In his speech, PM Lee said the Government needs to be
active and adept in communicating with Singaporeans
online. …
Prime Minister Lee Hsien Loong has emphasised the need for the
government to engage the online community more even as digital
media continues to play an increasingly important role in
society.
Speaking at the National Day Rally on Sunday at the National
University Cultural Centre, he said while the government has been
able to engage Singaporeans through mediums such as face-to-face
meetings, it also needs to learn to operate better within the
digital space.
In his first rally address since the May elections, PM Lee said,
"I think in person face to face, on TV, we know how to do
it. Engagement online, we need to learn to do it
better. It's not easy to do but it's important because the digital
media is continuing to grow in importance."
Dressed in a blue long-sleeved shirt, he noted that while more
citizens are making their voices heard on various digital platforms
and social media, it
was also easier for "negative views and ridiculous untruths" to
spread and the government must do its best to "counter this and
prevent it from leading people astray".
"And we have to be able to operate in that space. It's
not easy because it's anonymous, it's chaotic, it's unfiltered,
unmoderated. So the medium lends itself to many negative views
and ridiculous
untruths… And we have to do our best to counter
this."
Although some of the Ministers have leveraged on internet
platforms such blogging and engaging through Facebook, PM Lee said
they still have to improve in communicating through this
medium.
In addition, the government too must also play its part to be
adept in communicating with those online.
"But it's not just the Ministers doing these, the government as
a whole has to be more active and adept, engaging Singaporeans
online. We can't be in every corner on cyberspace
because there's a lot of cowboy towns out there."
Still, he said that there are platforms which are recognised as
reliable, able to provide an open debate, and where "different
views are expressed but is balanced".
Most importantly, PM Lee said the government needs to leverage
on cyberspace and "use it constructively to explain issues, to
shape opinions, to rally support and to make Singapore work
better".
Much for the government to learn
Meanwhile, political observers noted that the emphasis
on online engagement was a reaction to the General Election result
and the government has much to learn in order to take full
advantage of the medium.
"Mr Lee was signalling that times have changed. And that he and
his team are entering a new phase of engagement with the people,"
said media consultant PN Balji.
"The fault line in this engagement is a government that has been
protected by a passive public but the General Election changed all
that."
On the other hand, associate professor Bridget Welsh, who
teaches political science at the Singapore Management University
(SMU), noted that the government needs to truly engage the online
community without admonishing them.
She pointed out that in PM Lee's speech, he had criticised the
online medium for spreading "ridiculous untruths".
"The PAP needs to genuinely engage and listen without
admonishment and criticism. Unless it is able to genuinely get out
of its elitist throne of "government knows best" it will not be
able to use mediums that involve interaction," she
said.
Balji added that not only the government has much to learn, but
it also needs to change the way it communicates with the online
community.
"Being an active participant in the online world needs a
paradigm shift in not just political or public service ideology but
also in the culture of issuing motherhood answers to pointed
questions.
"A government not used to or trained for this new world will
find the going tough for sure," he said.