Internet and Politics

The recent GE election showed the prevalence of the internet in politics in Singapore. Compared to the past, this GE election 2011 saw the use of webpages, twitter and Facebook. Interestingly enough, it was found that Singaporeans used not to be interested in politics but increasingly they have taken up social media platforms to satisfy their political cravings.

Portals such as "theonlinecitizen" or "temasekreview" are some alternative views beyond the current party. Many of the politicians speeches and agendas were also uploaded onto youtube. This makes it easy for anyone to gain access to these speeches. Its like being at the rally itself with the comfort of our own home, the flexibility of our own time and the ease of supplement information.

Here are some highlights of the women candidates:


The political arena is definitely changing in Singapore with the internet as the main source of information for citizens. The increased seats for opposition party in parliament is perhaps some of the signs that internet use is important. However, as much as the position parties had many video and hype on the internet, it was not proportionate to the seats won.

This was reasoned that Singaporeans still trusted traditional media like Newspapers and Television over the internet. But they felt that the internet such as twitter gave the most up-to-date information. This was best seen when the results were announced over twitter much faster than on television.

The internet would probably be the best tool to reach out to the population but traditional approaches such as going for walkabouts or house visits will have to be coupled together in order to be effective. But one cannot deny the potential of internet use and I'm definitely interested to see how the internet will be used in the next GE election.