By Melanie Lee
SINGAPORE (Reuters) -
Singapore's state-controlled media
and government have come under fire from critics and Internet
bloggers for failing to give the public important answers on
the escape of a suspected Islamic militant.
With a cynical eye cast on local newspapers such as the
pro-government daily, the Straits Times, critics say media
coverage has skirted key issues and so more people were turning
to alternatives such as blogs for a differing viewpoint.
"The mainstream media did its job of trying to play down
the most shameful part of the incident. It is a blow to
Singapore's image as being efficient," Seah Chiang Nee, a
political commentator and former Singapore newspaper editor,
told Reuters.
"The more Internet savvy would not depend on the mainstream
media for news of what's happening in the country, they would
go to the Internet," said Seah.
Mas Selamat bin Kastari, the alleged leader of the
Singapore cell of al Qaeda-linked Jemaah Islamiah, a group
blamed for the 2002 Bali bombings that killed 202 people,
escaped on Wednesday last week from the toilet of a detention
centre.
Security experts said the escape was embarrassing for a
country that prides itself on tight security. The escape
sparked an unprecedented manhunt in the small island and a rare
apology from the government, who blamed a "security lapse." But
few further details of his escape have since been released.
Cherian George, an ex-Straits Times journalist and media
lecturer, wrote on the Internet that the Singapore media had
not answered the "immediate" question of how Kastari escaped.
"The question is so natural and so obvious that you'd think
anyone barely paying attention would ask it. Unless,
apparently, one worked for the national news media," George
wrote.
LOSS OF CREDIBILITY
George said the absence of this question was due to media
management by the government and that the main result would be
a loss of credibility for the national media that would push
readers to other sources.
Letters to The Straits Times have also poured scorn on the
government's handling of the crisis and flow of information.
"I am disturbed by the security lapse ... more explanation
is required," wrote Rosemary Chwee Keng Chai in a letter.
Patrick Daniel, editor-in-chief of the Straits Times, told
Reuters by email that the paper took its responsibility to
readers seriously and that George was "utterly wrong" in his
conclusion or that its journalists had never asked questions on
how Kastari escaped.
"If Cherian had checked with us, we would have told him
that we asked that question, and many others too, many times,"
he said, adding the paper had run an article exploring the
issue headlined "How did he manage to escape?" on Friday.
Reuters, a global news and information provider, repeatedly
asked the Ministry of Home Affairs for more details on the
escape but was either referred to its initial five-line
statement or was unable to reach its spokeswoman on by
telephone.
Singapore retains a tight grip on its national newspapers
through a comprehensive legal framework that requires, among
other things, a publication permit to be granted at the
discretion of the minister. A substantial shareholder of a
newspaper company must also gain approval of a minister.
"I think that there was tacit understanding between the
government and the media," Catherine Lim, a prominent local
author and political commentator, told Reuters.
"It's a good working relationship. Local media would never
be as inquisitive, probing or rambunctious as the Western
media."
Some bloggers had a field day, morphing Kastari's face onto
a poster for TV series Prison Break and saying even students
doing examinations in the city-state were accompanied to the
toilet.
"We are not like those free-wheeling and chaotic
governments from Western democracies that make their leaders
accountable for every little thing," wrote Lee Kin Mun, better
known under his online moniker 'Mr Brown', Singapore's most
famous blogger.
(Editing by Neil Chatterjee and Alex Richardson)
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