Jayakumar Report

The Jayakumar Report was a 1981 review of the then stringent film and publication censorship rules in Singapore. It was written by a seven-member panel appointed by the Government and headed by MP for Bedok and former dean of the NUS Law Faculty, Prof S Jayakumar. The document enunciated the nation's censorship objectives and principles.

The committee which had been meeting once a week in May 1981 was expected to put up less stringent censorship laws by the end of the year.

The other members of the committee were the MP for Buona Vista, Prof Ang Kok Peng; the principal of Katong Convent, Marie Bong; an English lecturer at the Institute of Education, Goh Soo Tian; businesswoman and freelance columnist with The Straits Times, Li Lienfung, an assistant director of the Culture Ministry, Lai Choon Seng and editor of The Sunday Times, Zainul Abidin Rasheed.

The Jayakumar Report may be thought of as a predecessor of the Censorship Review Committee (CRC) formed ten years later, in 1991. The Report took a slow and cautious approach to censorship, highlighting the need for the maintenance of racial harmony, protection of the young, and preservation of moral fibre and Asian values - elements that the CRC would later continue to uphold. The committee proclaimed that it saw no need for major changes to the existing censorship guidelines for films. However, it did suggest greater flexibility in censorship to take into account context and theme as well as the different impact of different media. It also recommended the creation of advisory committees to give the public a say in the censorship process.

=See also=
 * Singapore gay censorship
 * Censorship Review Committee

=References=
 * "Seven-man panel to review censorship", The Straits Times, 21 May 1981.

=Acknowledgements=

This article was written by Roy Tan.