Singapore Minister Mentor Lee Kuan Yew has cited online news portal
 
 Malaysiakini
 
 as a credible source of information on the Internet in an interview last month with two media experts.


 In the interview, Lee lamented the glut of information and the problem of anonymous writers on the Internet.


 "You have a website called
 
 Malaysiakini
 
 . That means 'Malaysia Now' and it's got some very good articles in it and some of them are signed regularly by the same person," said Lee. "So when we get that, we read it and then we say, okay, circulate it."


 But he added there is "a lot of rubbish" in cyberspace. "You have got to filter it. It's a waste of time."


 "You must have credibility because you get so much on the Internet." he said.


 <img align="left" height="262" hspace="5" src="http://corp.malaysiakini.com/cms/ib/data/3/62/15587.gif" width="200"/>
 Lee, 84, was asked about his views on the media and international politics in a Sept 27 interview at his private office in Singapore by top American academics - Tom Plate of the University of California, Los Angeles (UCLA) Media Center and Jeffrey Cole of the University of Southern California (USC) Annenberg School Center for the Digital Future.


 Lee, a paternalistic leader who brooks little dissent in the city state, mentioned
 
 Malaysiakini
 
 in the context of the explosive video depicting a senior lawyer purportedly speaking to a top judge brokering promotions in the judiciary.


 He said that the eight-minute video, which was released by former deputy premier Anwar Ibrahim, has forced the Malaysian government to set up an independent panel to probe the matter.


 "Now, this would not have happened without the Internet and without (video sharing website) YouTube." said the founder of modern Singapore.


 Below are excerpts of the interview:


 
 
 Question: Singapore is one of the world's most wired countries, far ahead of the pack. How do you imagine over time that this will change Singapore? What will be your sense of what happens in an educated country with high standards, when anyone can get anything on the Web, videos and blogs so that the role of a centralised media become less and less dominant?
 
 




 
 
 Lee:
 
 
 Well, it is already on its way because the print media here is not growing the same way, they are stagnating. It's not declining as fast as, say, it is in America or Britain ... And this is happening here.


 The young, they read things on the Internet. I mean, I am part of the older generation. Yes, I read some stuff on the Internet, but at the end of the day, I say, well, let's see what the proper analysis is. So, I look up, I look at the editorial pages and the op-ed pages.


 I am not sure that the young will do that anymore, but the way the print media can stay in the contest is not to be the first with the news because that's not possible, but to be the first with the background and the analysis and the ones with the high credibility will stay in business.


 You must have credibility because you get so much on the Internet. Whom do you believe? Finally, you've got to say, who is saying this? And you don't know. But if you say, this is the
 
 New York Times
 
 , this is the
 
 Washington Post
 
 or the
 
 LA Times
 
 , then you say, well, that is the standard.


 I mean, that goes for every country, I think, but we have a different problem here because we are bilingual. English is our first language, well, for the younger generation. The older generation, Chinese was their first language, but the ones below 30 now, below 35, the majority, English is their first language and Chinese or Malay and whatever will be their second language.


 But with the rise of China, we are already seeing more and more going to China doing business and more Chinese coming here doing business. So, they are going to start reading the Chinese blogs, the Chinese news. It's already happening. So, the trend will be from print to screen.


 
 
 China has not given up hope in terms of trying to control the content on the Internet. But my sense since the last time I talked with you and with some of your brightest people, is that you have a sense of inevitably, that this new technology is going to overwhelm efforts to control it - is that right?
 
 


 
 
 Lee:
 
 
 Right, it is not possible. Look, you are going to have a PDA that is also running video and you can have your servers blocked. But if you've got a 3G phone, you use another server, and so then you are through.


 No, it's not only going to happen, it's already happening. Otherwise, how do you get all these pictures of the monks in Myanmar or Yangon or Mandalay coming out? It's all on cell-phones.


 Now, there are areas which are blocked out now. They are blacked out, sure, but they are still coming out because you've got a 3G phone and I am quite sure
 
 Reuters
 
 or whatever news agency must have given their correspondents and stringers, saying, here, use this. You take it and you use this and you get it through.


 Otherwise, how can you get it through because the government is already blocking out [communication]. Many of the areas are now non-functioning, you can't use the cell-phone. But images are still coming through. I just saw something this morning. So?


 
 
 Right. So, that the role of the centralised media is less important. Even if you can control the centralised media, that's less and less valuable than before.
 
 




 
 
 Lee:
 
 
 I don't know if you've caught up with this story. It's a bit of scandal going on. [Former deputy prime minister] Anwar Ibrahim leaked a video, an old video, way back in 1980, of an Indian lawyer talking to a top judge about how he can arrange to get him promoted to be the 'Number One' or whatever.


 I think it was an eight-minute video and Anwar has now put it on the Internet and it's on YouTube! So the Malaysian bar - which have already been dismayed at the degradation of their judiciary and the corruption and judge-buying and case-buying - they have demanded a royal commission to inquire into the facts.


 So, the government, under pressure now, has appointed a committee of judges and one eminent person, to check on the authenticity of this tape. So that's bought them some time, but in the meantime, 2,000 lawyers, following what the Pakistani lawyers did, have marched on to the prime minister's office to deliver a petition to investigate this matter.


 Now, this would not have happened without the Internet and without YouTube. I mean it is so simple, you see.


 
 
 That's a changing world.
 
 


 
 
 Lee:
 
 
 But at the same time, there is the problem of credibility. So, you have a website called Malaysiakini. That means 'Malaysia Now' and it's got some very good articles in it and some of them are signed regularly by the same person. So when we get that, we read it and then we say, okay, circulate it.


 But you get a lot of rubbish, too, and you have got to filter it. It's a waste of time.


 
 
 Well, your earlier point about the credibility of serious newspapers and serious magazines is more important now than ever.
 
 




 
 
 Lee:
 
 
 You've got to go by them. You know, it's like the ratings agencies which put a lot of financial institutions down.


 
 
 This is the future of professional journalism, if there is any?
 
 


 
 
 Lee:
 
 
 No, you'll always have it. But if we don't use this [new technology], then we are just one hand tied behind us: Should we allow our opponents to have that advantage? This is a highly competitive world. But the flood of information leads to overload. Therefore, you've got to have somebody filter it for you.


 
 <a href="http://www.asiamedia.ucla.edu/article.asp?parentid=79541" target="_blank">
 Full transcript of the interview
 </a>

<img align="right" alt="" border="0" height="64" hspace="0" src="http://corp.malaysiakini.com/cms/ib/data/2/39/9961.jpg" style="WIDTH: 64px; HEIGHT: 64px" width="64"/>
The Singapore strongman considers the independent online news portal as a credible source of information in an interview with two media experts.

Kuan Yew mentions Malaysiakini in interview

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