..SINGAPORE ELECTIONS 2011: Media changing Singapore election

..SINGAPORE ELECTIONS 2011: Media changing Singapore election
By Lim Mun Fah in Kuala Lumpur/Sin Chew Daily | ANN – Sat, May 7, 2011
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Kuala Lumpur (Sin Chew Daily/ANN) - The Singapore general election has been heating up in recent days. In addition to mass rallies, new media have also played their roles. They have added more unpredictable variables to the election and made it more significant.

Some people even said that the relaxed control on new media allowing videos captured during campaign activities to be used in their advertisements is indeed a major historical turning point for long-suppressed Singapore.

As an onlooker, I observed that Singapore's print media have indeed increased coverage for the opposition this time. However, most of the young people still believe that there is no so-called freedom of the press in Singapore and therefore, they do not trust traditional media.

Singapore was ranked 150 out of 196 countries surveyed worldwide in the latest media freedom study conducted by the US-based Freedom House. Its ranking was even worse than Malaysia which was ranked 143. The report has accurately reflected the perception of young people in Singapore.

It is a global phenomenon that the younger generation advocates the new media. However, it has worried the ruling People's Action Party (PAP) when young Singaporeans started to rush to obtain electoral and political information from the new media.

In fact, the opposition's website is more popular than the one of the ruling party. One of the examples is, as of 10am 3 May 2011, the number of Singaporeans who joined the Facebook of 24-year-old Nicole Seah, a fresh woman candidate of the National Solidarity Party (NSP), has hit 60, 244 people. Her popularity is even higher than Minister Mentor Lee Kuan Yew, who has been joining politics for over half of a century.

Another example would be Chen Show-Mao, who is considered as the "trump card" of the Worker's Party (WP). He has 14,266 of Facebook fans. Although he has fewer fans compared to Lee Kuan Yew (57,469) and Foreign Minister George Yeo (22,753), he still has more fans than Prime Minister Lee Hsien Loong (11,046).

In addition, the top 10 candidates with most Facebook fans also include WP Secretary-General Low Thia Khiang (6), WP Chairman Sylvia Lim Swee Lian (7), PAP Health Minister Khaw Boon Wan (8) and woman rookie Tin Pei Ling (9).

Of course, the high numbers of fans do not guarantee a victory. However, it is observed that with the "help" of the Internet, the opposition's rallies have attracted more young people and at the same time, caused a pressure for the PAP.

Undeniably, the rapid politicisation on the Internet has caused a wind of change in Singapore. However, would it be reflected on votes? It is believed to be the greatest expectation of the opposition and the greatest worry of the ruling party.

Translated by Soong Phui Jee
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PAP delegation to the UN makes a farce of Gay agenda

PAP 1959



PAP RALLY 2011



WORKERS PARTY RALLY 2011


PAP delegation to the UN makes a farce of Gay agenda Please watch this short video on the Singapore delegation to the UN's recent speech on gay rights in Singapore: ( see link - http://youtu.be/qke8yDBYugs )

This farce of a Singapore delegation said:
"Recognition and success is based on merit and not on factors such as sexual orientation. In the area of employment, the Tripartite Alliance for fair employment practises promotes and educates employers and the general public on fair and responsible employment practises."
Well, a couple of weeks before, just prior to the recent elections campaign, then caretaker Minister of Community, Youth and Sports, Vivian "Rainbow Coalition" Balakrishnan and his GRC team issued a statement that was basically a bid to thwart Singapore's first openly gay politician, Dr Vincent Wijeysinghe, in his attempts for political office.

If the seeking of political office is seen, correctly I would think, to be a seeking of employment, how is it that a government that claims to already have had in place a 'Tipartite Alliance for fair employment practises promotes and educates employers and the general public on fair and responsible employment practises' managed to be the same ones to try and derail Dr Wijeysinghe's bid for office?

All because Dr Wijeysinghe is gay.

Futher, this delegation claims that:

"In recent time, we had robust debates in Parliamentary debates on
whether to decriminalize certain homosexual acts."
Yet, it was Vivian Balakrishnan and his team who posed the question on whether Dr Wijeysinghe was harbouring a "Gay Agenda" that he or the Singapore Democratic Party were planning to pursue in Parliament if elected.

All this while 4 straight men, three of Vivian Balakhrishnan's PAP colleagues - Hri Krishnan Nair, Charles Chong and Baey Yam Keng - as well as PAP-appointed NMP, Siew Kum Hong, who spoke up in support of gay rights in 2007. It would seem that only straight men are allowed to pursue a "Gay Agenda" in Parliament but not gay ones; gays get our rights under the auspices of straight charity.

Vivian Balakhrishnan is of course a Christian; he attends the Barker Road Methodist Church which, along with the Wesley Methodist Church along with many other Christian churches, are known as Christian Taliban Central, and a headhunting grounds for the ruling PAP