BRAGGING RIGHTS
The Wall Street Journal is no stranger to crossing swords with governments on this front.
In 2020, three of its journalists in Beijing were expelled over the publication of an opinion piece in the paper.
It was the first time China had acted against multiple reporters from one news organisation since the country opened up its economy in the 1980s.
For Singapore, the balancing act continues as it seeks to be an attractive place for business and talent but to guard against unwanted outside influence.
Foreign companies, including media, will be wooed but protective legislation and constant vigilance will continue to be the order of the day.
Large inflows of foreign funds cause asset inflation – in property and car prices, for example – and immigration is always a hot political potato.
The recent multi-billion-dollar money laundering case is a prime reminder that maintaining this balance will be a perennial challenge.
Having foreign media based in Singapore is an attractive prize for the authorities, conferring bragging rights that even a venerable defender of press freedom finds the city a suitable place to operate in.
On this front, nothing has changed.
When founding Prime Minister Lee Kuan Yew spoke at the Hong Kong Foreign Correspondents’ Club in 1990 to a largely expatriate audience of journalists, he noted: “Hong Kong has provided them (expatriate journalists) with a perch from which to watch events in Asia and to comment on them with that ineffable air of sublime confidence. It is the only place in Asia where the white man still rules. Such a perch is not replaceable.
“All the alternatives, Tokyo, Seoul, Taipei, Manila, Bangkok, Kuala Lumpur or Jakarta do not offer the same congenial ambience for expatriates.
If I am right about this, then you should not rule out Singapore. For come 1997, Singapore will look somewhat different from the orderly but sterile, efficient but dull and authoritarian place it has been made out to be.”
The sales pitch was made more than 30 years ago and the Wall Street Journal’s move here might count as one more catch in the bag, if somewhat belated.
Han Fook Kwang was a veteran newspaper editor and is a senior fellow at the S Rajaratnam School of International Studies, Nanyang Technological University.
