The Speakers' Corner rules are much clearer now.

The Ministry of Home Affairs (MHA) announced in a press release on Oct. 21 that Singapore citizens and Singapore entities can now organise or assist in the organising of an event there.

And that foreign entities will need a permit (from Nov. 1) before they can do so.

So let's address the pink elephant in the room.

What do the key changes mean for the Speakers' Corner's organisers and attendees?

1. MHA: "The existing exemptions for Singapore citizens will now be extended to Singapore entities... Singapore entities can organise or assist in the organising of an event without the need for a permit".

What this means: Foreign entities will need a permit if they want to sponsor, promote the event or organise its members or employees to participate in the event.

What this really means: Bye bye liberal international companies. Hello liberal local companies.

For instance, Pink Dot's list of 18 corporate sponsors will be greatly diminished if they did not apply for permits. In fact, all of Pink Dot's 2016 headlining sponsors are foreign entities (12 of them) -- Google, Barclays, J.P. Morgan, Goldman Sachs, BP, Bloomberg, Twitter, Apple, Facebook, General Electric and NBCUniversal, Visa Inc. This leaves Pink Dot with a few clearly local firms like the Gunnery, a law firm and a cafe.

2. MHA: "A Singapore entity includes entities which are incorporated or registered in Singapore and controlled by a majority of Singapore citizens."

What this means: There is much clarity over who can really organise and sponsor an event at Hong Lim park without permit. MHA said that "in the case of a company, it must be incorporated under the Companies Act in Singapore, the majority of its directors must be Singapore citizens and the majority of its ownership must be held by Singapore citizens or one or more Singapore entities".

What this really means: With the inclusion of local entities, the space for the Speakers' Corner appeared to have expanded.

Such a shift can be seen from a parliamentary exchange in 2000 that showed then Home Affairs Minister Wong Kan Seng setting out some Speakers' corner ground rules that included the following: 1) the speaker must be a Singapore citizen; 2) the speaker must register his intention to speak before he makes his speech; 3) The speech should not be religious in nature, and should not have the potential to cause feelings of enmity, hatred, ill-will or hostility between different racial or religious groups.

About 16 years later, the government has allowed not only Singaporeans but Singaporean companies to organise events and they can do so without permit.

3. MHA: "The conditions applicable to public speaking at the Speakers’ Corner will be extended to include speaking through remote means".

What this means: Singaporeans can record messages via tele-conferencing or pre-recorded messages without applying for permit.

What this really means: "Dissidents" who did not give up their Singaporean citizenship, can say "Hi" publicly to their friends and relatives. These include those who are living in the United States, United Kingdom, Australia and Thailand.

Nice.

Top photo via Wikimedia

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