No clampdown on Web - MICA

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The Government has no plans to clamp down on the Internet, said Minister for Information, Communications and the Arts Yaacob Ibrahim yesterday.

“The Internet is actually part of our engine of growth in Singapore,” he said.

“We want to ensure that the online space will grow and become a vibrant and robust space for Singaporeans to have a healthier national dialogue.”

Dr Yaacob was commenting about a recent case in which blogger Alex Au alleged online that plastic surgeon Woffles Wu had received special treatment in court.

The Attorney-General’s Chambers wrote to Mr Au, saying that his post had scandalised the courts. Last week, Mr Au apologised for contempt of court.

“We called for responsible behaviour. Whatever you do in the online space must reflect what you do in the real world.”

Making reference to a proposed Internet code of conduct, he added that there was a lot of discussion from the online community, and not the Government, on the need for responsible behaviour.

Since November last year, Dr Yaacob has been encouraging the online community to come up with a code of conduct on responsible online behaviour.

Dr Yaacob reiterated that a code has to be developed with a “bottom-up” approach and not a “top-down” one.

“It is open to all. The netizens must take charge of this,” he said.