Taxpayers foot bill for govt's rebuttal
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South China Morning Post.
RACHEL BRIDGE in Sydney. Nov 29, 1997.
SINGSPORE taxpayers footed the bill for a A$20,000 advertisement
in a leading Australian newspaper yesterday after the Singapore government
decided to publicise its objections to a critical article.
Singapore paid for a half-page advertisement in the Sydney Morning Herald, saying it had done so "to inform readers of the facts and enable them to judge the matter for themselves".
In the advertisement, the government claimed an article by the paper's Singapore correspondent, Chris Lydgate, had contained "errors and falsehoods" concerning the government and that although it had written a reply, the editor had declined to publish it.
The article, printed on October 17 under the headline "Amnesty slams lawsuits", reported that Amnesty International had criticised the government for using legal proceedings to stifle political opposition.
The article quoted an Amnesty report which stated: "The organisation believes that Singapore's leaders are in fact resorting to defamation suits as a politically motivated tactic to silence critical views and curb opposition activity."
In yesterday's advertisement Lim Siam Kim, press secretary to the Prime Minister, said Amnesty was only echoing a report by an Australian QC to the International Commission of Jurists and that the reports were part of a "co-ordinated propaganda campaign against Singapore". He said Singapore politicians were "not regarded, like in some countries, as untrustworthy, sleazy characters".
Published in the South China Morning Post. Nov 29, 1997