The Minister for Communication and Information Yaacob Ibrahim appointed 17 new members to the 30-member Media Literacy Council on 27 July, and that among them is its Chairman, Mr Lock Wai Han. Mr Lock is the former director of Criminal Investigations Department (CID).

Mr Lock also has served in various other Government agencies in leadership positions including Commissioner of Immigration & Checkpoints Authority and Deputy Secretary of Ministry of Information, Communications & the Arts. Mr Lock left the public service in 2011.

The new MLC is said to comprise 30 members from diverse sectors spanning business, academia, social and community organisations.

Besides Mr Lock, the 16 other new members are: Mr Alvin Tan; Mr Andrew Lim; Ms Anita Kuan; Mrs Christine Lam; Ms Gam Huey Yi; Ms Irene Ang; Mr Jeff Cheong; Dr Jiow Hee Jhee; Mr Kumaran Barathan; Ms Natasha Zhao; Ms Stephanie Hung; Ms Susan Ng; Mrs Tan Wan Yu; Mr Tong Yee; Mr Walter Lim; and Mdm Zulaiha Yusuf.

The following is the full list of new MLC members who will serve a two-year term.

Chairman

Vice-Chairman

Mr Lock Wai Han
Former Executive Director and Group CEO
Rowsley Ltd
Professor Ang Peng Hwa
Wee Kim Wee School of Communication and
Information
Nanyang Technological University

Members

Mr Alvin Tan
Head of Public Policy, Southeast Asia
Facebook
Ms Aileen Tan
Group Chief Human Resources Officer
Singtel
Mr Andrew Lim
Principal
Victoria School
Ms Anita Kuan
Director of School of Film and Media Studies
Ngee Ann Polytechnic
Dr Carol Soon
Senior Research Fellow
Institute of Policy Studies
Mrs Christine Lam
Principal
Yangzheng Primary School
Mr Chong Ee Jay
Manager
TOUCH Cyber Wellness
TOUCH Community Services
Dr Damien Cheong
Research Fellow
S. Rajaratnam School of International Studies
Nanyang Technological University
Mr Edmund Tay
Parent Blogger
www.EdUnloaded.com
Ms Gam Huey Yi
Director of Student Education and Development
and Corporate Communications
CDAC
Mr Goh Lih Shiun
Country Lead, Policy and Government Affairs
(Southeast Asia)
Google
Ms Irene Ang
CEO
Fly Entertainment
Ms Iris Lin
Assistant Director
Youth Division
Fei Yue Community Services
Mr Jeff Cheong
President
Tribal Worldwide Asia
Head of Tribal, Worldwide Singapore
Mr Jeffrey Ali
Senior Director – Youth Marketing and Insights
MediaCorp
Dr Jiow Hee Jhee
Assistant Professor and
Deputy Programme Director
Singapore Institute of Technology
Mr Kumaran Barathan
CEO
SINDA
Dr Lim Sun Sun
Assistant Dean (Research)
Department of Communications and New Media
National University of Singapore
Ms Lin Shu Fen
Vice President
Family Segment and HubLife
StarHub
Ms Natasha Zhao
Digital Management Consultant
QED Consulting
Mr Nicholas Gabriel Lim
Principal Psychologist
Director of Development, Education and Youth
Emergenetics International – Asia Pacific
Ms Stephanie Hung
Founder and CEO
Alitheia Partners Pte. Ltd.
Mr Steve Tan
Director
Ong Teng Cheong Labour Leadership Institute
Social Media Team
NTUC
Ms Susan Ng
Producer-Presenter
938Live
MediaCorp
Mrs Tan Wan Yu
Principal
Millenia Institute
Mr Tong Yee
Co-Founder and Director
The Thought Collective
Mr Walter Lim
Director and Editor
Cooler Insights
Mdm Zulaiha Bte Yusuf
COO
MENDAKI
Dr Yaacob said, “Over the past four years, the MLC has contributed significantly to increasing the awareness of media literacy issues such as Internet safety and cyberbullying, particularly among students and parents through its annual Safer Internet Day campaign and programmes with partners and schools”.

“As the online environment continues to evolve and grow in complexity, the role that the MLC plays has become even more important,” Dr Yaacob added.

Other than Mr Lock, another notable person among the new appointees is Ms Natasha Zhao, age 30, Digital Management Consultant of QED Consulting.

Ms Zhao was featured in The Straits Times as being among the select few digital media consultants the People’s Action Party (PAP) Ministers and Members of Parliament (MP) used to win social media battle for voters. Commenting to the newspaper about the role she played, Ms Zhao said: “We worked on their online reputation. A good digital engagement plan is best implemented early, during times of peace.”

Her colleague at QED Consulting said that they use social media monitoring tools to “listen” in on online conversations, then let them know when action is needed.

MLC has been in the news for the wrong reasons due to the antics of its former member. Calvin Cheng, who left MLC after serving two full terms as a member,  had been criticised for his comments on killing children of ISIS fighters and recently, his harsh remarks that was posted online to a professor at a local university at a Facebook comment thread, simply because their opinions are not the same. This runs contrary to the media literacy that MLC wishes to promote and MLC had chosen not to comment on the matters.

 

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