Singapore fell 14 places to a record 149th position in terms of press freedom, according to an annual report by non-governmental organisation Reporters Without Borders.
Coming ahead of World Press Freedom Day, which was observed Friday, the report showed this is the city-state’s worst performance since the index was established in 2002.
On the list, Singapore is wedged in between Russia and Iraq, with Myanmar just two places behind. The former junta-led country jumped up 18 spots in this year’s ranking.
Neighbouring Malaysia dropped 23 places to 145th over repeated censorship efforts and a crackdown on the Bersih 3.0 protest in April. Turkmenistan, North Korea and Eritrea stayed at the bottom three, while Finland stayed on top of the list followed by the Netherlands and Norway.
Mali was the biggest jumper, moving 74 spots down amid a military coup and subsequent media bias. Malawi was the biggest riser, moving 71 spots up, after an end to the Mutharika dictatorship marked by excesses and violence.
The report comes amid recent events that have rocked the media industry in Singapore. Outspoken academic Cherian George, who has called for more press freedom in the city-state, was denied tenure,sparking outrage among academics, colleagues and students.
Last month, comics artist Leslie Chew was arrested for alleged sedition with charges relating to two comic strips, including one that contained the words “Malay population… Deliberately suppressed by a racist government.”
Filmmaker Lynn Lee was questioned for two videos she posted in January this year of interviews with former Singapore Mass Rapid Transit (SMRT) bus drivers He Jun Ling and Liu Xiang Ying. Both drivers alleged police abuse while they were held in custody.
Amid the continued rise of new media in Singapore, there have been several instances over the past year of letters of demand being sent to bloggers and online media commentators to apologise and take down remarks that allegedly defamed government officials or the courts.
Earlier this year, blogger Alex Au received a letter of demand from Prime Minister Lee Hsien Loong’s lawyer that prompted the writer to apologise and take down an article and 21 comments regarding the sale of software by town councils to a firm owned by the ruling People’s Action Party.
Singapore falls to record-low place in press freedom ranking
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Singapore falls to record-low place in press freedom ranking
By Shah Salimat | Yahoo! Newsroom – 1 hour 2 minutes ago
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Yahoo! Newsroom - Singapore achieved its worst-ever press freedom ranking in an annual report by Reporters Without Borders (Yahoo! file photo)
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See the way they treat Prof George
Press freedom is against them, they are of course not for it.
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149??
Wow, Singapore, wow!!
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we are doing great ... from the bottom
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Originally posted by lce:
we are doing great ... from the bottom
Absolutely agree with you
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not surprising, given the amount of laws and red tape singaporeans need to abide by, but it also depends on how one defines 'freedom'?
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I thought sg was 150 something?
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yeah... i thought was 154th
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yes, few years ago sg was at 154th.
Now , sg has improved.
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maybe it's because some countries stopped having news presses... places like Syria.. Somalia... Mali..
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Originally posted by the Bear:
maybe it's because some countries stopped having news presses... places like Syria.. Somalia... Mali..
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give MP so many press freedom can have MP tell the wolrd 'gang rape' is an exoression of democracy!
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Originally posted by Deacon Blue:
give MP so many press freedom can have MP tell the wolrd 'gang rape' is an exoression of democracy!
zainudin together with leehsienlong and the rest of the miw are arrogant jerks who put their arrogance in action. They don't care if they are right about what they say. They know they are the kings and their party controls the press and so they have every right to say what they want even they are wrong.
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can we have monthly gatherings at Hong lim park so we can speak about issues concerning our country more frequently? once a month at hong lim park will be good.
dont have to get many speakers at one gathering, but rather prepare and enhance the speech details so one speaker can talk longer per speech duration.
dont need much other stuff just the stage and equipment needed to amplify the voice.
maybe all the opposition parties can contribute here and there the equipment or share costs. need not be fanciful just practically what we need for a peaceful protest gathering at the park?
i wrote about this ssue to NSP, WP, SPP on separate emails already.
can more others do this also so that the parties can corporate on running more periodic frequent protests at HLP?!
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Originally posted by Deacon Blue:
can we have monthly gatherings at Hong lim park so we can speak about issues concerning our country more frequently? once a month at hong lim park will be good.
dont have to get many speakers at one gathering, but rather prepare and enhance the speech details so one speaker can talk longer per speech duration.
dont need much other stuff just the stage and equipment needed to amplify the voice.
maybe all the opposition parties can contribute here and there the equipment or share costs. need not be fanciful just practically what we need for a peaceful protest gathering at the park?
i wrote about this ssue to NSP, WP, SPP on separate emails already.
can more others do this also so that the parties can corporate on running more periodic frequent protests at HLP?!
You may want to write to Gilbert about your suggestion.
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Originally posted by Deacon Blue:
can we have monthly gatherings at Hong lim park so we can speak about issues concerning our country more frequently? once a month at hong lim park will be good.
dont have to get many speakers at one gathering, but rather prepare and enhance the speech details so one speaker can talk longer per speech duration.
dont need much other stuff just the stage and equipment needed to amplify the voice.
maybe all the opposition parties can contribute here and there the equipment or share costs. need not be fanciful just practically what we need for a peaceful protest gathering at the park?
i wrote about this ssue to NSP, WP, SPP on separate emails already.
can more others do this also so that the parties can corporate on running more periodic frequent protests at HLP?!
screw that.. just have a monthly gathering there for makan..
mainly curry.. we can have the Monthly Curry Day Makan Session!
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Were they aiming for the 1st? 1st from bottom
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Originally posted by the Bear:
screw that.. just have a monthly gathering there for makan..
mainly curry.. we can have the Monthly Curry Day Makan Session!
Nom nom nom
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You are making me hungry
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Originally posted by Summer hill:
You are making me hungry
Yum yum.
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Protesters rally in Singapore against new online rules
AFP News – 3 hours ago-
Yahoo! Newsroom - Over 1,000 people are estimated to have turned up for the Free My Internet protest at Hong Lim Park in Singapore on 6 June 2013.
Around 1,500 Singaporeans led by local bloggers attended a rally Saturday to protest new government licensing rules for news websites that they say curtail freedom of expression.
The peaceful rally, held at a free-speech park called Speakers' Corner, was organised by a coalition of bloggers called "Free My Internet" to protest the regulations which came into force this month.
"The message today is that the government must trust us, and stop treating us like babies," said Choo Zheng Xi, a spokesman for the group and co-founder of popular political news website The Online Citizen.
"It is an international embarrassment when governments around the world are working to deregulate the Internet, and Singapore, one of the wealthiest nations per capita, is going in the opposite direction," he told AFP.
The group had also organised an "Internet blackout" on Thursday, where over 130 bloggers in the city-state replaced their homepages with black screens featuring the words "#FreeMyInternet".
Under the rules, websites with at least 50,000 unique visitors from Singapore every month that publish at least one local news article per week over a period of two months must obtain an annual licence.
Websites granted a licence will have to remove "prohibited content" such as articles that undermine "racial or religious harmony" within 24 hours of being notified by Singapore's media regulator, the Media Development Authority (MDA).
The new rules have sparked anger in the city-state's robust blogging and social media community which has accused the government of a lack of consultation and raised fears the regulations are aimed at muzzling free expression.
Blogs and social media have gained popularity as alternative sources of news and opinion in Singapore, where the mainstream newspapers are perceived to be pro-government.
"The government should stop thinking that they can pass laws as and when they fancy," said rally participant Raymond Kwok, 29.
"There must be a process of consultation, or it makes democracy and our parliament a farce," said the human resources executive.
The government has sought to allay the fears, pointing out that blogs were not considered news portals and do not come under the rules.
Minister for Communications and Information Yaacob Ibrahim said Tuesday the government would continue to take a "light touch" approach to regulating the Internet.
Saturday's rally is the third major protest to take place at Speakers' Corner this year.
Two rallies against the government's immigration policy were held earlier this year garnering crowds of more than 3,000, making them the country's biggest protests in decades.
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My favourite breakfast!
Curry chicken toast!
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Originally posted by Summer hill:
My favourite breakfast!
Curry chicken toast!
Don't troll here la. Want to talk about food go food forum.
I don't know why you like to talk about different topics in other threads as well. Please!!
