THE TEMASEK REVIEW

OPINION

Speaking in Parliament two days ago, Minister of Communication, Information and Arts Rear-Admiral Lui Tuck Yew praised the online community for “self-regulating” itself and being skeptical about a blog post by dissident blogger and lawyer Gopalan Nair on Lee Kuan Yew suffering a heart attack.

With due respect to Mr Lui, his use of the term “self-regulate” is highly inappropriate and misleading.

“Regulate”, be it self or otherwise implies there is a body, group or authority which is in charge of monitoring, scrutinizing and giving its mark of approval to the content produced, found or shared in cyberspace.

There is nothing special or commendable about netizens expressing their skepticism against Gopalan Nair’s audacious claims which is simply part of a human natural reaction to unverified rumors and hearsays.

The key reason in netizens being skeptical about Gopalan’s claims lied not in the identity of the writer nor the type of medium which carried the news, but in the fact that he was unable to quote a source or substantiate his claims with irrefutable proof, e.g. medical records of Lee in SGH.

Had the mainstream media published the same story without quoting any sources as well, not many readers will be convinced too.

It is disingenuous of Mr Lui to link two entirely different matters – Gopalan’s post and the ability of the new media to “regulate” itself together.

The new media is not owned by any individual or organization. It is a free marketplace of ideas where everybody is able to participate and contribute on an equal footing. Nobody has the monopoly on wisdom and none is wiser than the other.

While blatant lies, hoaxes and myths may stir a storm temporarily, they will eventually be demolished completely when the truth comes to light. That is exactly how the New Media works – there is absolutely no need for it to “self-regulate” itself or for bloggers to take the moral high ground and condemn others for failing to obey the rules set by the PAP.

Mr Lui added that while he reaffirmed the Government’s position on approaching new media with a light touch, it was not a sign of weakness:

“It’s worthwhile to remember that a relaxed grip is a sign of a strong hand,” he was quoted as saying in the Straits Times.

He also sent a stark warning to netizens to the repressive laws of the PAP extend to cyberspace too:

“They take courage from the cloak of anonymity in cyberspace and sometimes that can have repercussions beyond what they imagine it to be.”

It is unsure if Mr Lui is making use of the Gopalan Nair saga to illustrate its “light touch” approach to the new media. In any case, there is no action the PAP or Lee himself can take against him. There are no laws anywhere in the world which criminalize cursing somebody to suffer from a heart attack on the internet unless they want to make a fool out of themselves again.

As the arrest of the three Chinese youths by the police for posting racist remarks on Facebook has demonstrated, Singaporeans are irked by the heavy use of the law to regulate and control online speech and behavior.

Unless one sprouts nonsense which may threaten national or social security, there is no reason for the authorities to be involved in every single “transgression” offending their sensitivities.

While the PAP can always arrest a few netizens who cross the OB markers to teach the rest a lesson, such unpopular, irrational and harsh reactions are likely to cost it politically and further alienate it from the younger IT-savvy generation whose votes are crucial in future elections.

For an obsessive, insecure and paranoid Stalinist regime bent on all forms of control, its “light touch” approach to the new media stems more from the inability to regulate the New Media rather than out of natural goodwill as Mr Lui would like us to believe.

Still, it doesn’t stop Mr Lui from promoting the state media now and then as a “trusted” source of news and junior leaders like Zaqy Mohamad for casting doubts on the credibility of the New Media.

Frustrated and worried at the increasing readership of some alternative news sites which are beginning to threaten the monopoly of information enjoyed by the state  media for decades, the PAP is resorting to a “divide and conquer” strategy by endorsing some blogs and promoting them as “credible” sites for others to follow.

Bloggers should not fall into the trap set by the PAP or the Singapore media and end up being made use of by them eventually to serve their own agenda.

There is no free lunch in this world. The state media will not give bloggers free publicity for nothing. We should only engage them on our own turfs and not play according to the rules set by them.

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