The Singapore Commentator

Following a speech to the Foreign Correspondents' Association yesterday, Minister Mentor Lee Kuan Yew was asked about the international press freedom survey which ranked Singapore together with the likes of North Korea and Iraq. His response:

We know what is in our interest and we intend to preserve our interests and what we have is working. The media here does not produce just a string of praise for the government. It has to retain credibility and to do so, there must be hard facts.

This question, of course, has been asked to a few other leaders as well, with similar responses.

Sometimes, I think that journalists like to play games with politicians. Some of them must be hoping to hear an answer like: "Yes folks, here in Singapore, we suppress the press. We need a docile press to sell our policies. And by the way, you get six years for asking that question."

Well, maybe not the last part.