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Mapping out a solution to haze
Minister: New online rules won’t have major effect on content
Don’t drag political issues here, foreigners told

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SINGAPORE will seek several concrete outcomes at an Asean haze meeting in Kuala Lumpur next week, and topping the agenda is an urgent push for Indonesia to provide official and accurate land concession maps.

These maps, combined with satellite technology, will be instrumental in holding companies or individuals who clear land illegally to account, Environment and Water Resources Minister Vivian Balakrishnan said.

"Without those maps, it's very difficult for me to point fingers ... authoritatively, bearing in mind that these activities occur in another sovereign land."

Dr Balakrishnan, one of five ministers who addressed Parliament yesterday on the haze issue, will lead a delegation to Malaysia for the three-day meeting, which begins on Monday.

There, Singapore will urge other participating countries – Brunei, Indonesia, Malaysia, and Thailand – to agree on a date for launching a sub-regional haze monitoring system. It will help identify errant companies whose activities contributed to the air quality soaring to record hazardous levels last month.

The meeting will be the 15th time the Sub-Regional Ministerial Steering Committee on Transboundary Haze Pollution is coming together. The group was formed in 2006 to help Indonesia combat the annual haze, which has dogged the region for years.

As the haze is not just an environmental problem, Dr Balakrishnan said Singapore will also ask for high-level officials from all relevant agencies and ministries in the five countries to be involved in tackling the scourge.

It will also urge Indonesia to renew a collaboration on fire prevention and sustainable farming practices, and to commit to ratifying an Asean Transboundary Haze Pollution Agreement as soon as possible.

Indonesia is the only Asean country yet to ratify the 2002 agreement, a point made by MPs like Zaqy Mohamad (Chua Chu Kang GRC) .

At least 15 MPs asked about the haze, while various members of the House had tabled 30 questions for the session. — The Straits Times / Asia News Network

Minister: New online rules won’t have major effect on content

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The new rules for online news sites mark a refinement and not a major shift in content standards, said Communications and Information Minister Yaacob Ibrahim.

This was why the government decided to hold consultations with the 10 news sites that would come under the regime rather than the wider Internet community. It does not believe that the new regulations will have an impact on the overwhelming majority of Internet content providers, he told the Parliament yesterday.

It is now in talks with the 10 websites that will come under the new framework. The process started in May and it will take two to three months more to work out the details of the licensing conditions.

Dr Yaacob added that the Government would nonetheless continue to engage stakeholders to allay any concern they may have.

He was responding to queries from members of both the opposition and the ruling party on the rolling out of the regulation, including its prior consultation process.

Zaqy Mohamad (Chua Chu Kang GRC) and Non-Constituency MP Yee Jenn Jong felt the rules, which came into effect on June 1 – three days after they were announced –seemed to have been unveiled in a rush.

Non-Constituency MP Lina Chiam, who filed an adjournment motion on the topic, said they "were dropped like a bomb" on the public.

Dr Yaacob noted in his reply that since 1996, most websites had come under the class licence scheme which has rules spelling out prohibited content, such as content that infringes on public decency or public harmony.

Now, the Government wants news websites to have individual licences, so that they are placed on a "more consistent regulatory basis" with traditional news outlets such as newspapers, which must obtain individual licences too. — The Straits Times / Asia News Network

Don’t drag political issues here, foreigners told

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Singapore takes a "strong stand" against foreigners who import their domestic issues here, and categorically disallows any such campaigning, said Second Home Affairs Minister S. Iswaran.

He was responding to questions in Parliament by Zaqy Mohamad (Chua Chu Kang GRC) and Non-Constituency MP Lina Chiam on foreigners' political activity in Singapore.

During the recent Malaysian general election, the then-Johor Menteri Besar Abdul Ghani Othman had visited Singapore during the hustings, which raised questions on whether he was campaigning in Singapore. In May, a protest was held at Merlion Park by Malaysians about the election results.

Iswaran said foreigners, be they politicians or social activists, would not be allowed to conduct any political activity that would contravene Singapore's laws and disturb public order.

"Foreigners who reside, work in or visit Singapore should be mindful that their activities must conform with the laws in Singapore," said Iswaran. — The Straits Times / Asia News Network

Kredit: www.thestar.com.my

Rabu, 10 Julai 2013