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Last updated at: (Beijing Time) Sunday, April 14, 2002

Singapore Government to Review Censorship Policies

The Singapore government has appointed a committee to make a thorough review of its censorship guidelines and practice in the light of changes that have taken place in the media, arts and cultural sectors,


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The Singapore government has appointed a committee to make a thorough review of its censorship guidelines and practice in the light of changes that have taken place in the media, arts and cultural sectors,

Singapore's acting Minister for Information, Communication and the Arts David Lim made the announcement in a speech Saturday, indicating the committee will review and recommend changes to existing censorship policies and guidelines for publications, films, audio and video materials, performance art, broadcast media, and new and converging media as well laws and structure and other related matters.

He said that the forces of globalisation and technologic advancement have greatly changed the censorship environment in the 10 years since the last review and the government should strike a balance between opening minds to new ideas and protecting core values, between offering people more choice and making the government, parents and adults assume their responsibilities, between creating a livelier and more vibrant society and preserving social unity and harmony.

Noting that new media like the Internet have resulted in an influx of information directly transmitted to end-users, he said the spawning of a whole array of media formats posed a strong challenge to censorship and media convergence is increasingly testing traditional censorship concepts.

Lim said, "The state cannot decide for each child which movie to watch, or what cyber games to play. As technology advances and creates new pathways of access, this burden of guidance or control may have to shift more towards parents and adults."

Observers said that this signals a move towards relaxing the censorship guidelines applied in Singapore for a long time.


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