The “cooling-off” day before polling day during which all forms of political campaigning is banned will be extended to cyberspace including websites of political parties which are expected to adhere to the new rules.
Prime Minister Lee Hsien Loong announced the introduction of a “cooling-off” day in addition to the minimum nine-day campaigning period for voters to make a “rational” decision.
“We think there’s merit in this idea (of a cooling-off day). After a very exciting and emotional election campaign, you really ought to have some time to calm down, reflect on the issues and the arguments, and analyse what’s at stake, logically, rationally, and then to go in to the polls to cast your vote in a calm and steady state of mind,” he said.
Though PM Lee acknowledged that it would be difficult to enforce the law to the internet, he hoped the spirit and principle of the “cooling-off” period would be upheld by Internet users, without elaborating on the topics they should refrain from writing or discussing.
“I can’t control several million videos on YouTube. But your website, what you are putting out in your own name, I think that should end on the day before cooling-off day,” PM Lee added.
This means that webmasters of political parties as well as socio-political blogs whose identities are known will have no choice but to adhere to the “cooling-off” period since they can be traced and punishment can be meted out easily.
The new rule will help make up for the PAP’s disadvantage in cyberspace where its websites has far less readership compared to those run by the opposition such as SDP.
Most socio-political blogs are also critical of the establishment and they are unlikely to provide it with a favorable coverage during the campaigning period.
The PAP’s foray into the new media has been hugely disappointing so far despite being armed with more resources than their competitors.
Few PAP MPs and ministers have a blog or Facebook account and even then, they are updated on an infrequent basis.
The P65 blog which was started in the aftermath of the 2006 general elections for the young PAP MPs to reach out to netizens fizzled out due to low readership and lack of genuine exchange between readers and the writers.
While the mainstream media remains tightly controlled by the PAP, its monopoly on information is slowly eroded away by the emergence of the new media.
The new media was credited with triggering the political tsunami which hit the shores of Malaysia last year.
Despite the hype over the new media, its impact on the next election in Singapore is likely to be minimal.
Unlike the Malaysia new media which is dominated by credible internet newspapers like Malaysiakini and The Malaysian Insider whose readership is comparable to that of the state media, Singapore new media is still in its infantile stage of development.
There are no strong players with a substantial readership to challenge the state media. Furthermore, Singaporeans are less politically aware and active compared to their Malaysian counterparts.
The “cooling-off” period will not be the only change made to the existing rules. The PAP will take no chances to ensure that its much dreaded “freak” election will never happen in Singapore.
Prime Minister Lee Hsien Loong announced the introduction of a “cooling-off” day in addition to the minimum nine-day campaigning period for voters to make a “rational” decision.
“We think there’s merit in this idea (of a cooling-off day). After a very exciting and emotional election campaign, you really ought to have some time to calm down, reflect on the issues and the arguments, and analyse what’s at stake, logically, rationally, and then to go in to the polls to cast your vote in a calm and steady state of mind,” he said.
Though PM Lee acknowledged that it would be difficult to enforce the law to the internet, he hoped the spirit and principle of the “cooling-off” period would be upheld by Internet users, without elaborating on the topics they should refrain from writing or discussing.
“I can’t control several million videos on YouTube. But your website, what you are putting out in your own name, I think that should end on the day before cooling-off day,” PM Lee added.
This means that webmasters of political parties as well as socio-political blogs whose identities are known will have no choice but to adhere to the “cooling-off” period since they can be traced and punishment can be meted out easily.
The new rule will help make up for the PAP’s disadvantage in cyberspace where its websites has far less readership compared to those run by the opposition such as SDP.
Most socio-political blogs are also critical of the establishment and they are unlikely to provide it with a favorable coverage during the campaigning period.
The PAP’s foray into the new media has been hugely disappointing so far despite being armed with more resources than their competitors.
Few PAP MPs and ministers have a blog or Facebook account and even then, they are updated on an infrequent basis.
The P65 blog which was started in the aftermath of the 2006 general elections for the young PAP MPs to reach out to netizens fizzled out due to low readership and lack of genuine exchange between readers and the writers.
While the mainstream media remains tightly controlled by the PAP, its monopoly on information is slowly eroded away by the emergence of the new media.
The new media was credited with triggering the political tsunami which hit the shores of Malaysia last year.
Despite the hype over the new media, its impact on the next election in Singapore is likely to be minimal.
Unlike the Malaysia new media which is dominated by credible internet newspapers like Malaysiakini and The Malaysian Insider whose readership is comparable to that of the state media, Singapore new media is still in its infantile stage of development.
There are no strong players with a substantial readership to challenge the state media. Furthermore, Singaporeans are less politically aware and active compared to their Malaysian counterparts.
The “cooling-off” period will not be the only change made to the existing rules. The PAP will take no chances to ensure that its much dreaded “freak” election will never happen in Singapore.
)..or the old man finally made it across the river STYX.
