetter on public debate about policy," said Walter Woon, Singapore's attorney general, in court.

"When discussion of a court's judgments becomes an attack on a judge or the judiciary, then the law of contempt of court steps in," Woon said.

Woon said he was looking for a "substantial fine" to be imposed on Dow Jones, but was not looking to financially cripple the company.

The case is the latest in a string of legal actions brought by the Southeast Asian country against foreign news organizations.

The attorney general's office has said two editorials published in the Asian Wall Street Journal, entitled "Democracy in Singapore" and "Judging Singapore's Judiciary," allege that the judiciary is "not independent" and "is biased and lacks integrity."

The lawyer representing Dow Jones Publishing Co (Asia) Inc, Philip Jeyaretnam, said the two editorials were opinion pieces, with a smart and informal tone that should not be read as sarcastic or disrespectful.

"Newspapers don't conduct 25-year campaigns, and the Wall Street Journal is certainly not part of any campaign," said Jeyaretnam, in his opening remarks to the court.

Jeyaretnam, a former president of Singapore's Law Society and the son of the late Singapore opposition leader J.B. Jeyaretnam, said the defense of fair criticism should apply and the publication had shown no malice.

"The readership of the Wall Street Journal Asia is a discerning one ... It expects to hear different sides of any debate and to make up its own mind," he said.

Singapore leaders have won damages in the past from foreign media groups when they report on local politics, including the Economist, the International Herald Tribune and Bloomberg News.

(Reporting by Melanie Lee; Writing by Neil Chatterjee; Editing by Bill Tarrant)