K. C. Ho, Zaheer Baber and Habibul Khondker
‘Sites’ of resistance: alternative websites and statesociety relations1
ABSTRACT
Much attention has been focused on Singapore’s attempt to use information
technology to build a knowledge-based economy. This paper examines the implications of the unintended consequences of the Internet in the restructuring of
state and society relations in Singapore.
We use the data on Singapore-based and Singapore-related websites to show
(a) the diversity of positions expressed by civil society organizations, fringe
groups and even mainstream segments of society; (b) the negotiation process
between the state and civil society over various rights and how developments in
cyber-space have implications for ‘reality’; (c) how censorship and content regulation itself is a more complex multi-dimensional process such that while local
politics is regulated, the multi-ethnic character of the resident population has led
to greater religious tolerance such that religious groups banned in some countries have found a safe haven in Singapore and have used the city-state as a strategic Internet node.
KEYWORDS: Internet; Singapore; politics; religion; sexuality
The forte of sociology as a mode of social inquiry lies more in exploring
the unintended consequences of changes in social institutions than the
intended ones. Singapore, an island-state with a per capita income of
US$29,610 or the ninth highest per capita income in the world (World
Bank 2000: 275), reveals the use of information technology as a tool in creating a ‘new economy’ as much as a ‘new society’. While a great deal of
attention has been devoted to the role of IT in fuelling the ‘new economy’,
the potential reconŽ guration of the state-society relationship as an unintended consequence of the new technology received scant scholarly
attention. This paper examines the implications of the unintended
consequences of the Internet in the restructuring of state and society
relations in Singapore.
Rather than assuming that Internet technology will automatically pr y
open space for public sphere, this paper argues that the potential for the
British Journal of Sociology Vol. No. 53 Issue No. 1 (March 2002) pp. 127–148
© 2002 London School of Economics and Political Science
ISSN 0007-1315 print/1468-4446 online
Published by Routledge Journals, Taylor & Francis Ltd on behalf of the LSE
DOI: 10.1080/00071310120109366
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rise of a public sphere is mediated by an ongoing negotiation between state
and society. Interestingly, theorists such as Habermas ‘locate the public
sphere not in a common public space, as in the Greek polis . . . They locate
it within civil society itself’ (Charney 1998: 97). For Benhabib, a public
sphere that allows for free and unconstrained public deliberation of
matters of common concern is essential for democratic legitimacy. In her
words, ‘It is through the interlocking net of these multiple forms of associations, networks, and organizations that an anonymous “public conversation” results’ (Benhabib, 1996: 73–4).
The advent of the Internet has renewed attempts to examine how the
rapid expansion of information and communications technologies has
in uenced the development of the public sphere. Poster (1998) contends
that the Habermasian notion of public sphere – a homogeneous space of
embodied subjects in symmetrical relations – may not apply to the Internet,
for it con ates the distinction between ‘private’ and ‘public’ among other
problems of interference of technology. There are several interrelated
elements in this reformulation:
(a) The possibility of an alternate public sphere: Downing (1996) has
successfully demonstrated the role of an alternative media in the creation of an alternative public sphere in both anti-nuclear protests in
Germany and in the downfall of centralized Socialist states. This suggests
the possibility of thinking about an ‘alternate public realm’ created by
new technologies.
(b) Multimodality: Negt and Kluge (1993: xivii) view that contemporary
public sphere is ‘an aggregate of phenomena that have completely
diverse characteristics and origins’. It is essential to conceive of an alternate public sphere as having multiple independent sources capable of
in uencing each other. Related is the need to understand multimodalities at different scales: global, regional and local.
(c) Process: Negt and Kluge (1993: 13) argue that the notion of public
sphere entails both a structure as well as a process. Ayres (1999: 134)
citing Tarrow (1996), points out that ‘rhythms of contentious politics . . .
occur over much longer periods of time, linking contention to conventional political action, political alliances and changing seasons of
political struggle’. Schuler’s (2001: 166) discussion of civic intelligence
as the ability to use information and communication as a means to solve
collective problems is useful in this respect because the concept focuses
on the process of problem solving, of which there are a number of
elements involving information provision and organization.
Does the Net allow for the creation of an alternate public sphere that
facilitates communication, deliberation and organization? Studies in this
genre have emphasized the technical ability of the Net to reduce the costs
of organization. This involves reducing the friction of space by overcoming
the need for a physical place to meet (Ayres 1999: 137; Klein 1999: 218) as
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129
well as reducing time costs by allowing for asynchronous communication to
occur (Klein 1999: 218). Other studies have identiŽ ed the speciŽ c functions of the Net. In terms of the provision of information, Web sites function to provide information and act as information clearing houses (Ayres
1999: 137). The capacity of the Net to organize is demonstrated by the
presence of online protests and online drives (Hurwitz 1999: 660). Online
forums function as a space for discussion and re-education of citizens
about participation in public affairs (Klein 1999: 214). Summarizing the
capabilities of the Net, Tambini (1999: 306) speciŽ es four functions: information provision, measure preferences (through e-surveys, expression of
opinions in forums), deliberation (through online forums) and will formation (via online protests, online drives).
Studies have recognized existing limitations but have also documented
instances of success. There often seem to be no catalyst for focusing commitment (Falk 1998: 291) and online discussions lose focus or quickly
break down in ugliness (Hurwitz 1999: 658). Tambini (1999: 317) observes
that while different forums and discussion groups populate the Web, no
one is obliged to join such groups and follow the discussion. Part of the
problem therefore has to do not with the production of information but
with its utility (Ayres 1999: 141). Questions about the information and
organizational capacities of the Net will also have to address the reach of
the Net to various populations. The cost and implied literacy maintains a
digital divide that may not be bridged in the short to mid-term (Klein 1999:
219). Other researchers point to the popularity of other Net functions, for
example, the use of the Web for shopping outstrips that for political and
government information by at least a factor of 10 (Hurwitz 1999: 657).
These issues add weight to the concern voiced by Dahlgren (2001: 51) that
‘while the Net may offer opportunities to enter into public space to many
people who otherwise would not have done so, it is questionable to assume
that the availability of the technology itself will have signiŽ cant impact on
the overall patterns of political engagement’.
On the  ip side, the literature offers examples of organization successes
at different scales. At the local scale, there are many examples of community efforts where individuals cooperate voluntarily for the achievement
of common goals (Komito 1998: 99). At the national level, Hurwitz (1999:
660) provides evidence from the USA of the success of e-protests resembling signature campaigns (collecting names and email addresses) and collection of funds over the Net. On the global scale, we note the observations
made by Albrow (1996: 140–7) and Falk (1999: 291) on the ability of social
movements to organize on a global scale by exploiting global communications networks based on varying commitment to a particular ideal.
To the extent that effective organization and mobilization on the Net
involves shared meanings, identities, values and commitment, discussions
have moved to naturally been centred on the term ‘community’ and
whether our understanding of the term community as it applies to the real
world can be used to describe associations that form over the Net. Two
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recent papers addressing this issue have arrived at similar conclusions,
namely, that it is more productive to get on with the task of exploring
online/virtual/electronic communities rather than to worry about
whether these possess particular attributes of ‘real’ communities (Fox and
Roberts, 1999: 664; Komito 1999: 104). Komito (1999: 105) concludes by
suggesting that ‘a community is not Ž xed in form or function, but is a
mixed bag of possible options whose meanings and concreteness are always
being negotiated by individuals, in the context of changing external constraints’.
Incorporating these ideas in our paper, we map the virtual terrain of an
alternative public sphere in Singapore in recognition of the fact that a
public sphere can be created by new technologies such as the Net. Also
recognized is the involvement multiple independent sources which are
capable of mutual in uence, and that this involves a process of ebb and
 ow involving the interaction between the virtual and the real, as well as
incorporating different elements. It is a terrain that is made possible by the
rapid expansion of the Internet in Singapore, though whilst only in its formative stages, involves information provision, communication and organization of opinion at different scales: local, regional, and global.
VISION OF THE ‘INTELLIGENT ISLAND’: A SHORT HISTORY
The vision of the intelligent island is based on the far-reaching use of IT.
It sees Singaporeans tapping into a vast well of electronically-stored
information and services which they can use to their best ends – to
improve their business, to make their work easier, and to improve their
personal and social lives. (National Computer Board 1992)
By the mid 1980s, a number of politico-economic factors conspired to
weaken Singapore’s position as a regional centre for manufacturing. Singapore experienced a decade of economic growth in the 1970s, driven essentially by multinational companies using Singapore as an export platform.
By the late 1970s, Singapore had already achieved full employment.
Although Singapore labour has been one of the most productive in the
region, a small local workforce has meant that Singaporean labour continues to be one of the most expensive in the region. While an active landuse planning effort (especially focused on urban renewal, public housing,
and land reclamation) in Singapore has allowed reasonable supplies of
land for various uses, the inherent inability of the city-state to expand into
agricultural hinterlands has also led to a steady rise in industrial land
prices. The consistent balance-of-payments surpluses meant growing
ofŽ cial reserves, and an appreciating Singapore dollar translated into more
expensive exports. Before the Asian Ž nancial crisis of 1997, several countries in Asia emerged as new growth centres of production and were seen
by multinational companies as alternatives to Singapore’s high cost.
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Company surveys in Singapore indicated that Malaysia, China and Indonesia were favourite locations for companies wanting to source for lower
cost production sites (Ho 1995: 126).
The development of a national information technology plan in the
1980s occurred in response to this changing economic context of a slowing
down of manufacture-driven growth and the need to sustain the economic
competitiveness of the city-state. This decision to work towards a national
IT initiative was also in uenced in part by the rapid development in computer and communication technologies in the 1980s. In 1985, a working
committee was set by the National Computer Board (NCB, now known as
the Infocomm Development Authority) to map out Singapore’s IT strategy.
The recommendations of this committee appeared a year later in the form
of a national IT plan (NCB 1986), and involved recommendations to
develop relevant skills, foster an IT culture and an environment for creativity and entrepreneurship; develop an efŽ cient infrastructure, growing
an IT industry, developing IT applications, and strengthen the existing
institutional framework for coordination and collaboration among
relevant agencies. This plan, which was accepted by the government economic committee, became a key element in the state’s efforts to promoting
economic development. This plan also became the backbone for the
IT2000 report published in 1992 (NCB 1992). The IT2000 report called
for the development of a National Information Infrastructure (NII). The
National Computer Board Chairman explained the rationale for this
An advanced NII will spur Singapore into the next economic growth
curve. It will enable Singapore to overcome its smallness by plugging
into global networks, delivering new competitive advantages and creating new business opportunities. Without the NII, there will be islands
of intelligence, not an Intelligent Island. (Quoted in Neo and Soh 1993:
13)
Both plans endorsed the development of IT as a key strategy to maintain
Singapore’s economic competitiveness. They formed the blueprint for
Singapore’s push into various aspects of information technology development, where a number of areas highlighted in the two reports were systematically developed.
As part of the national effort to wire up the city-state, the government
was committed to setting up a broadband Ž bre optic network and a mobile
communication network throughout the city-state in the 1980s and 1990s.
This initiative occurred in tandem with investments by Singapore Telecom
in international submarine optical Ž bre cable network projects and satellite communications (Hukill and Jussawalla 1989: 53; Wong 1993: 9–10).
Alongside the physical infrastructure, a new set of IT-related institutes
ranging from training to research and development were created. These
included the Information Technology Institute formed in 1986 as the R&D
arm of the National Computer Board and the Institute of Systems Science,
formed in 1981 to develop next generation technologies with special focus
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K. C. Ho, Z. Baber and H. Khondker
on multimedia and multilingual content analysis; the National Supercomputing Research Centre; the Centre for Wireless Communications; and the
Centre for Remote Imaging, Sensing and Processing, the latter three representing the communications Ž elds (Low 1997: 7–8). The government led
the way by computerizing its services. Beginning in 1983, the civil service
computerization programme gradually worked to computerize all government ministries, using IT to replace manpower in routine administrative
tasks, to speed up processes, including the provision of information services to the public (Chan 1990).
The development of IT skills occurred along three paths, the creation of
new IT related programmes at the polytechnics and universities; the creation of new education institutes such as the Information Communication
Institutes where telecommunications software specialists were trained, and
the development of state-subsidized IT-related courses to upgrade the skills
of the existing workforce (Ko 1990: 26–7; Low 1997: 7). Finally, the reports
also spelt out a plan to develop an IT culture in Singapore. The most
crucial aspect of this initiative was directed at the schools where public
schools received generous funding to create computer laboratories. This
drive to create a national IT culture was supplemented by mass media
activities in the form of national newspapers giving high exposure to IT
themes as well as a number of IT trade shows being organized.
Though the two reports did not focus on liberalization, a number of
developments occurred alongside those speciŽ ed in the two IT reports. A
free market for telecommunications equipment was introduced in 1989.
Singapore Telecom was privatized in 1992 followed by the progressive
opening of various segments of the telecom market in the 1990s. During
this period these measures had the effect of intensifying the already high
telephone usage and cheap telecommunications charges that existed in the
1980s (Hukill and Jussawalla 1989).
THE IMPORTANCE OF THE SINGAPORE CASE
Given the systematic development in Singapore in the last decade, it is
natural for commentators like Low (1997: 7), who after examining the
science and technology initiatives in the Asia PaciŽ c region, proceeded to
label Singapore as ‘a good example of a very proactive government in
laying down a comprehensive and coordinated strategy’. Such statements
need further examination because they assume a single dimensionality in
cause and effects. In this paper, we argue that because technologies are
invariably simultaneously technical and social, their adoption may
strengthen economic competitiveness but can also lead to other sociopolitical consequences, of both a local and international and an intended
and unintended nature. This is especially true of the Internet, a technology
the various dimensions of which, such as communication, business and
‘Sites’ of resistance
133
commercial applications, entertainment etc., come in a single package that
cannot be unbundled.
As argued in this paper, Singapore’s project of creating an ‘intelligent
island’ through the wiring up of the nation has unintentionally laid the
foundation for an infrastructure that allows for the development of a
public sphere that has previously been, at best rudimentary, if not almost
non-existent. Since embarking on a programme of rapid industrialization,
Singapore has formulated and implemented policies designed to achieve
its goals. Its ability to do so has been due in part to the curtailment of an
active citizenry contesting, debating and resisting speciŽ c policies that
could have threatened to derail the project of state-led industrialization.
That Singapore is spatially a small city-state facilitated such control and
regulation. During this period, the development of both the public sphere
and civil society was severely limited (Rodan 1993). However, in spite of
these measures, it is the argument of this paper that Singapore’s attempt to
create a ‘knowledge based economy’ through the wiring up of the nation
has, ironically, unintentionally contributed to the tangible expansion of
the public sphere, civil society and the possibility for speciŽ c social groups
in a heterogeneous society to resist those policies to with which they do not
agree with. The development of cyberspace in Singapore allows for a
certain kind of engagement with state policies that was virtually impossible
in a pre-Internet era.
The research on which we have based this paper is focused on an analysis of websites on Singaporean issues with regard to politics, religion and
alternative sexuality. While we will have more to say about this approach in
the next section, it is important to highlight what is being revealed by the
data and why the Singaporean case is interesting. The nature of websites
and their content is being used to illustrate a particular moment in the
state-society relations of the country. We wanted to use the collected data
to show (a) the diversity of positions being expressed as indicated by our
analysis of Web content; (b) the negotiation process between the state and
civil society over various rights and how developments in cyber-space have
implications for ‘reality’; (c) how censorship and content regulation itself
is a complicated process in which social control and resistance are simultaneously and seamlessly implicated. As an example of this complexity, we
demonstrate later in this paper that while Singapore is active in regulation,
it is also tolerant of religious content banned in other countries by allowing such material to be hosted from within the country. Singapore also
demonstrates a situation where a vocal conservative majority of the type in
the USA is actually missing. Thus, once the state is silent on the contents of
particular websites, there are few conservative groups that take issue with
the positions advocated by the more active minorities.
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METHODOLOGY
In this study, we examine how websites can act as alternative spaces by providing opportunities for creating larger, possibly non-local constituencies
among previously isolated and marginalized individuals and groups. We
argue that websites can serve as beacons to attract dispersed citizens to an
issue, a role Tocqueville attributed to newspapers (Klein1999: 216). We
also see websites as providing a fruitful way of examining the relationship
between the virtual and real. In politics, for example, we see how the information infrastructure connects and organizes local citizens by providing
access to the Web, and how activities engaged in by the citizens over the
Web in turn create changes in political space.
The research is grounded in a study of Singapore-based and Singaporerelated websites carried out over a four-month period. The research speciŽ ed Ž ve search engines (Yahoo, Alta Vista, Google, Infoseek, and
Webcrawler). It should be noted, however, that there are a number of
methodological issues associated with search engines. A major point to
consider is how much of the Web is covered by particular search engines.
Introna and Nissenbaum (2000: 170) point to a 1999 study by Lawrence
and Giles which reports that individual search engines do not index more
than 16 per cent of the total indexable Web, and that the combined results
from multiple search engines increased the coverage to approximately 42
per cent. Another intractable problem involves the actual search process,
i.e. whether particular key words allow the relevant pages to be found
within the territor y covered by individual search engines. While Introna
and Nissenbaum help us to better understand the principles involved in
search engine crawl algorithms, they (2000: 172) also highlight inherent
difŽ culties; that they can ‘only try to infer the character of these algorithms
from search engine selection patterns – an inexact exercise’, given that
such algorithms are both highly technical and, more importantly, that they
are closely protected as trade secrets by the companies concerned.
What we have tried to do in our study is to use Ž ve search engines as a
way of increasing our coverage of the Web, although tr ying to determine
the extensiveness of coverage is difŽ cult to ascertain. We used a team of
three research assistants for each domain (religion, sexuality and politics)
and a reporting procedure that documented various search details (including the URL, the search engine used, key words used, and the date
accessed). Our concern was with the identiŽ cation of Singapore-related
websites, not just those physically located in Singapore. We had researchers
checking with each other on a weekly basis with regard to their Ž ndings.
The project ended when each team was satisŽ ed that the degree of overlap
in their Ž ndings resulted in no new pages being found within the time
period of the study. These steps represented an attempt to ensure that the
relevant pages had been found, although, given the nature of the problem,
statistical certainty is inherently difŽ cult to establish.
The research team used a two-page report sheet, which collected
‘Sites’ of resistance
135
information about (a) web-content in the form of ‘alternate culture’, via
recourse to complaints, criticisms, promotion of alternate values, practices
and lifestyles; (b) the target audience: whether the site targets its own community or ‘outsiders’; and (c) website characteristics which included guest
book entries, links, sponsors, interactive functions, and evidence of Webrings (clusters of inter-linked sites representing a general theme).
The websites we study, namely those related to politics, religion and
alternative sexuality, exist fundamentally to disseminate information.
Using the method described above, we examine content with the intention
to survey the cyber-terrain of resistance. This allows us to make statements
about the Ž rst stages of an alternative public sphere, namely that of information provision. We argue that this information represents an alternative
in terms of its source (a separate news source as opposed to an ofŽ cial
source), interpretation (a different point of view in contrast to a mainstream view) and position being advocated. Navigating between the virtual
and the real also means that we will be presenting not only Web content
but also ‘evidence’ of how the reality is shaped by the virtual in terms of
statements from politicians as well as other local sources.
We acknowledge that the four-month time period itself presents a
problem, given that websites are periodically updated and that many new
websites are added daily (Mitra and Cohen 1999: 180). It is important to
refer again to the two key phrases in Ayres’ (1999: 134) citation of Tarrow’s
(1996: 876) description of politics, mobilization and action as ‘rhythms of
contentious politics’ and ‘changing seasons of political struggle’ This study
should therefore be received as a description at a point in time of a
dynamic and changing terrain where developments in the virtual world
in uence the real and vice versa.
SITES OF RESISTANCE
a. Politics and Religion
In Singapore the Internet has contributed to the dramatic proliferation of
bulletin boards, chat-lines, discussion groups as well as websites that seek to
articulate alternative views vis-à-vis existing social arrangements and discourses. It is perhaps premature to assess the precise impact of these
alternative spaces on the state-civil society relationship. The ‘cyberbole’
orchestrated both by corporatist and statist promoters of ‘the new
economy’ as well as net-utopians such as John Perry Barlow of the Electronic Frontier Foundation is no doubt overstated, albeit at opposite ends
of the political spectrum. However, as the opening of the Speakers’ Corner
at Hong Lim Square in September 2000, partly in response to the existence
of many such corners in cyberspace, indicates, the impact of Internet technology is transforming at least some aspects of this relationship ought not
to be underestimated and merits further attention. The search of
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K. C. Ho, Z. Baber and H. Khondker
Singaporean-based sites on politics and religion as alternatives to dominant
discourses amounted to 82 sites in politics and another 22 on religion.
These sites can be divided into Ž ve categories:
Type 1: Civil Rights/Constitutional Rights: These websites represent groups,
organizations and individuals that invoke either the Singapore constitution
or a general conception of civil rights to promote their views. Their main
claim is that the existing laws, regulations and the constitution theoretically
allow for their existence, but in practice they cannot pursue their agendas.
They do not attempt to change existing laws but only want to claim that
they perceive as entitlements promised by the constitution. Examples
include the website of the UniŽ cation Church2 or ‘the Moonies’ whose
activities were banned from Singapore a few years ago. The Speak Dialect
Homepage mainly representing the Hakka community protests against the
‘Speak Mandarin’ campaign, which it claims is not necessarily helping
younger Chinese Singaporeans to discover their roots; and Ž nally there are
the international websites devoted to the protection of privacy that focus
on Singapore too. Other organizations such as the Central Christian
Church of Singapore which pursued a lawsuit against the local newspapers,
The New Paper and Lianhe Wanbao, for being labeled a ‘cult’ seek to assert
their right to exist as legitimate organizations since they are ‘registered’ as
a church by the authorities.
Type 2: Civil Society Organizations: These include groups and organizations
that aim to promote alternatives to existing laws, regulations. According to
these groups, existing regulations were formulated at a time when concern
about issues such as the environment, women’s rights, gay rights etc., were
either non-existent or were not assigned too much signiŽ cance. These
groups in Singapore include the Nature Society of Singapore; AWARE
(Association of Women for Action and Research, Action for Aids; gay rights
advocacy groups such as People Like Us and Yawning Bread; and animal
rights groups such as the Humane Treatment of Stray Cats.
Type 3: Anti-Censorship/Freedom of Speech: Websites under this category
claim to represent groups, organizations and individuals that seek to either
reduce or entirely do away with censorship. They seek alternatives to the
existing curtailments, formal or informal (‘out of boundar y markers’) of
speech and expression in Singapore. Some of these groups take up the
current campaign to promote ‘critical thinking’ and ‘creativity’ through
educational and other institutions. Their general argument is that a plurality and diversity of views contribute to critical thinking and creativity and
that these attributes are being sti ed by state regulation. . These include
groups such as The Think Centre, The Socratic Circle, The Round Table
and the personal websites of commentators and local opposition politicians, James Gomez (Gomez Online Archives), Dr Chee Soon Juan,
Cherian George etc. In response to the perceived lack of outlets for
‘Sites’ of resistance
137
non-governmental viewpoints in the local daily The Straits Times, a website
called Not the Straits Times seeks to present alternative perspectives on controversial issues. This website also includes that letters that were rejected
for publication in the letters section of the local daily, The Forum. Other
websites include Singaporeans for Democracy. In the sphere of religion,
the UniŽ cation Church website (the ‘moonies’) also focuses on the issue of
censorship and freedom of speech by posting a number of documents that
represent appeals to the government and the media. Finally, there is a
website called How to Defeat Singapore’s Net Censorship that provides a step-bystep procedure for circumventing proxy servers.
Type 4: Organized Opposition Political Parties: Unlike all the other groups
discussed above, these websites represent established opposition political
parties that not only seek to contest dominant discourses but also seek
political power through electoral means. Their short-term goal is increased
representation in the parliament. Despite these clear-cut formal political
goals, these organizations also seek to contest the dominant discourses and
hence share ideological space with the other websites of resistance. The
websites in this categor y include: Workers’ Party; National Solidarity Party
etc.
Type 5: Singapore as a node in the International Circuit: Although most of the
websites listed above seek to create alternative spaces and to question existing regulations, there are other sites that may not be welcomed in their
place of origin but can use Singapore to host their sites. These include the
ofŽ cial website of the Bahais who are persecuted in Iran, the Falun Gong
sect, persecuted in China and the Ananda Marga, a sect occasionally in
trouble with the authorities in India .
b. Alternative Sexuality
Singapore’s reputation for upholding conservative social values is re ected
in the banning of sexually explicit publications such as Penthouse and
Playboy and attempts to regulate sexuality in the media. While a revamp of
Ž lm categories has led to the censorship board allowing nudity in Ž lms
judged to have ‘artistic’ merit, strict controls are still in place. Referring to
the Singapore situation, the caption of Hong Kong’s South China Morning
Post (Februar y 23, 1998) said it all, ‘Sex is a no no’. The government’s regulator y attempts along with the general conservative values of the population, has meant that there are far fewer websites on alternate sexuality
than those for religion and politics. In terms of their objectives, these websites can be classiŽ ed under the headings of (a) Information provision (b)
organizing alternative lifestyles, (c) promoting commercial sex, and (d) a
conservative response.
Type 6: Information Provision:
As Ng (1999) points out, gays in Singapore
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K. C. Ho, Z. Baber and H. Khondker
have been one of the most active groups using the Internet for support,
advice, services, and networking. A search with the keywords ‘gay+singapore’ resulted in 13,900 hits. The gay sites that have political overtones
(e.g. People Like Us [PLU]) have already been mentioned in the previous
section. PLU also runs an information provision site, containing a developed menu, which includes a director y of gay services, free subscription
personals, and a links page. The well organized nature of gay sites means
that a number of international and regional sites will have country pages
(for example, one site provides a list of gay-related resources, and another
contains a number of country-speciŽ c links. There are also posting sites for
individual networking. Also present are local gay-related e-forums like
SiGNeL (Singapore Gay NewsList), a geocities site discussing issues related
to the Singaporean gay community. Perhaps not exactly information provision but rather the sharing of experiences, a signiŽ cant number of personal sites use this medium as a way of ‘coming out’ and professing to the
world one’s gay identity and sharing personal experiences of what it is like
to be gay in Singapore.
We encountered far fewer sites providing information on heterosexual
activities. Sam Leong’s website is the best example we came across on commercial sex information in Singapore, which covered what to do, where to
go, when, etc., even names of the sex-workers, kind of services expected,
helpful tips, etc. Information is also provided on related legal matters, e.g.,
prostitution is legal within certain zones; operating a brothel is ofŽ cially
tolerated in designated red-light areas (DRAs); working women have to
carry a ‘yellow card’ that proves that they are registered and have recently
undergone a health check.
However, a perusal of the site reveals that the host is not just interested
in proŽ t by promoting certain clients or service-providers. A key objective
seems to be to use the anonymity of cyberspace to provide information on
the prostitution scene in Singapore.
One Internet host makes his motivation transparent. ‘Since we do not
have any regular publications which provide regular write-ups on this
subject, I have started this section in my homepage because of my sel ess
nature which leads to my desire to share whatever knowledge I have with
my fellow citizens and honorable guests of our $Ž ne$3 city’. The host of this
site promises: ‘This page will start on a modest scale but I hope to build up
my data bank of excellent sexual services and this section should  ourish
as time goes by.’
A typical example of information sharing is as follows: ‘Recently, I have
found out that Thai style brothels with the Aquarium (Ž sh tank) concept
have sprung up . . . This is news to me, as I have never tried this concept.
The Ž sh tank concept is superior in that it enables a customer to view and
choose a girl which suits his taste’.
Titillating to some, disgusting to others, relaying such details would be
difŽ cult, if not impossible, without the Internet. A new space of openness
has been created as anonymity allows people to exchange their ideas,
‘Sites’ of resistance
139
information, experiences, etc., at a level of unimaginable frankness without
fear of sanction. The relative ease with which such sites can be repeatedly
accessed at the users’ convenience allows for the possibility of repeated
usage and, as a result, a loyal following. Thus, this combination of privacy
and convenience has allowed for a new fraternity to emerge. In this new
pleasure seeking masculine community everyone calls everyone a
‘brother’. The ease of posting allows for contributions, frequent updates,
allowing access to a diverse database of information to those who Ž nd
pleasure in them.
Type 7: Promotion of an alternative sexual lifestyle: A club: This next site takes
the idea of community a step further. While Type 6 sites are focused on
information provision and sharing among an amorphous e-community, we
came across a case where the centre of activity is the organization of an
alternative lifestyle of ‘free love’. This site is an attempt to entice likeminded individuals to form an association where ‘real’ sex between
members is actively encouraged.
An analysis of the content of this site indicates that the organizers have
worked through a number of potential problems associated with such an
association. This website starts with the following introduction and a list of
activities
The Club is a social club for people in Singapore who enjoy sex. The
Club would organise activities and outings for the members for fun and
healthy time together. This is not a prostitution organisation. (emphasis
added) All the people that join The Club are willing parties. We organise trips to nearby islands of Singapore. For example, it could be a scuba
diving trip to Pulau Aur (Malaysia) where you can have the whole island
to yourselves and have fun underwater and on the beach all night and
all day. Trips to Bintan, Batam, etc. (in Indonesia). Sometimes, we also
arrange for local outings to some 5 star hotels, apartments, and so on.
We also think of ideas that can excite our members. During our outings,
we play strip games, and so on. Let your imagination take off. We are game
enough to try anything (emphasis added).
Administrators of The Club also go on to provide an assurance of safety
All members are required to go through medical examination to be sure
that they are free of diseases. We have our own corporate doctors that
will know what you need to check-up for. When applying for a membership, we’ll give you more speciŽ c instructions. Female members are also
advised to take birth control measures. Our doctors will give you
recommendations.
The promoters also give assurances on minor problems such as what if a
patron meets someone he or she knows from before.
We at The Club will tr y our best to avoid such a situation. This is the
reason why we need our members to give us very detailed information
140
K. C. Ho, Z. Baber and H. Khondker
about them. All the information given to us is strictly conŽ dential. We
need this information so that we can substantially reduce the chances of
you bumping into someone you know. It’s free to join us and if you’re
interested. We will give you a link on the registration URL.
Discussion of alternative lifestyles in a public arena is something new in
Singapore. Unconventional ideas and notions about the traditional practices of marriage, love and intimacy are being discussed on the Net, which
re ect some of the changes in the values and norms in Singapore.
Type 8: Commercial Sex Sites: Among the most common commercial sites
are those that deliver pictures and videos of Asian and also European and
North American (White) women. A search for Singapore and Singaporerelated sites enables a surfer to enter into all these overlapping sites. As the
following banners indicate, the pornographic material referencing Singapore is not ver y different from those hosted from other countries.
Fannie has the Best xxx sex stories in Singapore come see why . . .
Agostina has the Best xxx erotic sex in Singapore come see why . . .
It is inherently impossible to verify if the subjects portrayed in such sites are
Singaporean or whether these are masquerades. Aside from claims, there
are no visual or textual clues attesting to their character. Like their cousins
from other countries, these sites are also well linked to each other. Serial
linking where the surfer is automatically brought to a number of other sites
is also a common practice within this genre. Such clustering decontextualizes individual websites. While some sites advertise their services with
ethnic or geographical references, these tend to be superŽ cial. Stripped of
deeper referential anchors, such sites become indistinguishable from each
other.
Escort agencies offering services on the web represent another type of
commercial service. These mortar and brick agencies peddle sex only indirectly using discretion. For example, the following site claims: ‘City Rose
promotion services [is a place] where friendship blossoms’. Other sites also
offer services to a gay and female clientele. In such instances as in many
businesses that provide retail services to clients, the Internet merely represents an added channel for advertising a product.
Type 9: Conservative Response: This particular genre represents the mainstream rather than the fringe. It is a response from the pro-family and protradition segment of Singaporean society and contains a strong
conservative message and an attack against various forms of alternative
sexuality. Our example comes from a site called ‘Singapore Virgins’.
The mission of this group is ‘to inform and rectify the misconceptions
perceived by teenagers in Singapore’ and ‘to help Singapore teenagers
recognize their moral and social responsibilities in this rapidly westernized
society’. The use of the phrase ‘rapidly westernised society’ in its mission
statement is signiŽ cant because this signals the threat. The main theme
‘Sites’ of resistance
141
therefore is to uphold traditional values and practices in the face of liberalizing sexual mores in Singapore society. Keeping the Internet out of the
reach of children is another objective. Discussions revolve around safe sex
and moralizing on love and sex. The host announces: ‘This page is dedicated to all people who are proud of being Virgins’. Then it continues:
‘Myths: Many Singaporeans lose their virginity by age 20 and most are
involved in pre-marital sex’. The truth, it is stated, is that ‘this trend is
typical of a US society but for an Asian society like Singapore, conservative
moral values are still ver y dominant. The fact is that most Singaporeans are
still virgins before marriage.’
Other conservative sites operate in line with the policies of the Singapore government to promote courtship among single men and women in
the hope that this will lead to marriage and family life. These sites reinforce
the healthy and clean image of Singapore. Examples of such sites include
Round the World in Eight Days.
Of the four types of sites on sexuality presented above, the Ž rst three
promote a liberal, sometimes, libertarian lifestyle. The last type represents
the more conservative lifestyles. The battles in the cyberspace represent the
groundswell of debates over these issues. It should, however, be noted that
such debates are absent from the somewhat subdued print media.
MODES OF MANAGING ALTERNATIVE ACTIONS ON THE WEB
In the above analysis of websites related to politics, religion and sex, we
have seen 9 different types of classiŽ cation according to the objectives of
the site. It is important to turn now to the different ways used to gain attention and how this is organized.
Such groups tend to use technology and new media to focus attention on
issues that may be rejected or downplayed by conventional media. Such
activities may be termed ‘cyber activism’ when the focus is on mobilization
and organization. Religious sites represent a good example of such an
orientation. We present the case of the Falun Gong (also known as Falung
Dafa) and that of the Bahai as examples of Singapore-hosted sites for
organizations banned in China and certain Middle-Eastern countries
respectively (see Table I). With such sites having an international agenda
of broadcasting messages internationally the Singapore site becomes a strategic node in an international network.
An alternative strategy is that of ‘resistance’, when efforts are directed at
refuting mainstream statements and providing alternative explanations.
This is the case for Sintercom (Singapore Internet Community) and PLU
(People Like Us). Both groups have found the Internet an effective
medium for resisting a number of issues advanced by the Singaporean
state.
Among the constituency building potentials of the Web is the type that
involves an inward-looking community building effort. The example we
142
K. C. Ho, Z. Baber and H. Khondker
present is the Club, which promotes sex with multiple partners within the
group. While this may be an extreme example, a number of other sites
catering to the heterosexual male also appeal to a male fraternity through
use of Ž ctive kin terms like ‘brother’. This suggests that the privacy and
convenience created by the Web will allow for new types of solidarities
based on shared sentiments but which may be condemned by mainstream
society. Such inward-looking orientations provide support and encouragement for geographically isolated individuals where none may have existed
previously because of the potential stigma that can be attached to individuals from society at large.
Singapore Virgins, the last category in Table I, can be represented as an
example of the defending mainstream values, in this case, virginity. Not
quite the conservative backlash, this local effort is interesting for its
attempt to mobilize a largely latent majority. We have mentioned how the
Singapore government has been active in content regulation of the conventional media. However, in its drive to develop a knowledge based
economy, and more importantly an information society, it has deliberately
left cyberspace unregulated with the exception of the symbolic blocking of
some more well known sexually oriented sites. This has meant an explosion
of alternative sites, some of which have been charted in the previous
section, including, signiŽ cantly, an emergence of conservative mainstream
community protection sites like Singapore Virgins. This is signiŽ cant in the
Singapore context because the active role of the government as a defender
of conservative values has meant a largely latent conservative majority. With
sites like Singapore Virgins, we may start to see the rise of vocal mainstream
groups reacting against increasingly active minority interests.
CONCLUSION
In the current dominant discourses of the ‘new economy’, ‘knowledge
based economy’, ‘intelligent island’, ‘critical thinking’, ‘creative thinking’,
culture emerges as ‘software’ to complement the economic ‘hardware’. In
TABLE I:
Typology of websites by orientation
Site Name
Site Location
Focus
Nature of Activity
Falun Gong
Singapore
Cyber activism
Bahai
Singapore
Sintercom
People Like Us
The Club
Singapore Virgins
Singapore
US
US
Singapore
Religion-International
orientation
Religion-International
orientation
Politics-Local issues
Gay rights-Local issues
Sex-Local
Local-defense of
mainstream values
Cyber activism
Resistance
Resistance
‘Subculture’ building
‘Community’
protection
‘Sites’ of resistance
143
Singapore such orientations emanate from an awareness of the dramatic
growth of the ‘informational economy’ (Castells 1996a; 1996b) and fundamental changes in the nature and speed of the  ows of transnational
capital. The speed of the  ows of global capital is contributing to a dramatic restructuring of ‘time’ and ‘space’ and ‘location’, substituting physical contiguities with cyber-contiguities shaped by  ows of capital and
information, a process that is unprecedented in human histor y (Castells
1996a and 1996b; Harvey 1989; Jameson 1995; Calhoun 1998). It is the
acute awareness of the fact the rules of the game have changed and will
continue to do so in the future that have led to dramatic changes in policies and institutional reconŽ gurations in Singapore. Having one of the
highest per capita access to computers in the world, the determined push
of the Infocomm Development Authority (IDA) to wire up ever y home,
every classroom in the city-state and possibly every public space in the
future is paramount. As a result, 42 per cent of households in Singapore
have online access (Asiaweek, November 3, 2000: 34).
The driving force behind all these initiatives is the anticipation of dramatic institutional and ideological changes in the wake of globalization
and cyber-capitalism. Policies designed to reconŽ gure the economy and
the infrastructure in line with the realities of global capitalism have been
complemented the emphasis on ‘creativity’, ‘critical thinking’, ‘life-long
learning’ that seek to address changes in the nature of the workforce
required for the ‘knowledge based economy’. The effort to re-engineer the
work-force to meet the requirements of an unpredictable ‘new economy’
that might require higher doses of independent critical thinking is increasingly coming into con ict with the regulatory role of the state.
Until recently, the state’s strong regulatory authority has managed to
consolidate conditions for the accumulation of transnational capital in the
‘old economy’. However, even under conditions of the ‘old economy’, the
state had to deal with the changing class structure and ideologies that were
constituted by the rapid industrialization of Singapore. Slowly but surely,
the state came to recognize the importance of negotiation following the
various pressures and demands from the new social groups, classes and
constituencies that were thrown up as a consequence of industrialization.
Thus the emergence of a limited number of civil society organizations in
the early 1980s re ected dramatic institutional re-conŽ gurations of statesociety relations. No doubt the imperative for negotiation, at least over
some issues, as opposed to the unilateral formulation of policy was partly
driven by the shock of electoral reverses for the ruling party during the
same period, and together with the creation of the institution of Nominated MP’s constituted a strategy of co-opting and managing potential
dissent (Rodan 1993). However, even though room for negotiation was
fairly limited, these reconŽ gurations of state-society relations opened up
genuine spaces for the new social groups and classes that sought to in uence policies on crucial issues like gender and the environment.
With the state-sponsored promotion of computerization, new spaces
144
K. C. Ho, Z. Baber and H. Khondker
have opened up even while existing spaces have expanded. In addition to
globalization and the massive social transformations within Singapore that
have created and consolidated new constituencies and social groups, the
nature of Internet technology has itself contributed to this fundamental
change. Computer Mediated Communication (CMC) represents a fundamentally different kind of technology in many ways. In addition to the
possibilities for the creation of networks of communities or ‘virtual communities’ of various kinds, the Internet represents a technology that fuses
many domains such as economic, communicative, cultural, entertainment,
politics etc., in such a manner that these functions cannot be disaggregated. This bundling together of functions is one of the unique characteristics of the Internet that has speciŽ c social consequences.
In the past in Singapore, the circulation of speciŽ c issues of magazines
and newspapers could be restricted or banned without substantial cost to
the economy. Internet technology, with its aggregated bundling of functions cannot be restricted in a meaningful way without the possible curtailment of possibilities that may affect other domains, particularly the
economy. As such, the promotion of this technology invariably promotes
other functions that may not necessarily be perceived as desirable by the
state. In addition to the bundled nature of functions, the Internet, as
Poster (1998) has argued, is also a unique technology because of its inherently interactive nature. Due to this interactivity, the Internet is not
‘outside us’ as is the case with all other communication technologies. Our
interaction with the Internet as end-users plays a fundamental role in its
evolution. As such, it would be shortsighted of the state to exercise too
much control over use of the technology that it itself has gone out of its way
to promote. Ultimately, as a website titled ‘How to Defeat Singapore’s Net
Censorship’ demonstrates, the blocking of some sites by local ISP’s is
largely symbolic as they can indeed be circumvented by dedicated computer literate individuals.
The diverse interest groups in Singapore that have either been thrown
up or were in existence but have managed to consolidate in the wake of
internal and global transformations have sought to capitalize on the social
and political potential of the Internet. Certain possibilities and spaces that
were not available in the pre-Internet days have opened up. Organizations
like the People Like Us (PLU) are now able to connect with members,
organize meetings and discussions in cyberspace that circumvent existing
laws that require permission for public assembly. Whatever may be the case
elsewhere, there is no question that in Singapore, the Internet has contributed to the emergence of an alternative public sphere, albeit a limited
one at this stage. This emergent alternative public sphere that allow an
unfettered exchange of ideas is indeed evident in the enormous proliferation of websites, discussion groups and chat-groups devoted to the examination of critical issues that affect the lives of Singaporeans.
The interaction between cyber-activities and events in the real world
should also be noted. As mentioned earlier, a Speakers’ Corner, proposals
‘Sites’ of resistance
145
for which were rejected barely a few months ago has become a reality. Confronted with the fact there have been many such virtual Speakers’ Corners
in cyberspace, the state now seeks to engage with this new reality in a negotiated rather than a unilateral way as was largely the case in the past. Deputy
Prime Minister and Minister of Defense Tony Tan was quoted in Asiaweek
(November 3, 2000: 34) as saying ‘While restrictions have long forced
groups to comply with all sorts of regulations on meetings and registration,
the virtual environment has opened up the vistas’.
The fact that the Internet allows for many-to-many communication and
comes bundled with a multiplicity of functions are critical elements that
have enabled a wide range of public interest groups and civil society
organizations to recruit members, propagate their views to a larger audience and even to challenge existing rules and regulations. Seizing the new
opportunities and possibilities opened up by the Internet and by the
promises of Singapore 214 of encouraging ‘active citizenship’, People Like
Us a virtual gay community in existence in cyberspace sought permission
for a public forum on 28 May 2000 with the intention of registering as an
ofŽ cial society. The permit for a public gathering was denied, but this
attempt to further expand the ‘public sphere’ and ‘civil society’ was discussed widely in the local daily The Straits Times and more vigorously in the
website-linked discussion group titled Not the Straits Times. In real terms,
this attempt at resisting existing laws and discourses failed, but not completely. The internal and international publicity generated by this attempt
to expand the public sphere has set the stage for future possibilities. This
suggests that the active promotion of the Internet and computers in
general by the state has provided civil society groups with new audiences
and possibilities for networking, organizing, debating and resisting the
state’s agenda, contributing to the restructuring of state-society relations.
While much of the energy in Singaporean cyberspace is directed at
struggles between local civil society and marginalized groups and the state,
the case of the Falun Gong and the Ananda Marga represents an interesting
twist. Singapore’s multi-ethnic population has meant that the government
has adopted a generally religiously tolerant policy.5 This position has
meant that religious movements that have been banned in other countries
can Ž nd a safe haven in Singapore. Thus, groups like the Falun Gong are
able to use Singapore as a node to advance their interests within a regional
and international scale.
The site called Singapore Virgins represents another twist to the
complex state-society relationship in Singapore. As mentioned in the
previous section, the Singapore government has been an active defender
of traditional values in the conventional media, creating a largely passive
conservative majority. However, its position not to regulate cyberspace may
have also lead to the rise of mainstream groups jostling alongside civil
society groups and fringe groups to advocate their positions. The case of
Singapore Virgins represents the mainstream reacting against what is perceived as increasingly liberal sexual mores in Singapore society.
146
K. C. Ho, Z. Baber and H. Khondker
To address the question ‘Do Artifacts Have Politics?’ raised by Winner
(1985) the answer, at least in the case of the Internet would have to be in
the afŽ rmative. As Winner has perceptively analysed the issue, technologies
‘can be accurately judged not only for their contributions of efŽ ciency and
productivity . . . but also for the ways in which they can embody speciŽ c
forms of power and authority’. In the case of Singapore, the Internet of
course embodies new forms of the state’s disciplinary power (Lim 2000).
However the same technology also opens up new spaces and possibilities
for activism, alternate community building and even resistance (Koh 1998;
Neo 2000). The potential of the Internet for resistance, expansion of the
public sphere and civil society however, is only one side of the political
coin. The  ipside of the Internet and CMC in general is the hitherto
unthinkable capabilities of social control through surveillance and the creation of databases of all sorts (Lyon 1994). As Calhoun puts it, ‘the general
tendency is not for the Web to produce a radical democracy of constant
citizen participation and instant referenda . . . nor to empower the poor,
weak, and dispersed against the rich, powerful and well-positioned. Computer mediated communication does a little of each of these things, but it
does a lot to enhance existing power structures’ (Calhoun 1998: 381). In
the same vein, Wellman and Gulia (1999) point out, the emergence of
virtual communities represents long-term social trends that pre-date the
Internet, even as this new technology opens up new possibilities. The possibilities and limits of resistance via this new technology in Singapore are not
easy to predict. Rodan (1997) has focused on the role of the Internet in
facilitating surveillance and social control through the use of proxy-servers.
A more plausible scenario, largely due to the impossibility – at least for the
time being – of disaggregating the various functions and capacities of the
Internet is the continuing expansion of some alternative spaces even as
others are closed off as state and society seek to negotiate the dialectic of
resistance/empowerment and surveillance/social control made possible
by this new technology even as the Net itself is shaped by these social forces
and relationship.
(Date accepted: November 2001)
K. C. Ho
National University of Singapore
Zaheer Baber
University of Saskatchewan
and
Habibul Khondker
National University of Singapore
NOTES
1 We thank Manuel Castells, Mark
Poster, Paul N. Edwards and Tapio Makela
for their comments when an earlier
version of this paper was presented at the
‘Sites’ of resistance
1st Conference of the Association of Internet Researchers, September 14–17, 2000,
University of Kansas, Lawrence, Kansas.
This project was supported by National
University of Singapore research grant R111–000–002–112, ‘Science, Technology
and Society in Singapore’. Please direct
correspondence to the following email:
[email protected]
2 Please email K. C. Ho at
[email protected] for a list of addresses
of websites mentioned in this paper.
3 A local play of words, the term ‘$Ž ne$
city’ does not refer to Singapore’s wonderful weather but to the tendency of getting
Ž ned in Singapore for different types of
offences.
4 In 1999, the state sought to project the
image of incorporating the diverse views of
all its citizens in policies. This project,
named Singapore 21 focuses on Ž ve key
ideas: ever y Singaporean matters; opportunities for all; strong families; the Singapore heartbeat – feeling passionately
about Singapore; active citizens – making a
difference to society. Organizations such
as People Like Us have attempted to argue
that if the state is serious about the claims
like ‘ever y Singaporean matters’ and
‘active citizens’, then gay citizens ought to
be recognized and incorporated in the
decision making process.
5 The exception is when particular
religious values con ict with government
policies, for example the Jehovah Witness
is banned in Singapore because of their
stance against the government’s policy of
compulsory military service for male Singaporeans.
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