Is there any right answer to the question? I doubt it. I grew up listening and watching news, thinking that every news is real news and never question how the government controlled the media. I believe most of the Singaporeans, will never question what the news reported to us because how dangerous can Singapore be?
My answer to the question:
To a large extent, I would definitely want the government to be in control however, on the other hand, we do know that the government are withholding some information that we “deserve” to know. So?
Question to ponder about, “Why did the government deemed some information as “classified” and not be able to publish the news to us, Singaporeans?” Would it be because, Singapore is always labelled as a SAFE country, hence posting negative news, would bring down the reputation of our country?
We wouldn’t know the real answer, why government did what they have done!
I do strongly encourage for Singapore to have a private media company, without any propaganda restriction, a platform for Singaporeans to express what they truly feel about the news in Singapore. The private media company should be run by a group of people that can think logically, and rationally, hence the news posted would not be seemed as a childish act or a joke to public. I am very much done with being under an umbrella, sheltered by the government thinking that Singapore is good as it is portrayed by the news.
However, we do have to look at the negative side when Singaporeans can speak freely, as it could cause chaos and affect the harmony among everyone. With the influx of foreign talents, being able to speak freely on a platform would allow the majority to bully the minority, which is something we try to avoid as much as we could.
I have a pretty interesting question to ask my readers,
If one day, I insult a Malay person, I would be deemed as RACIST, and harsh acts will be act upon me.
However, what if one day, I insult my own race, what would I be deemed as?
The reason for the above question, what is with Singaporeans’ double standard when it comes to this?
Life Of BCM110 
Hey shanne,
First time commenting, haha. I guess most of us would believe whatever is being reported on news in Singapore is true and without a spec of controversy in it however there are certain things which the government controls which they do not release to the public. Are they protecting us from knowing the truth or is there more than it meets the eye? We do not ever really know what goes on behind the scenes. I agree with your view on a platform where the public can voice their opinions and be heard. It definitely goes both ways and the government should also listen to the views of people to improve further and let the country grow. Interesting question at the end which requires pondering. I guess it also boils down to be racist too but since you are what you eat and being the same race, it wouldn’t be deemed as a great racism as compared to how you criticize someone from another racial group but ultimately at the end, it is also still racism. I hope everyone would learn to spread love and not hatred!
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Hi Shanne, interesting read as your post shows a different viewpoint on having a private media in Singapore that I have not thought about. Most of the Singaporeans trust the government and we are considered passive citizens. But i believe we also have opinions about certain issues and we talk about them to our friends or post it online (like now). If there is a private media company, maybe one of the things they can do is to collate all the opinions of Singaporeans and publish them to get the attention of the government. I guess it is also good to have a private media to talk about the unfavourable side of Singapore (instead of only portraying Singapore as a good country) so that besides the government, we citizens can also realise what is wrong and know that there are more to improve on. Maybe with this, it can build togetherness in Singapore.
Hmm, interesting question, but I think insulting own race is considered racism too. It can go two ways:
1)Others will take it as a joke and insult together
2)You might receive even more backlash from others because after all, you are insulting your own race!
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Hellos, over the years majority Singaporeans have become over rely on the government with any information they feed us in the news without having our own thoughts to differentiate what is the truth or false in the news/information given to us, majority Singaporeans tends to only take in the only view of the news that are given by the government as the only truth, which i think is one of the flaws for Government owned media.
i agree with you that Singaporeans have double standard when it comes to criticism other races and own race, However i personally feel that it has been instill in majority Singaporeans that it is unfair and not right to insult other races with different skin colors as it may seems to be disrupting the racial harmony that we are privilege to have in Singapore whereas insulting own race is alright since they belongs to the same race same skin color that would not affect the racial harmony in Singapore even quarrels break out and also in a way to show that not all people of the races agree with the actions done by one fellow person of the same race
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Hi, interesting question you got there! This is probably the reason why Singapore’s media is government owned. As we are a country that consist of multiple races, racist remarks is highly sensitive. Perhaps to prevent such issues or conflict the government decides to take control over the media in order to inform the nation the great impact of racism. If Singapore were a privately owned media from the start, our thinking could have been different. We could have been more open minded and perhaps more accepting of other races. This is because the government instill the fact that an insult or hurl at other races is racism, I honestly feel that this ‘teaching’ encourage a group of ‘no job’ minority to even more throw such insults as if they do that they would gain fame with people spreading chaos about the racist remarks. If you get what I mean? Nevertheless interesting post!
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Hey Wahiuz here. Very well thought out blog post I have to say. You were very thorough with your explanation. The ideas you have about a government owned media seems to be on the lips of quite a handful of people including myself. Classified information, wherever they are and whatever it is about let’s hope it is kept hidden for a good reason. I feel private companies could help Singapore as the next pedestal for creativity in the media as well. Intriguing questions you posed. Double standards are everywhere I’d have to say and insult of race would probably be the least of our worries. Insulting your own race, I’d say an outcast is the only thing that comes to mind.
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Hey sis! I agree that there is no right answer to this particular question. I like that you shifted the question to specifically Singapore and great point saying that Singaporeans would not question the validity of our news because our Government is stable and we trust that we can believe the Government for our news. However, it might be true that they withhold information from the public but that might not be such a bad thing. There are some information that the public are just not ready for. Good point about the privately owned media in Singapore, even with the pros that come with it, there will always be cons. US has privately owned media but as a result people have the opportunity to speak their mind but sometimes that might not be such a good idea, very much like your example with the racist comment. Good job sis~
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Hi there, loved reading your post, so cool to see an entirely different perspective from someone from a different country. I understand what you are saying, but how would this work in Singapore, would it even be allowed for a company (not government owned) to own a news station that reported the truth only? Maybe one day. I do have to admit travelling in Singapore, I did feel safe, and it was so clean, but then I was able to leave and not get involved in politics so my experience was quite sanitised.
As for insulting your own race, not sure how that you come across in Singapore, but here in Australia I don’t think that most people would actually worry to much. Cheers MJ
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