ASIA: Wall Street Journal Asia publisher fined in Singapore
25 Nov 2008 8:49 PM
SINGAPORE, Nov 25 AFP - The publisher of the Wall Street Journal Asia has been found in contempt of court and ordered to pay more than $A25,000 in damages for questioning Singapore's judicial integrity.
The judgment against Dow Jones Publishing Company (Asia) Inc on Tuesday is the latest court ruling against critics of the Singapore government.
Justice Tay Yong Kwang found the publisher in contempt for two editorials, "Democracy in Singapore" published on June 26 this year and "Judging Singapore's Judiciary" which appeared on July 15.
He said that a letter which the business daily published in July by Chee Soon Juan, secretary general of the opposition Singapore Democratic Party (SDP), was also in contempt, and fined the newspaper a total of 25,000 Singapore dollars ($A25,900).
"In my opinion, all three publications, individually as well as collectively, contained insinuations of bias, lack of impartiality and lack of independence and implied that the judiciary is subservient to Mr Lee and/or the PAP and is a tool for silencing political dissent," the judge wrote.
He was referring to Singapore's founding father Lee Kuan Yew, and the People's Action Party (PAP) which has ruled the city-state since 1959.
Tay noted that the editorials and the letter appeared within a relatively short period of less than three weeks while a defamation case involving Chee and Lee continued, and while charges against an American blogger, Gopalan Nair, were also before Singapore's courts.
"The three publications... are in contempt of court because the allegations by way of insinuations clearly possess the inherent tendency to interfere with the administration of justice," the judge wrote.
"A judiciary which is not impartial and independent is as good as salt that has lost its flavour."
A Dow Jones spokesman told AFP they were reviewing the court's decision but made no further comment.
