Senior Minister of State for Education and Information, Communications and the Arts, Lawrence Wong, has rebutted some online views over the past few weeks on the British royal couple’s visit to Queenstown and the MediaCorp TV forum with Prime Minister Lee Hsien Loong, A Conversation with PM Lee.
In a post on his Facebook page on Monday, Mr Wong said he has been watching the incidents unfold on the internet with "some heaviness" in his heart.
He noted that when the British royal couple — Prince William and his wife Catherine, Duchess of Cambridge — visited Queenstown, Singaporeans young and old volunteered readily to be part of this event. Yet, they were mocked online for taking part in a "wayang" show.
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Minister weighs in on recent online criticism of authorities
Senior Minister of State for Education and Information, Communications and the Arts Lawrence Wong says he’s been watching certain incidents unfold online recently “with some heaviness in my heart.”
Posting on his Facebook page, the minister referred to the criticisms thrown at authorities over the recent British royal couple’s visit to Queenstown. The online community here had mocked the efforts of the authorities claiming that the event was overtly orchestrated.
The minister also highlighted the recent MediaCorp TV forum with Prime Minister Lee Hsien Loong where certain guests on the show were criticised for having affiliations with the ruling party.
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Lawrence Wong unhappy with internet postings about Queenstown wayang and PAP members posing as audience in PM's TV forum
Senior Minister of State for Education and Information, Communications and the Arts Lawrence Wong says he’s been watching certain incidents unfold online recently “with some heaviness in my heart.”
Posting on his Facebook page, the minister referred to the criticisms thrown at authorities over the recent British royal couple’s visit to Queenstown. The online community here had mocked the efforts of the authorities claiming that the event was overtly orchestrated.
The minister also highlighted the recent MediaCorp TV forum with Prime Minister Lee Hsien Loong where certain guests on the show were criticised for having affiliations with the ruling party.
“No one was invited because of his or her political affiliation. But it so happens that among the group of 50, a handful were PAP members. They were a small minority.
But on the internet, there was a campaign targeted against these PAP members, with their names being singled out and attacked, and their phone numbers publicised online,” wrote Mr Wong. Full story
Also read:
CNA disinvites political bloggers from PM television forum
Related:
- Education Minister Lawrence Wong: "If everyone can move up, we will not have enough ITE graduates out there in the workforce" - The Online Citizen
- Lawrence Wong - Change also must explain - My Singapore News
Singapore: Complaints, politics and Lawrence Wong
Mr Wong’s warning about politics is nothing new to any Singaporean who follows the news. Singaporeans have been warned against the dangers of politicising issues for a long, long time. We have been trained to think of political vibrancy not as a desirable trait in our country, but as an inevitable slippery slope to filibustering and paralysed systems, such as can be seen in the United States.
Still, I can’t help but see a mixed message in the Facebook update.
While urging Singaporeans not to politicise issues, Mr Wong does not hesitate to hammer home all the things that the PAP government has done for Singapore. What message are we meant to get from this? Right now, it looks as if input from PAP members is well-meant and sincere, whereas input from alternative voices is just dangerous politics. Can that really be the message they intend to send?
By seeing the criticism online as mean-spiritedness and a lack of respect, Mr Wong has not grasped the main grievance of Singaporeans who feel cut off from the political process. By seeing critics as nothing more than people with secret political affiliations who “hide their real identities behind anonymous online profiles”, he is missing out on real opportunities to understand and engage skeptics of the national conversation. Instead, he has simply reinforced beliefs that this national conversation is nothing more than a national conversion for swing voters ahead of the next election. And that’s a real pity.
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Lawrence Wong: Yet another out of touch minister
Thank you Tony Pang for doing the talking for me! Exactly my sentiments.
I am just very tired with this government. I didn't care to read what Lawrence Wong had posted to his page that had sparked all these discussions.
I was curious when Andrew Loh wrote a commentary for Yahoo. Then I got interested and read more.
Old wine in a new bottle: Lawrence Wong
Senior Minister Lawrence Wong had
recently hit out against netizens’ apparent politicisation of the royal
couple’s visit to Queenstown and the televised National Conversation on
his facebook page.
In his piece, he defends his party, taking the position of a wrongly
accused victim in this saga. However, putting things into perspective,
his writing comes across as equally, if not more politicised than what
he accuses as the “wedge between us… divid(ing) our society”.
Mr Wong defended the TV forum with the
PM, claiming that the forum participants were not chosen based on
political affiliations. Let us, for a moment, give him the benefit of
the doubt. Even if it were truly so, it is hard to believe the
disproportionate number of PAP supporters and activists within the
audience. If the intention of the televised forum was truly to engage
people from different walks of life offering diverse views, then perhaps
simply more effort could have been taken to include people from other
ends of the political spectrum.
While the personal witch-hunts have no
place in a civil society, an unfair representation of the ground
sentiment on a television forum has no place in a sincere attempt at
engaging Singaporeans.
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From Wong to Wong
As to the composition of the participants at the TV forum, the Senior Minister of State assured his readers that “no one was invited because of his or her political affiliation.” Unfortunately though, 10% of the participants happened to be PAP members, and coincidentally, none of the invitees happened to be members of any opposition party.
Netizens, therefore, cannot be faulted for complaining that the forum was “wayang’ or staged.
Thus, instead of blaming these critics, Mr Wong should have asked why there was this oversight on the part of the organisers. He could have fended off a lot of criticisms by assuring his readers that his Ministry would ensure that future forums by the media would not deny invitations to people because of their political affiliations
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Lawrence Wong says nice things, but let’s move forward also lah
Read the entire note on Facebook here:
"No one was invited because of his or her political affiliation. But it so happens that among the group of 50, a handful were PAP members. They were a small minority. But on the internet, there was a campaign targeted against these PAP members, with their names being singled out and attacked, and their phone numbers publicised online."“It so happened”? Sounds so cute and dainty! Why didn’t “it so happen” that “a handful” were Opposition members, then? There were bloggers who were ceremoniously uninvited, so clearly there’s some sort of vetting process going on. If you “didn’t want it to be partisan”, then leave out anybody who has any political affiliations. Otherwise, seek a fair distribution or representation. I find it hard (or sad) to believe that everybody involved in the vetting process was that ignorant.
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Lawrence Wong rebutted
Lawrence Wong, the Senior Minister of State for Education and Information, Communications and the Arts, posted on Facebook yesterday saying he has been watching certain incidents unfold on the internet recently with “some heaviness” in his heart. You can read his original post here.
However, people residing inside the Interweb have come out to critique his post.
New Nation has sieved through the mess and distilled the Top 5 Main Points To Rebut Lawrence Wong:
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The frustration of Lawrence Wong, and others
The uproar over the “wayang show” put up to welcome the Duke and Duchess of Cambridge, for example, is because of the lack of authenticity in the activities – at 3pm under a blazing sun. In Singapore. Every Singaporean knows no one exercises at that god-forsaken time.
The unhappiness with the National Conversation forum on TV stems from frustrations that they do not address the issues which others feel are important. Also, the constitution of the audience, with some 10% who are PAP members, adds to that perception that it is also all a “wayang”.
So, what do we do to remove such unhappiness and criticisms?
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Netizen rebuts Lawrence Wong's comments
Dear Mr. Lawrence Wong,
I do not agree with some of the points that you have raised.
Firstly, with regards to the British royal couple visit, i do agree with fellow Singaporeans that it was more of a “wayang” rather than what you have claimed, “giving them a glimpse of the diverse activities in our homeland”. If our government is sincere in showing our guest “a glimpse of the activities in our homeland, we could simply show them the HDB flats that provides the basic housing for most Singaporeans (we are proud of it!) and then the market / food centre in Queenstown which will show them that despite Singapore being a small country, our food culture speaks of a fusion of cultures from all parts of the world.
In Food Centre/ Market, the British royal couple would also get to see follow Singaporeans having their lunch break (if they were early for visit), retirees shopping for grocery, or some old folks playing chess and relaxing away on benches rather than the “exhibition” of elderly practising Tai-Chi and silat. You might as well just bring them to our local museums.
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PAP The Wedge
Lawrence Wong just wrote a piece called “Politics drives a wedge in society.”
He makes a good point about how politics is causing divisions. He highlighted the recent ‘Spot the PAP party member’ contest when Mediacorp invited a group of 50 people to the PM’s conversation forum.
Mr Wong, your remarks make perfect sense—until you realise why these things happened.
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What does it mean to be ‘politicising’?
Lawrence Wong's outburst online, accusing some of politicising "every activity or conversation", is just the latest in the government's penchant for such accusations.
"Politics is important," Wong wrote on his Facebook page. "But surely we do not want to end up in a situation where every activity or conversation in this country becomes politicised, where our people are polarized by political beliefs, where Singaporeans are set against Singaporeans based on creed or political affiliation."
Just a few weeks ago, Law Minister K Shanmugam basically pointed the same finger at opposition Workers' Party (WP) Member of Parliament (MP) Sylvia Lim for the same. Lim had asked about whether the Attorney General's choice of charges against surgeon Woffles Wu had addressed "public concerns about the equitability of the legal system."
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OPINION: Complaints, Politics and Lawrence Wong
Asian Correspondent, 26 Sep 2012
Mr Wong’s warning about politics is nothing new to any Singaporean who follows the news. Singaporeans have been warned against the dangers of politicising issues for a long, long time. We have been trained to think of political vibrancy not as a desirable trait in our country, but as an inevitable slippery slope to filibustering and paralysed systems, such as can be seen in the United States.
Still, I can’t help but see a mixed message in the Facebook update. While urging Singaporeans not to politicise issues, Mr Wong does not hesitate to hammer home all the things that the PAP government has done for Singapore. What message are we meant to get from this? Right now, it looks as if input from PAP members is well-meant and sincere, whereas input from alternative voices is just dangerous politics. Can that really be the message they intend to send?
By seeing the criticism online as mean-spiritedness and a lack of respect, Mr Wong has not grasped the main grievance of Singaporeans who feel cut off from the political process. By seeing critics as nothing more than people with secret political affiliations who “hide their real identities behind anonymous online profiles”, he is missing out on real opportunities to understand and engage skeptics of the national conversation. Instead, he has simply reinforced beliefs that this national conversation is nothing more than a national conversion for swing voters ahead of the next election. And that’s a real pity. Full story
Related:Lawrence Wong ‘likes’ extremist ‘Fabrications about PAP’ page on Facebook - The Temasek Times
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Lawrence Wong’s heaviness of the heart
The most symbolic image of ‘politicising’ used to happen right before the very eyes of every Singaporean; the seating arrangements and attires of the PAP and Opposition parties at our National Day Parades.
That was before the ruling party decided to ditch the all-white dress this year. So if PAP ministers like Wong wag a stern finger at you for being the source of ‘polarisation’, you could jolly well show him parade shots of NDP VIP stands in the past and say ‘Hey you guys started it first’, and point to that invisible WEDGE between PAP and WP members.
You may also cite the PA’s ‘disinvite’ of MP Chen Show Mao from a hungry ghost dinner last year. Not to mention the PAP’s ‘preferential’ treatment towards their own GRCs compared to, say, Hougang. NDPs, Seventh month, housing estates, all ‘politicised’ by none other than the PAP and their chums, like how we used to invite only the boys with the cool toys to our houses and ignore the rest. Real mature, guys.
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Misjudging politics in a conversation
For a start, conflating comments about Queenstown and partisanship at the National Conversation forums is inaccurate, demonstrated a lack in critical thinking, and just plain myopic. Or am I expecting a little too much from a Minister?
To be clear, the comments on the 'wayang' at Queenstown set up for the Duke and Duchess of Cambridge was less about the People's Action Party, and more a fun jab at the Singapore public service's odd practice for excessive demonstrations to showcase something that is not natural to begin with.
I need not say any more about how the criticisms were levelled at the organisers and not the volunteers – other writers, alluding to Vivian Balakrishnan's mistake during YOG, have done enough.
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Pause And Reflect
Baey Yam Keng (born in the year of the dog) got a lot of flak after telling Singaporeans to reflect upon themselves following foreign talent crap Sun Xu's odious observation that our senior citizens are dogs ('We need to reflect upon ourselves, are we the way they described?").
Now Senior Minister of State for Education, and Information, Communications and the Arts Lawrence Wong is using the same "r" word: "we should really pause and reflect, and ask ourselves whether this is the kind of society we want." He was weighing in on the public relations disasters of (1) the Prince William wayang, and (2) the con in the national conversations.
Feigning "some heaviness in my heart", Wong expressed dismay that the politically staged events were politicised. That sentence doesn't even make sense. Next, Wong will be telling us he's not in politics to practise politics.
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Teo Ser Luck: We should allow PAP activists to contribute to the future of Singapore
Minister of State for Trade and Industry Teo Ser Luck has spoken up in defence of his party colleague Lawrence Wong, who was widely criticized by netizens for his decrying those expressing skepticism at the “National Conversation”.
In a posting on his Facebook page earlier, Mr Wong lambasted netizens for exposing the identities of PAP activists who were invited to participate in the first telecast forum with Prime Minister Lee Hsien Loong and questioned their agenda:
"Indeed, the critics online clearly have their own political affiliations too, even though many have chosen to stay silent on this, or to hide their real identities behind anonymous online profiles."
Netizens rebutted and condemned Mr Wong for lacking real understanding on the ground sentiments.
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Teo Ser Luck and blogger debate the national conversation
A Facebook post by Senior Minister of State Lawrence Wong, describing his disappointment with netizens’ reactions to the Queenstown Royal Visit and the televised forum with the Prime Minister, has become a platform for a national conversation of sorts.
Among the nearly 600 comments on the post is an exchange between Minister of State for Trade and Industry Teo Ser Luck and netizens.
Mr Teo waded into the conversation on Tuesday morning saying that Mr Wong’s post was well-intentioned, and added that PAP members should also be allowed to be involved in the national conversation.
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Teo Ser Luck: Singaporeans must accept F1 race as a necessary event
Is this true? No mistake, that Teo Ser Luck said this. Singaporeans must accept F1 as a necessary event! Does it mean that if Sinkies do not accept, something bad is going to happen? Our woman folks will become maids or something like that? So the F1 is being raised to the same status as foreign immigrants. Sinkies must accept more immigrants as a necessary thing or there will be no economic growth?
So the future well being of Sinkies is now dependent not only on foreign immigrants to increase our population, but also F1, another savior.
Would the F1 organisers and drivers now also can thump down Sinkies as without them, like without the casinos and foreigners, our economy would go on a downward spin?
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Better educated S’poreans are now opposing for the sake of opposing
Sr. Parl. Sec. Sim Ann has spoken of online comments that ‘spew hate and prejudice against individuals or groups’. Had her radar been better tuned, she would have come to the realization that a sizeable number of the better educated Singaporeans and intellects are so disillusioned with many of the Government’s marginal or adverse policies that they pour their disenchantment onto the Internet.
What has happened to the psyche of the nation? Surely the Prime Minister and his Ministerial colleagues are aware of the malaise. And in calling for a National conversation he has added fuel to this latent fire of hatred.
Despair, despair, despair. It is the Government’s attitude in many ways that add to the miseries of Singaporeans (high cost of living, overcrowding, expensive housing, employment competition, lower wages, education policies favoring foreigners, etc.) to such extent that these educated Singaporeans now simply oppose for the sake of opposing. The build-up and surge of opposition to the Government has been going on for some time after GE2011 and this must be a worrying trend and a cause of concern for any serious Government.
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