TR Emeritus

TR Emeritus (TRE, formerly Temasek Review Emeritus) is a socio-political blog and one of the alternative media that emerged in Singapore in the 2000s. While Malaysian newspaper The Star recognised it to have Opposition sympathies,[1][2] according to SPH-owned The New Paper, "News website Temasek Review has earned a reputation for its sharply critical views of the Government,"[3] and the Jakarta Globe described the Temasek Review as "one of Singapore’s few independent web sites".[4]

Changes of name

It was founded in 2004[5] as Wayang Party, and renamed Temasek Review in 2009,[6] using an old name for Singapore. In late 2010, it was involved in a dispute with government-linked corporation Temasek Holdings over its name. Temasek Holdings argued that Temasek Review had been used as the name of the company's annual report since 2004 and that the Javanese word Temasek was "indisputably associated with Temasek [Holdings]" and that the website "was just trying to capitalise on the goodwill and reputation" linked to it.[6][7] The website was renamed Temasek Review Emeritus on 25 May 2011. After a period offline, it was relaunched as TR Emeritus in December of that year. The shortened name was chosen to avoid trademark complications with Temasek Holdings.[8]

Closure and relaunch in 2011

Facing restrictions in both income and contributors, and unable to upgrade hardware to cope with increasing demand, the site's editor Amanda Tan announced on 7 April 2011 that it would close in July.[5] She acknowledged the existence of pressure from the Government, but said that its effects were minimal and there had been no direct official request to close. Ang Peng Hwa, professor of journalism at Nanyang Technological University, described the closure as "definitely a loss for the blogsphere and also for critical discourse in Singapore".[5][9]

In late April 2011, Temasek Review complained that it had been hit with a distributed denial of service (DDOS) attack during the height of the 2011 general elections campaign coverage.[10][11] Another online site, The Online Citizen, made a similar announcement.[12] Temasek Review was recorded by Experian Hitwise as receiving a significant proportion of internet traffic from search engines during the campaign.[13]

In August 2011, Tan announced that the website had gained additional financial support and that the team behind it intended to keep it running for at least five years. She also pledged "to improve and try to balance the articles on our site to cater to readers from all camps," aiming to be "by Singaporeans for Singaporeans".[14]

Temasek Review Emeritus was taken offline without explanation on 5 September 2011.[15] It returned as TR Emeritus on 18 December 2011 with a new banner describing the site as TR Emeritus: The Voice of Singaporeans for Singapore.[8]

References
  1. Nee, Seah Chiang (15 January 2011). "Newbies a rising force". The Star. Archived from the original on 16 January 2011. Retrieved 4 May 2011.
  2. PANDIYAN, M.VEERA (21 April 2011). "Polls – From S'wak to S'pore". The Star. Retrieved 4 May 2011.
  3. Ng, Wan Ching (11 October 2011). "Is he the man behind Temasek Review?". The New Paper. Retrieved 4 May 2011.
  4. "For Singapore Elections, More Space for the Dissenting View". Jakarta Globe. 6 April 2011. Archived from the original on 25 September 2012. Retrieved 4 May 2011.
  5. "Socio-political website to shut down". Yahoo Singapore. 7 April 2011.
  6. "Temasek Review dispute unresolved". Business Times (Singapore). 23 October 2010. Retrieved 4 May 2011.
  7. Chang, Rachel (20 October 2010). "Temasek Review Renamed". The Straits Times. Retrieved 4 May 2011.
  8. "Thank you for your support!". TR Emeritus. 21 December 2011. Archived from the original on 26 May 2012. Retrieved 20 December 2011.
  9. "Temasek Review to shut down after July". ChannelNewsAsia. 7 April 2011.
  10. "Singapore debates the PAP's future". Asia Sentinel. 25 April 2011. Retrieved 4 May 2011.
  11. http://www2.irrawaddy.com/article.php?art_id=21174&page=2
  12. Nee, Seah Chiang (16 January 2010). "Readying for the real cyberbrawl". The Star. Archived from the original on 17 October 2012. Retrieved 4 May 2011.
  13. "CNA most visited site in lead-up to GE". ChannelNewsAsia. 10 May 2011.
  14. "Temasek Review Emeritus to continue operations". Yahoo News Singapore. 2 August 2011. Retrieved 22 September 2011.
  15. Tan, Lediati (28 September 2011). "Temasek Review website down". The New Paper. Archived from the original on 23 September 2011. Retrieved 22 September 2011.
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