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Gandhi
Ambalam
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Vantage
The bully
Gandhi
Ambalam
17 Jan 08
The Minister Mentor has done it
again. His victim this time? A cub reporter from Reuters by the
name of Melanie Lee.
Ms Lee had asked the Minister how he
expected the society to become cultivated given the restriction
on civil liberties in Singapore.
Earlier at a conference
at the Suntec Convention Centre, Mr Lee told the audience that
Singapore could reach a level of cultural development comparable
to Italy and Austria in 10 to 15 years. (An interesting choice of
countries given that one was home to a fascist named Mussolini
and the other the birthplace of Adolf Hitler).
Instead of
getting a straightforward answer, however, the 23-year-old
journalist was given an earful by the Mentor on how Singapore had
made it without a free press.
This prompted Ms Lee to ask
how it could be done when there is limited freedom of expression
in Singapore, unlike the two European countries he had mentioned.
How dare she talk back to our Leader? According to one of
the mentored ministers, Mr George Yeo, this was boh-tua-bo-suay
which, according to my Chinese colleagues, was a reprimand that
parents used on their children when they were disrespectful. Ms
Lee didn't seem to know her place in society.
Appropriately
goaded, the bull charged. "What school did you go to?"
"Why does that matter?" the Reuters reporter
countered.
She did it again! The cheek! The audacity! The
courage.
This was vintage Lee who, when faced with a gutsy
youth refusing to just nod her head in cowardly agreement
whenever the Leader launches into hyperbolic nonsense, gets
personal and outright insulting.
This is not first time
Mr Lee Kuan Yew has bullied local reporters who show some
semblance of independent thinking. A few weeks before the general
elections in 2006, another enthusiastic reporter, Mr Ken Kwek,
was harangued by the Minister for saying that there is widespread
fear among Singaporeans towards the authoritarian rule of the
PAP.
Mr Kwek was one of a handful of carefully screened
participants in a so-called televised discussion with Mr Lee as
the guest on the forthcoming 2006 elections.
Refusing to
answer the question, Mr Lee repeatedly asked the young Straits
Times reporter to disclose the names of those in the
newspaper survey who had said that "fear" was a major
factor when it came to politics in Singapore.
Mr Kwek is,
perhaps not surprisingly, no longer with the newspaper.
Mr
Lee may revel in the fact that he has just beaten up another
young reporter and put him in his place. Good for him.
But
what may be a thrill for the MM, is a loss for Singapore. There
are countless others who, like Mr Kwek, have found the local
media culture so distasteful that they have decided its just not
worth it and packed up.
I am certain that in the future
there will be many more young Singaporeans who want to experience
firsthand the excitement of journalism but only to realize the
hard reality that there is no such thing in PAP land.
I
have been told that "self-loathing" is not a scarce
emotion running through the rooms and hallways of a spanking
building in Toa Payoh they call the News Centre. Given the kind
of stuff that goes on in there, I know because I was one of them
once upon a time, one shouldn't be surprised.
How do you
stand tall when the newspaper you write for is constantly
questioned for its integrity? The ranking it gets from the World
Press Freedom Index of 140-something must hang like a dead
albatross around its neck.
Ironically, it is young people
like Melanie Lee and Ken Kwek who understand why Singapore is
stuck in such political and cultural backwardness. They may not
say it, but the one thing that is holding back the country is the
very octogenarian seated in front of them.
The truth of
the matter is that a free media throws up ideas and brings into
sharp focus contrary views needed to propel Singapore into a
level of cultural development equal to that of Italy and
Austria.
Does Mr Lee Kuan Yew know that what he's doing is
hurting the country? Maybe, maybe not. Does he care? Not one
iota.
Mr
Ambalam is Chairman of the Singapore Democrats. He is a former
journalist.
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