Freedom?

i've gotten my second wind (which i just broke... but that's alright...) and decided to write about PJ's letter to the forum which can be found here

gist of letter:

1. free press might not be irresponsible and controlled press might be irresponsible
2. for Singapore to progress further, we need open dialogue, feedback and discussion to foment the creativity needed for the future
3. for that to happen, we need to be open and transparent and hence free press is needed

while i agree with much of PJ's many disagreements to a certain Mr Chan's earlier letter, i do not entirely agree that we must have a 'free press'.

what indeed is a free press? is Singapore's press really not free? by whose standards? how did those standards come by? should we judge ourselves by those standards? or should we come up with our own? can there be anything as an unbiased press?

and while i agree that we do need feedback and dialogue within Singapore, platforms to openly discuss issues that concern us, i do not think that we necessarily need a free press before that can happen. in any case, he merely asserted that there is a need for there to be a free press before that can happen. particularly in this day and age of the Internet, i really don't think we depend on just the local media. what is more important is a critical mind which doesn't merely lap up everything that anyone says.

while i agree that very often, our media does indeed skew certain reports, but the fact of the matter is that there are certain things which are sensitive in Singapore and have to be treated with much caution. should the media be the custodian or can we trust the people to be? frankly speaking, seeing some of my fellow Singaporeans, i have come to the realisation that are not critical thinkers, most of us are more than willing to be led by the nose, following herd instincts. and this applies to the so-called radical elements too.

an example, there are people who 'speak out' against the government just because other people do so. question them a bit more, and they don't really know much about the issues that they are talking about (case in point: the recent vigil held to protest the death sentence of the drug trafficker). and then there are those who would just lap up what those people say without actively seeking out more information, looking at the problem from different perspectives, etc.

and of course there are those who think that everything the government do is right. and really believes completely in the all too rosy picture that our local media sometimes paints and are so easily affected by what the media portrays (another case in point: misplaced money in 'charitable' causes such as Huang Na and NKF)

so given that most of us Singaporeans are given to mob instincts, what we need is not so much a free press but a responsible one. and if it takes the government to control it for it to be responsible, then so be it. if it is better off being 'free' (whatever that means), then it should be free.

more importantly, our society must grow to be more critical, more discerning. alas... it is an uphill task. bigots and close-minded people abound. and i'm just not convinced that the press/media is the right place to start.

my sense is that freeing up the press and media will indeed lead to confusion and chaos because Singaporeans as of now are not able to discern for ourselves what is and is not. and 'freeing up' the press will, in my opinion, indeed lead to chaos and disorder of the sort we cannot afford.

that is not to say, however, that we should never learn to take responsibility to think for ourselves. we have to. and we have to do it now. i propose that we start with education before anywhere else. encourage students to ask questions like "is this right? how do i know? how can i find out whether it is right or not? am i presented with enough information? how do i judge it to be right or not?" amongst others. teachers of any subjects should start asking students what they think of the news that has been reported and to question its veracity, accuracy and implications and how they come to those answers. of course the topics must be carefully chosen and questions pitched correctly. if done properly, it would incite students to find out more information outside of what is available and from there foster in them a critical mind which will create the environment conducive for a free media.

but again, it's an uphill task. i am daunted by the sheer number of close-minded people around me who are willing to be lambs.