Yeo, Pea-brained Imbecile

[Anonymous]

The Economist, 16 March 1996, pp. 42-43.

Asia and the Internet: Not too modern, please

Hunched quietly over their terminals around the world, the
mouse-clicking, keyboard-tapping denizens of the Internet have
created quite a noise in Asia. The worldwide computer network
is still young in the region, but already cyberspace resounds
to the crashing of broken taboos, and collisions with the
powers that be.

In discussion groups on the Internet, you will find views
never aired in the domestic media; about Malaysia, a call for
the emigration of ethnic Chinese; about Indonesia, passionate
pleas for East Timorese independence; about Thailand, jibes at
the monarchy, which are a crime. On the World Wide Web, the
fast-growing multimedia part of the network, everyone from
Confucius to the Penthouse pet of the month seems to have a
"home page".

All of this confronts many Asian governments with an old
dilemma in a new form. All want to be "modern". But many
reject the notion that modernity encompasses the sort of
political pluralism seen in the west. On the Internet
modernity and pluralism go hand in hand. Hence the recent
flurry of efforts by governments in the region to exert
control over the Internet and overturn what they see as the
American colonisation of cyberspace.

The effort is complicated by the undoubted commercial
potential ofthe Internet, and its future as a business tool.
Most countries would prefer to do without the smut and the
anti-government invective, but none wants to risk being left
out. Fidel Ramos, president ofthe Philippines,whose press is
freer than others in Asia, has his own home page, but so does
the military junta that runs Myanmar's media like an Orwellian
Ministry of Truth.

The dilemma is most acute for Singapore. More than any other
country in the region, it prides itself on being ahead of the
technological game. Indeed, its economic success relies on a
state-of-the-art infrastructure. By the end of the century the
government hopes to have created an "intelligent island", with
at least 95% of homes cabled for services like the Internet
and interactive television.

Already, the government has a big presence on the World Wide
WebHt even provides links to a Board for Online Graffiti ("the
only place in Singapore where graffiti are legal"). You can
make your choice of virtual lavatory wall on which to scribble
a message. More seriously, the World Chinese Business Network
hopes to harness the Internet to the legendary "guanxi" or
connections that drive overseas Chinese business. George Yeo,
Singapore's information minister, is fluent in cyberbabble.
"we will need a URL [universal resource locator] that is easy
to remember," he told a meeting of his colleagues from the
Association of South-East Asian Nations (ASEAN) on March 7th.
"we should also encourage hyperlinks to each other's web
pages."

But Singapore is also among the staunchest critics of
unfettered individualism, and of western attempts to foist its
political standards on Asia. Because its content remains
dominated by westerners, the Internet can be seen as part of
such an attempt. Every fanatic liberal and foulmouthed crank
can air his heresies and obscenities. So Mr Yeo also warned
his ASEAN colleagues that "the influx of objectionable
materials via the new electronic media, if left unchecked,
will undermine our values and traditions."

He was speaking the day after Singapore had introduced
"anti-pollution measures" to clean up the I nternet in
Singapore. The three local "providers", offering access to the
I nternet by a domestic telephone call, will be required to
filter out offensive material. "Cybercafes" providing
computers for customers to use the Internet will have to
install filter software such as "Net Nanny" or "Surf Watch".
But this is not just an antipornography drive like that seen
in many countries. Organisations posting political or
religious information on to the World Wide Web will need to
register with the broadcasting authority.

Technically, Singapore's effort to control the Internet will
be complicated. Mr Yeo suggested it was feasible because all
international telephone traffic reaches Singapore through one
network, operated by Singapore Telecom. So the authorities are
able to monitor anything being sent to Internet servers (who
distribute material) in Singapore. Singaporeans could still
dial abroad and get access to the uncensored Net. But that
would be expensive -- prohibitively so for most people,
especially if they wanted to download a pin-up, which can be
frustratingly time-consuming.

Mr Yeo stressed that Singapore did not intend to "stifle
discussion". The only obligation on those engaging in
political debate was to take a "certain responsibility and
accountability" for their views. It was not clear how these
requirements would apply to the Singaporean who responded to
the speech by calling the minister a "pea-brained imbecile" on
an Internet discussion group.

Singapore's house-cleaning effort will be watched closely by
other governments in the region. Of Singapore's 3m people,
100,000 already have Internet accounts, twice as many as in
China (population 1.2 billion). Nevertheless, China has
already gone a step further than Singapore, requiring all
Internet users as well as providers to register. It too is
looking at how to put a cordon sanitaire around the Internet.
Like Myanmar and Vietnam, it is particularly concerned about
the campaigning activities in cyberspace of exiled dissidents.
Vietnam is seeking prevention rather than cure. The
state-owned Internet provider, Netnam, does not as yet give
subscribers access to the World Wide Web, just to e-mail
services.

Other ASEAN countries have so far preferred to be seen as
Internet-friendly. Malaysia's deputy prime minister, Anwar
Ibrahim, recently opened an exhibition about the Internet in
Kuala Lumpur with a warning against censorship. "Let us not
forget", he said, "that an informed citizenry is also a
responsible citizenry."

Similarly in Indonesia and Thailand, the Internet is largely
unregulated. An Indonesian magazine, Tempo, banned in 1994 for
upsetting the government, has just reappeared "on-line", which
even the censors admit is perfectly legal. In the much freer
intellectual climate of Thailand, the concern has been as much
about sex as about politics. An Internet campaign has urged a
boycott of Thai goods because of the prevalence of child
prostitution in the country. And a photograph has been posted
on the Internet purportedly showing a senior politician
engaged in sexual congress with another man's wife.

As the Internet gathers pace, so too will its impact on the
political scene. InJanuary an article in Singapore's
obsequiously pro-government Straits Times asked whether
Singapore would "change the Internet", or the other way round.
"A little of both," it concluded. But as the Internet
free-for-all becomes more readily available to the population
at large, other, more decorous, media may find it hard to
ignore the challenge. The Straits Times itself may be among
the first to feel the change.

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