The Prime Minister was bothered greatly by the article."The government's formal position is that it will accept criticism from foreign publications so long as it is factually correct, the government is given the right of reply, and the criticism does not constitute interference in Singapore's domestic politics."
In a letter to an executive at Dow Jones, the parent company of Asia Wall Street Journal, a Singoporean government official quoted a court ruling clarifing the definition of "domestic politics": "... In the context of Singapore, domestic politics would in our view, include the political system of Singapore and the political ideology underpinning it, the public institutions that are a manifestation of the system and the policies of the government of the day that give life to the political system..." (The Economist, August 11, 1990, pg.42)