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- Jan 5, 2010
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By Choo Zheng Xi / Editor-at-Large
On 6 March 2010, Mr Gopalan Nair asserted that sources had informed him that Minister Mentor Lee Kuan Yew had suffered a massive heart attack and had been warded in intensive care at the Singapore General Hospital (SGH). Less than a day later, after exciting interest across the whole blogosphere, Mr Nair admitted that it was a hoax.
Whatever political point Mr Nair was trying to make by his despicable joke is likely to be overshadowed by the backlash against Mr Nair from ordinary Singaporeans.
Mr Nair’s initial post was picked up by almost a dozen blogs, making the headlines on several popular Singaporean websites.
In response to Mr Nair’s post, TOC sent out requests for two of our writers to be on standby to attend Monday’s parliamentary sitting and look out for motorcades or unusually tight security at SGH. We also asked all our writers to closely monitor online forums like Channelnewsasia, Sammyboy, the comment sections of Temasek Review, and several public Facebook groups for leads.
TOC also emailed the Prime Minister’s office, wrote to Mr Nair requesting a phone interview, and contacted several sources who have connections to SGH.
All this turned out to be a waste of energy, and many involved in chasing Mr Nair’s wild goose felt outraged.
Wasted interest and effort aside, it is completely tasteless to deliberately lie about someone’s death regardless of how much you despise him.
TOC has been a consistent proponent of community moderation, arguing that the abuse of free speech in the form of spreading deliberate misinformation has the potential to cement the public’s perception of the internet as untrustworthy. Further, it provides the Government with the best excuse to regulate the internet to prevent such misinformation from spreading.
TOC has never held back from attacking the government’s positions or questioning public authority, but we have always made these criticisms on the basis of our belief in contributing to a political culture of transparency and accountability. Deliberate misinformation from any side of the political aisle is inimical to that culture.
Mr Nair, who styles himself a “Singapore dissident”, should know that no dissident from even the most repressive dictatorships would deliberately put out blatant lies that can be easily debunked. All this would do is undermine the credibility of the dissident in question.
That should be Mr Nair’s fate.
Mr Nair, when revealing his hoax, asked:
“Is it not stupid that a mere blog like mine, which is not a major newspaper and not a news source of any major importance can be taken so seriously and cause such worry and uncertainly?”
The online community could do Mr Nair a favor by taking him at his word now and completely ignoring anything else he has to say. We would be stupid indeed to do otherwise.
Whatever political point Mr Nair was trying to make by his despicable joke is likely to be overshadowed by the backlash against Mr Nair from ordinary Singaporeans.
Mr Nair’s initial post was picked up by almost a dozen blogs, making the headlines on several popular Singaporean websites.
In response to Mr Nair’s post, TOC sent out requests for two of our writers to be on standby to attend Monday’s parliamentary sitting and look out for motorcades or unusually tight security at SGH. We also asked all our writers to closely monitor online forums like Channelnewsasia, Sammyboy, the comment sections of Temasek Review, and several public Facebook groups for leads.
TOC also emailed the Prime Minister’s office, wrote to Mr Nair requesting a phone interview, and contacted several sources who have connections to SGH.
All this turned out to be a waste of energy, and many involved in chasing Mr Nair’s wild goose felt outraged.
Wasted interest and effort aside, it is completely tasteless to deliberately lie about someone’s death regardless of how much you despise him.
TOC has been a consistent proponent of community moderation, arguing that the abuse of free speech in the form of spreading deliberate misinformation has the potential to cement the public’s perception of the internet as untrustworthy. Further, it provides the Government with the best excuse to regulate the internet to prevent such misinformation from spreading.
TOC has never held back from attacking the government’s positions or questioning public authority, but we have always made these criticisms on the basis of our belief in contributing to a political culture of transparency and accountability. Deliberate misinformation from any side of the political aisle is inimical to that culture.
Mr Nair, who styles himself a “Singapore dissident”, should know that no dissident from even the most repressive dictatorships would deliberately put out blatant lies that can be easily debunked. All this would do is undermine the credibility of the dissident in question.
That should be Mr Nair’s fate.
Mr Nair, when revealing his hoax, asked:
“Is it not stupid that a mere blog like mine, which is not a major newspaper and not a news source of any major importance can be taken so seriously and cause such worry and uncertainly?”
The online community could do Mr Nair a favor by taking him at his word now and completely ignoring anything else he has to say. We would be stupid indeed to do otherwise.
