Singapore will ease restrictions in a 10-year-old law that bans films promoting a political party or agenda, a report said Saturday.
The Straits Times quoted Lee Boon Yang, Minister for Information, Communications and the Arts, as saying his ministry would table a bill in parliament to amend the Films Act early next year.
His statement followed an announcement by Singaporean Prime Minister Lee Hsien Loong (李顯龍) that the city-state was planning to ease its ban on political videos and outdoor protests as part of a gradual liberalization of society.
“The government accepts that our policies must evolve to remain relevant in the current media landscape. It is no longer realistic to disallow all forms of party political films,” the information minister said.
The government may allow films that are factual documentaries or recordings of live events that were “held in accordance with the law,” the newspaper quoted Lee Boon Yang, who is in charge of Information, Communications and Arts, as saying in an e-mail.
“However, political commercials and films that are dramatized and made to distort issues or create a slanted impression should not be allowed,” the minister said.
The Southeast Asian city-state, which has been ruled by the People’s Action Party for more than 40 years, bans the production and screening of all political films, imposing a maximum fine of S$100,000 (US$73,000) or a two-year jail term on offenders.
The ban came into effect in 1998, two years after the opposition Singapore Democratic Party applied for a license to sell a videotape about the party.
Public gatherings of more than four people without permits are also banned, making it difficult for opposition politicians to reach out to voters.
Martyn See, a Singaporean film maker who had two films banned by authorities because of their political content, welcomed the news although he noted it was unclear to what extent the government would relax its controls.
“My reaction is to re-submit my two banned films for reappraisal to test whether the PM’s pronouncements are for real,” See said.
“There’s lots of skepticism and a wait-and-see attitude judging from the blogs,” he said.
Archeologists in Peru on Thursday said they found the 5,000-year-old remains of a noblewoman at the sacred city of Caral, revealing the important role played by women in the oldest center of civilization in the Americas. “What has been discovered corresponds to a woman who apparently had elevated status, an elite woman,” archeologist David Palomino said. The mummy was found in Aspero, a sacred site within the city of Caral that was a garbage dump for more than 30 years until becoming an archeological site in the 1990s. Palomino said the carefully preserved remains, dating to 3,000BC, contained skin, part of the
‘WATER WARFARE’: A Pakistani official called India’s suspension of a 65-year-old treaty on the sharing of waters from the Indus River ‘a cowardly, illegal move’ Pakistan yesterday canceled visas for Indian nationals, closed its airspace for all Indian-owned or operated airlines, and suspended all trade with India, including to and from any third country. The retaliatory measures follow India’s decision to suspend visas for Pakistani nationals in the aftermath of a deadly attack by shooters in Kashmir that killed 26 people, mostly tourists. The rare attack on civilians shocked and outraged India and prompted calls for action against their country’s archenemy, Pakistan. New Delhi did not publicly produce evidence connecting the attack to its neighbor, but said it had “cross-border” links to Pakistan. Pakistan denied any connection to
TRUMP EFFECT: The win capped one of the most dramatic turnarounds in Canadian political history after the Conservatives had led the Liberals by more than 20 points Canadian Prime Minister Mark Carney yesterday pledged to win US President Donald Trump’s trade war after winning Canada’s election and leading his Liberal Party to another term in power. Following a campaign dominated by Trump’s tariffs and annexation threats, Carney promised to chart “a new path forward” in a world “fundamentally changed” by a US that is newly hostile to free trade. “We are over the shock of the American betrayal, but we should never forget the lessons,” said Carney, who led the central banks of Canada and the UK before entering politics earlier this year. “We will win this trade war and
Armed with 4,000 eggs and a truckload of sugar and cream, French pastry chefs on Wednesday completed a 121.8m-long strawberry cake that they have claimed is the world’s longest ever made. Youssef El Gatou brought together 20 chefs to make the 1.2 tonne masterpiece that took a week to complete and was set out on tables in an ice rink in the Paris suburb town of Argenteuil for residents to inspect. The effort overtook a 100.48m-long strawberry cake made in the Italian town of San Mauro Torinese in 2019. El Gatou’s cake also used 350kg of strawberries, 150kg of sugar and 415kg of
RSS