Oh no, Senior Minister of State for Information, Communications and the Arts, Lui Tuck Yew has declared the internet not sufficiently self-regulated enough for the gahmen's taste.
CNA: Internet not an effective self-regulated regime, says MICA
Mr Lui's example of this is how awful the internet response was when MP Seng Hang Thong was set on fire by a disgruntled ex-cabbie. This must be one of those interwebs cyber-superhighway flame wars I have heard so much about.
According to him, "netizens should do more to establish and enforce the norms of acceptable online behaviour".
So how? You netizens all better buck up your self-regulatorying then, or else who knows, the gahmen might not want to engage you netizens or worse, decide that you need gahmen-quality regulatorying.
I recommend the Singapore government set up talks with the President of the Internet, to formally complain about the behaviour of its netizens. Some high level talks are in order, I think. Maybe even send a senior diplomat to the Internet High Commission, and express very strong feelings of disappointment.
Netizens can help by taking courses on acceptable online behaviour so that we can cybertalk in a way that the gahmen finds responsible.
You know, I also think that those outspoken uncles and Ah Peks at coffee shops should be the next target for MICA. They talk very loudly and say unkind things all the time about MPs and the gahmen. They can be downright outrageous and no one from other coffee shops rebuts them. It is not healthy for some of their responses to remain in the coffee shop network unchallenged, unquestioned, and unanswered.
In fact, sometimes these Ah Peks totally ignore topics which are of great national importance and discuss topics which are sensitive and offensive to our leaders and national well-being. Others at the coffee shop do not rebut them, thereby squandering an opportunity for a higher degree of self-regulation.
Coffee shop uncles and netizens should all take a leaf from our responsible and balanced press and assorted local mainstream media. That is where true self-regulation and nation-building takes place.
Now go forth and regulate thineself, netizen. Make your gahmen proud.
(Above: The Internet, as envisioned by the elderly, a cartoon by Farley Katz at The New Yorker)
