Why Singapore needs a free press

From time to time, the PAP likes to describe Singapore either as a democracy, or as a "democracy with Asian characteristics", although quite what those Asian characteristics might be, and why democracy needs to have regional flavours is never fully explained, it's not a Laksa after all. In fact there are many flaws with the implementation of democracy on the little red dot, but one of the most glaring is the lack of a free press.

The fundamental point of democracy is to give the people the chance to choose who represents them based on a free discussion of ideas such that citizens can decide for themselves the advantages and disadvantages of the policies suggested by the ruling party and the opposition. Hand in hand with this is the idea that any failures or shortcomings of the ruling party can be discussed by the public at large, so that they can then decide whether or not the ruling party is deserving of another term in office.

It is well recognised that all of the mainstream media in Singapore answers to the government; although in reality it is important to note that this means the PAP as opposed to any independent oversight body. The effect of this undermines both the crucial aspects of democracy mentioned above, because the PAP does not approve of their political opponents having anything more than minor or negative coverage in the mainstream media. The result therefore is that many Singaporeans are unaware of any credible opposition even existing, such that voting for the opposition is akin to voting for an unknown party with unknown policies. The second crucial problem is about having an informed electorate who know the truth about the actions and policies of the ruling party, such that their performance can be objectively assessed in time for the next election. However, Singaporean journalists, as well as foreign journalists if their publication is to be sold in Singapore, are not at all free to objectively criticise the ruling PAP and any mistakes or misjudgements they may make, the result being that the electorate is not fully informed of what has happened in the preceding years when they go to the ballot box, and they are less likely to vote out the ruling party when they've not had a chance to be told the whole truth about their actions in power.

To truly understand the power of a free press you only need to see those modern first world countries where brave reporters have made public information that their governments would have preferred to keep private, such that it improved the lives of ordinary citizens. A recent example would be in the UK, where a continuous stream of leaked reports regarding Members of Parliament overcharging and abusing their expenses was reported by the press and resulted in many rule changes, money being paid back and some MPs losing their jobs.

Far be it from me to suppose that Singaporean MPs are as corrupt as those in the UK, the point here is that in Singapore, the press would never report such negative stories about the ruling party for fear of losing their jobs or being sued for defamation, and as such, any hypothetical misconduct or failures would go unreported and unpunished.

A Question for the PM

With the general election bound to be announced any time soon, now is a good time for all of Singapore to reflect on the achievements of the PAP over the last 4+ years. If I were lucky enough to meet the PM or his father Minister Mentor Lee the question I would ask is "What achievements can you point to over the last parliament that you are most proud of? What have you done to deserve to be re-elected by the Singaporean people?"

I'm afraid I'm hard pressed to imagine a good answer to that. We've seen the financial crisis hammer Singapore; a better late than never bounce back, the magnitude of which was only impressive in so far as it was a recovery from a huge drop in GDP; the three times over-budget YOG, to which most Singaporeans were either apathetic to or outright annoyed about; the huge security lapse in letting Singapore's most wanted criminal escape to Malaysia ... the list of failings goes on and on, while the achievements are hard to think of.

But unfortunately, with the Singapore press being wholly controlled by the PAP, it's pretty much impossible to imagine that we'll ever get a straight answer to this question, because all journalists know that asking difficult questions is a bad career move, and writing a negative article is pretty much asking to be sacked, or worse, sued for defamation and financially ruined.