Sunday February 19, 4:17 AM
Bloggers, podcasts online may be subject to Parliamentary Elections
Act
SINGAPORE : Come election time, bloggers and podcasts online may be
subject to the Parliamentary Elections Act.
The Media Development Authority has reminded Internet content
providers to comply with Singapore's laws, including those relating
to political content.
It says changes to the law, if necessary, will be announced at an
appropriate time.
In the previous election in 2001, cyberspace was smaller and less
active, and so was the Internet community. Podcasts and blogs were
not common terms at that time, but things have changed over the
past five years.
Online political discussions have become more common, especially
with the General Election due by the middle of next year.
One anonymous blogger called "SGRally" has even set up a website
and asks for volunteers to record rally speeches and post them
online.
"That site, whoever set it up, is trying to push the boundaries,
the envelope a little bit by making people think about what these
definitions are. It could present a problem, it could not. We will
see how it pans out, and what type of videos that people actually
end up sending in," said blogger Benjamin Lee, who is better known
as 'Mr Miyagi'.
But is this blog allowed under the Parliamentary Elections
Act?
"They can say that it contravenes the law in the sense that rallies
are meant to persuade voters towards the speakers' cause. The aim
is to influence people. So under existing regulations, it would
seem as if it is covered," said Tan Tarn How, research fellow at
IPS (Institute of Policy Studies, Singapore).
"There are several questions in this - first of all, whether people
would really bother to put up the video tapes, transcripts of the
speeches and rallies. Secondly, whether people would bother to go
download the rallies and speeches."
Many also argue that while the Internet's influence is increasing,
most Singaporeans will not be heading online.
"I don't think that the audience is very big for this kind of
material, (though) they have been doing it for years. In the last
GE, there were a lot of materials but not many went to the SDP and
WP websites to download materials," said Tan.
"People are just not interested enough to put in the effort to look
for information. Unless it's cast in a form that is closer to
entertainment than politics."
Bloggers agree that not many out there want to listen to political
podcasts.
"I'm sure there is room for listening to political podcasts. The
only problem is that a lot of the stuff out there is dry and
boring. So you are basically asking the man on the street, for 20
mins or half an hour of his time to tune into your programme. But
if it's not interesting, I won't waste my time," said Lee.
But bloggers also point out that current laws aren't clear
enough.
"Some things need to be defined, to make it clearer. There are a
lot of laws covering online offline activities that didn't seem
inadequate till the advent of blogging and podcasting. Right now,
you have bloggers and podcasters wondering how often they will fall
foul of the law," said Lee.
There are still many unanswered questions - like how to get
bloggers to take responsibility for their actions especially with
anonymous postings or if the website is hosted out of
Singapore.
So it remains to be seen whether the law will change before the
next General Election. But one thing's for sure, political watchers
say it's still the heartlanders who will decide the outcome of the
next election, not the online community.
- CNA /ls
