Singapore Government's biggest blockbuster since 1987

Straits Times headline 22 April 2008.

"Gone in 11 minutes"
Starring Wong Kan Seng and Lee Hsien Loong.
Supported by a cast at the parliamentary sitting on 21 April 2008.
Screenplay by Goh Joon Seng, Tee Tua Bua and Dr Choong May Lin.
Produced and directed by Lee Kuan Yew.

The greatest jailbreak, or the boldest story ever told?













Straits Times headline 27 May 1987.

"The Marxist Conspiracy"
Written, produced, directed and acted by Lee Kuan Yew.

"Marxist Conspiracy" arrests - 20 years on







Sunday Times headline 21 June, 1987.

A History of Torture under Singapore's ISA Detention :

(l) Prisoner case histories

(ll) The ISA as a political tool

(lll) Methods of arrest, detention and interrogation

(IV) Long term detention







"Harold & Kumar Escape from Guantanamo Bay"

Starring John Cho and Kal Penn
Written and directed by Jon Hurwitz and Hayden Schlossberg

Speakers Cornered rated NC16 by censors

It took the Board of Film Censors more than four months to come to a decision, but finally, Speakers Cornered has been passed clean and rated NC16.

However, this does not mean that it is cleared for public screening as that would require a separate application. So I hereby welcome anyone who wishes to screen the video in public to contact me (do note that unlicensed exhibitors will have to make a security deposit of $10K for screenings of films rated NC16 and above).

If you need to ask why it is necessary to submit a film to the censors when it's already playing in youtube, then you need to read this and this, and then join the call to trash the Films Act altogether.

A timeline of Martyn See's odyssey :

May 2005 : Called up by the police over the making of 'Singapore Rebel.'

Jan 2006 : Submits 'Zahari's 17 Years' to SIFF but screening cancelled.

Aug 2006 : Police investigation over 'Singapore Rebel' called off after "stern warning."

Oct 2006 : 'Speakers Cornered' screens in Taiwan.

Oct 2006 : 'Zahari's 17 Years' screens in Malaysia.

Feb 2007 : 'Zahari's 17 Years' and 'Speakers Cornered' screens in Toronto.

Apr 2007 : 'Zahari's 17 Years' is officially banned.

Sep 2007 : 'Speakers Cornered' screens in Malaysia.

Dec 2007 : 'Speakers Cornered' uploaded on youtube.

Dec 31 2007 : 'Speakers Cornered' submitted to censors.

Mar 2007 : 'Speakers Cornered' screens in Singapore under 'private function'

-------------------------------------------------------------

Related

Censors pass film on Hong Lim demo

NC16 rating for film on Speakers' Corner protest

“Submit your boldest work to the censors.” - Martyn See

Prosecute or nothing

An open invitation to political bloggers

Update : Reviews and analyses by Alex Au and Selene Cheng.


--------------------------------------------------------------------


Attention bloggers,

You are invited to the forum 'Cyber Activism : The Malaysian Experience' on Thursday, 10 April at 7.30pm in Jalan Besar.





Confirmed speakers are Mr Steven Gan, the co-founder and editor of celebrated news portal Malaysiakini, and Mr Nathaniel Tan, an internet activist with the Malaysian opposition Parti Keadilan Rakyat.

Local blogger/activist Mr Alex Au will moderate the discussion.

For details of the venue, please RSVP and state the name(s) of person(s) who wish to attend to: daretodocument{at}gmail.com

Please note that this event is billed as a private function.

The forum is jointly organised by Martyn See, Seelan Palay, Isrizal, Ho Choon Hiong and Muhammad Shafi'ie.

--------------------------------------------------------------------------

Related talks

"Impact of ICTs in the Malaysian Elections- Lessons for Singapore"
A forum by the IPS, Lee Kuan School of Public Policy on April 9, 2pm
Speakers : Mr Ahirudin Attan (Rocky Bru), Mr Steven Gan, Mr Haris Ibrahim, Mr Jeff Ooi, Mr Ibrahim Suffian and Mr Nathaniel Tan
Email : ips@nus.edu.sg

Public Talk at the Wee Kim Wee School of Communication and Information, NTU
We Told You So: Independent Journalism and the Malaysian Government’s “Biggest Mistake”

Gay Muslim filmmaker calls Singapore's regime "almost fascist"

'A JIHAD FOR LOVE' IS BANNED IN SINGAPORE

Singapore censors say four films banned from film festival (FROM AFP)

Posted by Parvez Sharma at 9:18 AM 5 comments

CENSORS BAN 'JIHAD' IN SINGAPORE

We have just received word that the Censor Board in Singapore has refused to approve the film for the Singapore Film Festival. They have in their words 'disallowed' it. The Festival was trying very hard to get the film approved by the censors. This small nation, where I have many friends, has a small but significant Muslim minority. In many of the descriptions of this antiseptic shopping paradise, what is often missed is that an almost fascist regime controls every aspect of life. I promise to keep you updated.

In Copenhagen, the film has been received with warmth and excitement. Muhsin commented that the nation was in many ways 'God-less'. This is true, because in Denmark, religion is often seen as a destructive and alien force. Another friend commented on this nation where 'there are no curtains'. I looked, and indeed many curtainless windows make me wonder if religion does not have even a private space? The press was overwhelming.

Visit ajihadforlove.blogspot.com/ for updates.

Censors ban four foreign films

4 films banned at movie festival

Two films deemed sympathetic to terrorism, a third about gay Muslims, and another too explicit.

By Zakir Hussain

THE censor has banned four documentary films from being screened at the ongoing 21st Singapore International Film Festival.

Two of them, Arabs And Terrorism and David The Tolhildan, were 'disallowed on account of their sympathetic portrayal of organisations deemed terrorist organisations by many countries', said Ms Amy Chua, chairman of the Board of Film Censors.

'Films which portray terrorist organisations in a positive light by lending support and voice to justify their cause through violence are disallowed under the film classification guidelines,' she said in an e-mail reply to The Straits Times.

The third film is about gay Muslims while the fourth has 'several prolonged and explicit sado-masochistic sequences'.

The four were among 200 films submitted for classification by festival organisers. The film festival began yesterday and ends on April 14.

The 135-minute Arabs And Terrorism, which was to have been shown today, includes interviews with United States and Middle Eastern policymakers as well as academics and leaders of radical groups on their conflicting definitions of terrorism.

The news that it was 'disallowed' was given to festival director Philip Cheah by the Media Development Authority, which oversees the censorship board.

Mr Cheah told The Straits Times he got the news over the phone on Thursday.

He declined to comment further, but the festival website showed tickets for the film had been sold out by Tuesday.

Ms Chua said the censorship board had consulted relevant agencies and the Films Consultative Panel (FCP), and found the documentaries had 'exceeded the film classification guidelines'. The FCP, made up of Singaporeans from various segments of society, helps the board evaluate controversial films.

David The Tolhildan, a 54-minute Kurdish film, is about Swiss national David Rouiller joining the militant Kurdistan Workers' Party.

In A Jihad For Love, an 81-minute documentary, a gay South African imam argues that homosexuality is not banned even as another imam rebuts his view.

Ms Chua said the film was 'disallowed in view of the sensitive nature of the subject that features Muslim homosexuals in various countries and their struggle to reconcile religion and their lifestyle'.

Bakushi, the fourth film that failed to escape the censors, is a 90-minute documentary on the practice of 'rope-tying' in Japan.

'It contains several prolonged and explicit sado-masochistic sequences, demonstrating how the rope masters tie up nude women and subject them to various degrees of physical abuse and sexual degradation for erotic gratification,' said MsChua.

'The theme normalises unnatural fetishes and behaviour which is disallowed under the Film Classification Guidelines.'

zakirh@sph.com.sg

-----------------------------------------------------------------------------

Read also :

Singapore censors say four films banned from film festival - AFP
Singapore censor bans 4 films at film fest: report - reuters
Sexuality, terrorism films banned by Singapore - CBC
Documentaries too terroristic for Singapore - dpa report

"Jihad for Love" seeks gay Muslim audiences - Reuters report
Arabs and Terrorism - NYT review
Bakushi - NYT review
David The Tolhildan - A background

Activists screen political films in "private function"

Despite the Government's ban on "party political films", Singaporean activists on Saturday organised a video exhibition entitled "Dare To Document : Political Films by Singaporeans".

As the law requires that all public screenings in Singapore are to be sanctioned by an exhibition licence, the organisers were quick to bill the event as a "private function." Still, about 50 people, including members of the opposition Singapore Democratic Party, Workers' Party, civil activists, academics and even former ISA detainees, packed into a room above an art gallery off Jalan Besar to view three videos - Speakers Cornered, Seelan's Five Day Fast and 鸡蛋碰石头 or How My Favourite Opposition Party Fought the PAP (and lost their pants, again) made by local directors Martyn See and Ho Choon Hiong.

The latter film, directed by Ho, features scenes of the 2006 General Elections where the opposition SDP, already beleaguered by libel suits served on them by PAP leaders, was eventually defeated in the polls by a landslide margin. That the film's content would contravene the Films Act mattered little to the organisers, as See told the audience after the screening that he is issuing an open challenge to the censors to clamp down on the uploading of political films online and such private screenings.

Aside from See and Ho, the other co-organisers were activists Seelan Palay, Isrizal and Muhammad Shafi'ie. See quipped that Ho is the only "virgin" as four out of five of them have been or are still undergoing police investigations for their civil activities. In the post-screening dialogue, Isrizal related how his moment of truth came when he witnessed the police arrest of his friend Seelan outside the City Hall MRT station on 13th of September, 2006. Three days later, he participated in his first open protest in Hong Lim Park, captured in See's film Speakers Cornered.

Noting how audience member Dr Chee Soon Juan's acts of civil disobedience since 1999 has generated much heated debate over the role of opposition politicians vis-à-vis extra-parliamentary measures as opposed to gaining votes via traditional methods like working the ground, See issued another challenge - this time to opposition groups and civil society - that one has to do both. He went on to cite how the three opposition parties in Malaysia managed to mobilise 40,000 people onto the streets of KL in a single largest act of civil disobedience ever recorded and yet at the same time worked hard to gain grassroots support for the elections.

Artist/activist Seelan related how he was recently advised by a senior local artist, a former Cultural Medallion winner, that he should lay off political activism and just concentrate on his art. The irony, Seelan noted, was that the aforementioned artist's claim to fame was his ability to infuse his works with socio-political issues.

At the same time, Ho and See said they were uncomfortable at being called 'political filmmakers.' "I'm doing no more than what journalists all over the world do - interview political dissidents, talk to an ex-political detainee, record a street protest. It's just that our CNA and Straits Times are not doing it so I'm filling that vacuum. I'm just a citizen journalist," explained See.

Yawning Bread's Alex Au also brought up the subject of the anti-Islam film made by a right-wing Dutch politician and asked for the organisers' response. None of them supported any outright banning of the film but noted that it should perhaps be restricted. Seelan's philosophical take was that the artist and the community who supported his right of expression should also bear the consequences should repercussions occur.

To applause, Au also announced that a committee of bloggers, formed recently to look into internet reform, will make a recommendation to the Government for the total abolition of the Films Act.

After the glitch-free, three-hour event ended, some participants went up to the organisers to express their wish to see more of such screenings in the future.

---------------------------------------------------

Read WP member Yaw Shin Leong's review here.
Another point of view from Rachael Absinthe.

Why the Films Act should be thrashed by Yawning Bread

Rebels of the Malaysian political tsunami

In 1974, Anwar Ibrahim, then 27 years old, was arrested and detained for 20 months under the ISA for leading student protests against rural poverty. In 1998, he was sacked from his post as Malaysia's Deputy Prime Minister. A week later, after he led a march to the Prime Minister Mahathir's residence demanding reformasi (economic and political reforms) and the PM's resignation, he was again detained under the ISA. In 1999, he was sentenced to six years in prison for corruption and in 2000 to another nine years in prison for alleged homosexual acts. Released in 2004, he is now the de-facto leader of the opposition in Malaysia.
http://www.anwaribrahim.com/







In 1969, Lim Kit Siang was detained for 18 months under the ISA. In 1979, he was convicted of five charges under Official Secrets Act. In 1987, Lim spent another 18 months in detention without trial under the infamous Operation Lalang. He is the leader of the opposition DAP and has retained his parliamentary seat in Ipoh Timur.
http://www.limkitsiang.com/





In 1987, a 26 year old Lim Guan Eng first tasted prison when he was arrested and detained without trial under Operation Lalang. In 1998, Lim was again imprisoned for 12 months after he was convicted under the Sedition Act and the Printing Presses and Publications Act. “When you are in jail, you lose all your humility. They want to suck you out completely but you must fight, persevere and come out stronger...I never imagine that I will be CM one day. This is a huge transformation for me - from a jailbird to CM,” Lim told reporters at his Chief Minister’s office in Komtar, Penang.
Lim: From ex-prisoner to Penang CM



A leading opponent of the death penalty in Malaysia, Karpal Singh was detained in 1987 under Operation Lalang for close to two years. In 2000, while acting for Anwar Ibrahim, he was arrested and detained under the Sedition Act. He is the Chairman of DAP and retains his parliamentary seat in Bukit Gelugor, Penang.







Detained for 18 months under the ISA during 1987's Operation Lalang, Dr Nasir Hashim was briefly arrested earlier this year over the Bersih protest rally. He is the newly-elected assemblyman for Kota Damansara, Selangor.
Nasir: People's welfare above party ideology








Detained for two years under the ISA in 2001, Tian Chua has been in and out of police lock-ups for an array of charges in recent months, including one for attempted murder. Last December, while on his way to the Parliament building to deliver a memorandum, police arrested him by dragging him out from his car. No such reception is likely to await him the next time, as he is now the newly-elected MP for Batu, Selangor.
tianchua.net





Human rights lawyer and activist M. Manoharan has been in detention under the ISA since October for leading an anti-government demonstration. From his jail cell in Kamunting, he contested the State assembly seat of Kota Alam Shah and beat the incumbent by a landslide margin. A statement from his wife says that "he is ready and waiting to serve and has started to draw up the agenda for Kota Alam Shah in the (prison) camp."

The greatest jailbreak, or the boldest story ever told?

Two dummies Prime Ministers checking out durians in happier times.

Making great music

"If you already have a great orchestra, you can put a dummy there and you still got great music."
- Minister Mentor Lee Kuan Yew on good governance, CNA, March 5 2008

"How did it happen? We're not absolutely sure yet.. This was a lapse, what to do, it's happened.. As Minister Mentor says, we are not infallible."
- Prime Minister Lee Hsien Loong, ST, March 9 2008

If you haven't notice, both spoke as if the matter is already closed, with little regard that a terror suspect might still be on the loose. This blogger pretty much nailed it.

PM Lee also calls the 'escape' a "setback to our reputation" - exactly the same words I think MM had used in his 'conversation' with Wong Kan Seng before that public announcement at 8pm on 27th February. (Read below)





Random thoughts on the Mas Selamat mystery

**********

Here is the key to unlock the mystery of the greatest "jailbreak" in Singapore's history - the family of Mas Selamat. What were they told when they arrived at Whitley Detention Centre on the 27th February? Was it the first time that they were told that Mas was unable to meet them? Did the family threaten to go public about his supposed disappearance before the Government finally decided to make public the "escape" story? How are we to believe that Mas decided to take off just before he could see a family whom he brought with him to Indonesia while on the run there? Why hasn't anyone, including the international wire agencies, managed to contact the family members for comments?

Update : A topic entitled 'Mas Selamat Anak AWOL' has been posted on this forum.

**********

What transpired in the last 7 days is not typical behaviour of a Government that summarily shot dead four hijackers on a SIA plane, mobilsed a riot squad to take on four silent protesters, threatened to shoot misbehaving protesters and deployed paramilitary troops, including armoured vehicles and helicopters, to watch over the IMF-World Bank meetings. If this was a real escape by an alleged leader of a terror organisation, the entire nation would be on high security alert, helicopters would be buzzing over our heads, reservist personnel on standby duty, suspected safe houses broken into and increased police presence all around. It would be an opportune time, given a heightened sense of fear, for the Prime Minister to score massive political points by making stout assurances and rallying the nation behind him.

But alas, this is not a security crisis, but a costly cover-up for a ghastly blunder. There is no evidence of a getaway, absolutely no leads and Wong Kan Seng would still have us believe that Mas acted alone and that he is still in Singapore.

The facts are getting murkier by the day. Lee Hsien Loong does not want to get his hands dirty in a stinking pot that may boil over. It is better, therefore, to send out wild goose chases, involving Interpol and regional police force, than anger the World Muslim Community by announcing that a brother had died while under custody in Singapore. It is Lee Kuan Yew- style pragmatism in full swing here. Any wonder that at a time like this, the MM is in Saudi Arabia waxing lyrical about making music? And no one dared to ask him about the great "escape"? How convenient.

***************

A probable conversation sometime between 4pm to 8pm on 27th February 2008.

Wong Kan Seng : Sir, detainee Mas Selamat bin Kastari has died. The family is here waiting to meet him. Shall I tell them?

Lee Kuan Yew : No, wait, we can't do that.

WKS : But sir, the wife is getting impatient, even threatening to go to town about not being able to see her husband.

LKY : I am going to Saudi Arabia. I am not going to announce to the Arabs that a Muslim detainee has died in my custody, on my watch. This is unacceptable.

(Long pause)

LKY : Alright, we'll announce that he escaped.

WKS : But how?

LKY : Come on Wong, think! An underground passage, a hole in the toilet, whatever! Just get it done for now.

WKS : But sir, this would be a major blow to our reputation.

LKY : Let's weigh the options. Do we suffer a setback in reputation, which given time we can repair, or do we permanently cast a lingering doubt on the minds of Muslims all over the world that a Muslim detainee has died in our custody?

WKS : But sir, we can say there is no foul play. We can call it malaria, heart attack, suicide or ...

LKY : Not everyone will believe us, Wong. All it takes is to plant the seeds of doubt in the minds of a few Jihadists and we are in trouble forever. I'm willing to sacrifice a setback in our reputation but not put our national security at permanent risk by announcing that Mas Selamat has died, in whatever circumstances, under my custody.

WKS : Alright, sir.

LKY : Look, make a short and terse statement tonight. Don't give anything away. I'm leaving for Saudi in two days. Meanwhile, tell the press to lay off questions about the hows and the whys. Tell Loong not to make any rash statements until I get back. And yes, appoint three of your most trusted men to investigate. Call it an "independent commission". Get the CID on it as well. Don't publicise any findings until I've fine combed through the report. The other ministers must not know. Let them think and act as if Mas has really escaped. We should keep a semblance of a manhunt but let's not waste too much resources on this. Try to minimise international involvement too.

WKS : Yes, sir.

LKY : Oh yes, by the way, have you buried him?

WKS : Yes, we did. Within 24 hours, on consecrated ground.

LKY : Very well. That's all.


*************************

A real manhunt or just photo opportunities?


Police and Gurkha officers on high alert at Woodland ICA Checkpoint. -- BH PHOTO: JOHARI RAHMAT


A Gurkha clears undergrowth as he enters a forested area, searching for Mas Selamat. -- PHOTO: REUTERS


Police road checks at Malcolm Road leading up to St. Joseph's Institution and Catholic Junior College. -- ST PHOTO: LIM YONG

Censorship under the PAP : 1959 - 2008

Below is a summary of a list compiled here by Ng Yi-Sheng. As Ng himself noted, it is by no means exhaustive, as many cases of censorship in Singapore often get swept under the rug as artists fear more repercussions (such as withdrawal of State funding) should they blow the whistle.

See also : A Chronology of Authoritarian Rule in Singapore.

• 2008: The Complaints Choir Project is invited to Singapore as part of the M1 Fringe Festival. The MDA passes the text of the songs without cuts. However, police inform the organisers a few days before the show that no foreigners will be allowed to perform.
  
  
• 2007: At the Singapore Design Festival's 20/20 exhibition at the National Library, Brian Gothong Tan's video installation is pulled on opening night. Tan had included a mockup trailer, which includes a shots of a girl playing a Singapore Airlines stewardess smoking cigarettes and snorting cocaine.
  
  
• 2007: The MDA's Board of Film Censors announces that it will ban the soon-to-be-released Xbox video game Mass Effect II due to the presence of a scene of lesbian intimacy. Amidst media coverage, the decision is reversed, but reports note that two other video games have been banned earlier in the year: "God of War II" for nudity and "The Darkness" for excessive violence and religiously offensive expletives.
  
  
• 2007: Two minutes of material are cut from Ekachai Uekrongtham's Pleasure Factory, a feature film set in Singapore's red-light district of Geylang.
  
  
• 2007: The National Arts Council drops an essay by Jason Wee from the catalogue of Raised, an exhibition on foreign workers, featured as part of the biannual Singapore Art Show. The essay made reference to Operation Spectrum. NAC says the article "was inappropriate in the context of the project theme and the rest of the catalogue contents". To date, the article has not been published. See here and here.
  
  
• 2007: The MDA bans Cut Sleeve Boys, a London film on gay British-Chinese men, starring Singapore-born actor Steven Lim. See here.
  
  
• 2007: At the IndigNation Pride Festival, ten items are banned by the MDA and police authorities, including Alex Au's "Kissing", a photographic series of same-sex couples kissing; "In the Pink", a picnic at Botanical Gardens (banned by National Parks Board); and a talk by law professor Dr Douglas Sanders on homosexuality and Asian law.
  
  
• 2007: The MDA officially bans Martyn See's Said Zahari's 17 Years, a short documentary on the imprisonment of Said Zahari, a former editor of the newspaper Utusan Melayu and long-term political detainee of Singapore.
  
  
• 2007: The MDA bans Solos from the Singapore Film Festival. Directed by Kan Lume and Loo Zihan. The Board of Film Censors takes issue with the “prolonged and explicit homosexual lovemaking scenes including scenes of oral sex and threesome sex”.
  
  
• 2007: SooBin Art Gallery opens a month-long exhibition showcasing the oil paintings of female Beijing artist Chen Xi. The centrepiece was to have been Fly Onto Clouds, a 4-metre high image of a nude woman covered with soapsuds, but the painting is deemed too sexually provocative by MDA, which bars the gallery from displaying the work in full public view at the gallery’s location at the ground-floor atrium of the MICA Building.
• 
  
• 2007: The MDA bans the DVD of Madonna's The Confessions Tour: Live from London, as it features the singer performing the ballad Live To Tell while suspended from a giant mirrored cross, on grounds that it is religiously insulting to Christians.

• 2006: The MDA bans SuperStar, a book of Asian celebrity photographs by internationally-acclaimed Singapore-born photographer Leslie Kee. The rationale given is that the book features full frontal male nudity, revealing genitals and pubic hair. For more information, click here and here.
  
  
• 2006: MDA imposes a fine of $10,000 on Singapore's only cable television operator, Starhub Cable Vision (SCV), for airing scenes of lesbian sex and bondage in the American reality TV show Cheater. SCV representatives communicated that they were disappointed with MDA's decision, and noted that no problems had arisen when the episode was aired in China, India and Indonesia.
  
  
• 2006: The Far Eastern Economic Review publishes a sympathetic interview with opposition party leader Chee Soon Juan. MM Lee Kuan Yew and PM Lee Hsien Loong sue FEER for defamation, claiming the Review had alleged they were corrupt. For more information, click here.
  
  
• 2006: The IMF and World Bank Meetings are held in Singapore. Due to local law, for the first time in the history of the meetings, outdoor demonstrations are banned. Indoor demonstrations are only allowed within an area in Suntec City spanning 14m by 8m. 27 accredited protesters are denied entry to Singapore and are forced to leave the country as police claim they have been involved in violent demonstrations; when WB/IMF officials object, 22 of these 27 are eventually permitted to enter the country.
  
  
• 2006: At the time of the IMF meetings, three local activists, including the 20 year-old guitarist Seelan Palay, are detained for two days and have their computers seized for planning to distribute anti-globalisation flyers. They are investigated under the Printing and Processing Materials Act, which states that those in posession of materials that contain "any incitement to violence or counselling disobedience to the law" could be jailed up to 3 years, fined, or both. Police also confiscate flyers from opposition politician Chee Soon Juan and his sister Chee Siok Chin, who were distributing them to advertise an Empower Singaporeans Rally and March.
  
  
  
• 2006: Political podcasting and videocasting is banned during the election period. All bloggers who desire to "persistently propagate, promote or circulate political issues relating to Singapore" are required to register with the MDA. Nonetheless, the Internet becomes a strong force for political discussion during this period, and no penalties are suffered when the "Persistently non-political podcast" of the mrbrown show satirises the PAP's treatment of opposition candidate James Gomez.
  
  
• 2006: Smegma, an English-language play by Agni Kootthu (Theatre of Fire) is denied performance in a strange sequence of events. Despite the issuance of the licence on 1 August, the licence is suddenly annulled the MDA on 5 August, the day of performance.
  
  
• 2006: On 30 June, blogger mrbrown writes an article, titled "S'poreans are fed, up with progress!", for his weekly opinion column in Today newspaper concerning the rising costs of living in Singapore. An official from MICA publishes a response letter on the same newspaper calling mrbrown a "partisan player" whose views "distort the truth". On July 6, the newspaper suspends mrbrown's column. To express protest, 30 people gather in Raffles City wearing brown in a "flashmob" demonstration orchestrated via SMS. Although this is in contravention of the Unlawful Assemblies Act, no-one is charged.
  
  
• 2006: Filmmakers Colin Goh and Woo Yen Yen are forced to remove trailers of Singapore Dreaming from television due to their heavy use of Singlish. The Board of Censors also requires the filmmakers to dub over all Hokkien vulgarities from the film. An interview here.
  
  
• 2006: At the annual IndigNation festival on gay, lesbian, bisexual and transgender issues, two artworks are censored by the MDA. Poet Koh Jee Leong is prevented from reading aloud a poem entitled "Come On, Straight Boy", on the grounds that it encourages gay sex. MDA places an R(A) rating on the exhibition Shitlosophy: Everybody Shits and removes four photographs. For more information, click here.
  
  
• 2005: Singaporean director Martyn See is forced to remove his debut documentary film Singapore Rebel from the 2005 Singapore International Film Festival due to his violation of the Films Act section pertaining o political films. See withdraws the film because he faces a $100,000 fine and a two-year jail sentence imposed by the Singapore Board of Censors.
  
  
• 2005: MDA withholds the license for the play Human Lefts by the Fun Stage until the group rewrites portions of their script; specifically, references to the death penalty. The play was originally written about the hanging of Shanmugam Murugesu and was to have been staged one day after the controversial execution of Australian national Nguyen Tuong Van.
  
  
• 2005: Hung at Dawn, a Substation concert in commemoration of former national athlete Shanmugam 'Sam' Murugesu, who was executed for marijuana dealing on Friday May 13. Police ban the use of Sam's face on publicity materials, as this would be tantamount to "glorifying" an "ex-convict" and "executed person". From here.
  
  
• 2005: Chen Jianhao, a graduate student at the University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign, is made to apologise and shut down his blog containing criticisms on government agency A*STAR, after its Chairman Philip Yeo threatens to sue for defamation. Also, three bloggers are arrested and charged under the Sedition Act for posting racist comments on the Internet; two are sentenced to imprisonment.
  
  
• 2005: The gay website www.fluffboy.com is banned in October. Another gay website, sgboy.com, is fined $5,000 by the MDA and forced to remove "offensive" content. Click here for more information.
  
  
• 2004: The Economist magazine pays US$230,000 in damages to PM Lee Hsien Loong and his father MM Lee Kuan Yew, and apologises "unreservedly" for an August article that noted "a whiff of nepotism" in the appointment of Lee's wife, Ho Ching, as chief executive of a government investment company.
  
  
• 2004: A new series of anti-gay initiatives ultimately culminates in the banning of the "Snowball" and "Nation" gay parties. Manazine, a gay-oriented magazine, is told to "tone down" its "overtly homosexual content" and subsequently ceases production. A forum called "The Lovers' Lecture Series" is denied a license. The gay Taiwanese movie Formula 17 is banned.
  
  
• 2003: Royston Tan's short film 15, on teenage gangsters in Singapore, suffers from 27 cuts from the Board of Censors. Among the objections raised are that scenes depict gangsterism, truancy, self-mutilation, delinquency, Hokkien rap and the Esplanade. The film is eventually released with an R(A) rating.
  
  
• 2003 : Following a report in Today newspaper on the trauma of SM Lee Kuan Yew in London after his wife had suffered a stroke, an advisor to Mr Lee reprimands Today editor Mano Sabnani for allowing the report to be published. The young journalist who wrote the story, Val Chua, reportedly has her press card suspended. From here.
  

• 2003 : The police reject three applications by a White Ribbon Campaign group to stage outdoor events to mark the International Day Against Violence Against Women. Police first deny the group a permit for a march - and later turn down its application to hold a children's drama presentation - because such events may threaten "law and order." The group then apply to hold an outdoor children's choir performance, but that is also rejected. From here.

• 2002: Causeway, a Malay language play by Teater Ekamatra is censored by NAC, which expresses concern over a scene where a Malaysian character has the final say on a debate with a Singaporean character over the tudung issue.
  

• A documentary on opposition politician J. B. Jeyaretnam, called A Vision of Persistence, is withdrawn from Singapore International Film Festival. Lecturers and students from Ngee Ann Polytechnic, who made the video, are warned that the Political Videos Act could be used against them.
  
  
• 2002: Escape from Paradise, a bestselling book by John and May Chu Harding, is withdrawn from bookstores and libraries. Enquiries reveal that the book was removed due to threats of legal action by Helen Yeo, a Singapore lawyer and wife of former Cabinet Minister Yeo Cheow Tong, as her firm had been mentioned in conjunction with an illegal house sale. Click here for more information.
  

• 2002 : UnionWorks' Mandarin radio station is fined $15,000 for adding "injections of personal remarks and observations by the newsreader, which were unwarranted in normal news bulletins," said the Singapore Broadcasting Authority (SBA). From here.
  

• 2002: The zany Hollywood comedy Zoolander is banned in both Singapore and Malaysia for its fictional depiction of Malaysia as impoverished and dependent on sweatshops. The ban is lifted in 2006.

• 2001: Sintercom, a non-partisan Internet website set up by Tan Chong Kee, closes in response to the Singapore Broadcasting Authority demanding that the site be gazetted as a political website that "engages in the propagation, promotion and discussion of political issues relating to Singapore." Sintercom had been one of the first websites where Singaporeans could exchange political opinions.

• 2001 : Police arrest internet critic Robert Ho Chong at his home after being charged with an offence punishable by up to three years in jail. The 51-year-old former journalist posted articles before the general elections urging opposition candidates to enter polling stations, as did the PAP leaders in the 1997 elections. The police classified Ho's article as an attempt to incite violence or disobedience to the law that was likely to lead to a breach of peace. From here.
  
  
• 2000: Agni Koothu's English-language run of playwright/director Elangovan's play Talaq is banned for its depiction of marital violence in the Indian-Muslim community. The Public Entertainment Licensing Unit (PELU) has no objections to manager S. Thenmoli seeking to document the rehearsal at the Drama Centre, where she had made a paid booking. However, on her arrival, the then Executive Director of NAC calls the police in for alleged trespassing, resulting in a four-hour standoff ending in S. Thenmoli's arrest.
  
  
• 2000: National Arts Council pulls out funding for a production of Drama Box's Mandarin play Vaginalogue, protesting against the use of the image of a vagina in the play.
  
  
• 2000: Speaker’s Corner opens at Hong Lim Park. The Straits Times reports that "the Speakers' Corner at Hong Lim Park is a place where Singapore citizens can speak freely in public without having to apply for a Public Entertainment License", although speakers must apply for a permit at the nearby police post first and are forbidden from discussing racially or religiously seditious issues. A year later, James Gomez, commemorating the Corner’s first year anniversary, says, "The only thing which has grown at Speaker's Corner is the grass."
  
  
• 2000 : A Radio Corporation Singapore (RCS) radio report on a Human Rights Day event at Speakers Corner was re-edited after the first report went on air containing comments by JB Jeyaretnam and a letter by Kofi Annan. Shortly after, a spokesperson for RCS said that the journalist Fauziah Ibrahim had "resigned." From here.
  
  
• 1999: sex.violence.blood.gore by The Necessary Stage, receives 3 cuts to the script for being "racially/religiously inflammatory". The decision by PELU is delivered one day before the play opens. The play is eventually performed and the censored portions photocopied and distributed to audience members.
  
  
• 1999: In the heat of the moment, lead guitarist and vocalist of the Boredphucks, San Singer (aka Sanjeev Veloo), utters a Hokkien expletive during a performance at the Youthpark. He is consequently charged with offending the decency of women and violating the Public Entertainment Act. Although the charges are later dropped, Singer, along with Boredphuck's bassist, JBoss, and drummer, Wayne Thunder are suddenly not permitted to play live in Singapore.
  
  
• 1999: The title of Austin Powers: The Spy Who Shagged Me is seen as too sexually graphic, and it is suggested that it be changed to "Austin Powers: The Spy Who Shioked Me"; this decision is ultimately overturned in favour of the original title.
• 
  
• 1998: An amendment is made to 1981 Films Act with an introduction of the Political Videos Act, approved overwhelmingly in Parliament. In part, the vague and sweeping legislation defines a party political film as one "made by any person and directed toward any political end in Singapore" or one that contains "partisan or biased references on any political matter."
  
  
• 1998: Hong Kong artist Zunzi Wang's artwork, a political cartoon featuring caricatures of then-SM Lee and PM Goh, is removed by officials from the Singapore Art Museum and destroyed just prior to the opening of ARX5. The artist is not informed until the opening.
  

• 1998 : The Undesirable Publications Act is amended to include CD-ROMS, sound recordings, pictures, and computer-generated drawings, and to raise the fine for distribution or possession of banned publications. The Government also publicises the list of banned English-language publications, which is made up primarily of sexually-oriented materials, but also includes some religious and political materials. From here.

• 1997: Singapore Broadcasting Authority issues Internet Code of Practice.
  
  
• 1996: Singapore begins to regulate Internet usage, officially blocking a "symbolic" list of 100 sites, dealing with pornography, illegal drugs and extreme religion, including www.playboy.com, www.playgirl.com and www.cannabis.com. Click here for more information.
  
  
• 1995: American Academic Dr Christopher Lingle's article in the International Herald Tribune, "Smoke over Parts of Asia Obscures Some Profound Concerns," states that an unnamed country uses a "compliant judiciary to bankrupt opposition politicians". SM Lee Kuan Yew files a civil libel suit. IHT pays S$213,000 in damages plus costs for the civil suit. Lingle is separately ordered by the courts in April to pay S$71,000 in damages, plus costs, to the Senior Minister.
  
  
• 1995: Theatreworks stages a successful run of A Language of Their Own in New York, but is banned from staging it in Singapore as it involves a sympathetic portrayal of gay Asian relationships. It is finally performed in Singapore in 2006 and is nominated for Best Script in the Life! Theatre Awards.
  
  
• 1994: Performance artists Josef Ng and Shannon Tham create artworks in protest against the arrest of twelve homosexual men through police entrapment. As part of their performances, Ng trims his pubic hair and Tham vomits into a bucket before an audience. The New Paper reports on this and brands the performances as vulgar and obscene; as a result, performance art without a licence is banned until 2003, and Ng and Tham are not to be given licences to exhibit art in Singapore. Click here for more information.
  
  
• 1994: The Straits Times publishes a report associating The Necessary Stage, a theatre group in Singapore, with Marxism. One of their dramatic techniques is forum theatre, invented by Marxist theatre activist Augusto Boal, which allows audience members to intervene in plays to solve characters' problems. Although The Necessary Stage is cleared of suspicions of using forum theatre for Marxist purposes, forum theatre is banned together with performance art. (Forum Theatre has been revived by The Necessary Stage since 2001, without repercussions.)
  
  
• 1994: PM Goh Chok Tong publicly castigates author Catherine Lim for writing two politically critical articles in the Straits Times. The PM argues that if she wants to voice her opinion on politics she should join a political party. His invocation of the concept of an invisible "out-of-bounds marker", aka OB marker, becomes a by-word among Singaporeans when discussing the problem of never knowing precisely how much free speech one has.
  
  
• 1994: Eric Khoo's short film Pain wins him the Best Director and Special Achievement Awards at the Singapore International Film Festival. It is banned from public viewing due to its graphic violence. The ban on "Pain" is finally lifted at the 1998 Singapore Film Festival.
  
  
• 1994: All written materials published by the International Bible Students Association and the Watchtower Bible and Tract Society are banned. Both are publishing arms of the Jehovah's Witnesses. Although ownership of Bibles published by both groups has not been outlawed, in practice Bibles have been confiscated, e.g. in 2004, when eleven individuals were detained for attempting to bring JW publications into the country from Malaysia. In such cases, no charges were filed. Click here for more information.
  
  
• 1993: Shortly before staging, the Ministry of Health withdraws its funding from Off Centre, a play by The Necessary Stage on mental illness. MOH claims that the play misrepresents the insane. TNS stages the play with its own funding, to critical acclaim.
  
  
• 1992: Four plays for Theatreworks's Theatre Carnival On The Hill are censored: Desmond Sim's Blood and Snow has 14 pages cut; Theresa [last name not given]'s Bra Sizes has all references to "breasts" cut; Robin Loon's Absence Makes the Heart Grow Fonder has its few "fucks" cut. Gung Ho Theatre's "Too Glam One", a commentary on the 1992 survey on morals, is banned for "crude and vulgar language".
• 
  
• 1989: Singapore bans Salman Rushdie's novel The Satanic Verses for its "blasphemous" depiction of the prophet Muhammad.
  
  
• 1988: Lest the Demons Get to Me, a play by Russell Heng, is to be staged by Theatreworks for the Arts Festival Fringe, but its licence is not approved by the Ministry of Community Development, as "perhaps the theme of transvestism and transsexuality was not suitable for the event". The play is given an uncut staged reading in 1992.
  
  
• 1986: Authorities close the Rainbow Lounge at Ming Arcade, Singapore’s first disco and live music venue, on the grounds that a member of the house band, Speedway, had made a risqué remark in Hokkien while onstage.
  
  
• 1984: Japanese New Age musician Kitaro is barred from entry to Changi Airport because of his long hair; officials insist that in order to perform, he must first cut his hair (in keeping with a Singapore campaign from the 70s against long hair in men). Kitaro refuses and cancels his concert in Singapore.
  
  
• 1983: In the wake of the 1979 Speak Mandarin Campaign, local radio stations are barred from airing shows in Chinese dialect from 1 January onwards, destroying the culture of dialect storytellers such as Lee Dai Soh. (Television shows in dialect had been banned a year earlier; even Hong Kong Cantonese serials had to be dubbed in Mandarin before airing.) While the ban remains largely in place today, a brief news programme conducted in different dialects has been permitted for the benefit of the elderly.
  
  
• 1982: Cosmopolitan magazine is banned for "promoting sexual permissiveness". In 2004, the ban is lifted by the MDA, with the stipulation that the magazine must not contain exploitative sex or nudity, and must be shrink-wrapped with a label on its cover reading "unsuitable for children".
  
  
• 1982: Ten years prior to the ban on chewing gum, S Dhanabalan complains that HDB spent $75, 000 a year removing chewing gum wads from walls and floors in housing estates. Consequently, TV commercials for chewing gum are banned.
  
  
• 1980: The Hollywood film Saint Jack is banned. Based on Paul Theroux's novel of the same name on the sex trade in Singapore, the movie was filmed locally by director Peter Bogdanovich in 1978. The ban is lifted in 2006.
  
  
• 1976: Theatre director Kuo Pao Kun is stripped of his citizenship and detained without trial for alleged Communist activities in a sweeping anti-leftist purge. Over his 4 1/2 years of incarceration, Kuo studies Malay and reads Shakespeare. He is released in 1980 and re-emerges as a powerful force in Singapore drama, winning the Cultural Medallion in 1990.
  
  
• 1973: Despite the dwindling of the Singapore film industry following separation from Malaysia, Tony Yeow and James Sebastian direct Ring of Fury, a gripping kung fu action tale set in Singapore. The film is banned locally for its depiction of a gangsterism in Singapore. Its first public screening in Singapore is in 2005. See here.
  

• 1971: A succession of crackdowns on newspapers. On May 2, four editors of the Nanyang Siang Pau, a reputed Mandarin newspaper, are arrested and imprisoned on charges of "fanning Chinese Chauvinism", "glamourising Communism" and for being involved in a "black operation". The newspaper will eventually cease to exist when merged with the Sin Chew Jit Poh on March 16, 1983 to form the current Lianhe Zaobao. On May 16, seven editorial staff resign from the Eastern Sun, an English-language newspaper, after Lee Kuan Yew alleges that "a certain English newspaper" is involved with black operations and is funded with loans from Communist China. On May 28, he Singapore Herald, an English-language tabloid newspaper, has its publishing license suspended by the government. The government accuses the paper of being involved in "black operations", of being funded by questionable foreign sources, of working up agitation against national policies and institutions, and of "taking on the government".

• 1968: The Equator Art Society opens an exhibition of paintings portraying Americans as morally degraded figures; this is interpreted as being a socialist protest against Singapore's endorsement of America in the Vietnam War. The exhibition is closed within a day of opening and the President of the Society is detained; members do not submit their names of board members to the Registrar of Societies in the following years, and the Society is forced to dissolve in 1974.
  
  
• 1965: On 30 September, less than two months after separation from Malaysia, the Managing Director of the Singapore-based Malay language newspaper Utusan Melayu is called to the Ministry of Culture to meet with the Minister and Prime Minister. He is shown a map of Malaya and is warned against reporting anything sensitive occurring below the Straits of Johor. Lee Kuan Yew presents the Director with a copy of the Sedition Act before his departure. The incident will be referred to again in 1967 when PAP MPs Rahamat bin Kenap and Othman Wok accuse the paper of printing "humiliatory articles" to cause political tension between Malaysia and Singapore. In the wake of this, Utusan Melayu shifts its Headquarters to Malaysia, where it remains, although it continues to circulate in Singapore until 1969.
  
  
• 1959: Shortly after PAP takeover, pinball machines and jukeboxes are banned in the crackdown on "yellow culture", the decadent culture of Western imperialists. Jukeboxes are only officially legalised again in 1991. See here.
  

Film ban hurts Singapore's press freedom

Said Zahari, a former leftist activist, sits in front of his library at his home in Kuala Lumpur.
PHOTO: AP










Dear Censors, MDA and the Information Minister (whoever you may be by the time when you read this),

If Zahari's 17 Years was allowed to be screened, it would have attracted no more than an audience of 50 people crammed into some obscure arts venue. Yes, for a while, it may generate a little buzz, perhaps some debate in history classrooms. But ultimately, interest will wane, and it will end up collecting dust in the archives, and then unearthed ten years later by some researcher for his academic thesis.

It would not have generated more than 10,000 hits on google video. It would not have opened another can of worms on censorship. It certainly would not be a cause for reports such as this, this and this.

Don't shoot me or Pak Said Zahari if Singapore's reputation takes a beating over your banning of my film. You know where to point the muzzle.

With love by your true Singaporean,
See Tong Ming, Martyn

Singapore - Annual report 2008

by Reporters Without Borders

Area: 620 sq. km.
Population: 4,450,000.
Languages: English, Mandarin, Malay, Tamil.
Head of government: Lee Hsien Loong.

A “worthy” successor to his father, Prime Minister Lee Hsien Loong has done nothing to loosen state control over the media. Journalists have a great deal more freedom to cover international news than local affairs. And a political documentary was hit by censorship.

The authorities continued their trial of strength with the magazine the Far Eastern Economic Review (FEER), which has been banned from distribution in the country since 2006, but which is still available online. A court in June rejected a request from the prominent Hong Kong-based monthly to be defended by a British lawyer in a “defamation” trial opened against it last year by Lee Hsien Loong and his father. The judge considered that the suit was not sufficiently “complex” for the lawyer in question. Lee Hsien Loong and his father Lee Kuan Yew took exception to an article in the FEER about opposition leader Chee Soon Juan, whom it termed a “martyr of the country” because of a raft of legal proceedings he has had to face.

The opposition, particularly the Singapore Democratic Party (SDP), bête noire of the regime, is rarely quoted in the media and dissident voices have to resort to using the Internet to express themselves.

The authorities in April declared a sentence of up to two years in jail and a heavy fine would be imposed on anyone suspected of possessing or broadcasting a copy of the documentary “Zahari’s 17 years”, about the 17-year imprisonment of journalist and opposition figure Said Zahari. The film-maker, Martyn See, was forced to hand over the original and copies of the documentary to the ministry of information communications and the arts. In the film, the former editor of the newspaper Utusan Melayu recounts why the government of the time, headed by the father of the current premier, arrested him in 1963 along with several of his associates, under a draconian internal security law. The ministry said “Zahari’s 17 years” threatened “public confidence in the government”. Martyn See’s films can be viewed on the Internet.

A correspondent for Reuters in Singapore, Mia Shanley was forced to reveal the source for one of her stories after two companies took action against the British news agency and the newspapers The Straits Times and The Business Times to force them to reveal the sources for articles dating back to November 2006. The courts systematically returned verdicts in favour of companies, undermining the protection of sources in the country.

Film fest disqualifies Martyn See's film

Nation Builders (above) has been disqualified as an entry to the Singapore International Film Festival Short Film Competition as it has failed to meet its entry requirements.

Festival staff Yuni Hadi told me over the phone that since the film has been circulating on the net, it no longer qualifies as a World Premiere, as stated here in its rules and regulations.

4. Entries must be World premieres and must not have been howsoever broadcasted, screened or participated in any competition/festival in Singapore or abroad

(Silly me, but I swear I read it differently two months ago)

The 14 minute film was uploaded on the net on the eve of National Day and subsequently submitted as an entry to SIFF in December 2007. It has not been publicly screened to an audience here or abroad. The disqualification means that the film will not be submitted to the Board of Film Censors.

This is my 3rd submission to the SIFF. The first, Singapore Rebel, was banned in tandem with a 15 month-long police investigation. The second, Zahari's 17 Years, was inexplicably withdrawn by the SIFF and subsequently banned a year later when I personally submit it for an exhibition licence.

As required by law, I will be submitting Nation Builders to the censors shortly. It will join Speakers Cornered, whose status is still yet unknown. (Heard it through the grapevine that Dr Vivian Balakrishnan is taking over the helm at MICA at the first quarter. I should perhaps honour his appointment by submitting Nation Builders then.)

Meanwhile, SIFF is screening a Singaporean-made film about the homeless entitled Homeless FC. It is directed by Lynn and James, who made the East Timor redemption flick Passabe. Needless to say, Homeless FC isn't about the destitutes in Singapore, but in Hong Kong.

This Film Is Not Yet Rated

It's been exactly a month since Speakers Cornered was submitted to the Board of Film Censors (BFC). I have yet to receive any word about its status. Meanwhile, the folks who run the BFC, i.e. the Media Development Authority (MDA), ostensibly wants to show off how efficient and transparent their ratings system are by graciously availing themselves in a public event.

Those good servants of MDA, lest you forget, had awarded me a 15 month-long police investigation, some worldwide publicity and two banned films. I think an appreciation of their role in publicising my profile is well overdue so I shall honour their effort by showing up at the forum.

THIS FILM IS NOT YET RATED - Censorship Uncensored

FRIDAY 1st FEBRUARY at 7.30pm The Picturehouse Lounge
FREE & OPEN TO PUBLIC

Find out more about CENSORSHIP IN SINGAPORE for yourself! Curious about the whole film rating process? What are the steps a film must go through for a rating? What does an NC16 rating mean for a film? Join us at The Picturehouse Lounge for a open dialogue session with a panel of industry players who will breakdown the local ratings system and sharing some of their own expereinces with the censorship process. Speakers include the Chairman of the Consultative Panel at MDA, a representative from a Major Film Distribution company and local independent film maker.

RSVP your place at thepicturehouse@cathay.com.sg to avoid disappointment. Subject line:RATED Explores.

A review of the forum (updated 14 Feb)
This Film is Not Yet Rated - Censorship Uncensored

Twice banned filmmaker submits third film

"All this censorship and so on makes no sense to me."- Minister Mentor Lee Kuan Yew, dialogue with Young PAP, Apr 21 2007

Speakers Cornered, a documentary on the standoff between local activists and police during the IMF-World Bank Meetings in Singapore last year, has been submitted to the Board of Film Censors this morning. The application is for the purpose of classification. (Receipt number : A/0712/1018000L)

My two previous films, Singapore Rebel and Zahari's 17 Years, are banned in Singapore under sections [33] and [35] of the Films Act respectively. Both sections were invoked for the first time in the nation's history.

The counter staff at BFC pointed out to me that the timeline for the approval for local productions tend to take longer than imported videos, and that the process can only be expedited once I submit another letter indicating public screening date(s), venue(s), target audience and purpose of exhibition. No concession is made if the applicant is the filmmaker himself. The same spiel was presented to me in January this year when I applied for a licence for Zahari's 17 Years. Then, I had not followed up with any letter. Still, the Ministry issued a public statement three months later to ban the film.

Now I hear you ask - Speakers Cornered has already been uploaded on youtube, so why bother submitting it to the censors now? Am I not asking for more trouble?

Answer : Not at all. On the contrary, I am only acting in accordance to the law as it currently stands.

Section [14] of the Films Act states that "every film in the possession of any person shall be submitted to the Board without any alteration or excision for the purpose of censorship at the owner's risk and expense and at such time and place as the Board may appoint." In other words, the possession of any film or video in Singapore is illegal unless they are approved by the authorities.

The good news is, according to MDA's website, not all videos in Singapore require certification. Exemptions are made for "educational videos, documentaries, programmes for children and pre-1966 movies".

But here's the bad news - such exemptions are not automatic. To qualify for an exemption, one has to make sure that the material do not flout a set of guidelines, and only thereafter can he make an application to the BFC, who will be the final arbiter of what should or should not be exempted. (See here)

Which then brings us back to square one: If you possess a film or video in Singapore, be it imported or self-made, you are required by law to submit the material to the censors for classification, certification or exemption. By default, that makes anyone who possesses an uncertified video culpable of violating the law (and you think I'm the only one guilty of breaching the Films Act?).

Therefore, as we approach a new year, I will attempt to shed my "Singapore Rebel" tag and make like a law-abiding Singaporean by submitting Speakers Cornered to the authorities for classification, as required by law.

At the same time, I wholeheartedly extend my goodwill to all the senior civil servants at the Ministry of Information, Communications and the Arts - by offering them this act of submission in order that they may use it to justify their salary hikes, and also provide an opportunity to make good on their pledge to get "creative."

How will they prohibit a video that's already on youtube? Under which section of the Films Act will they ban a video that essentially records an event in a manner no different from what broadcasters do all over the world? Will they target the filmmaker instead by subjecting him to another 15 months of police investigations? Or will they clear the video and consequently inspire a new wave of Singaporean political and activist cinema, including cause-related campaign videos such as this one? Or will they drag their feet until the newly-proposed media review committee submit their recommendations to the government?

While you hold your breath on this one, do drop by for updates, and have a great new year!

To read the entire Films Act, go to Singapore Statutes Online.

****************************************************

GUIDELINES ON CONTENT THAT CANNOT BE EXEMPTED

by Board of Film Censors

Videos declared for exemption should not violate any laws of Singapore. In addition, videos containing the following scenes /dialogues /themes are not exempted from censorship and should not be so declared.

1. SCENE

Violence
Violence refers to acts of force resulting in pain, injury or death. The following portrayals are deemed as violent acts:
• Repeated hitting/punching/kicking;
• Multiple slashing/stabbing/shooting;
• Blood-letting/flowing/spurting;
• Amputation/decapitation/dismemberment; and
• Any other form of torturous and/or sadistic acts.

Sex and Nudity
Sex and nudity relate to depictions of sexual acts and naked human bodies. Some specific examples are:
• Sexual foreplay;
• Sexually ecstatic facial expressions;
• Sexual intercourse; and
• Male and female frontal nudity.

Drug Abuse
• Scenes depicting or promoting drug abuse.

2. DIALOGUE
• Words with obscene and vulgar connotations.

3. THEME
The overall theme of the subject of the video is deemed to be objectionable on moral, social, religious grounds or detrimental to national interest.

Moral
Examples of morally objectionable themes:
• Depiction of deviant sexual behaviour such as incest, and alternative lifestyles such as homosexuality and lesbianism;
• Promotion of free love, sexual promiscuity etc.

Social
Examples of objectionable themes on social grounds:
• Anti-social behaviour such as gangsterism, vandalism and hooliganism;
• Portrayal of the commission of crimes with details of the techniques used.

Religious and Racial
• Propagating of religion.
• Denigrating any race or religion.

Public Interest
Subject or topic that undermine the interests of public security, national defence and public confidence in the law and its enforcement.

Note: If in doubt of the video's content, you are advised to submit the video for censorship.

Videos : Singaporean lawyers petition; Malaysian lawyers march

Singaporean lawyers M. Ravi and Chia Ti Lik submitting a petition to the Law Society of Singapore on South Bridge Road on December 10, 2007. Video by SgHumanRights.
AFP report.





Malaysian lawyers confronting the police in Kuala Lumpur on December 9, 2007. Video source unknown.
IPS report.

Latest : More arrested, including Anwar Ibrahim.

Speakers Cornered - Complete video now unleashed

I made this video a year ago. It has since been screened in human rights festivals in Taiwan and Malaysia.

Seeing how Singapore's state censors, a.k.a. the Media Development Authority (MDA), is currently pitching itself as a government agency with some serious creative street cred, I may jolly well submit Speakers Cornered for a rating and a public screening license. Let's see how creative they can get by banning a work that's already circulating online.

Watch the entire video here. Chinese subtitles are courtesy of Taipei's Urban Nomad Film Festival.