Where's the Debate?

This is in response to Minister Dr Lee Boon Yang and Minister Dr Vivian Balakrishnan’s comments on mrbrown’s article in Today.

I don’t think anyone is disputing the Government’s right of reply to any allegations or distorted statements. If someone makes comments that implied wrongdoings by another party, it is fair for the affected party to defend its stand and rebut the allegations. The person who makes the original comments stands to be corrected, but also has the right to defend his views. This is all fair debate.

Dr Balakrishnan said that Singapore’s mainstream media has a crucial role in ensuring the quality and standard of discourse and national debate. But the question is, where’s the debate?

To make an analogy of this situation, debate Team A makes its opening statements. Team B rebut Team A’s statements and also claiming that Team A cannot inject humour into a serious debate. The studio that hosted this debate then decides that the quality of this debate is not up to standard, then went on to ban Team A from participating further.

So where is the debate?

How do you assess the quality of debate when both sides merely made opening statements?

Who should decide what is constructive comment and what is not?

If mainstream media can decide what is constructive comment and quality debate, shouldn’t the Editor of Today censor mrbrown’s article before it gets published? But wouldn’t this push mainstream media into self-censorship?

The Government should take a positive view of such comments, distorted or not. At least they provide an opportunity for the Government to correct the views, rather than let misperceptions brew in coffee shops and cyberspace.