Friday, March 27, 2009
Regulation of political commentary on the Internet in Singapore
No one should be too surprised about this.
Political podcasts have existed ever since political campaigning was introduced with the intention of influencing the mindset of the public concerning the government. Western countries allow podcasts to be disseminated around, but bad news, not for Singapore.
Nearing elections, the Singapore government has taken steps in banning political podcasts so as to ensure that the election will be conducted fairly. In my opinion, I do agree with the government’s point of view to an extent. Consider the Internet, accessed by many Singaporeans a day. Online political podcasts will be able to be viewed from homes from all over Singapore, thereby being able to have a greater influence over the public opinions on the government. Podcasts which either slam the government for certain decisions or are blatantly propaganda will influence the netizens’ decisions on which party to nominate for. If these political podcasts are not under the regulation of the government, it will negatively affect the integrity of the election process.
As Dr. Lee said, “Political campaigning should not be turned into “info-tainment”, where the line between fact and fiction gets blurred, and people get worked up without understanding the substantive issues.” It is hard to set things right on the Internet if podcasts display wrong information, resulting in netizens misunderstanding the facts and making wrong decisions. Political instability is something that the government does not want to happen, especially now during the current turbulent times when we are still attempting to recover from the economic crisis. The people have to keep in mind that the current ruling party has been doing a great job, especially in handling the financial crisis, and that any major cases of political instability may actually have a major negative impact on the nation. That is precisely the reason for what they did.
For those who are complaining about the government restricting the political freedom of the citizens, at least political podcasts are allowed during non-campaign periods, albeit with restrictions. There are other Asian countries that installed more restrictions when it comes to political issues. Take a look at China. The China government exercises stronger control on the people when it comes to political issues, and the regulations are much stricter than that of other countries, like Singapore. Then, other countries such as Myanmar come to mind. I am sure you can think of other examples outside of Asia.
To end off, I do agree that the regulation of political commentary on the Internet in Singapore is justified. The impact that political instability can bring is just too large for us to handle if it ever happens.
