Censorship At Work or Mere Technical Error...?
Just now, as I was watching the 9.30p.m. news on Channel 5, I noticed something most interesting...
It was the interview segment with MM Lee and he was talking about the consequences of Singapore not paying competitive salaries to its senior civil servants & political leaders.
According to the report on the CNA website as of 10.07p.m., these were the exact words used by MM Lee: "The cure for all this talk is really a good dose of incompetent government... your asset values will disappear, your apartments will be worth a fraction of what it is, your jobs will be in peril, your security will be at risk and our women will become maids in other persons' countries - foreign workers".
However, the 9.30p.m. news on Channel 5 only showed him saying this: "The cure for all this talk is really a good dose of incompetent government... your asset values will disappear, your apartments will be worth a fraction of what it is, your jobs will be in peril, your security will be at risk" before the images jumped to another section of the interview.
So, in case you all do not see it, this statement was omitted from the Channel 5 news segment: "our women will become maids in other persons' countries - foreign workers".
It was the interview segment with MM Lee and he was talking about the consequences of Singapore not paying competitive salaries to its senior civil servants & political leaders.
According to the report on the CNA website as of 10.07p.m., these were the exact words used by MM Lee: "The cure for all this talk is really a good dose of incompetent government... your asset values will disappear, your apartments will be worth a fraction of what it is, your jobs will be in peril, your security will be at risk and our women will become maids in other persons' countries - foreign workers".
However, the 9.30p.m. news on Channel 5 only showed him saying this: "The cure for all this talk is really a good dose of incompetent government... your asset values will disappear, your apartments will be worth a fraction of what it is, your jobs will be in peril, your security will be at risk" before the images jumped to another section of the interview.
So, in case you all do not see it, this statement was omitted from the Channel 5 news segment: "our women will become maids in other persons' countries - foreign workers".
This omission was made even more obvious when though the images did not show MM Lee making the above statement, the accompanying subtitles did (though you have to be paying close attention to notice this as they flashed across the screen quite fast).
And now, as I am typing this, I have also noticed that the 10.00p.m. news on Channel 8 also did not feature the segment of MM Lee making the above omitted statement.
Hmm... Was this omission just a mere technical error or is it censorship at work, lest the omitted statement offend the sentiments of our neighbouring countries which send their women over to Singapore to work as maids and their men as foreign workers; to avoid a rerun of this?
I really wonder... Perhaps I should see whether the TV news on CNA have also omitted this statement...
P.S. 5/4/2007
Okay, it would seems that it was not censorship at work last night, considering that today's Straits Times reported the statements made by MM Lee, including the statement in question, in full on its front page. However, of course, the fact still remains that the statement in question could potentially offend the sentiments of our neighbouring countries (or at least that of their respective governments). 言者无意，听者有心。。。
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6 comments:
No kidding. I cut and paste the article before it got censored; I've never seen the censored version.
But I wouldn't be surprised; I was rather irritated at the fact tt our dear leader could say something like tt.
Not surprised tho; I think he's always been a bit of a misogynist, like it or not. At he's never been one for political correctness.
But still. I bet the media must have been thinking what a boo boo this must have been - all us women will be rather riled by such a comment.
My respect for him kind of lowered a notch. Wonder if it would be the same for other women like me too.
Actually, Kitana, the CNA website did not do any "editing" to MM Lee's comments, it was the Channel 5 TV news at 9.30p.m. last night that omitted his last statement.
I just thought that I should specify that the timing I referred to the CNA website report as a pre-emptive measure just in case they do decide to "edit" it.
Well, I don't think Singapore media will censor MM Lee for the simple reason that MM Lee is never afraid of standing by what he said, nice or otherwise. In anycase, the maids in Singapore don't have the money to sue him. :P
Actually, I think they may be more concerned about the leaders of our neighbouring countries, which send their women over to Singapore to work as maids, demanding that MM Lee apologise for implicitly suggesting that they are incompetent; especially when Singapore's foreign relations have not been totally peaceful these recent months...
I am not surprised that he said such a thing. As a women, I am insulted by his statement too. The statement is also highly insensitive to our neighboring countries.
blah.... I think I should stop reading our local news for a while. I might get high blood pressure if I do not stop reading it.
looks like our local authority is aware of the risk of letting some old people talk freely.....
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