PLAN B #862: Singapore Has Free Speech, But It Isn’t the Same Everywhere

With Bloomberg and its reporter ordered to pay $230,000 each to Ministers K. Shanmugam and Tan See Leng, it’s worth asking: what does “free speech” actually mean in Singapore? While many Singaporeans consume Western media, free speech doesn’t work the same way here. Bloomberg relied on a UK legal defence called “Reynolds Privilege”, which protects journalists who publish defamatory material if it is considered “responsible journalism” in the public interest. However, Singapore’s High Court ruled that this defence does not apply here. So when we talk about “free speech”, are we all talking about the same thing, or viewing it through different legal and cultural lenses?