While citizens and journalists of Singapore enjoy a relatively safe life in a country with very little crime, one looming threat is the government. According to this BBC profile, the social control the government flexes on the nation is what deters crime and keeps things orderly–at the cost of peoples’ free speech and right to dissenting opinions.
Despite all the recent buzz surrounding Hong Kong’s September protests, this Committee to Protect Journalists’ article suggests that Singapore is really the place to focus when it comes to censorship. With approximately 73 percent of Singapore’s population of 5.5 million people having access to high quality internet, the government is still able to successfully maintain a good grip of control.
“They both have a privately owned press, with self-censorship being the main day-to-day form of control,” Cherian George, a media scholar and former journalist from Singapore wrote.
With the licensing methods mentioned in a recent post, the government minimizes the news’ ability to have an affect, or in some cases even reach the public. Under a 2013 amendment to the Broadcasting Act, all news outlets are required to disclose to the government the names of staff and donors, and are banned from receiving any foreign funding, as the government sites this as a potential threat “to control, or worse, manipulate out local media platforms, which are prime vehicles for influence or even subversion.”
The problem is not just the acts themselves that establish rules, but the reach that each rule has. With intentionally broad wording, the government is able to essentially redefine rules on a case-by-case basis, quickly shutting down anything deemed threatening by their suppressive standards. While the protests in Hong Kong mostly focused on conflicting interests of media owners, Singapore faces a more censored threat through licensing.
“In Singapore, licensing means that even if you find a way to insulate yourself from the government’s economic pressures, it can just ban you from publishing,” George said.
This type of requirement tied in with Singapore’s harsh punishment system creates an environment of fear and self-censorship. Whether under economic threat or physical (Singapore still canes people), the government has cleverly found ways to keep people from speaking out in the first place, which is dangerous, even if it doesn’t involve violence or death for journalists seeking to shed light on truth.
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