These days, the government has been swatting flies.

It has taken to court and imprisoned two Singaporeans for inflammatory writing about race, cracked down on college students who criticised their teachers, and earlier threatened an undergraduate for libel.

All these have stirred fears of an official move against online dissent, following a rise in peaceful public protests and Internet petitions in Singapore.

Until now, the government has left the chat sites and weblogs pretty much alone despite their strong anti-government tone.

As a result, the Internet has become the only place in Singapore where people can freely speak their minds without being punished.

Some people are fearful that the era of tolerance is coming to an end. Others, however, disagree and say this is just a warning to stop excesses.

In last week’s crackdown, two Singaporean bloggers were imprisoned for posting racist remarks about the Malay community. A third case against a 17-year-old youth is pending.

It was the first time the Sedition Act was used against web offenders.

Five junior college students were recently punished for posting offensive remarks about teachers and a vice-principal online. They were made to remove the remarks from their blogs and suspended for three days.

Adding on to the mood is the Singapore Teachers’ Union pledge to provide financial help to any teacher who wishes to sue any student for libel.

Six months ago Philip Yeo, a senior civil servant, threatened to sue a blogger studying in the US when his blog allegedly carried libellous comments about Yeo and his department’s operation. The student apologised and shut down his site.

From the start, the wired-up island state had firmly embraced the worldwide web to benefit commerce, education and services. The people are well-schooled, computer-savvy, with 1.8 million having access to the Net.

Recently thousands of Singaporeans have set up weblogs, or personal diaries, to write about virtually any subject under the sun. Not every one runs a political site. Many just talk about their daily lives.

I remember when I went to the hospital for a routine chest X-ray not long ago, I struck up a conversation with the young lab technician, who took out her card and invited me to visit her weblog. She told me she wrote poetry.

“Who reads it?” I asked.

She cheerily admitted that only a few close friends and family members did so. “I don’t care. I feel good.”

But the evolution marches on. More and more youths are using the Internet to air their feelings about politics or social issues they can’t do elsewhere.

The number of web activists is relatively small, possibly no more than several thousand. But their postings are read by many thousands more, which explains why the government is getting more worried.

During the web petition for the National Kidney Foundation CEO to resign for misleading public donors, more than 40,000 people signed. The protest against casinos attracted almost 20,000.

They provide an idea how the Internet is helping to change politics here.

With the newspapers in Singapore under strict government control, more youths have given up reading them. Instead, many are congregating in the blogosphere to get their news and opinions.

They have formed a virtual sub-community of disenchanted youths who talk among themselves, many of them not even knowing who their Member of Parliament is – or care.

They should be discussing – or even disagreeing – issues with the government or over the media. They don’t.

Critics say the government has lost by default because it has failed to engage this “lost” generation. “Its only web policy is to threaten to sue, never to engage.”

If a newspaper letter complains about bureaucracy, it gets a response, but not one over the Internet.

So far, most web opinions have no recognition. One reason is that many writers are anonymous, writing under several fake names to flame and let off steam rather than indulge in refined conversation.

Some chat-rooms are, however, attracting more serious, rational debaters.

The trend also comes at a time when newspaper circulations in US and Europe, as well as Singapore, are falling as younger readers switch to TV news and the Internet.

What does the public think about all this?

Most people support the action against online racial or religious hatred. Some, however, say they oppose anything that would reduce public expressions whether directed at the government – or teachers.

o Seah Chiang Nee is a veteran journalist and editor of the information website littlespeck.com

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