Not too long ago, Cherian George, an academic at NTU (and former ST journalist as well) drew a parallel between the Singapore media scene and schizophrenia. The traditional mass media is mainly pro-government in their reporting, while the new media, notably blogs and online forums tended to be mainly anti-establishment. He opined that such a development is unhealthy for Singapore because such a split in the style and focus of media is akin to schizophrenia, which is a form of mental disorder.

Recently, a commenter on my blog passed me a link to this blog called Singapore Dissident set up by a Singaporean who has left the country. The owner of the blog, Gopalan Nair writes about his time in Singapore politics as a candidate of the Workers Party and how he felt he was persecuted by the government via various means. The commenter asked me what I thought of this blog, and after a little reflection, the schizophrenia description by Cherian George came to mind.

Unlike Cherian George, I don’t think that the current state of schizophrenia is actually a bad thing. If we look at the schizophrenia of Singapore media in isolation, perhaps it’s a cause of concern. If we look include the history of Singapore media, I think the current schizophrenic situation is in fact pretty good. Why do I say this? Because the current status of schizophrenia is far better than the Alzheimer’s of the past.

In the past, people like Gopalan Nair would never have been able to write about his experience. Without the Internet, Gopalan Nair would have been forgotten. Singapore was suffering from Alzheimer’s for a long time. Some politicians who have constantly opposed the government would have things happen to them, and the mass media report on the matter for a while (usually in a fashion biased against the opposing politicians), and then these people were dropped from the public’s eye. And the stories of these people will eventually be forgotten, especially among the younger generations.

Now, with the Internet, Singaporeans will have a chance to hear first hand accounts from people which the MSM will never publish. Blogs are a wonderful way to put word out to the masses these days, especially the younger generation. The younger generation will be able to get a perspective that’s vastly different from what is portrayed in the MSM. I am not about to make a judgment on which source to believe. My interest is that with both sides of the coin being publicly available, Singaporeans are in a better position to decide what they believe to be the truth.

Therefore, that Singapore has progressed from Alzheimer’s to Schizophrenia is a good thing. At least people like Chia Tye Poh, Francis Seow, Tang Liang Hong and Gopalan Nair (just to name a few) will not be forgotten, and they have a more equal opportunity to put their word out for the public to decide what exactly is the truth. I believe that the current state of “schizophrenia” in Singapore society is a step towards a more vibrant civil society in Singapore, and Singapore needs a very active civil society to survive in the years to come.

** If you don’t mind, take a vote on right-hand side column what you think is better for Singapore after reading this entry.