Originally posted by Poh Ah Pak:
[b]The bully
Gandhi Ambalam
17 Jan 08
The Minister Mentor has done it again. His victim this time? A cub
reporter from Reuters by the name of Melanie Lee.
Ms Lee had asked the Minister how he expected the society to become
cultivated given the restriction on civil liberties in
Singapore.
Earlier at a conference at the Suntec Convention Centre, Mr Lee
told the audience that Singapore could reach a level of cultural
development comparable to Italy and Austria in 10 to 15 years. (An
interesting choice of countries given that one was home to a
fascist named Mussolini and the other the birthplace of Adolf
Hitler).
Instead of getting a straightforward answer, however, the
23-year-old journalist was given an earful by the Mentor on how
Singapore had made it without a free press.
This prompted Ms Lee to ask how it could be done when there is
limited freedom of expression in Singapore, unlike the two European
countries he had mentioned.
How dare she talk back to our Leader? According to one of the
mentored ministers, Mr George Yeo, this was boh-tua-bo-suay which,
according to my Chinese colleagues, was a reprimand that parents
used on their children when they were disrespectful. Ms Lee didn't
seem to know her place in society.
Appropriately goaded, the bull charged. "What school did you go
to?"
"Why does that matter?" the Reuters reporter countered.
She did it again! The cheek! The audacity! The courage.
This was vintage Lee who, when faced with a gutsy youth refusing to
just nod her head in cowardly agreement whenever the Leader
launches into hyperbolic nonsense, gets personal and outright
insulting.
This is not first time Mr Lee Kuan Yew has bullied local reporters
who show some semblance of independent thinking.
A few weeks before the general elections in 2006, another
enthusiastic reporter, Mr Ken Kwek, was harangued by the Minister
for saying that there is widespread fear among Singaporeans towards
the authoritarian rule of the PAP.
Mr Kwek was one of a handful of carefully screened participants in
a so-called televised discussion with Mr Lee as the guest on the
forthcoming 2006 elections.
Refusing to answer the question, Mr Lee repeatedly asked the young
Straits Times reporter to disclose the names of those in the
newspaper survey who had said that "fear" was a major factor when
it came to politics in Singapore.
Mr Kwek is, perhaps not surprisingly, no longer with the
newspaper.
Mr Lee may revel in the fact that he has just beaten up another
young reporter and put him in his place. Good for him.
But what may be a thrill for the MM, is a loss for Singapore. There
are countless others who, like Mr Kwek, have found the local media
culture so distasteful that they have decided its just not worth it
and packed up.
I am certain that in the future there will be many more young
Singaporeans who want to experience firsthand the excitement of
journalism but only to realize the hard reality that there is no
such thing in PAP land.
I have been told that "self-loathing " is not a scarce emotion
running through the rooms and hallways of a spanking building in
Toa Payoh they call the News Centre. Given the kind of stuff that
goes on in there, I know because I was one of them once upon a
time, one shouldn't be surprised.
How do you stand tall when the newspaper you write for is
constantly questioned for its integrity? The ranking it gets from
the World Press Freedom Index of 140-something must hang like a
dead albatross around its neck.
Ironically, it is young people like Melanie Lee and Ken Kwek who
understand why Singapore is stuck in such political and cultural
backwardness. They may not say it, but the one thing that is
holding back the country is the very octogenarian seated in front
of them.
The truth of the matter is that a free media throws up ideas and
brings into sharp focus contrary views needed to propel Singapore
into a level of cultural development equal to that of Italy and
Austria.
Does Mr Lee Kuan Yew know that what he's doing is hurting the
country? Maybe, maybe not. Does he care? Not one iota.
Mr Ambalam is Chairman of the Singapore Democrats. He is a former
journalist.
http://www.singaporedemocrat.org/Vantage_Gandhi%20Ambalam3.html[/b]
I can't be sure, because I'm still fuming from reading this
obviously biased report, but from the report:
question: This prompted Ms Lee to ask how it could be done when
there is limited freedom of expression in Singapore, unlike the two
European countries he had mentioned.
Answer : the 23-year-old journalist was given an earful by the
Mentor on how Singapore had made it without a free press.
Sounds like a direct answer in context with the question.
The article of course makes it sound like the question was being
sidestepped.
