Lee, son of Singapore's tough founding leader Lee Kuan Yew, promised greater freedoms in the tightly controlled city-state when he was sworn in on August 12 and in a subsequent policy speech said indoor political discussions will no longer require licenses under certain conditions.

Critics said the guidelines meant little had changed in Singapore.

According to the police, indoor talks will not need licenses from September 1 if they are held in an enclosed space "which is not within the hearing or view of any person who is not attending or participating" in the meeting.

Only Singapore citizens are allowed to organize and address such gatherings, and a Public Entertainment and Meeting license is still required if any foreign speaker is involved, a press statement said.

The lecturers and speakers must not deal with any matter "which relates, directly or indirectly, to any religious belief or to religion generally" or "which may cause feelings of enmity, hatred, ill-will or hostility between different racial or religious groups in Singapore."

The talks must also be conducted in any of Singapore's four official languages -- English, Mandarin, Malay or Tamil -- or a related dialect.

Performances and exhibitions will also be permitted without licenses at Speakers' Corner, a designated spot just off the banking district where Singaporeans are already permitted to express their views.

But again, the organizers and participants must be citizens and the performances must not touch on race and religion.

They can only be held between 7 am and 7 pm -- daylight hours in Singapore -- and must not carry "violent, lewd or obscene messages."

No sound-amplification, placards and banners are allowed, and the performance must not turn into an illegal assembly or procession.

Multiracial Singapore, scarred by ethnic riots in the 1960s, has long restricted public debates on race and religion, and bans Muslim schoolgirls from wearing headscarves in primary and secondary schools.

After his swearing-in, social activists had urged Lee to go further in opening up the political sphere.

Sinapan Samydorai, president of human rights group Think Centre, laughed on the telephone when a correspondent read him excerpts from the police press release.

"Oh my, it's the same thing as before, more or less," he told AFP, adding that it only "takes away the headache of waiting for the license."

"It's a small step forward in the right direction, toward more freedoms, but it's not a great leap to democracy and fundamental freedoms. But it allows people some space to organize," he added.

The police were more lenient toward non-political activities.

In the same announcement, they said licenses will no longer be required for arts and recreational performances like spinning tops, cycling, kite-making, martial arts, pottery-making, hoola-hoop dancing, stilt-walking, skateboarding and juggling in public.

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