According to Asst Prof Cherian George at the School of Communication and Information, NTU one of the big questions to be answered in the upcoming Singapore General Elections is the role of new media technologies in the elections. As TV, radio and other print media is highly regulated here, observers were interested in seeing the role of blogs in these elections. However, these hopes were dashed when Singapore banned political discussions on blogs and podcasts during the election period.
Cherian thinks that most Singaporeans will continue with political discourse on-line, and only those who had any plans of doing something more organized will be more cautious. He also said that since Singapore is a small country, It's partly a numbers game. If only a very small number of readily identifiable individuals flout the rule, then it would be easy for the government to crack down on them and make an example of them," George said, adding this would have a "chilling effect" for the future.
Thus, even 20 bloggers are likely to make an impact. He added that the government is not likely to try and convict them as they would lose much "moral standing" if they were to do so, and this is not the way they have operated in the past.
For other posts on this blog on the same topic, see here and here.
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