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 |
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) |
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 |
“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.
