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Alert

Student forced to shut down blog following libel threat

(RSF/IFEX) - RSF has expressed support for a Singaporean student who was forced to shut down his blog on 26 April 2005 for fear of libel action by the head of a government body.

The organisation warned that "such intimidation could make the country's blogs as timid and obedient as the traditional media."

"Threatening a libel suit is an effective way to silence criticism, and this case highlights the lack of free expression in Singapore, which is among the 20 lowest-scoring countries in our worldwide press freedom index. We support bloggers because they often exercise a [level of] freedom not seen in the rest of the country's media," RSF added.

The threat of prosecution came from Philip Yeo, chairman of the government's Agency for Science, Technology and Research (A*STAR), which grants research scholarships. The agency claimed it was libelled in a blog (http://www.scs.uiuc.edu/~chen6/blog) run by Jiahao Chen, a Singaporean student who is presently finishing his studies in the United States.

Under the pseudonym "Acid Flask", Chen criticised Yeo and the A*STAR scholarship system. He also agreed to have his remarks appear in the online newspaper "Electric New Paper" (http://newpaper.asia1.com.sg). Yeo sent Chen several e-mails demanding that he delete from his blog all references to him and A*STAR, and threatening legal action if he did not.

A few days later, Chen shut down his blog and posted a message of apology to Yeo in its place. Other Singaporean blogs that had reproduced the remarks quickly posted apologies or closed down as well.