Unesco cites Singapore blogs, raps mainstream media

A Unesco report criticizes the Singapore mainstream media and says alternatives have sprung up – blogs and websites such as Yawning Bread and The Online Citizen.

The report says:

Leong Sze Hian of TOC said that the online forum indirectly exerts pressure on the mainstream media by giving due attention to controversial issues like unemployment statistics and healthcare of senior citizens that are otherwise neglected by the latter…

I came across the Unesco report by chance while reading the documents submitted to the the United Nations Human Rights Council for a review of Singapore’s human rights record. You can see the Unesco report here.

The office of the High Commissioner for Human Rights says in a report to the Human Rights Council:

Unesco stated that the media were heavily regulated by the (Singapore) Government through direct and indirect political, legal and structural systems of control and that the country had heavily concentrated media, with two umbrella companies owning all the daily newspapers, television and radio channels. Though officially operating as publicly-listed companies, the companies are linked to the Government and maintain a pro-Government stance. In addition to laws that directly interfered with freedom of expression, there were also other forms of control, including the extensive use of defamation charges. It was also noted that many editors and senior journalists of the mainstream English daily newspaper had held important positions in the Government, run by the ruling political party.

The report to the council also notes the concerns expressed by the Committee on the Elimination of All Forms of Discrimination Against Women (Cedaw) and the Committee on the Rights of the Child (CRC). The report says:

While welcoming the April 2004 amendment to the Constitution which allows children to acquire citizenship by descent from their mothers, CRC noted with concern that the amended law was applied only to children born after 2004… CRC recommended that Singapore revise its nationality law (and) consider granting citizenship to all children of Singaporean mothers born before 2004…

Cedaw requested Singapore to provide foreign wives with work permits and to develop a system whereby foreign wives would be granted citizenship within a clear and reasonable timeframe, instead of considering citizenship applications on a case by case basis.

The report adds:

Cedaw was concerned about the situation of foreign domestic workers, including the requirement of regular pregnancy testing and the prohibition from marrying nationals of Singapore.

The number of executions has dropped in Singapore, says the report, quoting the UN secretary-general:

A … report of the Secretary-General on the application of the death penalty indicated that the death penalty was still applied in Singapore, but noted that the number of executions had dropped significantly in recent years (22 in the period 2004–2008).

On Singapore’s multiracial society, the report says:

The Special Rapporteur on contemporary forms of racism, racial discrimination, xenophobia and related intolerance acknowledged that the peaceful coexistence of the diverse communities in Singapore was a remarkable achievement in itself. He noted that Singapore was rightly proud of its richly diverse society, where individuals from a wide
range of backgrounds manage to cohabit and interact with each other on a small portion of territory. At the same time, the Special Rapporteur observed that certain ethnic groups remained marginalized.

You can download the Singapore government’s own report on human rights as well as those by the High Commissioner for Human Rights here.

Channel NewsAsia reports UN panel praises Singapore for progress made in human rights.