Free to roam in cyberspace
The Straits Times, 5 June 2006
 
SINGAPORE has among the world's highest rates of computer use in government,
business, education and home entertainment. From there it is a short hop to
building a lively Internet citizenry that wants its say on matters of public
interest - what people in the trade call new media or, a bit disparagingly,
cowboy media. It acknowledges the medium's unbridled power for both good and
ill that the Government placed curbs on Internet political propaganda put out
by private individuals and contesting parties during the election campaign last
month. It is no small satisfaction, to those who equate free cyberspace with a
confident society, that no prosecutions were brought or websites shut down,
although some netizens diced with the restrictions. Even cheerier is an
intimation by Minister for Information, Communications and the Arts Lee Boon
Yang last week that controls could be loosened for the next election.
Presumably political parties could then exploit the full range of Internet
reach via image and voice, something that could make the old-fashioned election
rally less of a campaign staple. More relevant is that individuals would also
be freer to express their views.
 
   A distinction should be made. Dr Lee was talking about the clear confines
within which political matter could be disseminated over the Net during an
election campaign period. That's two to three weeks at most, every four or five
years. Passions do get inflamed during campaigning, but the Government's
reluctance to permit free rein, even after a fashion, will still strike many
people as being unduly restrictive. But outside of the campaign period,
netizens are in effect enjoying pretty much uncontrolled purveying of opinion,
comment and harmless doggerel in both image and text form. They need only stay
clear of libel and seditious postings. Several young men have come to grief
over the latter. So, is this an advance, a concession to what Dr Lee called
Net-savvy users of new media? Yes and no. Yes, as any liberalising for
political contestants and private citizens during an election is progress. No,
because it is near-impossible for a state apparatus to keep tabs of and control
the flow of opinionated content on the Net, anyway. The best safeguards for a
society buffeted by the Net remain that people are discerning about what they
read and see, and that bloggers be rational about what they post. Minus these,
the medium will collapse because of disrepute.