I am amused by the number of posts and Facebook pages created by PAP supporters on the internet, specifically Fabrications About the PAP, Fabrications Led by Opposition Parties, and Shut Down TRS.
All of them revolve around rallying for public support to shut down alternative media websites such as The Real Singapore, All Singapore Stuff, TR Emeritus and The Online Citizen.
Pro-establishment supporters are not familiar with the position that the government is losing or (has already lost) the exclusive use of our slavish media to shape outcomes and push for policy buy-ins. Ho Kwon Ping, a Communist-turned-Capitalist gave a reality check on media & internet in a recent TOC interview:
“The real impact of the internet, in my view, is not the overload of information, which is what Kissinger suggests. I think it is the demise of the gatekeeper of information. That means on one hand, a lot of unfiltered junk and even socially harmful stuff on the internet with no gatekeeper (editor or censor as the case may be), but it also means that governments have lost much of the power which comes with control of information.”
(Photo: The Strait Times. TOC co-founder Remy Choo Zheng Xi, a lawyer by profession [extreme right] with his client Alex Au, along side lawyer Peter Low)
The popularity of internet media in recent years was seen by the PAP supporters as a threat to their dominance of the control of information. In other words, TRS, ASS, TRE, TOC are seen as competitors by the PAP over the control of a powerful unchecked channel.
But the PAP has probably failed to understand the popularity of alternative internet media is not necessary due to opposition members leveraging on an uncontrolled medium to water-down PAP’s votes.
American economist Milton Friedman once remarked that businesses should not view their competitors as rivals. Instead, they should understand and cater to the needs of their markets which they are competing in.
Does the PAP understand the needs of netizens? Alternative internet media are flourishing because they understand those needs. Fabrications About the PAP doesn’t.
Pro-PAP site Mothership.sg is trying to fill the gap; but they are trying too hard to slime alternative internet media instead.
(Screen capture: Mothership.sg)
I am looking forward to the day when the number of Likes on TRS (362K Likes) surpasses The Straits Times’ (409K Likes) and Lee Hsien Loongs’ (437K Likes). Is that a reflection of people’s will if that happens?
Taming the Crowd
*The writer blogs at http://tamingthecrowd.wordpress.com/