Singapore's new laws curbing political campaigning on the Internet have led to a second current affairs portal closing down in a week.
Sintercom, which runs chat rooms, registered as a political website a month ago but was shut down as the government becomes increasingly sensitive to criticism during the economic downturn.
"They're just sending out a very clear signal. The Singapore government does not consider the Internet to be outside of other media," said assistant professor Mr Indrajit Banerjee of Nanyang Technological University's communication studies department.
The city state, which historically has kept a tight grip on mainstream media, has the highest Internet penetration rate in Asia at 48 per cent of households.
"The government position is that the economic climate is so bad that they just do not want anything else to go wrong," Mr Banerjee said.
Think Centre, a local civil rights group, closed down the Speakers' Corner Online (SCO) section of its www.thinkcentre.orgsite last week. The SCO was an online space where people could post no-holds-barred comments without using their real names.
According to the current amendments to the Parliamentary Elections Act, the centre can be charged for an offence even though the postings were by an anonymous individual.
Broadly, the new law will allow websites belonging to political parties to publish posters, manifestos, candidate profiles, party profiles, events and positions on issues.
But non-party political sites may be restricted from carrying party banners and candidate profiles. Election surveys and exit polls will also be barred.
Those found guilty of breaking the law face a year in jail and/or a maximum fine of S$1,000 ($570).