When a columnist becomes a 'partisan player' in politics
Letter from K BHAVANI Press Secretary to the Minister for Information, Communications and the Arts
Your mr brown column, "S'poreans are fed, up with progress!" (June 30) poured sarcasm on many issues, including the recent General Household Survey, price increases in electricity tariffs and taxi fares, our IT plans, the Progress Package and means testing for special school fees.
The results of the General Household Survey were only available after the General Election. But similar data from the Household Expenditure Survey had been published last year before the election.
There was no reason to suppress the information. It confirmed what we had told Singaporeans all along, that globalisation would stretch out incomes.
mr brown must also know that price increases in electricity tariffs and taxi fares are the inevitable result of higher oil prices.
These were precisely the reasons for the Progress Package — to help lower income Singaporeans cope with higher costs of living.
Our IT plans are critical to Singapore's competitive position and will improve the job chances of individual Singaporeans. It is wrong of mr brown to make light of them.
As for means testing for special school fees, we understand mr brown's disappointment as the father of an autistic child. However, with means testing, we can devote more resources to families who need more help.
mr brown's views on all these issues distort the truth. They are polemics dressed up as analysis, blaming the Government for all that he is unhappy with. He offers no alternatives or solutions. His piece is calculated to encourage cynicism and despondency, which can only make things worse, not better, for those he professes to sympathise with.
mr brown is entitled to his views. But opinions which are widely circulated in a regular column in a serious newspaper should meet higher standards. Instead of a diatribe mr brown should offer constructive criticism and alternatives. And he should come out from behind his pseudonym to defend his views openly.
It is not the role of journalists or newspapers in Singapore to champion issues, or campaign for or against the Government. If a columnist presents himself as a non-political observer, while exploiting his access to the mass media to undermine the Government's standing with the electorate, then he is no longer a constructive critic, but a partisan player in politics.
TODAYVoices, 3rd July 2006
Just when I thought I could go for a holiday as there seemed to be nothing to blog about these few days…
This is a most interesting response from the Ministry of Information, Communications and the Arts to a letter from mr brown published in the Voices section of TODAY (30 Jun 2006).
I have learnt many new lessons today:
(1)That you may be 'rapped' for giving honest feedback. Mr brown was exercising his right, as a citizen, to voice his concerns. Unfortunately, the government chose to 'whack' him hard.
(2)That when you have a very popular blog with 'cynical' pieces and when you write to the print media as a citizen about your concerns, the government cannot distinguish between these two roles and takes it out on you for your role as a blogger.
(3)That the Singapore Government is one of the very, very few in the world which ticks its citizens off instead of empathising with them for the predicament that they are in.
(4)That with its recent 'strong mandate' of 66.6%, the Government is worried that the 'polemics' of mr brown will 'undermine' this strong standing.
(5)That 'polemics' is the opposite of the term 'apologia'. And 'apologetics' is the "field of study concerned with the systematic defense of a position". (Wikipedia).
(6)That the majority of Singapore (66.6% to be exact) welcome the increase in fees and fares. If all can write in English, they would have written to TODAY to sing praises about these increases.
(7)That the other 33.4% who are unhappy with increase in fees and fares should provide 'constructive criticism and alternatives'. They can then share out the wages of all the Ministers, MPs and senior civil servants and be able to afford these increases.
(8)That mr brown has just become a 'columnist'.
(9)That you must be a 'partisan player in politics' to talk about issues of concern to you. This means that those 'ah pek' in coffeeshops must stand for elections before they can talk about politics. Who says there is a dearth of political activism in Singapore? We will soon see a proliferation of political parties when everyone registers himself/herself as a politician.
(10)That the Government has no clue who mr brown is, how he looks like and which special school for autistic children is his daughter enrolled in.
On a more serious note though, the Government had gravely mis-read mr brown's letter and mis-calibrated its response. It seems that since the elections, it had become more 'paranoid', behaving like a 'jing gong zhi niao' (a bird petrified by the sight of a bow).
To the ordinary citizen, mr brown's letter is just putting on paper what people are generally already feeling. With due respect to mr brown, his letter does not have much 'substance'. It is more like one of those 'mindless rantings' on a bad hair day.
To come out so strongly on such a letter shows that the government is out of touch with its people on this issue.
I am so excited to see what other bloggers will be saying to this in the next few days. What will I do without the Government?
lunatic_fringe July 3, 2006 01:02 PM PDT >>Let's have fun deconstruction K Bhavani's accusations against a law-abiding citizen, Mr. Brown.
Distorting the truth, mr brown?
When a columnist becomes a 'partisan player' in politics
Letter from K BHAVANI
Press Secretary to the Minister for Information, Communications and the Arts
Your mr brown column, "S'poreans are fed, up with progress!" (June 30) poured sarcasm on many issues, including the recent General Household Survey, price increases in electricity tariffs and taxi fares, our IT plans, the Progress Package and means testing for special school fees.
>>Wow, MICA information analysts and Bhavani can read and understand "sarcasm" I thought only literature students knew how to understand this style of writing because Dr Lee Boon Yang does not.
The results of the General Household Survey were only available after the General Election. But similar data from the Household Expenditure Survey had been published last year before the election.
There was no reason to suppress the information. It confirmed what we had told Singaporeans all along, that globalisation would stretch out incomes.
mr brown must also know that price increases in electricity tariffs and taxi fares are the inevitable result of higher oil prices.
>> This is a sweeping statement and implies the direct causal relationship between higher oil prices and electricity tariffs, taxi fares. A significant part of our electricity both retail and wholesale is generated from natural gas burning generators. So it is not that simple. Taxi fares are set by the taxi operators who also set the taxi rental for cabbies. Higher oil prices do not necessarily have to result in higher taxi prices if the taxi operators i.e. Comfort-Delgro and other operators choose not to raise taxi-fares and absorb the oil price hike. But hey, why do that if you can maintain or increase your profits by using the convenient excuse that your costs are up, so we must pass it on to consumers, since our profit margins MUST be maintained.
These were precisely the reasons for the Progress Package — to help lower income Singaporeans cope with higher costs of living.
Our IT plans are critical to Singapore's competitive position and will improve the job chances of individual Singaporeans. It is wrong of mr brown to make light of them.
>> Why is it "wrong" for mr brown to make light of the IT plan? Is there a "right" way for mr brown to comment on the IT plan e.g. oh! the magnificence of this plan brings tears to my eyes, we are not paying our mini-stars enough salaries to come up with such EARTH SHATTERING AND BRILLIANT MASTERPLANS that will see Singapore LEAPFROG into the 22nd Century with such plans! mr brown is expressing his opinion. Again the PAP is demonstrating its intolerance for dissenting views, i.e. if you are not FOR me, you are AGAINST me. So if I am an opposition MP, I come up with a plan for Singapore to qualify for the 2018 world cup, would it be "wrong" for a PAP MP or another one else to comment that it is a ridiculous target? Opps.. didn't one of our mini-stars mention that we will qualify for the world cup by 2010?
As for means testing for special school fees, we understand mr brown's disappointment as the father of an autistic child. However, with means testing, we can devote more resources to families who need more help.
mr brown's views on all these issues distort the truth. They are polemics dressed up as analysis, blaming the Government for all that he is unhappy with. He offers no alternatives or solutions. His piece is calculated to encourage cynicism and despondency, which can only make things worse, not better, for those he professes to sympathise with.
>> Oh I really love this part. Bhavani agrees that mr brown's article is a reflection of his VIEWS. But they DISTORT the TRUTH. Wow, pray tell, Bhavani, WHAT IS THE TRUTH - is it your interpretation, the PAP/Govt's interpretation or the citizen's own right to listen to both opinions and decide therein, where lies the TRUTH? The other part is has Bhavani spoke to mr brown about the article, then why does he come to the conclusion that the intention of mr brown's article is "calculated to encourage cynicism and despondency, which can only make things worse, not better, for those he professes to sympathise with."
>>Bhavani also comments that mrbrown does not offer solutions or alternatives. Again, the PAP is using the argument that if you disagree for the sake of disagreeing - you are a trouble-maker. What's wrong with disagreeing, if you tell me to kill myself I would say no. Do I have to give you alternatives to killing me?
mr brown is entitled to his views. But opinions which are widely circulated in a regular column in a serious newspaper should meet higher standards. Instead of a diatribe mr brown should offer constructive criticism and alternatives. And he should come out from behind his pseudonym to defend his views openly.
>> What "higher standards" is Bhavani referring to? I.e. it passes the "PAP is the best of the best and never makes mistakes" test or "say what you want but you cannot be CRITICAL of the government in TODAY, but you can be CRITICAL in your blog!"
>> The most laughable statement, hello - the whole world knows who is mrbrown - unless his real name (LKM) is fictional?
It is not the role of journalists or newspapers in Singapore to champion issues, or campaign for or against the Government. If a columnist presents himself as a non-political observer, while exploiting his access to the mass media to undermine the Government's standing with the electorate, then he is no longer a constructive critic, but a partisan player in politics.
>> Oh really, I thought it was the role of the Straits Times to make sure the PAP is returned to power
>> Now the real accusation a-la Catherine Lim episode, i.e. if you are not for me, you are against me and especially if the main stream media publishes your critical piece of writing.
>> So we are back to the old PAP argument, if you are effective in influencing the political mind-share of citizens and are critical, either stand up for your views by joining a political party or shut up.
>> Thank you PM Lee Hsien Loong for again demonstrating the open and inclusive way of handling mrbrown, who incidentally is a tax-paying, law abiding NSman who really deserves better for voicing out what MANY PEOPLE FEEL!
Name July 3, 2006 01:26 PM PDT It seems that K Bhavani is a woman, you can find her contact details from
http://www.mica.gov.sg/contactus.html
she is also the president of the insitute of public relations of singapore (IPRS)
here is another 2 letters she wrote
http://www.singapore-window.org/sw06/060602IH.HTM
here is an article about an open letter she wrote
http://www.singapore-window.org/sw05/050514ap.htm
you can see a picture of her from the pdf file of this url
www.iprs.org.sg/Web/main.aspx?ID=85158983-593a-44f4-bf93-2f5befe8562b
Dr. Huang July 5, 2006 04:28 PM PDT Let us Heed the message, Not shoot the messenger
Dear friends,
I read with interest Ms Bhavani’s retort to mrbrown’s column (Distorting the truth, mr brown ? 3 Jul 06).
What is particularly informative was her assertion that journalists (especially in Singapore), should not “champion issues, or campaign FOR or AGAINST the Government”.
Is this is a new dictum, I wonder, as there were many articles by our journalists in the past which appeared an “awful lot” like campaigning for the Government, but I do not recall anyone getting their knuckles rapped for that.
Seriously, is a journalist expected to be just a “human” tape-recorder recording verbatim the minutes of a board meeting like a company secretary? Anything more could be misconstrued as campaigning for or against an issue.
Let us be reasonable. People (journalist included) will have opinions and these are the sum-aggregates of different sub-cultures that make up Singapore. No one person or organization knows all the answers and feedback of all forms (especially those that seem unpalatable) help us, as a nation, to steer the right course, away from potential calamities.
Let us heed the message, NOT shoot the messenger!
Dr. Huang Shoou Chyuan
The above sent to TODAY forum page
nofearsingapore.blogpost.com
Hero July 6, 2006 10:11 PM PDT I guess only PAP is right and citizens are wrong in these KIND of situation. These KIND of situation have repeated many times over the years.
What is more scarier is that PAP took the most popular blogger in Singapore to put on chopping block and use it to show as an example to everyone who wants to blog about politics. (Kai Dao: Open Knife)
It is a very good political move by PAP.It has increased the fear factor by many notches. We are back to the 70s & 80s again.
Most probably after this episode, there will be less activity on political blogs and Singaporeans will be apathetic again which PAP always 'advocates'.
Maybe Mr Brown might even fizzle out.
Sjah July 6, 2006 10:16 PM PDT This would not have happen if PAP did not politicise everything deem to their advantage.
PAP should not politicise the media.
I mean it is like PAP have politicise everything including NDP.
But why the need to politicise?
Is controlling Singaporeans right down to the bone that important and advantageous to PAP? Nothing more is important to them?
This would not have happen if the media was not politicise. The determination by PAP to control all things is scary.
They want to control but refuse to be responsible or apologetic when things go wrong is even scarier.
All we ordinary people can do is vote Opposition in every election even if the Opposition loses. I cannot think of any other way to make PAP eat humble pie.
Then no one would have the need to feel fear,tension and paranoid in their own homeland.
PAP has to be Opposition for some time for Singapore's culture and climate to change, that is the only way.
My vote is nothing but many votes is something.Please do not forget today's lesson even if PAP loosen control come GE 2011.
Claark July 7, 2006 01:41 AM PDT Isnt TODAY guilty of politicization of the issue and being partisan by dropping Mr Brown?
I mean Mr Brown gave some private opinions and PAP replied. End of story.
Let the people decide who is right and who is wrong.
Not PAP or Mediacorp.
There is no need to drop Mr Brown and make this issue a political fight between PAP and Anti-PAP.
In fact, it is Mediacorp who is politicising the whole issue. It is Mediacorp who is partisan.
Sus July 7, 2006 10:29 PM PDT Please suspend all the Pro PAP Journalists as well for being partisan and politicised.
There are train loads of them. Everyday churning out Pro PAP news until like PAP is God.
They paint Opposition like demons so they are partisan as well.
Please be fair in implementing laws(if any) and policy.
I can name some for you: Chua sisters, Loh Chee Kong, Aaron Low, Nicholas Fang etc.
Please suspend all of them as well.
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