SINGAPORE: Authorities in Singapore will take a firm stand against any leaks in official government documents.
The Home Affairs Ministry made this clear in Parliament on Monday in response to questions on the impact of WikiLeaks on Singapore.
Like many other countries, Singapore was affected by the WikiLeaks revelations of US cables.
MP for Hong Kah GRC
Zaqy Mohamad wanted to know if Singapore plans to implement new measures
to prevent classified information from falling into the wrong hands.
In
response, Law Minister K Shanmugam said the country has clear policies
and measures to prevent security breaches, under the Official Secrets
Act, which covers even the layman.
The Government has on occasion charged private citizens over their roles in leaking Government data.
Mr Shanmugam cited a proposed Shield Bill in the US which seeks to prevent such leaks.
The law applies to all including non-Government employees.
Opponents of the law in the US argue that this should not apply to private citizens.
They say freedom of information should be protected, but it is a different approach in Singapore.
"If
recipients of official information who are not themselves public
servants cannot be prosecuted or prevented from publishing it, it would
create an unacceptable situation where people outside (the) Government
would have every incentive to obtain confidential information from
public servants in every way possible," Mr Shanmugam said.
"And
public servants would constantly be weighing the benefits to themselves
of releasing the confidential information against the likelihood of
getting caught and punished.
"Meanwhile, the broader public interest will suffer.
"We
believe that everyone involved in a leak of information, whether in
Government or outside, should be dealt with firmly. We do not intend to
encourage cat and mouse games.
"Public interest in free flow of information cannot justify the abuse of confidential Government information." he said.
On
the same issue, Foreign Affairs Minister George Yeo said the selective
disclosure of communications divorced from their context will only serve
to sow public confusion.
He added it would also undermine
essential work of governments, particularly when many of the leaks were
interpretations of US diplomats on conversations they heard.
That was the reason Singapore does not comment on specific leaks.
Mr Yeo added diplomats need to be candid in their analysis, with the assurance of confidentiality.
"So
I think it's not wise for us to go into details (because) then people
will ask, 'so you didn't say this? You said this, Did you say that?'
"And if we allow such a train of questioning, then eventually everything comes out!" Mr Yeo said.
Describing
WikiLeaks as "disastrous" for US diplomacy, Mr Yeo acknowledged that
Singapore officials would need to be more guarded, not just in their
talks with the US but with any country, given the advent of technology.
He added the advent of sophisticated miniature recording
devices will also mean a loss to human relationships because one "must
be able to share more when you trust someone more".
Mr Yeo also
revealed he had called his Malaysian counterpart Anifa Aman following a
report in Channel NewsAsia, quoting Mr Anifa as saying that the
WikiLeaks incident has a created a setback in bilateral relations.
The US cables had allegedly quoted remarks made by Singapore diplomats over Malaysia's leadership and politics.
Mr Yeo said he told Mr Anifa that "there were significant inaccuracies in some of the leaked reports".
He added both also agreed on the importance of good bilateral relations and strengthening cooperation further.
-CNA/wk
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