FC: Singapore political website closes after government demands

[Declan McCullagh <declan () well com>]

Some background:

"Singapore orders political websites to register with government"
http://www.politechbot.com/p-02257.html

"Singapore political website reluctantly registers with government"
http://www.politechbot.com/p-02271.html

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Date: Wed, 15 Aug 2001 16:29:48 +0800 (SGT)
From: Xiao Jinhong <limabean () pobox org sg>
To: declan () well com
Subject: Singapore: Sintercom to close down

Hi Declan. Thought you might find this of interest. A posting in the Sintercom
forum confirms this.

This is likely to be a direct consequence of the Sintercom site being asked to
register itself with the Singapore Broadcasting Authority recently, since IIRC
all registered political websites (whether or not political party websites,
which would hence include Sintercom) must comply with the amended 
Parliamentary
Elections Act.

2 recent stories in the Straits Times:

http://straitstimes.asia1.com.sg/breakingnews/story/0,1895,63836-997739940,00.html?

http://straitstimes.asia1.com.sg/storyprintfriendly/0,1887,64110,00.html?

--- Forward Message ---
From: "Tan Chong Kee" <chongkee () pacific net sg>
To: <sg_daily () yahoogroups com>
Subject: [sg_daily] Sintercom to close down

Dear friends,

It has been a very difficult decision but I realised that it is time I move
on since my heart is no longer in it anymore. If there is anyone here who
wants to take over the running of this list as it can be run totally
separately from Sintercom, please email me and I will transfer ownership
over. Else, this list will also be closed.

It has been a rewarding experience running this list. Thank you for all your
kind encouragement and support.

Chong Kee

**********

From: Harminder Singh <ASHarminder () ntu edu sg>
To: "'declan () well com'" <declan () well com>, politech () politechbot com
Subject: More on Singaporean political websites
Date: Fri, 17 Aug 2001 14:23:07 +0800

Thursday August 16, 8:33 PM

Singapore Community Web Site To Shut Down
SINGAPORE, 2001 AUG 16 (NB) -- By Adam Creed, Newsbytes.

http://sg.news.yahoo.com/010816/13/1c397.html

Expressing regret, the owner of Sintercom, a community Web site in
Singapore, has decided to close the site.

Sintercom is a non-profit site that publishes articles on Singapore life and
hosts chat rooms aimed at Singaporean Internet users.

[...]

In July, Sintercom was forced to register with the nation's broadcasting
authority as a political Web site.

The Singapore Broadcasting Authority (SBA), which is responsible for
Internet content regulation in Singapore, said registration was necessary as
the site "engages in the propagation, promotion and discussion of political
issues relating to Singapore."

Sintercom had considered moving overseas to avoid the requirement. According
to Tan, the registration form required the site's Webmaster to take legal
responsibility for anything posted on the site.

[...]

**********

AUG 17, 2001


Think Centre shuts web forum

The group disagrees with new law on Internet election advertising, and says 
that vetting messages posted on the forumtakes time and goes against free 
speech

By 
<http://straitstimes.asia1.com.sg/storyprintfriendly/0,1887,64616,00.html?/sendmail/0,1881,EmailReporter-64616,00.html?>Tan 
Tarn How

THINK Centre has closed down the online discussion group on its website to 
protest against the new law on Internet election advertising.

The political think-tank and activist group said it has removed its 
Speakers' Corner Online because it disagreed with changes made this week to 
the Parliamentary Elections Act.

The amendments lay down some of the features allowed on political websites 
in an election, with a full list to be released before the next national polls.

[...]

**********

Singapore Business Times - 14 Aug 2001

YESTERDAY IN PARLIAMENT
Parties will be allowed to campaign on Net in next GE

Websites can include party manifesto, candidate profiles, discussion forums

By
Chuang Peck Ming

THE government will allow campaigning on the Internet in the coming general 
election despite talk to the contrary.

Yesterday, Minister for Information and the Arts Lee Yock Suan made this 
clear in moving the Parliamentary Elections (Amendment No 2) bill. 'The 
media, especially the foreign media, has been very fast to cry 'foul' when 
Deputy Prime Minister Lee Hsien Loong mentioned at the launching of the PAP 
website (in June) that we'll have to introduce regulations to allow 
campaigning on the Internet,' he said. 'They assumed straight away that we 
are going to clamp down, and all kinds of reports came up in the papers to 
criticise us and say that we're tightening control.'

The move to allow political campaigning on the Net even surprised the 
opposition Members of Parliament yesterday, according to Mr Lee. And it is 
'definitely a big step forward' from the last general election five years 
ago, when the government ordered some political parties to remove even 
posters from the websites, he said.

[...]

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