URL: http://rockson.blogspot.com
Title – Talk Rock
Blogger’s Name- Rockson Takumi Tan
Occupation- Citizen Blogger
Blog’s Date of Birth – May 8th 2005
Rank: 22,784 (277 links from 167 blogs)
Most of the Singaporean political blogs I found online were quite satirical and sadistic. This I believe is due to the fact that many citizens mock what they cannot express aloud. In this case, it is the actions of the government.
In the blog ‘Talk Rock, Rockson goes to ‘diss’ everything from fellow political bloggers like Mr Brown to the Singaporean politicians and the day to day happenings in the country. Although the posts are written in pure ‘singlish’ and filled with crude language, Rockson manages to cover the political arena in Singapore in a rather unconventional manner.
To show an example of a post of Talk Rock , Rockson posted on May 1st, 2006, on his post titled, ‘(Singapore Election coming, time to f*** off from A...)’,
“I try to read the internet news website of Channel News Singapore (but not Strait Time one, because they charge money what the f*** who want to pay to read their sh**). But the more I read the more I toolan. How come out of 10 news, 9 news is PAP one? And the 1 news of Opposition is say their bad thing? Might as well they call themself Channel News PAP!”
*(certain words have been censored their vulgar nature).
Out of the 152 comments for this post some of the more decent comments said,
“nice to finally be able to read about some other kind of view other then wat is always repeated in the PAPers...”
“we need a change. don't vote the PAP. Finding underhand means to blackmail the opposition. tt ain't right”
I would not attempt to talk much about the government of a country that I am not familiar with. However, it is apparent that the government and politicians of Singapore have quite a stand (ahem ahem) on how the country should be run. Therefore, I feel that bloggers like mrbrown and Rockson, although making a mockery of situations, actually do help the masses to interact with each other in a political context without any restrictions.
The Internet has paved the way for the silent voices of Singaporeans to be heard. It has helped them push the political boundaries and attempt for greater democracy.
Most forms of media that bring information and news to the public is government owned, thus, the content has been filtered to such an extent that people no longer regard its content to be accurate and unbiased.
Censorship casts a long shadow over the Internet's potential as a tool to revitalize the public sphere (Thornton, 2002).
Blogs have become the new newspapers; they have become the people’s voice. The information is not filtered and people are able to exchange their opinions freely.
Unfortunately, the government is trying its best to shut down anti- government blogs and free speaking individuals who blog and influence the masses.
While websites and blogs are already under strict control and must be registered with the government, BBC reported on April 6th 2007 that the government of Singapore has extended censorship laws to ban podcasts and videocasts that carry political content.
As such, although I believe that blogging would definitely allow for greater democracy, in a country tied together by stringent rules and control as Singapore, the goal for greater democracy through blogs seems unclear.
References:
Giam, Gerald (31st December 2006), Review- The politics of Singapore’s new media in 2006. Retrieved March 23, 2007 from
http://theonlinecitizen.com/2006/12/31/review-the-politics-of-singapores-new-media-in-2006/
Talk Rock (2006). Singapore Election coming, time to f*** off from Australia. Retrieved March 23, 2007 from
http://rockson.blogspot.com/2006/05/singapore-election-coming-time-to-fuck.html
Thornton, A. (October, 2002). Does Internet Create Democracy? Retrieved March 23, 2007 from
http://www.zip.com.au/~athornto/
Singapore attacked over blog gag (April 6, 2006). BBC News. Retrieved March 23, 2007 from
http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/technology/4882746.stm
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