In the fall of 1987 Asiaweek , a Hong Kong-based weekly owned by Time Inc., also ran up against Singapore’s press laws. The magazine ran a cover story on September 13 called “Battle Against Leftism,” by Lisa Beyer. The piece covered Operation Spectrum, a security initiative against social activists in Singapore, many of whom were affiliated with the Catholic Church but whom the government arrested as Marxists plotting a coup. Beyer’s piece focused on the detainees, held without trial under a new internal security act, and hinted that their confessions had been extracted under torture.

The next day, Chin Fook Leong, press secretary to the Home Affairs minister, wrote to the magazine. Asiaweek published an edited version of the letter under Chin’s name, with the title “A Distortion of Facts, You Say?” Chin wrote in again, and the Ministry of Information said in a press statement, “[w]ithout Chin’s consent or disclosing it to their readers, Asiaweek had deleted significant parts of the original letter and added more than 470 words... thereby altering its focus.” ^[31]

Asiaweek ’s editor-in-chief, Michael O’Neill, wrote to the prime minister and asked him to look into the correspondence. Prime Minister Lee suggested that O’Neill publish both letters verbatim, and publish the magazine’s reply separately. When O’Neill refused, the Ministry of Information alleged that the magazine had written a slanted article that “mislead its readers” on a matter “concerning the internal security of Singapore.” ^[32] Asiaweek ’s circulation was cut by 94 percent, from 9,000 to 500 copies.