Official Views

Responding to Singaporeans' greater appetite for political engagement, Lee Hsien Loong has pledged that his government will be more open with information and allow more debate. However, the prime minister also appealed to the opposition and PAP backbenchers not to pander to populist sentiment. Those who want good government should not be afraid to speak up for unpopular positions that happen to be right, he said. Full Story

Amy Khor, chairman of REACH, has encouraged the Government to engage netizens on sites that "allow for reasoned and constructive debate and gain traction". "Netizens themselves who desire rational discourse should support such sites or else start them," she said. Khor's speech in Parliament also reflected the PAP's alarm at the appeal of less rational wesbites – an alarm that may result in new legislation. Full Story

Prime Minister Lee Hsien Loong has called for online spaces where Singaporeans and the government can engage in more balanced, open and rational debate on issues. He did not say how such spaces could form, or whether the government intended to create or facilitate such sites. The most effective solution would be bottom-up projects, created independently by established bloggers with street-cred. Could Singapore’s socio-political bloggers, for so long seen as a thorn in the government’s side, be the answer to the PM’s prayers? Full Story

The law on contempt of court has been clarified by the Court of Appeal in the recent Alan Shadrake case, according to the July 2011 issue of Inter Se, a publication of the Singapore Academy of Law. One issue that the court discussed is what test to apply when deciding whether there has been contempt. Full Story

The Government has used the opportunity of Today's 10th anniversary to signal that it is not utterly opposed to critical views appearing in the mainstream press. The remarks could be read as an oblique reference to one of the most notorious episodes in Today's short history: its cancelling of blogger Mr Brown's column in 2006 after the government shot a stinging response at one of his articles. Full Story

Freedom of speech and accountable government may be universal values, but the particular American formula for balancing individual liberty and social interests isn't globally valid, Cabinet Minister K. Shanmugam has said. His speech in New York was the government's most detailed and robust defence in years of its position on the role of the press, recalling Lee Kuan Yew's classic 1971 speech in Helsinki. Full Story

Deputy Prime Minister Wong Kan Seng says it's a security concern when "religiosity manifests itself in a highly public and assertive manner in a multireligious setting like Singapore". An extract from his recent speech. Full Story