''Eastern Sun'' was an English-language

newspaper A newspaper is a periodical publication containing written information about current events and is often typed in black ink with a white or gray background. Newspapers can cover a wide variety of fields such as politics, business, sports a ...

that ran from 1966 to 1971 in

Singapore Singapore (), officially the Republic of Singapore, is a sovereign island country and city-state in maritime Southeast Asia. It lies about one degree of latitude () north of the equator, off the southern tip of the Malay Peninsula, borde ...

. In 1971, ''Eastern Sun'' was exposed for having ties to a

communist Communism (from Latin la, communis, lit=common, universal, label=none) is a far-left sociopolitical, philosophical, and economic ideology and current within the socialist movement whose goal is the establishment of a communist society, a s ...

agency in

Hong Kong Hong Kong ( (US) or (UK); , ), officially the Hong Kong Special Administrative Region of the People's Republic of China ( abbr. Hong Kong SAR or HKSAR), is a city and special administrative region of China on the eastern Pearl River Delt ...

, China, and that they would be paid to not oppose the People's Republic of China on major issues and would remain neutral on minor ones.

History

''Eastern Sun'' was founded in 1966 by Aw Kow, the son of

Tiger Balm Tiger Balm () is an analgesic heat rub manufactured and distributed by Singaporean company Haw Par Healthcare. It is used for external pain relief. History A precursor to Tiger Balm called Ban Kin Yu ( zh, t=萬金油, l=Ten Thousand Gold ...

founder Aw Boon Haw, using HK$3 million that he borrowed from a communist news agency based in Hong Kong. In return, Aw had to repay the loan at a "ridiculously low rate interest of 0.1 percent per annum". Soon after the newspaper started, they faced financial problems. From January 1967 to March 1968, communist officials gave Aw another HK$1.2 million, but with an added condition that he must appoint their representative as an adviser to the newspaper. In 1971, ''Eastern Sun'' and '' The Singapore Herald'' were both discovered to have been run using foreign funding and were accused by

Prime Minister A prime minister, premier or chief of cabinet is the head of the cabinet and the leader of the ministers in the executive branch of government, often in a parliamentary or semi-presidential system. Under those systems, a prime minister is not ...

Lee Kuan Yew on May 11 of having been involved in "black operations" through the biased news that they published. On 13 May 1971, ''Eastern Sun'' stated that they had been "unfairly lumped" with ''The Singapore Herald''. On 15 May 1971, the

government A government is the system or group of people governing an organized community, generally a state. In the case of its broad associative definition, government normally consists of legislature, executive, and judiciary. Government is a ...

released a statement saying that loans totaling HK$1.2 million had been made by a “ Communist intelligence organization in Hong Kong” to Aw. The government also stated that in all, Aw received up to HK$7.2 million in 1968. On 16 May 1971, after these accusations, the ''Eastern Sun'' shut down due to their

editor-in-chief An editor-in-chief (EIC), also known as lead editor or chief editor, is a publication's editorial leader who has final responsibility for its operations and policies. The highest-ranking editor of a publication may also be titled editor, managing ...

, Sam Krishniah, and six other senior expatriate staff leaving the newspaper. In 2019, Minister of Home Affairs

K. Shanmugam Kasiviswanathan Shanmugam ( ta, காசிவிஸ்வநாதன் சண்முகம்; born 26 March 1959), better known as K. Shanmugam, is a Singaporean politician and lawyer who has been serving as Minister for Law since 2008 ...

used the ''Eastern Sun'' and ''The Singapore Herald'' as examples in

Parliament In modern politics, and history, a parliament is a legislative body of government. Generally, a modern parliament has three functions: Representation (politics), representing the Election#Suffrage, electorate, making laws, and overseeing ...

to explain the need of baring foreigners from controlling or funding Singapore newspapers.

References

{{reflist, 30em Defunct newspapers published in Singapore English-language newspapers published in Asia 1966 establishments in Singapore 1971 disestablishments in Singapore Communist newspapers

History

See also

References