Monday, February 20, 2006
Singapore Changes Guard
Social, Political And Economic Directions in the 1990s
Edited by Garry Rodan
Almost 13 years was passed since this book was published. The essays, meant to be critical and academic, marked a crucial turning point in Singapore Politics as Goh Chok Tong assumed leadership of the country.
While the articles focused on challenges, policies and campaigns of that time, certain issues remained relevant. The national campaigns such as the Shared Values debate was vigorously debated by the writers.
“Political Innovation in Singapore: the presidency, the leadership and the party” contributed by David Brown explained how PAP managed the country using the concept of Corporatism, through a threefold distinction of political authority, cultural identity and interest associations, still applicable in today's context.
John Clammer explained why “naked authoritarianism” in Singapore would be impossible or politically costly for PAP and hence the National's Ideology debate which was an attempt to “pre-empt social change or direct it in suitable directions”. He also argued that it was a “counter-modernisation”effort that revealed rarely surfaced cultural discourses in the city-state.
The “middle-class society” debate put forward by Garry Rodan uncovered discrepancies on our perception of what it meant in Singapore. He questioned the existence of a middle class and a middle class society in Singapore and its association with electoral politics. He concluded that the middle class in NICs such as Taiwan and South Korea were never significant players in political changes in their own nations, and hence, should not be any different in Singapore.
Cheah Hock Beng's paper provided a brief history of the Singapore's economy and challenges faced by the government. Singapore's dependence on direct foreign investment and export markets amidst international uncertainties remained an important topic. His analysis was supported by Amitav Acharya and M.Ramesh's paper who posited that the government's focus on Singapore's economy, heavily dependent on regional and international trade, formed the basis for internal and external national security. Singapore's Industrial Relations in the 1990s by Chris Leggett was an informative article on the labour movement while Mukul G Asher revealed the shortcomings of the CPF system.
Despite promises by the new Prime Minister of “opening up”, the PAP government has continued to govern using authoritarian measures and tactics. This book demonstrates how much seems to have changed, and yet remained unchanged.
Asian Cyberactivism
Freedom of Expression and Media Censorship
Edited by Steven Gan, James Gomez and Uwe Johannen
Despite the widespread commonly held belief that the Internet might prove to be an important tool in promoting democracy, this book aims to provide a much more intrinsic analysis of how other factors including legislations, cyber surveillance, language and access might affect these processes within individual Asian countries.
Terence Lee's paper, “Emulating Singapore: towards a model for Internet Regulation” explains why the widespread use of Internet in the country has not necessarily lead to greater democratization. He also explained why the Singapore model of restricting online freedom of expression might not be applicable in other countries. PAP tactics on silencing online dissension can be illustrated by the article contributed by one of Fateha.com founder, Zulfikar, an advocate on Malay/Muslim issues, currently in exile. Just across the causeway, the success of Malaysiakini.com indirectly created pressure for greater media freedom revealing stark differences in terms of openness in political climate.
The history and threat posed by Muslim extremists and fundamentalists is explained in the paper, “Cyberjihad : fighting the infidels from Pakistan”. In his paper, Zafarulla Khan explains how the jihadists waged the media war using online tools to spread their messages. The history of the civil war conflict between the Sri Lankan government and the Eelam community is documented by Kasun Ubayasiri who believed that the Internet has managed to counter some of the pro-government propaganda. Zaw Oo's paper highlights the effectiveness of using cyber-campaigns in mobilising the Burmese diaspora. He cites the example of Pepsi Boycott Campaign and Selective Purchasing Laws that created international pressure for companies to stop business dealings with the Burma military regime.
One of the more exemplary cases on the effectiveness of the Internet in using to promote democracy occurred in South Korean, which incidentally has one of the highest broadband penetration rates. The author, Lee Eun -Jeung, explained how the Internet has been used to mobilise public opinion into action such as the Presidential election victory of Roh Moo Hyun, who was depicted by the mainstream media as a threat to national security and well-being of the nation.
By providing a multi-faceted approach to the topic, the book revealed significant disparities within the Asian region on each countries' state of online freedom of expression and media freedom. The various challenges faced by politicians and activists whether within their own countries or causes cannot be easily defined in the geopolitical context.
Social, Political And Economic Directions in the 1990s
Edited by Garry Rodan
Almost 13 years was passed since this book was published. The essays, meant to be critical and academic, marked a crucial turning point in Singapore Politics as Goh Chok Tong assumed leadership of the country.
While the articles focused on challenges, policies and campaigns of that time, certain issues remained relevant. The national campaigns such as the Shared Values debate was vigorously debated by the writers.
“Political Innovation in Singapore: the presidency, the leadership and the party” contributed by David Brown explained how PAP managed the country using the concept of Corporatism, through a threefold distinction of political authority, cultural identity and interest associations, still applicable in today's context.
John Clammer explained why “naked authoritarianism” in Singapore would be impossible or politically costly for PAP and hence the National's Ideology debate which was an attempt to “pre-empt social change or direct it in suitable directions”. He also argued that it was a “counter-modernisation”effort that revealed rarely surfaced cultural discourses in the city-state.
The “middle-class society” debate put forward by Garry Rodan uncovered discrepancies on our perception of what it meant in Singapore. He questioned the existence of a middle class and a middle class society in Singapore and its association with electoral politics. He concluded that the middle class in NICs such as Taiwan and South Korea were never significant players in political changes in their own nations, and hence, should not be any different in Singapore.
Cheah Hock Beng's paper provided a brief history of the Singapore's economy and challenges faced by the government. Singapore's dependence on direct foreign investment and export markets amidst international uncertainties remained an important topic. His analysis was supported by Amitav Acharya and M.Ramesh's paper who posited that the government's focus on Singapore's economy, heavily dependent on regional and international trade, formed the basis for internal and external national security. Singapore's Industrial Relations in the 1990s by Chris Leggett was an informative article on the labour movement while Mukul G Asher revealed the shortcomings of the CPF system.
Despite promises by the new Prime Minister of “opening up”, the PAP government has continued to govern using authoritarian measures and tactics. This book demonstrates how much seems to have changed, and yet remained unchanged.
Asian Cyberactivism
Freedom of Expression and Media Censorship
Edited by Steven Gan, James Gomez and Uwe Johannen
Despite the widespread commonly held belief that the Internet might prove to be an important tool in promoting democracy, this book aims to provide a much more intrinsic analysis of how other factors including legislations, cyber surveillance, language and access might affect these processes within individual Asian countries.
Terence Lee's paper, “Emulating Singapore: towards a model for Internet Regulation” explains why the widespread use of Internet in the country has not necessarily lead to greater democratization. He also explained why the Singapore model of restricting online freedom of expression might not be applicable in other countries. PAP tactics on silencing online dissension can be illustrated by the article contributed by one of Fateha.com founder, Zulfikar, an advocate on Malay/Muslim issues, currently in exile. Just across the causeway, the success of Malaysiakini.com indirectly created pressure for greater media freedom revealing stark differences in terms of openness in political climate.
The history and threat posed by Muslim extremists and fundamentalists is explained in the paper, “Cyberjihad : fighting the infidels from Pakistan”. In his paper, Zafarulla Khan explains how the jihadists waged the media war using online tools to spread their messages. The history of the civil war conflict between the Sri Lankan government and the Eelam community is documented by Kasun Ubayasiri who believed that the Internet has managed to counter some of the pro-government propaganda. Zaw Oo's paper highlights the effectiveness of using cyber-campaigns in mobilising the Burmese diaspora. He cites the example of Pepsi Boycott Campaign and Selective Purchasing Laws that created international pressure for companies to stop business dealings with the Burma military regime.
One of the more exemplary cases on the effectiveness of the Internet in using to promote democracy occurred in South Korean, which incidentally has one of the highest broadband penetration rates. The author, Lee Eun -Jeung, explained how the Internet has been used to mobilise public opinion into action such as the Presidential election victory of Roh Moo Hyun, who was depicted by the mainstream media as a threat to national security and well-being of the nation.
By providing a multi-faceted approach to the topic, the book revealed significant disparities within the Asian region on each countries' state of online freedom of expression and media freedom. The various challenges faced by politicians and activists whether within their own countries or causes cannot be easily defined in the geopolitical context.
