The 2011 Singapore General Elections was a water-shed event in Singapore’s political history. Not because for the first time ever, an opposition party (the Workers’ Party or WP) managed to secure a Group Representative Constituency (GRC) from the PAP. Nor was it because the PAP’s popular vote had fallen from 67 percent in 2007 to 60.1 percent.
Rather, it was a result of Singapore’s political landscape being dramatically altered with the advent of social media and the Internet.
The Internet and Social Media sparked a new way of thinking for Singapore, especially in the political arena. While older Singaporeans relied on state controlled media agencies for their news and information, the Internet opened up a source of independent information that could not be tightly regulated or controlled as traditional media platforms. Full story
