The answer to that question was being debated by Singaporeans yesterday as they learned that a mysterious cyber-activist has breathed fresh life into a defunct online free-speech forum. The moniker that he, she or they chose for the shadowy driving force behind the "New Sintercom" was a cheeky play on the name of Singapore's founding father, Senior Minister Lee Kuan Yew. The old- style Sintercom was shut down last August by founder Tan Chong Kee after regulator Singapore Broadcasting Authority (SBA) asked him to register it as a "political Web site".

In its heyday in the 1990s, the Singapore Internet Community (Sintercom) pioneered free-speech online discussion, earning accolades from observers that it was just the sort of civil-society venture that the country needed.

Originally hosted on servers at Stanford University in the United States, Sintercom was later moved to Singapore-based technology owned by Pacific Internet, a government-linked firm. Then Mr Tan pulled the plug, saying at the time that he was "too tired to go on".

But yesterday the pro-government the Straits Times reported that Sintercom was back, and was more of a challenge than before "based in parts of the Net difficult to reach". In an e-mail interview posted online and in separate remarks to the South China Morning Post, Lee Kuan Few said while he had no connection with Mr Tan, "we didn't want several years of effort to go down the drain".

"I feel that we represent a cross-section of Singaporeans who want to be active citizens but who feel . . . discouraged by the government record of curbing free speech," Lee Kuan Few said. "The good thing about the Internet is that we can speak freely, albeit anonymously."

New Sintercom - www.geocities.com/newsintercom/ - uses servers affiliated with US technology giant Yahoo!.

In Singapore the government owns, controls or influences almost all domestic print and broadcast media, but recognises that it can exert relatively little control over the more anarchic realm of cyberspace.

Under SBA rules, editors of Web sites that deal with sensitive topics in Singapore must register with the authorities, accepting full responsibility for content, including online discussion.

Lee Kuan Few appeared to be in no mood to conform to the rules.

"I will not register [New] Sintercom if the SBA asks me to," he said, adding: "Does the New Sintercom come under their ambit? Everything is hosted overseas."

Sintercom's revival comes as the government is taking a fresh look at its censorship and arts regulation policies in light of changing technological and economic circumstances.

Last month, a 22-strong panel headed by National Arts Council chairman Liu Thai Ker was appointed to come up with new rules.

But yesterday would Lee Kuan Few come clean with his identity? Hardly.

"I wouldn't want to deprive the Internal Security Department of its iron rice bowl," the activist said, referring to Singapore's domestic security service.

"Blocking the site would be an inconvenience to us, but it wouldn't stop us," he said.

"Unless they shut down the Net entirely, there's always some place for us to pop out."

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