OMFG, are these jokers for real? Get this: the MDA wants to expand the Broadcast Act. Minister for Communications and Information Yaacob Ibrahim told reporters yesterday, "We will amend the Broadcasting Act next year, with a view to ensure that any other sites which are hosted overseas but reporting on Singapore news, are also brought into the licensing framework." At the moment, the Act does not empower the government to take action against any entity that is based overseas. "But, if they are transmitting news to Singaporeans and Singapore is their target market, then we will have to do something about it," said Dr Yaacob.
Yaacob, did you pause for a moment and think about what you just said? Are you actually serious? These other websites hosted overseas, people like BBC News, CNN, Sky News, ABC, Russia Today, Reuters, CNBC, ITN, Fox, France24, Al-Jazeera etc - yeah those people, you think you are going to make them pay a bond of $50,000 and they're going to do whatever you tell them to do, such as take down a news report about how corrupt the PAP is? As if that is going to work. Why would they do that? Because you said so? LMFAO.
Let's look at the BBC News for instance, they have written negative reports on countries with poor human rights records,like North Korea, Zimbabwe and Burma all these years. There are plenty of BBC news reports to make the regimes in these country look utterly corrupt and despicable. What if Robert Mugabe or Kim Jong Un confronted the BBC and told them to stop writing negative reports of their countries - what do you think the BBC would do? They would laugh at these dictators at their attempts to influence the media outside their country and continue to report the truth from these countries. In fact, Robert Mugabe hates the BBC so much that he has unceremoniously banned them from Zimbabwe for many years and during that period when the BBC was banned from Zimbabwe, they continued to report from neighbouring South Africa whilst still sneaking over the border, often posing as tourists or businessmen to secretly film conditions in Zimbabwe and interview Zimbabweans.
Likewise, the BBC is not allowed into North Korea - but they still secretly enter North Korea and film there anyway and cover stories about North Korea from their bases South Korea and China. Do you think they care if Kim Jong Un said to them, "stop writing negative stuff about North Korea! I want you to take down all those negative stories on the BBC News website about North Korea!" It doesn't work like that.
They may threaten, "We'll stop buying your BBC programmes! We'll stop Singaporeans from watching Top Gear! We'll close down your BBC Worldwide office in Singapore if you don't comply!" To which the BBC would probably reply, "Go ahead, we don't care. We'll just move our BBC Worldwide office in Kuala Lumpur then."
Let me know if they succeed - because I'm sure Kim Jong Un and Robert Mugabe would love to know how you stop the BBC and all these other journalists around the world from writing negative stories about their country. Yaacob, you didn't think this one through, did you? There's an old saying, engage brain before mouth. I suggest you try that when you are trying to legislate on the issue of internet media.
You know whom I blame for this? The 60.14% who voted for this bullshit. Enough already. Sudah cukup lah! If you know of a family member, relative, friend or colleague who is part of the 60.14% who voted for the PAP, tell them it is all their fault that this is happening. You have such total idiots who have no freaking clue how the media or the internet works making laws about it and this would've been funny if it wasn't the law. This shit just got real bitch, so there's no point in beingpaiseh or polite about the issue - if you know someone who is amongst the 60.14%, you must take action and engage them today. As usual, please feel free to leave a comment below. Stand up for press freedom, defend your freedom of speech and tell the PAP bastards in white to kindly go fuck themselves with a big durian.
