<body>

The Girl

jiayi,21 tis yr..
a music lover...
a ktv lover..

Thanks

Image: sxc
Designer: willy

The Loves

my other blog
Friendster
com 125
com 242
wah wah
faith
en en

Hit It

  • January 2007
  • February 2007
  • March 2007
  • April 2007


    • The Gossips



    Best if width is less than 165px Weblog Commenting and Trackback by HaloScan.com


    Thursday, March 22, 2007

    Qotw8: Mr. Wang and democracy

    I have to admit that I know nuts about politics. In fact, it is only through this class and the blog assignment that I know about political blogs existing online. Well, the only blogger I heard about in class and talks about the politics is Mr. Wang and so I shall talk about him in particular.

    Blogger profile of Mr. Wang

    Blog title and URL link:

    Mr. Wang says so (http://mrwangsaysso.blogspot.com/)

    Mr. Wang bakes good karma

    (Old blog) (http://commentarysingapore.blogspot.com/2000/01/art1.html)


    Blogger’s Name    : Mr. Wang

    Blogger’s occupation: Citizen Blogger

    Blog date of birth: 1st January 2000 (old blog)

    Technorati rank: 27,360 (328 links from 139 blogs)


    2 blogs from mr.wang


    After browsing through the two blogs Mr. Wang has, I realized he started out right in the beginning talking about Singapore; he talks about different aspects such as education, arts, culture, politics, social issues and anything that is related to Singapore. Articles mostly about Singapore issues are being put up and commented. Most of his blog entries are straight forward about how he felt about the Singapore government. I went looking for his earlier entries and I found one on ‘the dangerous blog where he talks about freedom of speech in the blogosphere.Though there may be other bloggers around who had no responsible in what they blog, Mr. Wang emphasize on the importance on some of the restriction of blogging. There must be a limit. (Mr. Wang, 2006) That entry leaves me an impression that Mr. Wang sometimes may be straight forward in certain issues but generally maintain a neutral stand. Questions are also sometimes asked to trigger thoughts of the readers. This allows users to comment freely and engage in a small debate of their own.

    In a February 2007 blog entry ‘Duh, my head hurts”. He showed an article from ST forum on PM Lee emphasizing on family and pledging that the government will continue help fostering strong family ties. (Mr. Wang, 2007)Mr. Wang clearly felt funny with that statement and posted question out allowing readers to talk out loud about it. There were 42 comments for the post. Most of the readers responded to the questions and further discussed about the government incentives and even come out with policies that think would be more realistic for Singapore.

    With relation to Mr. Wang blog, I really feel that blogs aids in greater democracy in Singapore. Political blogs like Mr. Wang’s gives Singaporeans a chance to express what they feel about different issues. Most of the Singaporeans are often afraid to speak their minds especially on political issues as they may get caught for that. Blogs create a platform for Singaporeans to freely comment what they want and is a place for them to vent out their disagreements on certain policies.


    In fact, the government has seen this trend of blogs and even started blogging.Foreign Minister George Yeo was the first Cabinet minister to actually start blogging regularly. In his blog entries, surprisingly frank and insightful articles based on his interactions with foreign leaders can be found. (Giam, Gerald, 31st December 2006) This allows Singaporeans to know about what is happening in the parliament and a chance to talk about it.

    I do not know if the near future there may be laws on freedom of speech in blogs. However, the nature of the blogosphere is free itself. There are no real restrictions in what can be said or not said. Therefore, I truly feel that blogs allows people to converse freely and aids in freedom of speech (the government always emphasize improving on this), enhancing greater democracy in Singapore generally.


    References

    Giam, Gerald (31st December 2006), Review- The politics of Singapore’s new media in 2006.

    Retrieved on 22nd March 2007 from http://theonlinecitizen.com/2006/12/31/review-the-politics-of-singapores-new-media-in-2006/

    Mr. Wang (2006), Mr. Wang bakes good karma,

    Retrieved on 22nd March 2007 from

    http://commentarysingapore.blogspot.com/

    Mr. Wang (2007), Mr. Wang says so,

    Retrieved on 22nd March 2007 from

    http://mrwangsaysso.blogspot.com/


    <3 8:59 AM
    |

    Comments: Post a Comment