Print

Mail

wiki links

Singapore slaps ban on magazine

Singapore banned the Far Eastern Economic Review magazine after it failed to comply with media regulations, the government said. The magazine criticized the ban as an infringement on expression in the tightly regulated country.

"It is a privilege and not a right for foreign newspapers to circulate in Singapore. If any foreign newspaper fails to comply with the law ... they cannot expect to enjoy this privilege," the Ministry of Information, Communications and the Arts said on Thursday.

Singapore revoked approval for the Hong Kong-based magazine to be circulated in the city-state because the publication failed to appoint a legal representative and pay a S$200,000 (US$126,000) security bond.

Both requirements are among tighter restrictions that Singapore imposed last month on five foreign publications: the Review, Newsweek, Time, the Financial Times and the International Herald Tribune.

The government had said last month that the five publications would be reclassified as "offshore newspapers," and must comply with legal provisions governing such media.

Under Singaporean law, an offshore newspaper must obtain a permit to circulate domestically and must appoint a person within the country to accept any legal notice on behalf of its publisher. It must also submit a S$200,000 bond with the government.

"These retroactive regulations furthered the interests of individual members of the government and harmed the magazine financially, but were never justified by the government under the applicable law," the Review said in a statement.

It described the government's approach toward the media as "repressive."

The magazine also said, "We regret that this action infringes on the fundamental rights of our Singaporean subscribers and further restricts the already narrow scope of free expression in Singapore."
This story has been viewed 1369 times.