The threat of prosecution came from Philip Yeo, chairman of the government's Agency for Science, Technology and Research (A*STAR), which grants research scholarships. The agency claimed it was libelled in a blog (http://www.scs.uiuc.edu/~chen6/blog) run by Jiahao Chen, a Singaporean student who is presently finishing his studies in the United States.
Under the pseudonym "Acid Flask", Chen criticised Yeo and the A*STAR scholarship system. He also agreed to have his remarks appear in the online newspaper "Electric New Paper" (http://newpaper.asia1.com.sg). Yeo sent Chen several e-mails demanding that he delete from his blog all references to him and A*STAR, and threatening legal action if he did not.
A few days later, Chen shut down his blog and posted a message of apology to Yeo in its place. Other Singaporean blogs that had reproduced the remarks quickly posted apologies or closed down as well. [IFEX]