Like China, the Singapore government activated a team of internet brigade to defend Lee Hsien Loong’s embarrassing interview featured on BBC Facebook page.
Leading the pack is former PAP member Calvin Cheng, who was appointed Nominated Member of Parliament (NMP) by Lee Hsien Loong. Calvin Cheng wrote a racist comment blaming the white people in the West for bearing “moral certitudes”. The leader of the government internet brigade then wrote foreigners should live in Singapore before they could qualify to pass any comment on the country.
You may view the BBC Facebook link here.
Comments that criticised dictator Prime Minister Lee Hsien Loong were met with personal attacks by faceless and anonymous accounts like Yucai Wong. Other comments by the government’s internet brigade pour praises for Lee Hsien Loong, with one notably by Jason Chua Chin Seng, a known hired troll that defames government critics. Several other PAP members went along the line of saying Singaporeans know better and love the dictatorship of Lee Hsien Loong.
The government’s internet brigade was set up in 2007 as a response to growing discontentment on the internet by Singaporeans against the single party dictatorship. However, the hired internet trolls on civil service payroll saw limited success and the government has to resort to using the police to arrest critics and shut down websites. Despite coming to 10 years in existence, the government’s internet brigade has instead became counter-productive and sparked greater interests in anti-PAP sentiments from the public.
The internet brigade reports to the Ministry of Communications and Information, which also houses the country’s censorship board Info-communications Media Development Authority.