An overwhelming 93 percent said they would rather remain silent than publicly criticise the government.

The survey, by publisher Singapore Press Holdings, was taken as the government attempts to involve more Singaporeans in public discussion.

A speakers' corner is due to open on September 1, and an S21 Facilitation Committee has been set up under the Minister of State for Defence and Information David Lim to produce a collective idea of what Singapore should be like.

But only seven percent of the 636 people interviewed in the survey said they were prepared to voice their opinions at public forums or through the mass media.

Another 62 percent said they were prepared to let their dissatisfaction be known, but only in private with friends and family.

Professor Eddie Kuo from the School of Communication Studies at Nanyang Technological University said the survey showed the depth of people afraid to disagree with the government in public.

"This is partly due to the different signals the government has sent on how far they would tolerate them in the past," he told the Straits Times newspaper which published the survey results today.

"This is not a desirable situation and the government also knows that," he said.

But sociologist Tan Ern Ser shrugged off the seven-percent figure, telling the newspaper there were enough voices in the community already.

"In a country of three million people, it represents more than 200,000 people who speak up publicly whenever they disagree with the government," he said.