Imagethief

In a very interesting roundup of articles on press freedom, Simon, of Simon World, posted a segment of a South China Morning Post article (subscription) in which former Singaporean PM Goh Chock Tong makes a vigorous and unapologetic defense of the country's dismal showing in Reporters Sans Frontieres' annual roundup of press freedom. Singapore came in a dismal 140th out of 167 countries surveyed (China, exceeding all expectations, was 159th). Said Mr. Goh:

"Western liberals often argue that press freedom is a necessary ingredient of democracy and that it is the fourth estate to check elected governments, especially against corruption," he said in a speech on Monday night.

"But a free press by western standards does not always lead to a clean and efficient government or contribute to economic freedom and prosperity."

Paris-based media watchdog Reporters Without Borders ranked Singapore, Southeast Asia's wealthiest society, 140th out of 167 countries in its 2005 Press Freedom Index, behind much poorer countries in Asia and Africa.

Hong Kong ranked 39th, and China 159th.

Stalinist state North Korea was again at the bottom of the list, while Denmark, Finland, Iceland, Ireland, the Netherlands, Norway and Switzerland were jointly ranked first.

"I have taken the Reporters Without Borders Press Freedom Index at face value. It is a subjective measure computed through the prism of western liberals," Mr Goh said at a dinner marking the fifth anniversary of local newspaper Today.

Those cursed western liberals again! Who are those people, and why the hell won't they shut up? And why won't somebody take away their prism? And this from the man with the reputation as Singapore's warm and fuzzy PM, in between the sterner Lees, pere et fils.

Singapore can take comfort, however, in the fact that it still beat such scoundrels as Zimbabwe, Laos, Burma, Cuba, Iran etc. The top ten, meanwhile, is dominated by Scandinavan countries. What is it with the Scandinavians? Don't those people have anything better to to do than show up the rest of the world with their damnable transparency, fine cars and gorgeous, blonde women*? Bring back the Vikings, I say. We'll see how the Norsemen rate after they cleave a few skulls.

Now, people who read this blog regularly will know that I was a longtime resident of Singapore. I am married to a Singaporean, and my kids will grow up there (if they let me back in). I have a deep affection for the country and a stake in its future. I also have high respect for its government, which, against all odds, transformed a malarial swamp into a completely first-world city and bestowed prosperity upon the great mass of its citizens. And Singapore does, of course, have a splendidly clean government. It's practically Scandinavian, although less blond.

That's why it pains me to have my intelligence insulted by these kinds of lame protestations. They ought to be smarter than that. One of the reasons why I had to get out of Singapore for a while was that I got tired of the front page, above-the-fold headline in the newspaper being a government headline almost every single day. Even the China Daily doesn't manage that feat.

The argument made by the former PM is that a free press doesn't always lead to a clean and efficient government or economic prosperity. Modern Singapore is clearly a proof-point in his favor. But this is like thinking back on the late jogging guru Jim Fixx and arguing that exercising doesn't always prevent heart attacks, and it could kill you, so, as I'm healthy now, why bother?

The problem is that a free press is a preventative measure. You don't miss it when everything is working well. You miss it when things go to shit, as they are prone to do. Those are the times when your institutions need to be up to the challenge of keeping the nation on course. As long as Singapore's government is a model of probity, fabulous. Who needs a nosy media with a political jones? If, however, that ever changes, one of the weapons to ensure that Singapore doesn't follow the rest of Southeast Asia into banana-republichood will be a free and vigorous press. How long do you want to roll the dice for?

Let's compare two tables that have been cited in this blog recently. One is RFS' press freedom list (proxy link). The other is Transparency International's corruption perception index. As a lark, I've taken the top ten countries from the TI list and added in their ranks from the RSF list. If you look really, really carefully, you'll notice that one country not like the others:

Country	TI Rank	RSF Rank
Iceland	1	1
Finland	2	1
New Zealand	3	12
Denmark	4	1
Singapore	5	140
Sweden	6	12
Switzerland	7	1
Norway	8	1
Australia**	9	31
Austria	10	16

Wow. The Asian exception, right before our eyes.

So a free press isn't strictly necessary for a clean government. But the correlation between the two seems pretty high, as does the correlation at the other end of the spectrum. Singapore sure is bucking the trend. Congratulations; I hope the luck holds out. The top Asian finisher on the RSF list is Japan, at 38, by the way. They come in at 21 on TIs list.

Let's turn our attention to this idea of a "western" free press. You ever notice how Asians seem to positively thrive when they move to countries with a free press? I get really tired of seeing the idea of a free press demonized as some kind of rowdy, western pretension that has no place in decorous Asian society. Looking at Asian history, it seems much more likely that a free press has simply been inconvenient to the authoritarian and dynastic governments that have been the norm in much of the region over the decades.

In fact, this weakest of all arguments against press freedom often comes from governments so irredeemable that Singapore's government, which is superb in so many ways, should be loathe to associate itself with them. The idea of a free press as a western cultural value belongs in the rhetorical trash heap along with "our people aren't ready for western-style democracy". That idea, recently floated for the nth time in China's odious democracy "white paper", has already been demolished by the thriving democracies in Japan, India, Indonesia, Taiwan and Korea, imperfect though some of them may be. The idea that a free press is inappropriate for Asia should follow it into oblivion. Especially in Singapore, which is perfectly infatuated with many other things that sparkle through the liberal, western prism, including global capitalism, casinos integrated resorts, American Idol and beach raves.

I accept that different countries do have different values, and that there need to be limits to freedom of speech, and, by extension, the press. Even the US has them (no yelling "fire!" in a crowded movie theater). A few sound and judiciously applied laws should give Singapore the leeway to preserve ethnic and religious harmony, and even those fragile, Asian cultural values. And if they still absolutely, positively have to justify restrictions on media, they should find some other, less annoying way of doing it. A PR pro could help you come up with something. Call me.

Clean government and a free press aren't things that happen in isolation. They go hand-in-hand because ultimately they depend upon each other, tricky though the relationship can sometimes be. An independent media keeps watch on the government. A good government understands the value of a free press to the nation. This should be as true in Uganda, Uruguay or Upper Volta as it is in the USA. A shame that it isn't.

Note: I am good friends with many SPH journalists. I know full well of their talent and their frustrations. No criticism of them is intended.

*Imagethief has been in Asia for so long that he now finds white women impossibly remote and mysterious.

**Also a wierd result, but we are inclined to forgive the Australians, who, after all, have to maintain species harmony between the sheep, rabbits and cane toads.