In the past few weeks, the Prime Minister has kept mum about the Media Development Authority’s (MDA) disputed banning of Tan Pin Pin’s documentary on Singaporean political exiles To Singapore, With Love — but he finally commented on the issue last Friday evening.
Speaking to an audience during a Q&A segment after his speech at the National University of Singapore Society’s 60th Anniversary commemoration, Prime Minister Lee Hsien Loong responded to queries on the ongoing Hong Kong protests and the controversial film, according to various media reports. PM Lee calls the documentary a “self-serving personal account, conveniently inaccurate in places” and blemishes the reputation of the security people fighting the communists during those troubled years. He notes on the similarities between To Singapore, with Love and Michael Moore’s Fahrenheit 9/11, which are both “very convincing” but he does not consider them to be objective documentaries.
In the light of his clarification of the government’s stance on the film, numerous netizens have rebutted his arguments for the ban. Blogger and journalist Kirsten Han describes the Prime Minister’s argument as strange, calling for open-mindedness in regards to alternative voices and narratives, and that film audiences are more than capable of coming to their own conclusions despite any political leanings or bias.
Prominent writer and playwright Alfian Sa’at deconstructs the Prime Minister’s arguments, calling him out for tiresome paternalistic methods of censorship instead of empowering Singaporeans with greater media literacy. Other netizens have termed Lee’s justification as “infantile” and question if people should be contented with only one version of history.
With the Prime Minister’s comments, it’s not looking good for Tan’s recent appeal to MDA to retract the ban for her film, which has been classified as “not allowed for all ratings”.
Photo: YouTube screengrab
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