DEBATE OVER SCOPE OF NEW POWERS
The circumstances under which a minister could order the structural separation of a media entity drew questions from several MPs.
MP Yip Hon Weng (PAP-Yio Chu Kang) asked how the higher threshold of ministerial decision-making would be exercised and what considerations would guide such interventions, given the significance of such a move.
Mr Tan said structural separations would be “only imposed as a last resort and in exceptional cases”, with strict legal limits. He outlined three conditions that must be met before a separation order can be issued.
The first is a “qualifying market condition” – for instance, where a media entity owns a resource so costly to replicate that it blocks competitors from entering the market, or holds significant market power such that competitors “cannot realistically provide media services without access to their services”.
The second is that all other regulatory remedies by IMDA have been exhausted or are demonstrably inadequate. The third is that the minister must be independently satisfied that issuing the order is in the “public interest”.
MP Fadli Fawzi (WP-Aljunied) suggested the minister should publicly disclose detailed reasoning before issuing a separation order, as such powers could “raise important questions about the concentration of decision-making authority within the hands of political office holders”.
