Singapore faces blogging ire over militant
escape
Singapore's state-controlled media and government have come
under fire from critics and Internet bloggers for failing to give
the public important answers on the escape of a suspected Islamic
militant.
With a cynical eye cast on local newspapers such as the
pro-government daily, the Straits Times, critics say media coverage
has skirted key issues and so more people were turning to
alternatives such as blogs for a differing viewpoint.
"The mainstream media did its job of trying to play down the most
shameful part of the incident. It is a blow to Singapore's image as
being efficient," Seah Chiang Nee, a political commentator and
former Singapore newspaper editor, told Reuters.
"The more Internet savvy would not depend on the mainstream media
for news of what's happening in the country, they would go to the
Internet," said Seah.
Mas Selamat bin Kastari, the alleged leader of the Singapore cell
of al Qaeda-linked Jemaah Islamiah, a group blamed for the 2002
Bali bombings that killed 202 people, escaped on Wednesday last
week from the toilet of a detention centre.
Security experts said the escape was embarrassing for a country
that prides itself on tight security. The escape sparked an
unprecedented manhunt in the small island and a rare apology from
the government, who blamed a "security lapse". But few further
details of his escape have since been released.
Cherian George, an ex-Straits Times journalist and media lecturer,
wrote on the Internet that the Singapore media had not answered the
"immediate" question of how Kastari escaped.
"The question is so natural and so obvious that you'd think anyone
barely paying attention would ask it. Unless, apparently, one
worked for the national news media," George wrote.
Loss of credibility
George said the absence of this question was due to media
management by the government and that the main result would be a
loss of credibility for the national media that would push readers
to other sources.
Letters to The Straits Times have also poured scorn on the
government's handling of the crisis and flow of information.
"I am disturbed by the security lapse ... more explanation is
required," wrote Rosemary Chwee Keng Chai in a letter.
Patrick Daniel, editor-in-chief of the Straits Times, told Reuters
by email that the paper took its responsibility to readers
seriously and that George was "utterly wrong" in his conclusion or
that its journalists had never asked questions on how Kastari
escaped.
"If Cherian had checked with us, we would have told him that we
asked that question, and many others too, many times," he said,
adding the paper had run an article exploring the issue headlined
"How did he manage to escape?" on Friday.
Reuters, a global news and information provider, repeatedly asked
the Ministry of Home Affairs for more details on the escape but was
either referred to its initial five-line statement or was unable to
reach its spokeswoman on by telephone.
Singapore retains a tight grip on its national newspapers through a
comprehensive legal framework that requires, among other things, a
publication permit to be granted at the discretion of the minister.
A substantial shareholder of a newspaper company must also gain
approval of a minister.
"I think that there was tacit understanding between the government
and the media," Catherine Lim, a prominent local author and
political commentator, told Reuters.
"It's a good working relationship. Local media would never be as
inquisitive, probing or rambunctious as the Western media."
Some bloggers had a field day, morphing Kastari's face onto a
poster for TV series Prison Break and saying even students doing
examinations in the city-state were accompanied to the
toilet.
"We are not like those free-wheeling and chaotic governments from
Western democracies that make their leaders accountable for every
little thing," wrote Lee Kin Mun, better known under his online
moniker 'Mr Brown', Singapore's most famous blogger.
http://singaporedemocrat.org/articleJIescape5.html
