Details revealed by former editor of The New Paper of how th

[Playtime]

https://www.theonlinecitizen.com/2019/04/25/details-revealed-by-former-editor-of-the-new-paper-of-how-the-press-was-manipulated-by-pap-in-1997-to-fix-workers-party-politicians/

 

 

Bertha Henson former Associate Editor of The Straits Times wrote on her blog, Bertha Harian, about the upcoming book written by former editor of The New Paper, Mr P N Balji called The Reluctant Editor.

 

The book promises stories from Mr Balji’s times as editor in both Singapore Press Holdings (SPH) Mediacorp – described by Ms Henson as ‘nuggets of information that had been kept from the public eye’.

 

The Reluctant Editor, says Ms Henson, contains stories about the relationship between the Government and local media which were generally not openly talked about, stories that she thought ‘journalists would take to their graves’. The fact that he, and others like him in the past, chose to share these stories is a mark of courage, she said.

 

One story in particular that Mr Balji expands on in his book which Ms Henson was part of is the incident of the 1997 General Elections when The New Paper ran a story on their front page about the police reports filed against People’s Action party ministers by Workers’ Party politicians Tang Liang Hong and JB Jeyaretman.

 

 

 

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What happened in 1997?

Before we can go further, we need to know what happened in 1997. The General Election that year was notable for the incident involving Tang Liang Hong who now live in exile. At the time, Mr Tang stood for elections alongside the late JB Jeyaretnam in Cheng San GRC. Mr Tang was attacked constantly by the PAP for being an anti-Christian Chinese chauvanist.

 

The day before polling day, WP held a rally during which Mr Jeyaretnam had said that police reports had been filed against 11 members of the PAP. He said, ““Mr Tang Liang Hong has just placed before me two reports he has made to the police against, you know, Mr Goh Chok Tong and his team”.

 

However, he did not go into further detail. People were guessing over the content of the report but there was no way for journalist to get their hands on it unless Mr Jeyaretnam handed it over to them directly. The police, after all, do not release report details on request.

 

Ms Henson went on to describe how the next day, Mr Balji received a home call suggesting that he could get the police reports. He need only ask. Ms Henson highlighted, “This was a strange offer of a scoop offered to TNP, a newspaper which at that time was sold at lunch-time.”

 

She continued, “Balji admits that the idea of a scoop stirred journalistic passions. Which editor would not welcome the chance to get one step ahead of its rivals, especially the broadsheet Straits Times, which had already gone to print by then?”

 

As the deputy at the time, Ms Henson got in touch with the police to get the report but was denied. Mr Balji then made a phone call and a little later, the reports were faxed to them. TNP published the reports on their front page that day.

 

The aftermath

Ms Henson says that while she and Mr Balji did not get in trouble for publishing the police reports, Mr Tang and Mr Jeyaretnam did. While WP earned a non-constituentcy MP seat which Mr Jeyaretnam took, he was also slapped with 11 suits.

 

Ms Henson said, “That was when it began to dawn on us that we had been made use of to disseminate a supposed libel to an even wider audience, which could mean higher damages if the PAP side won.”

 

What followed was a massive legal battle waged against Mr Tang and Mr Jeyaretnam by the PAP leaders of the Singapore government for alleged defamation.

 

Ms Henson recalled at the time that Mr Balji ‘wondered if he would be called to the stand by the defence to declare how he had obtained the reports’ but he was never summoned. “Nobody talked about the content of the reports; just its announcement,” she wrote.

 

The courts found Mr Jeyaretnam liable and ordered him to pay $20,000 in damages. Prime Minister Goh Chok Tong at the time described that sentence as “derisory”. The PAP then appealed and the damages were raised to S$100,000 plus $20,000 in costs.

 

As Ms Henson says, Mr Tan had fled the country and Mr Jeyaretnam was ‘taken to the cleaners’. In 2001 he was declared bankrupt after failing to meet his instalment payments. Consequently, he lost his NCMP seat as undischarged bankrupts are barred from serving in Parliament. He couldn’t stand for the 2001 general elections and in October of that year, he resigned as Secretary General of the WP.

 

Regret over the decision to publish

Over 20 years later, Ms Henson says the events still ‘grated’ on her.

 

She said, “Playing it back, I wondered if we could have said no. Our journalistic instincts, scoop mentality and deadline pressure overwhelmed our ethics. We wanted to be first with the story. But we found that the fleeting euphoria was nothing compared to the stone that had been lodged in our hearts since. We did a terrible thing.”

 

In the Particulars of the Statement of Claim served on 21 July 1997, the late Lee Kuan Yew conceded for the first time that he and ESM Goh Chok Tong who was then Prime Minister had procured the release of the police reports. The ESM Goh made a similar admission in an affidavit he swore in August 1997.

 

This was also pointed out by Mr Tang in an interview he had given to freelance writer Chris Lydgate (originally commissioned by Asia Online but never publish) which was eventually posted on the Singapore Election blog in 2006.

 

Similarly, the Singapore-Window website recounted Mr Tang’s lawyer George Carmen’s statement to the High Court which pointed out the ‘fundamental error in the case’. He noted that while under oath, PM Goh has admitted in Court that he has authorised Mr Lee Kuan Yew to release Mr Tang’s police reports.

 

“Mr Carman said the prime minister and Mr Lee, his predecessor, “shot themselves in the foot” by releasing the report over which they are now seeking legal damages,” said the site.

 

The press is a tool for politicans

As it was already established way back then that it was Mr Goh who had authorised the release of the reports to the press. This, coupled with Mr Balji’s recounting of the events in his book and Ms Henson’s sharing on her blog, adds further evidence to the Mr Tang’s claim that he was set up with a cleverly orchestrated plan.

 

If anything, this reinforces the fact that the press has always been a powerful tool not just for critics of the administration but for the administration itself. So it’s not a stretch at all to consider that politicians would want to be able to harness this tool and utilise it for themselves while preventing others from using it.

 

You can see where this is going, I’m sure. The heavily debated Clause 61 in the proposed Protection from Online Falsehoods and Manipulation Act (POFMA) states:

 

 

 

So apart from the sweeping powers that would be granted under the act to any minister to declare falsehoods, ministers are also able to exempt individuals and groups from the act.

 

This is a power that would be easily abused as a means to avoid holding the government accountable for potentially spreading falsehoods. For example, in the case above of the government claimed in Court that the announcement made by Mr Jeyaretnam at the WP rally was the problem when actually it was the administration that released that information to the press in the first place, making way for a libel suit.

 

As it stands, there is a high potential of the law being misused by a minister seeking to advance an agenda.

 

As Associate Professor of Law at Singapore Management University and former NMP, Eugene Tan said in an article by the South China Morning Press, “Any law can be misused for rogue purposes. Ultimately, a price will be paid by the government of the day if the law is misused to clamp down on dissent. How it is applied will also be subjected to the court of public opinion. Hence, governmental action must not only be in conformity with the law, but also endowed with legitimacy.

 

 

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When fake news and doxxing law is the talk of the town..

It's worth remembering that things Are complicated. 1997 seems to be year that never stops giving.

Edited April 26, 2019 by Playtime

[Playtime]

https://sg.news.yahoo.com/lee-kuan-yew-made-journalists-look-behind-backs-veteran-journalist-pn-balji-234141641.html

[Mockngbrd]

Hero. .

[Beehive3783]

CCB PAP

[Kusje]

https://sg.news.yahoo.com/lee-kuan-yew-made-journalists-look-behind-backs-veteran-journalist-pn-balji-234141641.html

“Reluctant Editor”, published by Marshall Cavendish and launching in mid-June, mainly covers his 10-year stint as The New Paper (TNP) editor and his first spell as editor of online tabloid Today, across 35 years in the mainstream media.

 

Is MC still owned by F&N and does temasick still control F&N?

 

*edit* oops. sold liao.

Edited April 26, 2019 by Kusje

[Watwheels]

Well, you know what many people say,"politics is a dirty game".

[Mockngbrd]

Well, you know what many people say,"politics is a dirty game".

#FAKENEWS !

[Watwheels]

IMO it's old news. Tell us something we do not already know.

 

Even for now how they want to use similar tactics to nail the trio from wp when it comes to managing the TC they also use the law and media to their advantage. But what they didnt anticipate is the support for wp when the trio needed the funds for the lawsuit.

 

As long as sgp citizen are not blind we still got hope.

[Kyrios]

Camping for sarkporters of the fake news laws to come in and stir ah stir ah stur..

[No_worries]

I will be watching with interest with a hot coffee and cheese cake if any of these Editors be charged under the proposed fake news law.

Edited April 26, 2019 by No_worries

[Inlinefour]

nothing will be changed unless 69.9 woke up 

[Kb27]

some people play dirty.

they will hang on by tooth and nail.

sell their mother if necessary

[BenTong]

Politics inherently dirty la that’s why u need to do your own laundry

Edited April 26, 2019 by BenTong

[Angcheek]

Politics inherently dirty la that’s why u need to do your own laundry

 

no wonder u so suay .... all under underwear disappeared during ur school days .... 

 

wan to self do laundry also cannot . 

[Inlinefour]

no wonder u so suay .... all under underwear disappeared during ur school days .... 

 

wan to self do laundry also cannot . 

 

me and my buddy @jamesc doing guard duties for female bathroom also provide free laundry service for all their soiled undergarments 

[Vratenza]

My underwear dropped from my drying rack in hostel..... Someone actually pick up and return to my room....... 

 

Someone had been monitoring my underwear pattern and colour....   

 

no wonder u so suay .... all under underwear disappeared during ur school days .... 

 

wan to self do laundry also cannot . 

 

[Othello]

My underwear dropped from my drying rack in hostel..... Someone actually pick up and return to my room....... 

 

Someone had been monitoring my underwear pattern and colour....   

 

dropped or you purposely throw ?? 

 

Please CUM CLEAN ! 

[Ash2017]

I am very surprised that JBJ was the founder of WP and yet the current WP are so silent like a church mouse.

 

I believe many citizens are getting really fed-up and are willing to take the risk because 

 

1. many of the current and next generation leaders have been running on the coat-tails of the founding fathers 

 

2. their extra-ordinary salary when the average salary of the men in the street is about $2K plus

 

3. getting very very blatant without even bothering to "wayang properly"