Online Opposition in Singapore: Communications Outreach Without Electoral Gain

Published in:  Journal of Contemporary Asia, Volume 38, Issue 4 November 2008 , pages 591 - 612 .

The internet's public availability in Singapore has fostered a belief among opposition parties in the city-state that the internet will provide them with a new tool of external outreach to overcome local media bias and make electoral gains against the ruling People's Action Party. Ten years after the first opposition party went online, Singapore's opposition parties' online presence is small, its online external outreach weak and their electoral fortunes remain unchanged. Why is this so? This article argues that a do-it-yourself approach, technical challenges, a culture of caution and the parties' control over its members' online communications are the chief reasons why their use of the internet for external outreach has been less than optimal. The article concludes that the internet provides opposition parties an additional external outreach medium. However, that outreach has not helped improve their electoral success. This shows that relying on the internet does not yield electoral advantage.

’Citizen Journalism’: Bridging the Discrepancy in Singapore’s General Elections News

The political expression of ordinary Internet users in Singapore has received the attention of some scholars but very little has been specifically written about citizen journalism during general elections. Since the arrival of the Internet in Singapore in 1995, the People’s Action Party (PAP) government has actively sought to control the supply of online political
content during the election campaign period. This paper looks at how online political expressions of ordinary Internet users and the regulations to control them have taken shape
during the last three general elections in 1997, 2001 and 2006. In absolute electoral terms there seems to have been no impact over the last three general elections. However, as a
supplementary medium for alternative information during elections, the Internet has made some headway. It remains to be seen if this headway will have an impact on the absolute
electoral results in future elections or become the target of increased control. (Received July 20, 2006; accepted for publication October 17, 2006)

International NGOs: Filling the “Gap” in Singapore's Civil Society

SOJOURN Vol, 20, No. 2 (2005) pp. 177-207

This paper looks at the role and impact of international NGOs on Singapore’s civil society. It argues that since the mid-1990s the Internet has increased accessibility to information generated by such external organizations. In some ways, the Internet has spurred the development, growth, frequency, and reach of the work of these organizations thereby creating greater global and local awareness and activism of “freedom” concerns in Singapore. Such “freedom” concerns in particular focus on the lack of freedom of expression and media freedom in the Republic. The fact that on numerous occasions the Singapore government under the People’s Action Party has taken issue with information put out by these organizations shows that the work of these external organizations does have an impact. Given that there is presently no consolidated local media advocacy initiative, these external groups play an important role in filling one gap in the local civil society landscape. However, the Internet and external input
do not replace the need to have real local actors to move the media advocacy agenda forward in Singapore.

Restricting Free Speech: The Impact on Opposition Parties in Singapore

Copenhagen Journal of Asian Studies  (2006) Vol 23.

Although there has been a great deal of publicity surrounding the restriction of free speech with regard to opposition parties in Singapore, in real terms, the value of free speech for such parties is limited. First, defamation laws in Singapore require the opposition parties to exercise extreme caution to ensure political comments do not result in costly defamation suits or even imprisonment. Second, free speech in itself is of limited use politically for opposition parties if the content of this speech is not disseminated widely by the local media. As a result, both the fear of legal suits and the limited dissemination of content continue to restrict the potential of free speech for opposition parties in Singapore. This means the contribution of free speech activities to inter-party debate is low in Singapore, thereby undermining the fundamental role of democracy premised on fair inter-party competition.

Dumbing down democracy: trends in internet regulation, surveillance and control in Asia

Pacific Journalism Review. (2004) 10 (2).

This article argues that the trends in state regulation, surveillance and control of the internet in Asia stand to effectively reduce political expression. A variety of international media watch and human rights organisations have noted that since 11 September 2001, a slew of antiterrorism laws have been adopted in Asia which place greater restrictions on the internet. Laws against online pornography, gambling, hate
speech and spam have been revised to cover online political content and mobilisation. Such measures limit and reduce the space cyberactivists have to push the democratic agenda online. These cybersecurity measures, introduced as part of the ‘war against terrorism’, represent an extension of already draconian regulations in South-East Asian countries.

Moving Beyond the OB Markers: Rethinking the Space of Civil Society in Singapore

SOJOURN Vol, 20, No. 2 (2005) pp. 119-131 - co-authored with Lenore Lyons

Singapore’s Vulnerable Risk Free Democracy

INT Working Paper (2006). Copenhagen: Copenhagen Business School, Dept. of International Economics and Management co-authored with Ooi Can-Seng