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Media
Release: Podcast ban shows PAP scared of even contest
4
Apr 06
The
latest announcement from the Government to ban podcasting and
videocasting during elections is aimed squarely at the SDP’s
efforts to harness the new technology to advance its platform in
the upcoming general elections.
The PAP has spared no
effort to crush the traditional media and today controls every
Singaporean newspaper, TV and radio station.
The Internet
has surfaced to challenge the PAP’s grip on information
dissemination in Singapore. The Singapore Democrats saw this
potential and quickly moved to set up a podcast in August 2005.
We will also be using videocasting, or vblogging, to help carry
our message to the voters.
However, the PAP has again
reared its ugly head of despotism and introduced an unjust law
specifically designed to curtail the free flow of information and
stymie the SDP’s most effective weapon to reach out to
voters.
In 1996, when the SDP produced a video to present
its platform and alternative policies, the PAP Government banned
the video and amended the Films Act to prohibit future production
and dissemination of “political videos”.
Of
course, the definition of what constitutes a political video is
left entirely up to the PAP. Hence while it bans videos featuring
oppositionists such as Mr J B Jeyaretnam and the undersigned, it
freely airs programmes lionizing PAP leaders.
The SDP was
going to depend heavily on the use of podcasts and vblogs in this
election in order to by-pass the state-controlled media that have
always played the role of the attack dog against opposition
parties, especially the Singapore Democrats.
The latest
move by the PAP deals a crushing blow to the SDP’s
strategy. The party will consult IT experts to see what can be
done to salvage its plans.
We call on Singaporeans and the
international community to voice out strongly against such
repressive tactics and to allow the people of Singapore to have
ready access to information from all political parties contesting
in the elections.
By its latest action, it is clear that
the PAP is running desperate and taking measures to curtail
something that will be beyond its control. The autocrats in the
regime still do not understand that at the end of the day they
cannot stop the tide of democracy and free information flow from
coming ashore.
CHEE SOON JUAN
Secretary-General
Singapore
Democratic Party
4 April 2006
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