Media
Internet war
It's the hottest election ever fought online but strict regulation will dampen it once election is called. Then there's SMS. By Seah Chiang Nee
Mar 4, 2006

From the opposition side, a critic posted a series of selective quotes and statistics that put the People's Action Party and its leaders in bad light.

It was a safe move since it made no defamatory allegation but achieved the same result.

Others praised PAP leaders so cynically and excessively in everything that left readers in no doubt of their real intention, a sort of Mark Antony coming to bury Caesar, not to praise him.

From the government side, supporters fought back with leading threads like, "My idol is Lee Kuan Yew" and "Hsien Loong is an ideal leader."

Welcome to Singapore, 2006! An Internet psy-war is taking place out there.

The public had been expecting an election to take place soon, but the Internet had long moved into high gear.

Supporters from both sides, some masquerading as neutral commentators, have been fighting their causes.

The postings have largely been anti-PAP, too many of them angry, crude messages rather than serious or refined discussions of issues. The PAP suppporters, on their part, frequently regurgutated official positions and broke no new ground.

To an extent, the Internet is creating a new political environment. It is still relatively unsophisticated compared to other developed societies.

It has, nevertheless, allowed politicians to avoid the complete clutch of an election law that limits campaigning to just nine days. Political parties are reaching out to a section of the voters.

It will have some impact on the election result, though the exact extent is not known.

In previous elections - including the last one in 2001 - the Internet was a lot smaller, there was no online radio and weblogs - or personal diaries - were unheard of.

Today opposition websites are better organised with a wider reach. The Singapore Democratic Party even has its own Internet radio, although the public response is unknown.

Some believe that - over time - the Internet will be able to swing the course of politics - even in controlled Singapore. Not for a long time, others believe, given the large proportion of poorly educated citizenry.

That its political influence will grow in the future is, however, not in doubt. There's no going back.

For now, the Internet generally attracts more criticism than support for the government, but of late PAP supporters have been hitting back.

The Government actually started its own weblog last year, but by and large, it views the Internet forums with suspicion and wants little to do with them.

Its broad strategy is to ignore, control and prevent the Internet from doing harm rather than to engage its critics.

This may not be the best long-term solution, given the changing demographics and the emergence of a new Internet-savvy generation that is not necessarily anti-government but is less bonded to the PAP than their parents.

Nowadays, more Singaporeans are meeting and talking online, forming into a sort of a sub-community in the blogosphere.

Some are oblivious or disinterested in what the political leaders say in the mainstream media, a little similar to the loss of parent-children communication portrayed in Jack Neo's 'I Not Stupid, Too" movie.

It is imperative for the political leadership to think of a way to engage these Web citizens rather than ignore or treat them as foes.

A decade from now, I believe no politician who wants to be elected into office can ignore it. He may have to put up his own weblog or join chat-line discussions if he wants to put his views across.

Blogger Yawning Bread recently issued a timely reminder entitled "Blogging during elections" to chatsites and weblogs.

He said that certain laws restricting what can be said over the Internet would kick in once a parliamentary election is called.

It will be harder to control the possible - nay, probable - large-scale use of the mobile phone - or short message system - to campaign among voters.

In South Korea, SMS has helped to cause the defeat of the government in an election.
By Seah Chiang Nee