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20 Pac. Rim L. & Pol'y J. 319 (2011)
The Singapore Chill: Political Defamation and the Normalization of a Statist Rule of Law

handle is hein.journals/pacrimlp20 and id is 323 raw text is: Compilation @ 2011 Pacific Rim Law & Policy Joumal Association

THE SINGAPORE CHILL:
POLITICAL DEFAMATION AND THE NORMALIZATION
OF A STATIST RULE OF LAW
Cameron Simt
Abstract:  Recent cases involving opposition politicians and foreign publications,
in which allegations of corruption leveled against both the executive and the judiciary
were found to be defamatory and in contempt of court, struck at the heart of Singapore's
ideological platform as a corruption-free meritocracy with an independent judiciary. This
article examines the implications of these cases for the relationship between the courts,
the government, and the rule of law in Singapore. It is argued that judicial normalization
of the government's politics of communitarian legalism has created a statist and
procedural rule of law that encourages defamation laws to chill political opposition. The
dual state construct in Singapore, under which commercial law remains depoliticized and
readily enforceable, has been distorted, which creates uncertainty across all areas of
Singapore's common law and thereby undermines the government's economic agenda.
1.     INTRODUCTION
A key concept in the ideological framework of Singapore's governing
People's Action Party (PAP) is providing certainty and security for
Singapore's economy through the centrality of a platform of anti-
corruption.' Part of the emphasis on international investment and economic
development in Singapore is premised on the basis that Singapore is
corruption-free.2 Preventative legislation, departments such as the Corrupt
Practices Investigation Bureau, and high salaries paid to public servants,4 all
serve to strengthen this anti-corruption platform. Singapore consistently
ranks highly in international corruption standings. When the integrity of the
government is brought into question, it is not uncommon for Singapore's
t BA, LLB (Hons) (Melb); Solicitor of the Supreme Court of Victoria; Solicitor and Barrister of the
High Court of Australia. I would like to thank the anonymous referees for their helpful suggestions. I would
also like to thank the members of the journal, in particular Wyatt Golding and Amber Penn-Roco, for their
efforts in the editorial process.
LEE KUAN YEW, FROM THIRD WORLD TO FIRST, THE SINGAPORE STORY: 1965-2000 157 (2000).
2 See Li-Ann Thio, Rule of Law within a Non-Liberal Communitarian Democracy: The
Singapore Experience, in ASIAN DISCOURSES OF RULE OF LAW: THEORIES AND IMPLEMENTATION OF RULE
OF LAW IN TWELVE ASIAN COUNTRIES, FRANCE AND THE U.S. 183, 192-3 (Randall Peerenboom ed., 2004).
See, e.g., Prevention of Corruption Act, ch. 241 (1960) (Sing.).
4  High salaries paid to public servants are allegedly seen by the government as affirming an ancient
Confucian precept to pay good people to encourage them to work for the government. See Goh Chok
Tong, Senior Minister of the Republic of Singapore, Speech at the 2000 National Day Rally (Aug. 9, 2000),
in STRAITS TIMES (Sing.), Aug. 21, 2000, at 35.
5 In 2010, Singapore was ranked first in the World Competitive Yearbook. See INTERNATIONAL
INSTITUTE FOR MANAGEMENT DEVELOPMENT, WORLD COMPETITIVE YEARBOOK 1 (2010),
http://www.imd.ch/research/publications/wcy/upload/scoreboard.pdf.

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