April 08, 2019

If the Basel Committee was hosted in Singapore, could I be put in jail for 10 years?

Sir, you write “Singapore… would allow authorities to publish corrections to claims about public institutions which they deem false. Publishing such statements with “malicious intent” could incur fines up to S$1m (US$740,000) or up to 10 years in jail.”“Legislation against fake news is open to abuses”, April 8

So, if the Basel Committee for Banking Supervision was hosted in Singapore, could I be put in jail for 10 years for arguing that the regulators got it all upside down, when they set their risk weighted capital requirements for banks based on that what is ex ante perceived as risky, is more dangerous to our bank systems than what is perceived as safe. 

Of course Singapore would have to prove “malicious intent”, but perhaps for that they would consider wanting to shame the regulators as more than enough, and which is something that I would have to confess guilty of.

You write: “It [is] difficult for legitimate journalism to pierce such [fake regulations] bubbles”

Indeed Sir, but authoritarianism is also to be found here, there and everywhere.

@PerKurowski