Red herring?
With respect to criticisms of Singapore's press freedom, our law minister K.Shanmugam, as reported in today's Strait Times, says:
How objective is the criticism of Singapore in relation to press freedom? Is it possible to have a modern, successful, open economy if the people are not empowered and educated?
There is an organization called Reporters Without Borders. It comes out with a ranking of countries on press freedom. In 2008 they ranked us 144 out of 173 countries, somewhere below Ethiopia, Sudan, Kazahkstan, Venezuela, Guinea, Haiti, and so on.
Monday's International Herald Tribune carried a story on Guinea. It reported: “One month ago, over 150 people were gunned down by soldiers in the West Africa country of Guinea. Women were raped on the streets, and opposition leaders were locked up. This was the response of a brutal military junta to a group of brave citizens who dared to hold a peaceful pro-democracy rally.”
Singapore is apparently below Guinea on Press Freedom.This year, we have behaved better – so we moved up to Rank 133. Below Kenya (which saw riots following a disputed election), and Congo (which continues to struggle with the aftermath of an armed conflict that has claimed more than nine million lives), but above North Korea and Eritrea.
If you look at a different ranking - the Freedom House rankings for 2009 - Singapore is below Haiti, Colombia, Kenya, Moldova, Guinea, Pakistan and so on. We are 151 out of 195.
These are all countries which are trying to progress. My point is not that we are in any way inherently superior to them. The question is whether a truly objective assessment will give us such a ranking. Our approach has therefore to been to ignore the criticisms which make no sense. The people of Singapore know better. And the investors who put in billions every year know better as well.
They do not have to come here. We do not have any natural resources. Our main selling point is that there will be good value added when they invest here, their investments will be protected, and that we are a stable democracy.
-The Strait Times Oct 28 Pg. A30.
I'm not sure if what he's trying to say makes sense at all.
How objective is the criticism of Singapore in relation to press freedom? Is it possible to have a modern, successful, open economy if the people are not empowered and educated?
There is an organization called Reporters Without Borders. It comes out with a ranking of countries on press freedom. In 2008 they ranked us 144 out of 173 countries, somewhere below Ethiopia, Sudan, Kazahkstan, Venezuela, Guinea, Haiti, and so on.
Monday's International Herald Tribune carried a story on Guinea. It reported: “One month ago, over 150 people were gunned down by soldiers in the West Africa country of Guinea. Women were raped on the streets, and opposition leaders were locked up. This was the response of a brutal military junta to a group of brave citizens who dared to hold a peaceful pro-democracy rally.”
Singapore is apparently below Guinea on Press Freedom.This year, we have behaved better – so we moved up to Rank 133. Below Kenya (which saw riots following a disputed election), and Congo (which continues to struggle with the aftermath of an armed conflict that has claimed more than nine million lives), but above North Korea and Eritrea.
If you look at a different ranking - the Freedom House rankings for 2009 - Singapore is below Haiti, Colombia, Kenya, Moldova, Guinea, Pakistan and so on. We are 151 out of 195.
These are all countries which are trying to progress. My point is not that we are in any way inherently superior to them. The question is whether a truly objective assessment will give us such a ranking. Our approach has therefore to been to ignore the criticisms which make no sense. The people of Singapore know better. And the investors who put in billions every year know better as well.
They do not have to come here. We do not have any natural resources. Our main selling point is that there will be good value added when they invest here, their investments will be protected, and that we are a stable democracy.
-The Strait Times Oct 28 Pg. A30.
I'm not sure if what he's trying to say makes sense at all.
2 Comments:
I think he is essentially trying to say in a roundabout way: Screw press freedom. We are "modern" and "successful", unlike those poor chaps in Ethiopia, Sudan, Kazahkstan, blah blah who have greater press freedom but get gunned down in the streets anyway.
"I'm not sure if what he's trying to say makes sense at all." That makes him an exemplary PAP member.
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