MDA blocks extramarital dating website

 By Walter Sim And Feng Zengkun

 Published on Nov 09, 2013

The Straits Times

EXTRAMARITAL dating website Ashley Madison has been banned here, after Singaporeans objected to its recent announcement that it was setting up a local portal. The Media Development Authority (MDA) said yesterday that it has worked with Internet service providers to block access to the site. Normal attempts to access the Canadian-based website from within Singapore brought the following message: "The website you are trying to access is restricted by the MDA." But as of last night, the website could still be accessed through virtual private networks. The site's ".sg" domain featured a woman holding a finger to her lips, with the site announcing it was "coming in November", and inviting people to register.

The MDA said the Government has a pragmatic and light- touch approach to regulating the Internet, and that it blocks a limited number of sites - most of which are pornographic - as a "symbolic statement". But Ashley Madison was targeted because it "stood out". "It aggressively promotes and facilitates extramarital affairs and has declared that it will specifically target Singaporeans," said the MDA. "It is against the public interest to allow Ashley Madison to promote its website in flagrant disregard of our family values and public morality."

But the authority recognises that site blocking is "not a perfect way" because it can be circumvented.

Ashley Madison, which was set to be launched here in the week of Nov 17 at the earliest, would have been made available in all four official languages, The Straits Times understands.

Members pay the website to contact each other. The brand reached Asia this year, first with a Japan site in June, followed by a Hong Kong site in August. Many Singaporeans, including Minister for Social and Family Development Chan Chun Sing, have rejected the proposed local edition.

Almost 27,000 people showed their opposition by supporting a "Block Ashley Madison - Singapore" Facebook page. 

The National Family Council yesterday said it welcomed the MDA move to block access to the website, which is "detrimental to the foundations of a family". Chairman Ching Wei Hong said: "We are heartened by the responses of many Singaporeans who stood together with us... upholding the importance of commitment and fidelity in marriage." Mr Seah Kian Peng, chairman of the Government Parliamentary Committee for Social and Family Development, said he was "happy" to hear of the ban. He had filed a question for the Parliament session next Monday asking whether the site would be allowed here. "It is true that if people want to cheat, they can seek other avenues. But we should not make it any easier, knowing full well the intentions of the website," he said.

But others like marriage counsellor Tammy Fontana, 43, did not think banning the site would reduce instances of adultery. The lead therapist of All In The Family Counselling said: "People have been cheating long before there have been websites."

Extramarital dating site Ashley Madison 'not welcome' in Singapore

By Hannah Strange, agencies

25 Oct 2013

The planned local launch of notorious extramarital dating website Ashley Madison has sparked a public outcry in conservative Singapore. Extramarital dating website  Ashley Madison has raised social hackles around the world with its promotion of adultery. But in Singapore, its forthcoming launch has been met with staunch opposition, as residents and politicians insist its maxim that "Life is short. Have an affair" is unwelcome in the conservative city-state.

Singapore's minister for social and family development spoke out against the Canada-based website's planned expansion into the state next  year, saying it was damaging to the institution of marriage. "I do not welcome such a website into Singapore. I'm against any company or website that harms marriage," Chan Chun Sing said in a Facebook post. "Promoting infidelity undermines trust and commitment between a husband and wife, which are core to marriage," he said in the post, which he said was in response to media reports of the planned local launch. "Our marriage vows make it clear that marriage is a lifelong commitment between a man and a woman. This includes staying faithful to one another."

Ashley Madison, which facilitates "married dating, discreet encounters and extramarital affairs", has over 20 million users worldwide and has recently been pushing into Asia with launches in India, Hong Kong and Japan. The reported advance into Singapore, a society known for its strict social mores, has also prompted a Facebook petition with a rapidly swelling list  of supporters - over 13,000 between its establishment on Wednesday and Friday morning.

The petition, "Block Ashley Madison from corrupting Singapore", states its objective is to "gather sound-minded people to express our objection to the establishment of the shameless company, Ashley Madison, that thrives on shattered marriages, in Singapore".

Marriage is heavily promoted by the state in Singapore in order to increase the country's flagging birth rate, with government-supported dating services which encourage couples to marry earlier and have more children. Singaporeans are said to have some of the least active sex lives in the world, with surveys  by British condom maker Durex regularly scoring them low on both sexual frequency and satisfaction. 

Long regarded as a prudish society, where deviation from social norms is met with disapproval and even punishment, Singapore's growing affluence and a large influx of tourists and expatriates have helped liberalise attitudes in recent years. But the government and church groups, however, continue  to promote conservative values, and non-heterosexual sex remains a crime despite growing public acceptance of gay and lesbian lifestyles.