YPAP activist and new citizen lashes out at netizens for making “irrelevant attacks”
March 17, 2010 by
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Written by Our Correspondent
It seems that the YPAP is now being dominated by new citizens who are becoming increasingly vocal in defending the PAP regime and in attacking its critics.
After the infamous Indian new citizen Fredric Fanthome who sparked a massive outcry last year by describing netizens as “annonymous hordes which spew venom” in cyberspace, another YPAP activist and new citizen Mr Michael Rebaczonok-Padulo had stepped forward to lead the charge against the online community again.
Michael was a former American citizen and became a “naturalised” Singaporean more than twenty years ago. He is a YPAP member and contributes articles regularly on the YPAP website.
His latest article – “
The Curious evolution of the maturing democratic process in Singapore” is no more than a veiled attack on Singapore netizens for their harsh criticisms on the PAP regime.
Michael began his article by describing the recent change in Singapore’s civic scene and the proliferation of socio-political blogs:
“In the last several years, there has been a tremendous proliferation of websites and blogs that deal with political matters, a phenomenon that would have been inconceivable just a decade or so back. Netizens have been claiming cyberspace as ‘their own’, posting comments and airing their views freely, in ways they have felt less able to do via the mainstream media.”
He next expressed his disappointment at some netizens who resort to making personal attacks against those who do not share their views:
“It sounds as though we are evolving into a mature, democratic society in which citizens are increasingly asking to be heard as they express their views on myriad issues. And in some ways that does appear to be the case. But in other ways, that evolution would seem to be tempered, or hampered, even, by the scurrilous, personal, ad hominem and irrelevant attacks that some netizens make when commenting on matters about which they feel passionate, or when disagreeing with those whose views they do not share. As such, this evolutionary process, while basically welcome and healthy, is at times somewhat curious and – if one may venture to say – disheartening.”
The YPAP has come under increasing fire in the last few months to the extent that it was forced to close down one of its Facebook which was swarmed by anti-PAP critics.
One of them, a 22 year old project engineer Alex Tan had embarrassed two PAP MPs publicly at a Youth Forum last November. His repeated challenges to YPAP activists to have a public debate at Hong Lim Park were not accepted.
Alex has since started a
Vote PAP out Facebook which has garnered more than 4,000 members in less than 3 months, an indication of the rising unpopularity of the PAP regime among young Singaporeans.
The rapid rise in anti-establishment sentiments in cyberspace and the “self-radicalization” of Singapore netizens is worrying the PAP which responded instinctively by introducing draconian laws to curb the influence of the New Media in the next general election.
Describing his own experience in the United States where people can disagree with one another without using personal attacks, Michael questioned the inability of some netizens to engage in a non-personal manner:
“Why is it that those who argue passionately for greater democracy in Singapore and for increasing opportunities to be heard, sometimes deny to others that which they so ardently desire for themselves? That to me is the curious aspect of what is sometimes occurring nowadays. Why is it that some cannot engage more or less dispassionately, in a reasoned, logical, non-personal fashion, rather than lash out, sometimes viciously, and go for the jugular in the process of disagreeing? Is that what some consider democracy to be about? If so, where do we draw the line? Do we go so far as to delight in seeing MPs engage in fisticuffs on the floor of Parliament, as we have seen happen in other countries from time to time? Is that what expressing one’s convictions really entails?”
Michael should not compare apples with oranges. The United States is a democratic state where freedom of speech can exist but not in a near totalitarian state like Singapore which uses repressive laws to curtail the political and civic rights of its own citizens so as to perpetuate the PAP’s hegemony forever.
It is quite pointless to engage with an insecure, paranoid and dictatorial regime which insists that it is always right at all times and hell bent on controlling all forms of public discourses. Dictatorships are never voted out of office – they are thrown out by the people who cannot stand their excesses anymore.
Given the excellent “apple-polishing” skills of Michael, it is little wonder that the PAP is so enamored with the new citizens that they are spending millions of taxpayers’ monies to make them happy in Singapore.
Without the continuous influx of immigrants to shore up the PAP’s flagging support base, it will probably be booted out of office sooner rather than later.
The next election will be the last chance for Singaporeans to reclaim ownership of their nation after which they will be relegated to second class minorities in their own country of birth with the males having to serve two years of National Service to protect the likes of Michael Rebaczonok-Padulo. Fredric Fanthome and Sinha Sheka.
Read rest of Michael’s article
here
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