Moving towards a democratic society

Contribution from Richard Koh

At the WP's post by-election press conference, the WP Chief surprisingly assailed the mainstream media for being bias during the by-election to help the ruling party to smear the character of the WP's candidate, Mr Png Eng Huat.  The Chief Editor of ZB (Lianhe Zaobao), on 28 May 2012, denied and accused the WP Chief for being irresponsible to make the mainstream media as a target for shooting.  The WP Chief has responded to the accusation today.  

On 23 May 2012, whilst the ST clearly gave the headline that "WP faces allegations of dishonesty" at the crucial time in relation to the Png's NMP event,  Mr Teo Chee Hian, DPM, however clarified that he was questioning only, instead of allegation.  

Upon the tussle between WP and ZB,  let's put aside whatever the arguments they have, and see the following pictures that were snapped by bloggers at Hougang for the by-election rallies held bWP.  Can Singaporeans see this type of true pictures in the mainstream media during the Hougang by-election?  

May 27 2012 (from Diary of Singaporean Mind)          

May 21, 2012 (from Sgpolitics.net)  

The above pictures are better than thousand words.  The mainstream media must be neutral and unbiased in reporting news about all political parties involved in the election.  All parties should be put on equal footing for competition.  This is one of the main feature of a democratic society.  

To move our democracy a step forward, the WP should challenge ZB for conducting an independent public survey to seek the opinion from the public whether the mainstream media have faithfully performed their duties on this matter.  The contents of the survey must be agreed upon between the both parties involved and the result of the survey be made public.  Has ZB the guts and courages to accept this challenge if it is raised by the WP ?

Richard Koh