>It's also refreshing to see someone in government recognize that the solution to unfavorable speech isn't censorship, but more speech. Read between the lines.

>It's also refreshing to see someone in government recognize that the solution to unfavorable speech isn't censorship, but more speech. Read between the lines. He's not saying that. He's saying that the solution to unfavorable speech is to insist on "accurate speech". I think when he says "more speech" he means "more of our speech" (government sponsored new media initiatives, I guess - paying people to post approved facts to facebook perhaps?). Their messaging on this is consistent. They don't want a plurality of opinion if it means that sometimes "lies they don't like will be told". They will "insist on accuracy". For you, of course. There is no mechanism that I know of that holds the government to the same standard. The practical upshot of this is that freedom of speech can be quashed with libel laws and a judiciary that could hardly be described as "independent of the government". Unless you can prove beyond a shadow of a doubt that everything you say is true, they can slam you with fines and possibly jail time for statements that you made that are either untrue, can't be proved, or they can describe as 'racially inflammatory/insensitive to religion'. They can pick and choose, too. Say 99 things that really needed to be said, and repeated one rumor that wasn't true? If you have an audience and they don't like you or want to make an example of you, They will nail you. That's why there's a strong culture of "STFU and keep your head down if you know what's best for you". This is part of the story of how political opposition in Singapore has been divided and conquered and kept at bay (there's a lot more detail in the wikileaks cables about Singapore, which is worth a read). I suspect that if they had a first amendment, the PAP would have started losing elections a while back. Who knows, though. Maybe they won't find a solution to the 'new media problem' and the opposition will manage to leverage it to win an election in the years to come.