• About Us
    • Fact Checking Policy
    • Ownership & funding information
    • Volunteer
  • Subscribe
  • Letter submission
    • Submissions Policy
  • Contact Us
The Online Citizen Asia
  • Opinion
    • Editorial
    • Commentaries
    • Letters
    • Comments
  • Current Affairs
    • Singapore
    • Malaysia
    • Indonesia
    • China
    • ASEAN
    • Asia
    • International
  • Finance
    • Economics
    • Labour
    • Property
    • Business
  • Community
    • Arts & Culture
    • Consumer Watch
    • NGO
    • Lifestyle
    • Travel
  • Politics
    • Civil Society
    • Parliament
    • Transport
    • Education
    • Environment
    • Health
    • Housing
  • Law & Order
    • Legislation
    • Court Cases
No Result
View All Result
  • Opinion
    • Editorial
    • Commentaries
    • Letters
    • Comments
  • Current Affairs
    • Singapore
    • Malaysia
    • Indonesia
    • China
    • ASEAN
    • Asia
    • International
  • Finance
    • Economics
    • Labour
    • Property
    • Business
  • Community
    • Arts & Culture
    • Consumer Watch
    • NGO
    • Lifestyle
    • Travel
  • Politics
    • Civil Society
    • Parliament
    • Transport
    • Education
    • Environment
    • Health
    • Housing
  • Law & Order
    • Legislation
    • Court Cases
No Result
View All Result
The Online Citizen Asia
No Result
View All Result

Ashley Madison to Mugabe – PAP song and dance about public morality

by onlinecitizen
17/11/2013
in Commentaries
Reading Time: 5 mins read
0

By Andrew Loh

“It is against the public interest to allow Ashley Madison to promote its website in flagrant disregard of our family values and public morality. We will, therefore, not allow Ashley Madison to operate in Singapore and have worked with the Internet Service Providers to block access to the site.” – Media Development Authority (MDA), 09 November 2013.

A week later, on 17 November, this piece of news appeared in the Sunday Times:

mugabegraduation

Mr Mugabe is no stranger – to Singapore or to the world, of course.

To Singapore, he is a somewhat regular visitor, travelling from his far-flung Zimbabwe to our tiny island for medical treatment and previously to arrange for his daughter’s enrolment into MDIS last year. (See here.)

Yes, the president himself taking care of the important task of enrolling his daughter in a post-graduate course.

But to the world, Mugabe is a murderous despot, whose army pillage, rape and kill their way to power.

And even as we speak, there are those who continue to seek ways to bring him to justice for crimes against humanity.

But what really should concern Singaporeans is their government’s position on “public morality”, or to put it another way, the government’s guard dog role in safeguarding these “public moral values”.

And it is instructive to observe the PAP government’s flip-flop hypocrisy when it comes to this.

While the MDA boasts of its safeguarding role in defending our “public morality” in the case of Ashley Madison, it forgets that the government has disavowed such a role – even as recently as 2007 and 2008.

Here were what Prime Minister Lee Hsien Loong and then-Minister Mentor Lee Kuan Yew said, when commenting on the government’s anti-homosexual law, section 377a:

ashleymidson

“The Government does not act as moral policemen,” PM Lee said.

“[Let’s] not go around like this moral police…,” MM Lee said.

Someone in the MDA obviously forgot about these pronouncements by our top leaders.

What PM Lee and MM Lee said is in keeping with how the government has treated pariahs like Robert Mugabe, and the Burmese generals Than Shwe and Thein Sein, both of whom had also sought medical treatment in Singapore.

PM Lee explained the government’s position in 2007 with regards to Singapore providing medical aid to Burmese generals:

“Somebody who is sick, he wants to come to Singapore, he needs treatment and you’re telling me that I shouldn’t treat him because he is not a good man? It goes against the Hippocratic oath of doctors.”

Blogsite Singapore Angle took apart PM Lee’s skewed understanding of the Hippocratic Oath here: “On PM Lee’s interpretation of the Hippocratic Oath.”

So, on the one hand, PM Lee seemed to espouse a hands-off approach when it comes to moral issues; on the other hand, however, he seemed to base his actions with regards to sick generals on moral grounds.

While saying the Government is no moral policemen, he also cites moral reasons for his actions.

In short, moral values seem to be a moveable feast to the government, cited where it is expedient and advantageous, dismissed when it is also expedient and advantageous.

It makes for a loss of public trust in the government, an issue which has cropped up in recent months, with commentators as distinguished as the dean of the Lee Kuan Yew School of Public Policy lamenting its potential further slide.

The government needs to make up its mind. It cannot say it has to guard our “public morality” when it comes to issues like Ashley Madison and s377a; while at the same time say it is welcoming murderous criminals on moral grounds, those who have murdered, raped and plundered on a national scale on their way to power.

Even its mouthpiece, the Straits Times, seemed to be confused, conferring on the Burmese general, Thein Sein, the title of “Asian of the Year” in 2012, despite the general being part of a regime which murdered its own citizens, engaged in ethnic cleansing and slaughtered even monks.

theinsein

But really, it is no surprise for the mouthpiece to follow its master – who in 2009 named an orchid after Thein Sein.

Truth be told, one would be empathetic and sympathetic towards the Government’s position. With the world changing at breakneck speed with the advent of new technology, moral issues will continue to be raised, as social media facilitates debates about such issues.

The problem with the PAP government is that it is – at least it is seen as – a “pragmatic” government which does not have any real moral compass, that it flows with where the money flows.

It is such perception that leads one (and perhaps many others) to conclude that the government is hypocritical when it comes to such matters – bending as it will to whatever is the fancy of the day.

It is thus ironic that two PAP MPs – Indranee Rajah and Hri Kumar – have criticised the opposition Workers’ Party for not having any stance or position on various issues.

The two MPs might want to consider and ponder instead on their own party’s shifting positions when it comes to certain moral principles, and see if perhaps it is time for the ruling party to get its act right first, before casting stones at others.

The PAP can first start by refraining from making a song and dance about how morally upright it is – while acting according to what is “morally” expedient at a given time.

You cannot say you are no moral policemen while at the same time ban a website invoking your guard dog role in protecting “public morality”.

And how does allowing into Singapore those like Mugabe and those who profit from and live off his atrocities square with your morals?

Nah, you cannot have your cake and eat it. It is hypocritical.

* Mugabe’s Zimbabwe is on “Genocide Watch“.

massrape

For just US$7.50 a month, sign up as a subscriber on The Online Citizen Asia (and enjoy ads-free experience on our site) to support our mission to transform TOC into an alternative mainstream press.

Related Posts

Singapore warns slower economic growth in 2023
Labour

Less than 1 in 10 jobs created in first three quarters of 2022 went to Singaporeans?

28/01/2023
Peru Congress rejects president’s plan for early elections
AFP

Peru Congress rejects president’s plan for early elections

28/01/2023
UMNO purging members as it sacks former health minister Khairy and suspended ex-defence minister Hishammuddin
Malaysia

UMNO purging members as it sacks former health minister Khairy and suspended ex-defence minister Hishammuddin

28/01/2023
WHO panel in talks on COVID emergency status
AFP

WHO panel in talks on COVID emergency status

27/01/2023
AFP

Two years after Myanmar coup, UN says situation ‘catastrophic’

27/01/2023
Grab driver supposedly earned $5,227.82 in a week prior CNY, netizens voice worries over his health
Community

Grab driver supposedly earned $5,227.82 in a week prior CNY, netizens voice worries over his health

27/01/2023
Subscribe
Connect withD
Login
I allow to create an account
When you login first time using a Social Login button, we collect your account public profile information shared by Social Login provider, based on your privacy settings. We also get your email address to automatically create an account for you in our website. Once your account is created, you'll be logged-in to this account.
DisagreeAgree
Notify of
Connect withD
I allow to create an account
When you login first time using a Social Login button, we collect your account public profile information shared by Social Login provider, based on your privacy settings. We also get your email address to automatically create an account for you in our website. Once your account is created, you'll be logged-in to this account.
DisagreeAgree
0 Comments
Inline Feedbacks
View all comments

Latest posts

Singapore warns slower economic growth in 2023

Less than 1 in 10 jobs created in first three quarters of 2022 went to Singaporeans?

28/01/2023
Peru Congress rejects president’s plan for early elections

Peru Congress rejects president’s plan for early elections

28/01/2023
UMNO purging members as it sacks former health minister Khairy and suspended ex-defence minister Hishammuddin

UMNO purging members as it sacks former health minister Khairy and suspended ex-defence minister Hishammuddin

28/01/2023
WHO panel in talks on COVID emergency status

WHO panel in talks on COVID emergency status

27/01/2023

Two years after Myanmar coup, UN says situation ‘catastrophic’

27/01/2023
Grab driver supposedly earned $5,227.82 in a week prior CNY, netizens voice worries over his health

Grab driver supposedly earned $5,227.82 in a week prior CNY, netizens voice worries over his health

27/01/2023
Philippines to appeal ICC resumption of drug war probe

ICC grants new inquiry into Manila’s deadly ‘war on drugs’

27/01/2023
Minister refutes claims of Malaysia consulting Singapore on housing policy due to its inefficient civil service

Minister refutes claims of Malaysia consulting Singapore on housing policy due to its inefficient civil service

27/01/2023

Trending posts

Two Indian nationals paid about S$330 and S$730 respectively for forged certificates submitted in their S-Pass application

MOM found issuing EPs meant for foreign PMETs to PRC waitress and general worker

by Correspondent
26/01/2023
36

...

Earning only S$400 a month, delivery-rider turned hawker threw in the towel after two years of running a rojak stall

Earning only S$400 a month, delivery-rider turned hawker threw in the towel after two years of running a rojak stall

by Yee Loon
26/01/2023
23

...

Ho Ching breaks silence over Temasek’s write down of its US$275 million investment in FTX, says it “can afford to be contrarian”

US regulator questions VCs’ due diligence work prior to investing in FTX; Ho Ching says Temasek can afford to be contrarian

by The Online Citizen
24/01/2023
28

...

Indian rupee falls 60% since signing of CECA while Singapore becomes top investor in India

by Correspondent
25/01/2023
55

...

Temasek and GIC reportedly in talks with Adani Group accused of “brazen” market manipulation and accounting fraud

Temasek and GIC reportedly in talks with Adani Group accused of “brazen” market manipulation and accounting fraud

by The Online Citizen
26/01/2023
46

...

Ashley Madison to Mugabe – PAP song and dance about public morality

by onlinecitizen
17/11/2013
0

...

November 2013
M T W T F S S
 123
45678910
11121314151617
18192021222324
252627282930  
« Oct   Dec »
  • About Us
  • Subscribe
  • Letter submission
  • Contact Us

© 2006 - 2021 The Online Citizen

No Result
View All Result
  • Opinion
    • Editorial
    • Commentaries
    • Comments
  • Current Affairs
    • Malaysia
    • Indonesia
    • China
    • ASEAN
    • Asia
    • International
  • Finance
    • Economics
    • Labour
    • Property
    • Business
  • Community
    • Civil Society
    • Arts & Culture
    • Consumer Watch
    • NGO
  • Politics
    • Parliament
    • Transport
    • Education
    • Environment
    • Health
    • Housing
  • Law & Order
    • Legislation
    • Court Cases
  • Lifestyle
    • Travel
  • Subscribers login

© 2006 - 2021 The Online Citizen

wpDiscuz