January 30, 2003

`Inexpensive' may prove costly in litigious Singapore.
Eric Ellis, Singapore

THE sensitive little petals of Singapore are feeling it again.
The leading state-owned bank in a country whose political and business elite have the world's most impressive record at winning libel actions - albeit ones fought in their own courts - is taking on US magazine BusinessWeek.
It's the city state's latest foreign press libel stoush and this time the case centres on the use of the word "inexpensive". That's how BusinessWeek described, in passing, a loan offer made by the Singapore government-controlled DBS Group to a planned management buyout of the government-owned steelmaker, NatSteel.
The apparently offensive word was contained in an otherwise favourable article last September for Ho Ching, the eldest daughter-in-law of political strongman Lee Kuan Yew, about how she's reforming Singapore's raft of companies controlled by the state company, Temasek Holdings.
At the time of the perceived libel, Ho's Temasek ultimately controlled both DBS and NatSteel. Temasek and DBS have a common chairman, Suppiah Dhanabalan, a long-time political ally of Lee.
The DBS suit, fought by prominent libel lawyer and an MP in Lee's ruling People's Action Party, K. Shanmugam, alleges the magazine "injured [the plaintiffs'] credit and reputation" and brought DBS Group and DBS Bank into "public scandal, odium and contempt".
Singapore's elite, about whom it's said see defamation in a harsh light, have fought, and beaten, The Asian Wall Street Journal, Time, Asiaweek and Bloomberg, among other international names respected for their accuracy and authority. A common link among these mastheads is that each has operations in Singapore and are thus subject to Singaporean penalties.
But a libel action is new ground for BusinessWeek, the magazine selected by Singapore's leadership to portray its supposed reform of its state sector. Its correspondent was given preferred access to Singapore's leaders, who promoted a shake-up at Temasek, and defended the suggestions of nepotism that followed Ho's appointment as the most senior executive in Singapore Inc.
The powers-that-be seemed pleased enough with BusinessWeek's June articles, which were subsequently reproduced in the state-controlled media. The September article, essentially a follow-up to June's favourable coverage, earned a libel suit, however.
Unlike Bloomberg, which last year quickly settled a $500,000 action brought by Ho's husband and father-in-law, as well as Singapore Prime Minister Goh Chok Tong, BusinessWeek said it will "deny each and every allegation made in the statement of claim" by DBS Group and DBS Bank.