Press Reporting of Aware Revolution Polarised Society, MP

Thursday, May. 28, 2009 Posted: 10:45:44PM HKT

(Photo: www.artsjournal.com)

A Member of Parliament has expressed his concern over what he believes is the power of an unregulated press to “polarise” society.

Reading out excerpts from a widely circulated email in Parliament yesterday as part of the debate on the President’s Address, Mr Sin Boon Ann (Tampines GRC) said he would “not be surprised” if the contents were true. The MP had said he did not know who the writer was, nor had he verified the substance of the contents.

According to the Straits Times, the email, sent by a Cheryl Ng, accused the paper of being biased in its coverage of the revolution that took place in women’s rights organisation Aware in late March.

Among the accusations were that the main ST reporter covering the issue was “hobnobbing with the homosexual fraternity at the extraordinary general meeting”; that members of the press were jubilant at the ousting of the new guard; and that there was a media cover-up of an amendment to give men full voting rights in the non-governmental organisation.

Reflecting on the whole issue, Mr Sin said the press had quickly framed the contest as one between the Christian right and homosexuals and lesbians and added that by presenting it as an issue with religious undertones the debate had polarised society. The MP said the incident showed how fragile society in Singapore is.

“What turned out to be a relatively simple and lawful act of democracy suddenly turned into a deeply polarised and heated debate,” he said.

Calling into question the sensibility of an unregulated press, the MP wondered if the press could be called on to report responsibly and impartially and to present the facts neutrally and objectively “when some of its own members feel rather passionately about the issues in the public domain”.

Mr Sin’s comments came a day after Nominated Member of Parliament Thio Li-ann faulted the press for what she saw as biased and selective reporting and called on journalists to engage their work in a more responsible manner.

Dr Thio, a law professor at the National University of Singapore, had emphasised that militant secularism was a real threat to social harmony.

An Aware annual general meeting held on March 28 saw a significant proportion of newcomers being voted into the executive committee, replacing most of the older leadership. Some two weeks after the AGM, the Straits Times began portraying the event as a coup led by anti-homosexual conservative Christians, labeling it as an “Aware Saga” in most of its reports.

The new leaders at the centre of the debate however clarified that they were fulfilling their public responsibility as women concerned about the way in which they believe the NGO has veered from its original mandate, citing among other things the fact that homosexuality is taught as a normal sexual orientation to young and impressionable school girls through its comprehensive sexuality education workshop conducted in eleven schools which has also been suspended recently by the Ministry of Education in response to an online petition launched by concerned parents.

Edmond Chua
edmond@christianpost.com