Planning cycling events: Uniquely Singapore, F1 or F9?

By Leong Sze Hian

I refer to Sembawang GRC MP Lim Wee Kiak explanation to the media that,

“While it is true that the YP had put up on its calendar a night cycling event on July 28, it was canned because of poor response from residents. Also, it was not actually organised by the YP.”

The second YP event, a Children’s Day activity done in Amazing Race-style has been postponed for ‘practical reasons’, said Hong Kah GRC MP Zaqy Mohamed.

‘Our main concern was manpower, as we’d be too tied up with other YP events and dialogues taking place around that time,’ he said, adding that these dialogues were to discuss the latest CPF measures”.

The above raises the following questions:-

Wee Shu Min, Li Hongyi…nothing is sacred anymore with the net

By Yeo Toon Joo

Does the internet and its speed and openness change the way we communicate?

Of course, the internet has drastically altered the norms and practices of open communication, and even private conversation. It opens a pandora’s box! Anything you wish to disseminate or promulgate, idiotic or edifying, can be done instantly by just hitting a button.

It has changed forever the channels through which we communicate, and the way we communicate, and say things.

Anyone can have his soap box to cast his pearls or spew garbage. No blog, and even email between friends and associates, is considered private. Nothing is sacred anymore.

“Every citizen is a reporter”

This is an extract from the blog, DailyKos.

Meet some of the citizen reporters of OhmyNews, a South Korean venture that in 2000 became the first online newspaper in the world to accept, edit, and publish articles from its readers.

It was established by Oh Yeon Ho, who has earned his credibility in the student pro-democracy movement of the 1980s, including having served a prison term for his activities.

OhmyNews was instrumental in bringing down the previous South Korean president in 2002, and the election of current President Roh Moo Hyun. Not only did OhmyNews garner the first media interview from new President Roh, but the president himself addressed the opening of the conference:

“The media has to change if our society is to advance. The most powerful force that raises the standards of the media is no other than the participation of alert citizens.

The standards of the media and quality of its products can improve when more citizens participate in the production and distribution stages and use their responsible criticism to act as a check against the possibility of the media morphing into a political power.

Moreover, solidarity between the media organizations that are actively participated in by citizens will greatly contribute to advancing democracy globally.”

 To read the full article, click here.

The next step – “proactive blogging”?

By Benjamin

Blogging is a medium of communication. Web logs were once little more than online diaries, for people to write about their daily lives. Now, even these personal blogs can gain international attention and recognition. Xiaxue is one. Other, more prolific, Internet readers and bloggers would be able to name more.

Ultimately, a blog is a tool for expression; through expression, one communicates ideas; through ideas, one influences actions.

Blogs, therefore, can be powerful tools for change.

There are currently quite a number of blogs out there that recognize this. They write on politics, social problems, current events, issues which capture the writer’s attention so intensely that he wants to tell the world what he or she thinks of the issue at hand.

Of untrue material, politicians lying and blogs which tell the truth

After reading channelnewsasia’s report about what Minister Vivian Balakrishnan said about new media, I will have to agree with Aaron that what the minister said is rather confusing.

It is good that the minister reiterated what Dr Lee Boon Yang had said before – that the government will adopt a “light touch” on what goes on, on the internet. It is also good that Dr Balakrishnan says the government will take “into account the evolution of society.”

However, what remains unknown and un-defined are one, what does the government mean by ‘light touch’? And two, what really does ‘evolution of society’ mean?

Perhaps the government is purposefully leaving these as vague as possible – for whatever reasons.

Government sets rules of engagement in face of new media

From Channelnewsasia

SINGAPORE: The government will continue to set political agendas and rules of engagement in the face of the new media, and will not be dictated by online petitions or polls.

And while it will try to balance the diverse interests of the society when it comes to issues of sex, nudity and violence online, it said it would not hesitate to prosecute those who post seditious or racially offensive content in cyberspace.

Singapore has a diverse community with different races, languages and religions living in harmony.

But it is also here where the fault lines lie.

Web censorship spreading globally

By Richard Waters in San Francisco

Internet censorship is spreading rapidly, being practised by about two dozen countries and applied to a far wider range of online information and applications, according to research by a transatlantic group of academics.

The warning comes a week after a Turkish court ordered the blocking of YouTube to silence offensive comments about Mustafa Kemal Ataturk, the founder of modern Turkey, marking the most visible attack yet on a website that has been widely adopted around the world.

A recent six-month investigation into whether 40 countries use censorship shows the practice is spreading, with new countries learning from experienced practitioners such as China and benefiting from technological improvements.

Read the rest of the report from the Financial Times.

Big Brother in cyberspace – anonymously

“He (Mr Brown) should come out from behind his pseudonym to defend his views openly.”

– Press Secretary to the Minister for Information, Communications and the Arts, K BHAVANI in a letter to TODAY newspaper July 3 2006

“The identity is not important. It is the message that is important,”

– PAP MP Baey Yam Keng, Straits Times, Feb 3 2007

The above quotes from government officials perhaps sum up the dichotomy of approaches by the government to different media.

Ms Bhavani’s comments referred to “opinions which are widely circulated in a regular column in a serious newspaper” which “should meet higher standards.” Mr Baey’s comments, on the other hand, referred to the government’s stance on online communications.

What should one make of this seemingly confusing and contradictory message that the government is sending out to singaporeans? Perhaps a closer look at the issue will throw up some answers.

Bloggers question Tochi’s execution

This is a summary of what some bloggers are saying about the execution of nigerian Iwuchukwu Amara Tochi.

“Tochi was only 19 years old, with not much education. Was it safe to assume that he was familiar with the ways of the world, including the drug trade and the risks involved? Could he be expected to know that different countries view drugs with different degrees of severity? How many Singaporeans at 19, educated or not, would be familiar with other offences around the world, e.g. petrol smuggling, the arms trade, transporting seditious literature or pornography, and the risks involved?” – Alex Au

“I find myself overwhelmed by a sense of sadness and waste. I tell myself: he’s a stranger, and people die by the second, why should you care so much? And then the answer comes to me, again and again – I care because not enough do. We care because if we don’t, who will? Is it not a highest form of tragedy to pass unmourned, to be surrounded, in the last hours, days, weeks, months, years of your existence, by no one who cares? And then to slip away at dawn, the faintest wraith, and to have the world turn tomorrow without you.” – Gayle Goh

“I’m absolutely speechless with anger at this! I can’t even see how PAP could do this to a young man.” – Singapore Election Watch

“I have never opposed the death penalty in Singapore because I believe that it is a necessary evil at times. Unfortunately, I never imagined that it would be applied so mechanically. In fact, I think it has been so grossly abused. I have lost faith in the Singapore justice system. The taking of one’s life as punishment now appears to be nothing more than routine business.” – Aaron Ng

“I’m switching off my pc and going for a very long walk” – Pseudonymity

“When sentencing him, the Judge in charge of Tochi’s case admitted that there was not enough evidence to prove that Tochi knowingly brought the heroin into Singapore but because we have a mandatory death penalty, he had no choice but to sentence him to death. There are no words to describe how absurd and sickening such a situation is.” – For Sanity Sake

“This is such a efficient but inhumane and unforgiving way in executing the law…. Charissa is feeling very upset right now and words are unable to describe her feelings. The least we can do is to pray to God that he would rest in peace.” – Charissa

“‘Integrity’ I am going to have go and get my dictionary out and look that word up. Someone must have recently changed its meaning because I see no ‘integrity’ in hanging one man who, as the judge confirmed, had no idea what he was carrying and secretly executing another man without informing anyone.” – Singabloodypore

 

“Eventually the country may well pay for an attitude that is, to many of its immediate neighbours, cold and mercenary. Karmic consequences, after all, are an important facet of the Nigerian Iwuchukwu Tochi’s Igbo traditions. But if – or when – Singapore crumbles in the sunset of a hypothetical future it will likely be a death as swift and cold as Mr Tochi’s ever got.” – Two Steps From Twilight

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Review – The politics of Singapore’s new media in 2006

by Gerald Giam

The year 2006 was a landmark year for the new media and citizen journalism in Singapore. The government’s “light touch” approach to regulating the Internet was probably one of the factors that emboldened many Singaporeans to step up and push the political boundaries through their blogs, podcasts (online sound clips) and vodcasts (online video clips).

There were too many developments in the new media in Singapore in the past year to capture in one article. Nevertheless, this piece will highlight just a few of the more significant happenings in Singapore fuelled by this phenomenon.

Election podcasting and vodcasting

In the weeks leading up to the General Election in May, Senior Minister of State for Information, Communications and the Arts Balaji Sadasivan announced a ban on “explicitly political” podcasting and vodcasting during the hustings. This move was ostensibly in response to the Singapore Democratic Party’s (SDP) plans to circumvent the government-controlled mainstream media by reaching out to the electorate using sound and video clips on its website. After the Ministry of Information, Communications and the Arts (MICA) informed political parties of this regulation, the parties had no choice but to comply. The SDP reluctantly removed the podcasts from their website, but not without protest.

Review – GE 2006 & The Internet

By Charissa.

Once again, we are at the dawn of a new year. It is that time of the year for some reflections. 2006 has been an eventful year for Singapore and us Singaporeans.

So many things happened that I find it impossible to cover them all. Thus I would be focusing on only a few key issues; GE 2006, the rise of the new media, the inclusiveness of society. The last issue would be covered in an upcoming article.

One important question to bear in mind is, “Would the New Year would be a dawn of a new chapter in Singapore?”

Self-regulation of Singapore Blogosphere- Whatever for??

By Dr Huang Shoou Chyuan

Dear Friends,

Although I have great admiration for people like Yadav, Bernard Leong, Aaron and Gerald, I must come out to confess that I am totally against the idea of self-regulation to our blogosphere.

The blogosphere as we know it now, is the last bastion of truly free expression.

What was there before there was blog?

What did we have before the internet gave all of us this precious gift?

Granted, the MSM-MainStream Media (or their masters) have loosened their grip and are allowing more divergent views to be published in their forum pages. But the MSM is still firmly and totally controlled by the government.

The views of the government on the functions of the media are well known. When push come to shove, one of the government leaders would invariably mouth something like,” We will not let the editors/journalists/media etc… set the agenda”-ad nauseum.