Since the advent of the Internet age, print media has been seeking out ways to preserve its grounds on news control and dissemination. More so for oppressive and repressive regimes like Singapore, where the control of news and what is fed to the people are serious businesses. The survival of the authoritarian regime hinges on it.
At the beginning the PAP, tried as it did, could not figure out any way to control and reign in this exploding worldwide phenomenon of opinionated news in their rawest forms. They are still clueless today. And cluelessness is leading to aggression.
The PAP government seem to have given up trying to understand the intricacies of online engagements, much like a father who gives up trying to understand his children’s new age lifestyle choices and tastes. In simple language, this can be termed as the ‘generation gap’ between the PAP and Singaporeans.
Times have changed but the PAP has remained stagnant – in ideologies and government. It is reversing its gears in an age where new inventions, innovations and creativity are the hallmarks of the future. It is the same in every quarter of our society. The citizen to immigrant ratio is an example. Although every global citizen recognises the need for cross-border sharing of talents, not everyone is given in to mindless usage of one or two groups of citizens for population replenishment. It is even more damaging to use these ‘replenishments’ as pieces in the game of political survival.
It is this latter point which is doing the current team of PAP government in. In its pursuit of political survival, it is closing its ears, its eyes and minds to the lamentations of Singaporeans. We are very well aware that when the PAP attempts to teach the rebellious citizen a lesson, it will not blink an eye to make its own supporters pay for the collective decision of the larger group. Potong Pasir and Hougang residents, both supporters of the PAP and opposition, can attest to this in an instant.
The battle for political survival is a battle to be seen to be right all the time. The PAP, in its monolithic stature, believes it is the only party that has the interest of Singapore at heart. It believes that taking care of Singapore would automatically translate to a better life for Singaporeans. However, it fails to see that taking care of the new Singapore, where the vision is to plant a ratio of 1:3 – one Singaporean for every 3 foreigners – is only going to benefit the foreigner more than its own citizens.
The imbalance caused by immigration and as presented by the Population White paper is somehow escaping the PAP even as Singaporeans are taking every opportunity at every possible platform to say so. Worst still is the position the PAP has adopted; to play the ‘I am right, you are wrong’ game. Without convincing points of argument, the PAP is now resorting to clamping down online discussions and comments. This is presented in no uncertain terms at the recent PAP convention where the PM and his ministers have called for its activists to fight Netizens and Singaporeans at every corner of Singapore and at every possible opportunity, at every front.
It is a different thing altogether for elected PAP MPs and politicians to argue the government’s case as opposed to having wayward and silly PAP activists and loyalists countering the concerns brought forth by Netizens. Some of these activists are far worse than any anonymous Netizen when they blindly support causes which they don’t even understand. Netizens, on the other hand, are not going to concede their new found voices without convincing answers from the policy makers. No one wants to hear what the activists are saying because they are only amplifiers with no brains of their own.
To conclude, the battle to be right has to start with the PAP making the attempt to understand what online discussions is all about, or rather, what it is not about. Online discussions are raw, direct, blunt and to the point. It is very much unlike print media. It is definitely not about having a press which writes all the things the PAP wants it to write.
In terms of correctness, online media is about opinions. You get a flurry of opinions over an issue. There is no right or wrong unlike the print media. Print media has a social responsibility toward the masses because of its reach and because it has always been touted as the media with the ‘correct’ information. Online media often read between the lines of print media to present a side of the story which the print media attempts to hide or shield the government from.
Today, the speed of bringing news to the masses is faster than ever before. Accounts of unfolding events are brought to your doorsteps in an instant. Right or wrong, each account has to be weighed against the discerning mind. Print media is too slow. However, with proper and independent analysis, print media still holds the advantage over any online social communication platforms. The key here is that the print media has to have the ability to present an independent analysis.
Sad to say, Singapore’s print media will never have the leeway to exercise such independent thinking. And it is the reason why the PAP is up in arms with social media. It has to help its print media regain control of something which they have no control over. We foresee that the Law Minister is going to be a very busy man in the coming years. The battle to be right rages on but we can help everyone out in 2016.
The Alternative View
*Article first appeared on https://www.facebook.com/pages/The-Alternative-View/358759327518739