Alex Au, a prominent Singaporean blogger, wrote this article for the Asia Times Online, succintly describing how local bloggers and online writers have taken to the Internet as a alternative media for freedom of expression in a country where the mainstream media is government-controlled and any of hint dissent dealt with swiftly.
The results of a poll conducted by the Media Development Authority (MDA) of Singapore have shown that almost half of 15-19 year olds and 46% of 20-24 year olds maintain a blog. While most blogs are online diaries, many are also provide incisive social and political commentary. With the General Elections (GE) looming in 2006, bloggers were still wary of the Sintercom affair in 2001 when the government insisted that the politically-oriented website register itself with the MDA. Rather than open themselves to potential lawsuits, Sintercom chose to shut itself down.
However, in 2006, the increase of political coverage in blogs leading up to the 2006 GE saw no move on the MDA’s part; this inaction could possibly be due to the government’s realisation that it could little to stem the rising tide of blogging activity, short of employing the short leash it does on the mainstream media.
While so far the government has not yet employed its ‘arsenal of laws and regulations aimed at curtailing critical political commentary’ upon blogs, the freedom that local bloggers experience now might not last forever.
Therefore, if Singapore wishes to maintain its goal to be a ‘cutting-edge, knowledge-driven economy’, it must allow the leeway for digital media to flourish.
