Jeremy Lim
Singapore came in 2nd among 12 countries for media access to government information, in a new study by Austria-based International Press Institute (IPI). The study, done earlier this year, measured the willingness and speed of government sources in answering questions from journalists.
Study Objectives
The ‘Accessing Governments’ project addresses the barriers that journalists face when seeking basic government information. IPI believes that access to such information is crucial for journalists to carry out their vital work of holding governments accountable and keeping the public informed. IPI also states that preventing journalists from accessing information hinders accurate reporting. Thus, the study aimed to survey and compare the difficulties that journalists around the world face in obtaining government information.
Study Procedure
IPI engaged local media organisations to request information from three government offices – the head of government, Justice Ministry and Parliament. The questions:
To Head of Government
1) What was the President / Prime Minister’s salary in 2008?
2) What were the travel costs incurred by the President / Prime Minister while on state visits in 2008?
To Justice Ministry
1) What was the Justice Minister’s salary in 2008?
2) How many pieces of draft legislation were introduced by the Justice Ministry in 2008?
To Parliament
1) What is the salary for a parliamentarian?
2) How many parliamentarians have held their seat for more than 10 years?
Government offices were then graded on their response time, based on the guidelines below:
| Hours | 0-3 | 3-24 | 24-48 | 48-120 | Over 120 |
| Points | 20 | 10 | 5 | 2.5 | 0 |
Singapore’s Results
The questions were asked by the Straits Times. Four answers were already readily available to the public.
For the question on the Prime Minister’s travel costs, the press secretary replied on the same day, saying that the PM was overseas and “suggested that the information could be given after the trip”. Subsequently, an officer from the Ministry of Information, Communications and the Arts contacted the Straits Times to say that they would be able to provide the information in a day or two. The answer was given after 3 days.
For the question on the salary of the Minister for Home Affairs, the Straits Times was directed within a day to an online source. However, this stated the 2007 salary instead of the 2008 one, costing Singapore 5 points.
Here are the rankings:
| Rank | Country | Total Points |
| 1 | Australia | 120 |
| 2 | Singapore | 115 |
| 3 | Serbia | 100 |
| 4 | India | 95 |
| 5 | The Philippines | 85 |
| 6 | United Kingdom | 75 |
| 7 | United States | 60 |
| 8 | Russia | 47.5 |
| 9 | Argentina | 40 |
| 12 | Turkey | 0 |
| 12 | Yemen | 0 |
| 12 | Kenya | 0 |
Study Conclusion
IPI believes that the poor performance of Turkey, Yemen and Kenya demonstrates the “clear difficulty reporters there could face while writing about the government”. IPI also urges these governments to review the necessary infrastructure for providing timely and accurate information.
It was also noted that Parliament press offices tended to outperform the smaller government offices. IPI said this could possibly be because Parliament information officers are more accustomed to dealing with information requests in a non-partisan manner.
See the full IPI report.
Limitations of the study
The study set a low bar: the questions were designed to seek straightforward information that should be easily available without the need to invoke Freedom of Information laws. Singapore does not have right to information or open government laws, which means that journalists cannot demand information that officials do not want to release, especially information that is potentially embarrassing to the government. A more uncomfortable set of questions might not have put Singapore in such a positive light. Other studies have rated Singapore poorly in political transparency, though it does well in economic and institutional transparency. See "Is Singapore Highly Transparent or Not?"
About the International Press Institute
The International Press Institute is a global network of editors, media executives and journalists. It promotes press freedom, freedom of opinion and expression, the free flow of news and information, and the improvement of journalistic practices.
Click here to visit their website.