Singapore’s popular blogger Mr Brown aka Lee Kin Mun had his article on the Bukit Timah flooding which was published 2 days ago in Singtel digital medial portal – inSing.com removed following a complaint lodged by the Ministry of Environment and Water Resources.
Mr Brown shot to fame during the 2006 general elections with his parody “Bak Chor Mee” poking fun at the PAP leaders’ “over-reaction” at the James Gomez incident.
His article, titled “mrbrown and the flood” is a satire making veiled criticisms of the government’s response towards the flooding in parts of Bukit Timah 2 weeks ago which caused immense damage to the buildings and cars there.
Its first paragraph pours sarcasm on the reaction from the Minister of Environment Dr Yaacob Ibrahim:
“I think we need to appoint a Minister of Freak Incidents soon. After all, who is going to deal with the kind of incidents like the recent flooding of Bukit Timah? According to the authorities, the kind of rainfall that can cause such flooding was a ‘freak’ event that occurs only once in 50 years.”
Another reads:
“If your Ferrari happened to be submerged in a basement car park that fateful freak of a day, and your insurance does not cover “use of car as submarine”, you can still find solace that the next time this kind of flooding occurs, it will be 50 years later.”
Dr Yaacob Ibrahim claimed that the flooding was a “freak” event which occurs once in fifty years and there is nothing his ministry can do to “plan ahead” for it. Dr Yaacob had used the same excuse to describe a similar flooding in Thomson area in 2006.
After the flooding, PUB moved in to install flood sensors along the canals in Bukit Timah and also promised to widen them soon though construction work will only commence next year.
Mr Brown wrote that further clarification from his editor “reveals that it was the Ministry of the Environment and Water Resources that raised their objections to the column to MICA, who then conveyed the feedback to Singtel.”
“The column I wrote entitled “mrbrown and the flood” was removed from the Insing site because Ministry of Information, Communications and the Arts (MICA) the Ministry of the Environment and Water Resources (MEWR) took issue with it and asked for it to be taken down. From what I understand, MICA’s MEWR’s issue (via MICA) with the column was that it criticized a minister and a ministry,” he added.
The Singapore government is well-known for its low tolerance for criticism and dissent. A senior Straits Times correspondent Sue-Ann Chia was rapped by Senior Minister Goh Chok Tong a few months ago for her “inaccurate” article on a PAP MP.
This is not the first time which Mr Brown had got into trouble with the authorities. In July 2006, his column in TODAY daily was suspended following a satirical article on the rising cost of living in Singapore.
In a harsh rebuttal to Mr Brown published in TODAY, the press secretary for MICA K Bhavani wrote:
“mr brown’s views on all these issues distort the truth. They are polemics dressed up as analysis, blaming the Government for all that he is unhappy with. He offers no alternatives or solutions. His piece is calculated to encourage cynicism and despondency, which can only make things worse, not better, for those he professes to sympathise with.
mr brown is entitled to his views. But opinions which are widely circulated in a regular column in a serious newspaper should meet higher standards. Instead of a diatribe mr brown should offer constructive criticism and alternatives. And he should come out from behind his pseudonym to defend his views openly.”
The overbearing official response and subsequent treatment of Mr Brown drew widespread criticisms from bloggers and netizens. A group of 20 plus Singaporeans and citizens wearing brown T-shirts turned up at City Hall MRT station in support of Mr Brown.
Since the unhappy incident, Mr Brown appeared to have “toned down” a little on his blog. He wrote later that he was worried that he might get into “trouble” with the authorities.
Read Mr Brown’s article here
Mr Brown shot to fame during the 2006 general elections with his parody “Bak Chor Mee” poking fun at the PAP leaders’ “over-reaction” at the James Gomez incident.
His article, titled “mrbrown and the flood” is a satire making veiled criticisms of the government’s response towards the flooding in parts of Bukit Timah 2 weeks ago which caused immense damage to the buildings and cars there.
Its first paragraph pours sarcasm on the reaction from the Minister of Environment Dr Yaacob Ibrahim:
“I think we need to appoint a Minister of Freak Incidents soon. After all, who is going to deal with the kind of incidents like the recent flooding of Bukit Timah? According to the authorities, the kind of rainfall that can cause such flooding was a ‘freak’ event that occurs only once in 50 years.”
Another reads:
“If your Ferrari happened to be submerged in a basement car park that fateful freak of a day, and your insurance does not cover “use of car as submarine”, you can still find solace that the next time this kind of flooding occurs, it will be 50 years later.”
Dr Yaacob Ibrahim claimed that the flooding was a “freak” event which occurs once in fifty years and there is nothing his ministry can do to “plan ahead” for it. Dr Yaacob had used the same excuse to describe a similar flooding in Thomson area in 2006.
After the flooding, PUB moved in to install flood sensors along the canals in Bukit Timah and also promised to widen them soon though construction work will only commence next year.
Mr Brown wrote that further clarification from his editor “reveals that it was the Ministry of the Environment and Water Resources that raised their objections to the column to MICA, who then conveyed the feedback to Singtel.”
“The column I wrote entitled “mrbrown and the flood” was removed from the Insing site because Ministry of Information, Communications and the Arts (MICA) the Ministry of the Environment and Water Resources (MEWR) took issue with it and asked for it to be taken down. From what I understand, MICA’s MEWR’s issue (via MICA) with the column was that it criticized a minister and a ministry,” he added.
The Singapore government is well-known for its low tolerance for criticism and dissent. A senior Straits Times correspondent Sue-Ann Chia was rapped by Senior Minister Goh Chok Tong a few months ago for her “inaccurate” article on a PAP MP.
This is not the first time which Mr Brown had got into trouble with the authorities. In July 2006, his column in TODAY daily was suspended following a satirical article on the rising cost of living in Singapore.
In a harsh rebuttal to Mr Brown published in TODAY, the press secretary for MICA K Bhavani wrote:
“mr brown’s views on all these issues distort the truth. They are polemics dressed up as analysis, blaming the Government for all that he is unhappy with. He offers no alternatives or solutions. His piece is calculated to encourage cynicism and despondency, which can only make things worse, not better, for those he professes to sympathise with.
mr brown is entitled to his views. But opinions which are widely circulated in a regular column in a serious newspaper should meet higher standards. Instead of a diatribe mr brown should offer constructive criticism and alternatives. And he should come out from behind his pseudonym to defend his views openly.”
The overbearing official response and subsequent treatment of Mr Brown drew widespread criticisms from bloggers and netizens. A group of 20 plus Singaporeans and citizens wearing brown T-shirts turned up at City Hall MRT station in support of Mr Brown.
Since the unhappy incident, Mr Brown appeared to have “toned down” a little on his blog. He wrote later that he was worried that he might get into “trouble” with the authorities.
Read Mr Brown’s article here
