Websites of political parties will be bound by “cooling-off” day rules
December 1st, 2009 | 
Author: Written by Our Correspondent
The “cooling-off” day before polling day during which all forms of political campaigning is banned will be extended to cyberspace including websites of political parties which are expected to adhere to the new rules.
Prime Minister Lee Hsien Loong announced the introduction of a “cooling-off” day in addition to the minimum nine-day campaigning period for voters to make a “rational” decision.
“We think there’s merit in this idea (of a cooling-off day). After a very exciting and emotional election campaign, you really ought to have some time to calm down, reflect on the issues and the arguments, and analyse what’s at stake, logically, rationally, and then to go in to the polls to cast your vote in a calm and steady state of mind,” he said.
Though PM Lee acknowledged that it would be difficult to enforce the law in cyberspace, he hoped the spirit and principle of the “cooling-off” period would be upheld by Internet users without elaborating on the topics they should refrain from writing or discussing.
“I can’t control several million videos on YouTube. But your website, what you are putting out in your own name, I think that should end on the day before cooling-off day,” PM Lee added.
This means that webmasters of political parties as well as socio-political blogs whose identities are known will have no choice but to adhere to the “cooling-off” period since they can be traced and punishment can be meted out easily.
The new rule will help make up for the PAP’s disadvantage in cyberspace where its websites have far less readership compared to those run by the opposition such as SDP.
Most socio-political blogs are also critical of the establishment and they are unlikely to provide it with a favorable coverage during the campaigning period.
The PAP’s foray into the new media has been hugely disappointing so far despite being armed with more resources than their competitors.
Few PAP MPs and ministers have a blog or Facebook account and even then, they are updated on an infrequent basis.
The P65 blog which was started in the aftermath of the 2006 general elections for the young PAP MPs to reach out to netizens fizzled out due to low readership and lack of genuine exchange between readers and the writers.
While the mainstream media remains tightly controlled by the PAP, its monopoly on information is slowly eroded away by the emergence of the new media.
The new media is credited with triggering the political tsunami which hit the shores of Malaysia last year.
Despite the hype over the new media, its impact on the next election in Singapore is likely to be minimal.
Unlike the Malaysia new media which is dominated by credible internet newspapers like Malaysiakini and The Malaysian Insider whose readership is comparable to that of the state media, Singapore new media is still in its infantile stage of development.
There are no strong players with a substantial readership to challenge the state media. Furthermore, Singaporeans are less politically aware and active compared to their Malaysian counterparts.
The “cooling-off” period will not be the only change made to the existing rules. The PAP will take no chances to ensure that the much dreaded “freak” election will never happen in Singapore.
Posted in Editorial
Coz it’s true to character of...
The cooling off cannot be applied to the cyberspace so easily..
it’s not possible to ban it completely.
One day will make no difference to singaporeans
They are too eager to vote for the government again..
MM will still be MM
PM will still be PM
PAP will still be PAP
don’t you think so ??
like an everlasting kingdom..
Every singaporean, foreigner and worker happily living in singapore..
this only targets those who decide who to vote for on the last minute and bother to go online.
Radio and television should also be bound by the new ruling. They only report government views. Otherwise it should be a free for all, which I prefer.
What I do not understand is this. How is that rule going to be applied to the internet?
All related political blogs must turn off their servers for one day?
Or
No new articles are to be published for that one day? All already published articles to remain?
What are the guidelines to justify that a site has violated the “Cooling Off” period rule?
And what is the consequence if a blog site is deemed to have violated the “Cooling Off” period?
This is so smart… a good reason to close down access to websites
I don’t need any cooling off period. My mind had being made up during these few years. I had seen the facts and had already made up my mind abt which party to vote.
that idiot should simply turn off the lights on that day!
Folks, there is no need to worry unless if you think LSL is the king of Singapore. What he says does not mean it is law yet or is it?
The rules must be written out clearly before people can adhere to it isn’t it. We got to wait to see what is the guideline and rules that is going to apply and also what is the penalty for breaking the rules.
它在作垂死掙扎！能撐多久！哀哉！
PAP knows they are going to lose big in the coming elections. That is why they are pulling their bags of tricks like rubber stamping in new citizens that will support them and introducing such rules to try to curb the rising anti-PAP feelings in cyberspace.
“that idiot should simply turn off the lights on that day!”
should black out the whole country. so that no electricity is provided hence all computers cannot be switched on.
Not clear whether the rule extend to the mailbox. There should be clarification on this! If I can remember correctly; in the last election, residents of Aljunied GRC received mails on the eve of polls.
The rules for internet has to be clarified clearly, and hopefully the oppposition will not be caught in a potential trap such that any opposition wins may be disqualified due to technicalities, especially when the Singapore judicial system favours a certain party.
In the early days they arrest people without trial, Control all the Media, Threating opposition wars to second service. It already a freak Election. Last min from now they will use threat again.
Don’t read too much into it. I think this only applies to political party’s sites. Sites like TR and TOC are non-partisan so they should not be effected. Just register or transfer your domains to other countries and you cannot be touched.
Come one, if PAP thinks that they have ruled well and adopted fair policies in the interest of all Singaporeans (and not a certain portion – the elites) then what is there for them to be afraid of? Why need cooling period? In the previous elections they were hot till the very end why didn’t they enacted this cooling off period? Now it seems the opposition is getting hot this stupid policy is going to be passed?
I say to LIE Kuan Yew and his MIW, if you had ruled well and with a fair hand there is nothing for PAP to be afraid of. And there is also no need to resort to underhand tactics to coerce fence-sitters to tilt their votes into their favour.
And I say to Lee Hsien Loong, if you have the courage to admit that the slapping incident did occur (during the cabinet meeting in 1990) then I will have some respect for you. Otherwise you are another liar just like your father. Your family surname should be changed from Lee to LIE.
If PAP could just stop gerrymandering and focus on Singapore and Singapore alone, we would not need any opposition in parliment.
I think he is afraid to eat Bah Chor Mee cooked by Mr Brown. Do we give a damn about this new ruling? Is our kangaroo court allow such undemocratic nonsense to rule during election compaigning? LHL is a retarded loser and no amount of cooling period can cool us down or cure his retarded brain.
Bala returns & tells it all. His conscience . . . .
http://www.malaysia-today.net/index.php?option=com_content&view=article&id=28797:malaysias-economy-at-the-second-bottom-rung&catid=19:newscommentaries&Itemid=100131
The proposed ban (in fairness to citizenry right to calm reflection of mind contemplation ) should extend to all MSM print and electronic media – strictly no commentary of domestic politic or political news of any shape or form for one day.
ONLY FOREIGN NEWS ITEMS BE ALLOWED OF PUBLISHED AND BROADCAST FOR THAT PARTICULAR DAY.ABSOLUTELY NO ITEMS OF DOMESTIC NEWS.
Is the Government coming to party of unqualifed sincerity of its professed intent for all on this one?
Who is betting?
The cooling period will only:
- the fence sitters.
- political parties that are lazy and complacent.
I have considered the different parties and who to vote for.
So cooling period or not, wouldn’t matter.
WP and SDP seems to stand out for the ground work they are laying. They have been putting in effort since the last election. Despite losing, they didn’t complain in fact they worked harder. RP also seems to be actively introducing themselves to the people, making their voices heard.
I believe they’ll be rewarded come election day despite the cooling-off period. If they are sincere in serving the people, someday people will be move.
For parties that didn’t fulfil their election promises and have little respect for the voters that voted for them taking a “Shut up! Sit down! Don’t be choosy!” attitude, time is running out for them. They are the one who should probably shape up.
First lesson in corporate strategy and politics is the same.
IF YOU CANNOT WIN BY PRE-SET RULES, YOU CHANGE THE RULES OF THE GAME UNILATERALLY.
In liar’s poker, you just switch your playing cards whilst denying the same to opposition and alternative media.
AND BETTER STILL SHUT OUT THE FOREIGN MEDIA COVERAGE.
IT IS TELLING SIGNS OF EXTREME DESPERATION. THE CASINO LIARS KNOW THEY ARE NO LONGER WANTED and betting their second last trick up the sleeve.
One more trick to come – maybe changing constitutions to allow foreign PRs and even foreign workers to vote?????
BELIEVE NOT WHAT YOU HEAR FROM THOSE UNRELIABLE SOURCES!!!
I din know that it is possible in this world to control the internet.
It’s like getting all horny to the point of near orgasm and then “cooling off” before shooting the load. Haha
Governance is a complex issue and responsibility. but in tinny winny Singapore… has one man made it… Unnecessarily complex towards “The New Poor” as WP Low Thia Khiang named them who are created by pappy thinking and sidelined as he said in Parliament a decade ago???
1.0 To PMET on Tue, 1st Dec 2009 3:03 pm…
1.1 He who has become despondent… becomes a despot… and
1.2 Despots will try anything.
1.3 Despots have only one rule… theirs!!!
1.4 Despots will “Pull wool over others eyes” to enforce their rule in despondent ways.
1.5 This is why fundamentals ARE Unclear. So that “intention” or “motive” can be applied in the Singapore Political Landscape as before. Like in the pappy defamtion case against Cheng San’s Tan Liang Hong on his private property in the name of his wife and daughter. Incdently that property was worth about the $10-11M that some 8 pappy minister’s were in that questionable law suit!!!
2.0 To blackfeline on Tue, 1st Dec 2009 5:14 pm
“that idiot should simply turn off the lights on that day”!…
In ADDition the idiot will have to turn off The SUN too!!!…
Perhaps like their salaries and and their many other “Super-feats”… ha can statistically even as a non-practicing qualified statistian!!!
3.0 To CitizenofSG on Tue, 1st Dec 2009 5:30 pm…
“Folks, there is no need to worry unless if you think LSL is the king of Singapore. What he says does not mean it is law yet or is it?”…
It will a Vague kind of pappy ‘intention and/or motive” ‘law’ at the last minute or when they apply it to which Oppo they want to ‘evict’ then.
4.0 To POlitical SalesMaN on Tue, 1st Dec 2009 7:16 pm
“In the early days they arrest people without trial, Control all the Media, Threating opposition wars to second service. It already a freak Election. Last minute from now they will use threat again”…
Just like his apapa said when he was the tiniest ‘tod’ (non-poilitician yet) in 1962… 1956… and 1959 as follows once more?~!!!…
“If I were in authority in Singapore indefinitely without having to ask those who are governed whether they like what is being done, then I would not have the slightest doubt that I could govern much more effectively in their interests.” – Lee Kuan Yew, 1962
“Repression, Sir is a habit that grows. I am told it is like making love – it is always easier the second time! The first time there may be pangs of conscience, a sense of guilt. But once embarked on this course with constant repetition you get more and more brazen in the attack. All you have to do is to dissolve organizations and societies and banish and detain the key political workers in these societies. Then miraculously everything is tranquil on the surface. Then an intimidated press and the government-controlled radio together can regularly sing your praises, and slowly and steadily the people are made to forget the evil things that have already been done, or if these things are referred to again they’re conveniently distorted and distorted with impunity, because there will be no opposition to contradict.” – Lee Kuan Yew as an opposition PAP member speaking to David Marshall, Singapore Legislative Assembly, Debates, 4 October 1956
“I pointed to an article with bold headlines reporting that the police had refused to allow the PAP to hold a rally at Empress Place, and then to the last paragraph where in small type it added the meeting would take place where we were now. I compared this with a prominent report about an SPA rally. This was flagrant bias.” – Lee Kuan Yew complaining about the Straits Times in 1959.
5.0 To LIE Kuan Yew & Gang on Tue, 1st Dec 2009 8:42 pm…
“I say to LIE Kuan Yew and his MIW, if you had ruled well and with a fair hand there is nothing for PAP to be afraid of. And there is also no need to resort to underhand tactics to coerce fence-sitters to tilt their votes into their favour.”…
After what he said as far back as 1956… and in spite of he said less than 3 yrs later he won in 1959???… SHOULD???… ANY SANE person believe that he is a fair and even hand leader?????????????????????????????????????????????????????…
As even Singaporeans praise that without him… Singapore would not be what it is today!!!…
But HOW has it been since his apapa took over withou the likes of old stalwarts Drs. Goh Keng Swee, Toh Chin Chai, Hon Swee Seng… etc???… And HOW NOW under him since 2003 a good 3 years before 2006 with “reins” given to him by Goh Chok Tong?!!!…
So now for a little kiddies’ fun in jest… “Twinkle twinkle little stars… How I Wonder WHAT you are?”… “Bah bah BLACK SHEEP… Have you Any WOOL… One FOR The MASTER… One for the ‘dame’… and one FOR THE LITTLE BOY who lives down the lane”!!!
Boys will be boys!!! As a BIG BOY is still a boy yah!!!
“Elections or Errections on Wed, 2nd Dec 2009 10:40 am
It’s like getting all horny to the point of near orgasm and then “cooling off” before shooting the load. Haha”…
apapa pappy baby now… hee haw hee haw hee hee haw with a jinx mare call hc or ho_se c_w law???
Thank you for your BRILLIANT piece of “Poetic Vertigo” for the “horny’ lustful politician to savour his own “Cooling Off Day” with his mare after 9 days of his “heaty” verbage in public washing personal ‘dirty’ linens as like before in 2006!!! Which are extension of his inherited past…
And who dare say we got no better talent out here then in pappy-land???… At least OUR VERBAGE has BETTER Class and Finesse like french women and wine sophistication….
They don’t even know how to lie ’smartly’ as only smuggly!!!
There will be a freak incident on the coolling off day., as singapore power will suddenly have a blackout….rendering all PCs and users in singapore, unable to access “The Matrix”…or internet.
Pray for rain….it is more convincing.
That WE.. The now BETTER informed and EVEN THE More and Better Educated Singaporeans “NEED” A Day to “Cool” OFF so as not to be mmuddled by so much info heard in 9 days of Polling!!!…
VERY FUNNY HAW!!!… How come in the days of his apapa with SUBSTANTIAL “OLD-GUARDS” to temper him… And WE old guys who were yyounger and more MUCH-LESS-EDUCATED… DID NOT NEED “a COOLING OFF DAY”… NOW NEED IT TOGETHER WITH OUR SMARTER AND COLLEGE GRAD CHILDREN hah???…
If Ah Long is not retarded… then he is at least insincere to the point of ADDING-INSULTS TO INJURY ON US ALL YAH!!!…
HAH!!! Wanna LIE about his “wants” OsO DON’t KNOW How Too Hah!!!… So… It IS NO wonder at all why his Ministers oSo No NO HOW to Lie!!!…
He SHOULD feel “ECLIPSED” by our comments… for if he isn’t.. than we know that he IS… beyond saving from lying!!!
Only an idiot would come out with such a stupid rule? why should we respect this rule, when they break the rule by entering into a poling station?
being as ‘ credible ‘ as the local Malaysian rags is no compliment I can tell you that.
And I live in Malaysia .