S’poreans, bloggers protest new law

SINGAPORE: Some 2,500 Singaporeans led by local bloggers staged a protest at the Speakers’ Corner in Hong Lim Park Saturday, seeking the government to withdraw its new licensing requirement imposed on local news websites.

The peaceful rally was organised by a group of bloggers called #FreeMyInternet, who are against the licensing regime, which came into force on June 1.

The group believes this to be an attempt at censorship and an infringement on the rights of Singaporeans to access information online.

In a statement issued following the protest, #FreeMyInternet said it was encouraged by the success of its first campaign against the new MDA Licensing

Regime, which many media commentators see as the turning point in Singapore’s media regulatory landscape in the island republic.

It said more than 4,000 signed its online petition (and the numbers are growing).
The statement also said more than 150 blogs participated in its online blackout and an estimated total of 2,500 participated this afternoon in Singapore’s largest blogger-led protest.
Moving ahead, it said the #FreeMyInternet movement would continue to call for the withdrawal of the Licensing Regime.

In the weeks to come, #FreeMyInternet said it would roll out material and programmes to educate members of the public and Members of Parliament about why the Licensing Regime needed to be withdrawn.

“We do not rule out a dialogue with the government, but this dialogue needs to be a discussion on how the withdrawal of the Licensing Regime will take place, and should be a dialogue about how de-regulating the media environment can best be done to benefit Singaporeans,” it added.

From June 1, 2013, online news sites that report regularly on issues relating to Singapore and have significant reach among readers here will require an individual licence from the Media Development Authority (MDA).

Under the licensing framework, online news sites will be individually licensed if they (i) report an average of at least one article per week on Singapore’s news and current affairs over a period of two months, and (ii) are visited by at least 50,000 unique IP addresses from Singapore each month over a period of two months.