As Singaporeans clamor for live video feeds of parliamentary sessions, in the interests of transparency and accountability, Speaker of Parliament Tan Chuan Jin has indicated that he may set up a blog to explain parliamentary processes to members of the public.
Speaking to Channel News Asia, Tan – who has assumed the position just two months ago – said that he is interested to bridge the information gap about what really goes on in Parliament:
“Being aware of the debates is one thing…reading about them, watching, thinking about them. But understanding the process is also important, this is really about the democracy at work.”
The parliamentarian also indicated that he may utilise other social media platforms, like Facebook, Youtube, and Instagram, besides creating a blog to inform citizens of parliamentary processes.
Meanwhile, Workers’ Party NCMP Leon Perera’s parliamentary exchange with Senior Minister of State Chee Hong Tat over having live feeds of parliamentary sessions has sparked citizens to rebut Chee’s assertion that there is no demand for live feed by circulating a petition, calling on the government to implement full live videos perhaps using a platform like youtube live.
An online petition on the matter is calling for 200 signatories and will be delivered to the Parliament of Singapore and Leon Perera. The description of the petition reads:
“Senior Minister of State for Health and Communications and Information, Chee Hong Tat mention explicitly that “the reason why we(parliament) don’t have a live feed is because this is not in great demand” In fact, the current CNA microsite for parliament video archive is simply not good enough. Videos fail to load or load too slowly for anyone to even watch. Speeches are cut off and we can’t see the entire context at all. Live feeds usually results in error and many other issues plague the microsite. It is therefore imperative for the Parliament of Singapore to look into alternative hosting providers such as Youtube Live to broadcast their proceedings live. Broadcasting on Youtube Live is free and comes with little cost since Youtube do not charge their broadcasters fees.”
https://theindependent.sg.sg/netizens-want-to-see-ministers-paid-millions-of-dollars-doing-their-job-in-parliament-demand-parliamentary-live-feed/