Singapore censors told to loosen up

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Policy/Legal News

Singapore's Censorship Review Committee is recommending that the country become slightly less buttoned up and that content regulation become more pragmatic.

The committee, which spent nearly a year deliberating, recommends the introduction of a new PG-13 film classification. It also recommends wider distribution for sexually explicit R-21 films.

Headed by Goh Yew Lin, the committee recommended that the current top-down regulatory environment be replaced with a tri-partite approach involving government, industry and consumers. That would in turn allow parents and consumers greater choice and better-informed choices.

The proposal that R-21 films should be allowed to be shown in suburban cinemas (currently they are only allowed in downtown theatres) and on pay-TV, immediately triggered shock-horror headlines. But the committee sees its recommendation as realistic, given that content of all kinds is available on the Internet which has made media regulation less effective.

"The pace of change in new media is beginning to outpace our ability to cope from a regulatory perspective. Next-generation broadband services and the growing convergence of television with personal computers will lead to even more consumers accessing films through the Internet, bypassing our local regulatory framework," the committee said in a statement.

In one other controversial area the committee made a modestly progressive recommendation. In another it seemed to suggest that the status quo be maintained.

"Censorship decisions should be sensitive to context. Depiction is not necessarily promotion, and discussion is not necessarily incitement," said the report and added "a flexible and contextual approach for homosexual content should be adopted."

For film festivals – which have seen films with political and homosexual themes banned – the committee said "the current approach of giving greater leeway for films screened at film festivals to encourage film appreciation and audience development for niche performances should be continued." It added: "The films should nevertheless meet the fundamental guidelines of not undermining public order or the nation's security, denigrating race or religion or eroding moral values with extreme content."

Explaining the idea of a PG-13 category Vijay Chandra, chairman of the Films Consultative Panel, said that The Dark Knight was rated PG, meaning that even primary school age children could watch it, although its violence may have upset parents. However, he said that an NC-16 rating would have been unwarranted.

As a consequence of the result of a PG-13 rating being introduced, Chandra said that the average PG film would then become "milder and more innocuous."

The committee recommended that the current outright ban of over 100 websites be replaced with systems of filters and that banning only be used for sites promoting terrorism and extreme racial or religious hate.

"We're not saying that the government is not responsible or should not be responsible. Government has a key role to play, but that role should be in support of parents making choices and guiding their children appropriately," said Goh at a media conference.

The committees also said that technological tools, such as filters, already exist but are little known or used and that they are sometimes too complicated.

In total the committee made some 80 recommendations – including dropping the word censorship from the title of future review committees – to the Ministry of Information, Communications and the Arts. The ministry is expected to respond within a month.

The last film to be banned in the country was Dr Lim Hock Siew, a documentary about a Singaporean politician who was jailed for 19 years on suspicion of being a Communist. The ministry described the film as being "against public interest."

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