I got to say that your political approach of your question is indeed sharp. Nobody expected the form it took and the success it has become. The first sub-committee was the designated pinch hitter and supposedly the more militant in approach, thus the team of 20 anonymous cyber warriors. The first team was headed by Lui who eventually became a cabinet minister and now heading the Ministry in charge of the media.
The second team was headed by 2 P65 chaps, one a fashionista, Baey and Joshesphine Teo. 2 relative lightweights. The approach was based on the fact and belief that the Internet cannot be controlled as people will use servers from overseas. Old Man mentions this very fact in his interview with Nat Geo. Thus the pressure release valve. Let them have their say but in a patch that has some level of control. The first was to purchasea popularforum Hardware Zone and this was meant to control the young but not the very bright. The second was to seed the creation of a second roundtable kind of online news blog to complement the purchased forum. This would attract the intellectuals and wannabe intellectuals who would like to contribute articles without breaching their beliefs. This approach is similar to the now defunct Roundtable.
Roundtable was seeded by 3 chaps associated with the establishment, one was son of a former ISD chief and the other was the brother of the ISD chief. The approach wa also the same - a release valve as University lecturers were getting into the political space, such as Bilveer and Mutalib had to be warned off. It was also a time when expat lecturers were tacitly enouraging dissent which led to the democracy wall being set up at Kent Ridge and which was subsequently removed by the authorities. Roundtable successfully drew in alternative view and the jingle was "non-partisan" It was accepted by public in general. Even till today, nobody has a clue the links to the establishment behind the Roundtable because the state press covers only what they are told to write.
There were other influences as well that led to the creation of the Roundtable. GCT was PM wanted to be accommodating and there was need to handle the GCT and LHL factions. It also turned out to be an excellent platform for identifying those who missed out in the 1st round of selections (thought very much secondary and an afterthought). By the way, these are party matters and such things are never communicated to the civil service. So naturally, ROS dragged it feet and also was a thorn to the Roundtable by being strict on membership and issuing of permits for discussion at venues. Naturally adding to the air of authencity. Till today founders like Harish Pillay have no clue. To be fair the Roundtable went on to contribute significantly to the quality of debate on public policies especially from the human aspect angle, I however did note that they avoided the use of economic data as this tends to corner the govt. Everytime economic data is concerned, the govt will come out swinging. Its hard to tell Singaporeans and the rest of the world that 2 + 2 is not 4. But words carry different meaning and thus interpreted to once convenience.
And its not Temasek Review/WayangParty which I will explain why later. This particular forum has successfully attracted intellectuals. Here is a clue, its server is in the US to add to the air of authenticity. Unfortunately, the calibre is not even close to Roundtable in terms of quality and content, partly due to nature of the setup and the quality of people running it.
Believe me its so successful that all opposition identites, parties are engaged with it with varying degree. Members of various hues are going out and having coffee and tea that its now a rainbow coaltion of sorts.Previously well known critics of the establishment even in SBFforum are now more subdued, prefering to provide "constructive criticisms" not because they have become suddenly afraid of the govt. The preference to engage in discussions with their forum with fellow intellectuals is more appealing. It more so that the forum is made up of real people who have become acquaintences and friends. One tends to tone down and take a middle path and this blunts the thrust of any argument. Are you going to tell your friends that your wife makes the worst laksa - unlikely.
The basis of human interaction is meeting one's personal needs as well as recognition. The need to be wanted and recognised is a powerful draw. Find a suitable platform and its honey to bees. Nobody wants to operate or exist in a vacumn not matter how strong their beliefs. We are gregarious by nature.
As I said nobody expected its success. Now everyone is so chummy they beginning to use same venues and same formats for their own activities. There is also another significant factor and that is facebook that I will cover later.
A political experiment that ended up with social and emotional features. Nevertheless politically expedient.
The first committee you mention is true, but the second part about pressure release valve -- is it just speculation on your part?
