The local mass media has long been criticized for being pro-government (Terence, 2004) and indeed, state leaders have repeatedly echoed Minister Mentor Lee Kuan Yew’s credo that the media’s role is to act as the government’s mouthpiece (Leo and Lee, 2004; Birch, 1993). What this often means for Singapore is that dissenting voices, even those of prominent figures, are systematically ignored.
A case-in-point is that of how Catherine Lim, Singapore’s best-selling fiction actor and a French Knight of the Order of Arts and Letters, received an ‘out-of-bounds marker’ by then Prime Minister Goh Chok Tong in 1994. This took place after Catherine Lim wrote two political commentaries titled “The PAP and the people – A Great Affective Divide” which suggested a division in Singaporeans attitudes towards the People’s Action Party government and ‘One Government, Two Styles” which speculated about the possibility for a clash of ideologies within the ruling party itself. Following the rebuke by then Prime Minister Goh Chok Tong, the local media refused to carry further articles written by Catherine Lim. This proved to be an effective gag a decade ago. Fast forward to 2006, a politically revitalised Catherine Lim once again wanted to make her views heard. Unable to get her articles published in the national newspapers, she decided to start up a blog of her own.
Bloggers over the years have likewise raised issues that have forced the government to clarify certain policies, thereby leading
to greater transparency. One such blogger was junior college student Gayle Goh. Unsatisfied with the response given by Permanent Secretary of the Ministry of Foreign Affairs, over a talk he gave at her school on Singapore’s foreign policy, she decided to blog her thoughts. Her comments caught on with the local student population and were eventually picked up by the local media. The government, acknowledging the intellectual credibility of her argument, decided to publicly address the points she had raised – a first in Singapore.
With the advent of blogs, it would seem that even Prime Minister Lee Hsien Loong was held up to scrutiny, albeit in a light-hearted manner. A slip-up made by the Prime Minister, when he mispronounced the word ‘Mai Hiam’ (Which means without chilli in Hokkein) as ‘Mai Hum’ (Which means without cockles in Hokkein) when citing an analogy of ordering Mee Siam (a local cuisine of rice noodles) from a hawker, was turned into a high-popular satirical podcast made by Mr. Brown.
Check out the video (made from the original Mr. Brown podcast over the Mr. Brown blog):
This was simply because cockles aren’t even an ingredient in the Mee Siam dish. What the Prime Minister probably wanted to say was Laksa (a delicious local dish of thick rice noodles served in a spicy, coconut-based soup), which contained cockles.
Cockles
are supposed to be in this…
Not this Mr Prime Minister!
As we have seen…In each of these cases, bloggers utilized the mass appeal and reach of blogs to bypass limitations imposed by the traditional to express themselves. This resulted in two developments: Increased transparency and accountability. Public officials know that their speeches are being carefully scrutinised by the public and could easily be refuted if their claims were inaccurate.
References:
Birch, D. (1993) Singapore Media: communication strategies and practices, Melbourne: Longman Cheshire.
Leo, P. and Lee,T. (2004) ‘The economies and politics of “creativity” in Singapore’, International Journal of Cultural Policy, 10(3): 281-99.
Terence Lee, 9 Dec 2004, Industrializing Creativity And Innovation, Cultural Studies Association of Australasia’s (CSAA) annual conference.
