PAP leaders defend party video

By Rachel Au-yong And Charissa Yong, The Straits Times, 15 May 2014

THE People's Action Party (PAP) is standing by its youth wing, which has produced a video that has gone viral for all the wrong reasons.

It acknowledged the video's "raw and unpolished" quality, but thanked its activists for "their tireless work on the ground" in a Facebook post yesterday.

The five-minute video features Young PAP members, aged 17 to 40, from various constituencies narrating their hopes for the party and Singapore.

The youth wing is chaired by Social and Family Development Minister Chan Chun Sing.

The video was supposed to be seen only by party members at last December's party convention. But it was uploaded on YouTube three weeks ago and, over the weekend, netizens have ridiculed the members for their "robotic recitations" of a prepared script.

Others questioned their ability to help citizens when they could not produce a "watchable'' video.

Some also wondered whether the video had passed Media Development Authority (MDA) rules regulating political films.

The MDA told The Straits Times yesterday that the video was exempted from the rules. It was subsequently given a PG rating.

The Straits Times understands that each constituency wrote its own script and filmed its segment which was then submitted for editing.

"Most of the negative comments are focused on the acting or the background," said a Young PAP member who declined to be named. "But the content is logical and means well."

For instance, the youth wing members in East Coast GRC said they hoped that party membership would include more professions, "other than lawyers, doctors, military men and civil servants".

The member added that Young PAP members were surprised the video was uploaded.

The PAP headquarters also said on Facebook that "we did not expect that our humble in-house production would go viral like this".

But Institute of Policy Studies research fellow Carol Soon points out that the boundary between private and public is non-existent, especially when the material is posted online in a public space.

"Content targeted at a specific group is guaranteed to reach unintended audiences when posted on the Internet," she told The Straits Times. "This could be a boon or a bane."

"There is an increasing need for one to consider how a message would be interpreted when it is consumed out of context, and the misconceptions that might arise," she added.

Several PAP politicians have gone online in defence of their young comrades.

Manpower Minister Tan Chuan-Jin said yesterday on the PAP's Facebook page that "though the video may be raw and unpolished (which it is), our activists' service and efforts are anything but that".

Tampines GRC MP Baey Yam Keng also cheered his Tampines North activists.

"Many of them work behind the scenes and prefer to keep a low profile. The criticism on how some of them appear in front of the camera is unnecessary and unfair," he said.

Party's film not banned under Act, says MDA
The Straits Times, 15 May 2014

A PAP youth wing video that has gone viral is not banned under the Films Act, the Media Development Authority (MDA) said yesterday in response to media queries on whether the film had been cleared by the authorities, a question netizens had raised on social media.

The Films Act bans the making, import, distribution or screening of a "party political film", but films which meet certain criteria are excluded from this prohibition.

These include films by a licensed broadcaster which report news, films which educate people on election procedures, live recordings and accurate documentaries.

The Young PAP video is exempt under Section 2(3)(f) as it does not have animation or dramatic elements, and is made by a political party and presents its manifesto and ideology, on the basis of which the party's candidates will seek to be elected.

In any case, the video had been submitted to the MDA earlier this year and was given a PG rating, it said.

The MDA consults the independent Political Films Consultative Committee, chaired by former senior district judge Richard Magnus, on whether submitted films are to be considered party political films.

The MDA also gave two examples of past films exempted from the ban: For I Am A Young Singaporean, a PAP short film in the style of a poem highlighting the party's aspirations in 2009; and For People, Nation, Future, which showed the Workers' Party's community outreach initiatives, overlaid with commentary outlining the party's aspirations and ideology in 2010.

Young PAP video: Good message, bad delivery
To connect with modern-day voters, style is as important as substance
By Tham Yuen-C, The Straits Times, 17 May 2014

IN POLITICS this week, a kerfuffle erupted over a video produced by cadres of the People's Action Party's youth wing, Young PAP (YP), who were lampooned for their bad acting.

The four-minute clip about the youth wing's hopes for the PAP and Singapore went viral for all the wrong reasons, and got some quarters drawing conclusions that it was yet another sign that the party was out of touch with voters.

This forced a response from the party, which said in a Facebook post that the "humble, in-house production" in no way detracts from the genuine and sincere work that the youth wing had done on the ground. Environment and Water Resources Minister

Vivian Balakrishnan quipped that "actions speak louder than words" in the PAP.

What happened with the video raises interesting questions about the way politics and political parties present themselves in Singapore today.

In this instance, it seems like style, or the lack of it, can detract from substance in people's evaluation of a party and its members.

First the style: The video was stitched up from a series of short clips filmed by YP members in each district, and featured them mostly standing in groups and reciting lines en masse. In some segments, only one person from the entire group was speaking, while the others stood alongside looking wooden.

Critics online slammed their "robotic" voices, "stiff" poses and stilted delivery of a "prepared script", with many claiming that they could not bear to watch the entire video.

Even PAP members who stood by the video, such as Manpower Minister Tan Chuan-Jin, acknowledged it was "raw and unpolished".

But those who got past the bad acting would have heard messages of youth wing members calling upon their party to "balance economic development without forgetting the soul of the nation", to "distribute resources in a caring manner... for people to cope with living expenses" and to maintain a "good ratio of green lungs" in Singapore.

The youth wing members in East Coast GRC also said they hoped that MPs would be drawn from more diverse groups, "other than lawyers, doctors, military men and civil servants".

Surely some of these messages echo what many Singaporeans who are not PAP members want for the country.

Yet all that was lost on many who watched the video but were more focused on the execution than its content. Worse still, people drew negative inferences about the party as a result.

Some wondered about the competence of the youth wing members, when they could not even produce a "watchable" video.

Others commenting on the "robotic delivery" blamed the party for grooming a whole generation of "followers and not leaders".

It later emerged that the video was meant for internal consumption and was first broadcast at the party's convention in December. But it was uploaded to the party's official YouTube account three weeks ago.

The political culture here, as shaped by the PAP, has long been one that is wary of style trumping substance, and emotion sweeping aside information.

During elections, the PAP had frequently called on people to refrain from passing judgment based on superficial qualities, and to consider instead the merits of the policies a party espouses.

The idea of winning support through image, by appealing to the emotional instead of the rational side of voters, is thought to pose a threat to democratic ideals.

To hedge against this, Singapore has instituted various rules in terms of political films and campaigning. For example, the Films Act bans the making, import, distribution or screening of a "party political film". There is also a cooling-off day before Polling Day, during which political parties are not allowed to campaign, even on social media.

This has led to a rather dour landscape in terms of what political parties can do to get voters interested in them and their policies.

In this case, the Media Development Authority explained that the Young PAP video had passed regulatory muster partly because it did not have animation or dramatic elements. The subtext is that it was not exciting enough to rouse emotions, but as a result, its message was also lost on many.

More and more, there is an acknowledgement that style and branding do matter in modern politics. That has clearly been the case elsewhere. United States President Barack Obama appears regularly on talk shows where he sings and delivers punchlines all in the name of cultivating an image as an approachable head of state. In the US and since 2012 in Britain too, televised debates are the norm during elections.

This has led to criticism that politics has become a matter of theatrics, with people latching on to sound bites and catchphrases, and watching to see which candidate delivered his or her lines more effectively.

But London School of Economics lecturer Margaret Scammell, an expert in media and political communications, argues that it is important for political parties and candidates to develop a brand too. That is not incongruent with "proper" political discourse, she says. Since reason and emotion are not mutually exclusive, applying brand concepts to politics can bring together the hard and soft dimensions of policy and image, she adds.

In Singapore, recognition has also grown among politicians that sometimes, sincerity and substance alone are not enough. With social media, politicians are gaining more exposure to the public and seeking to cultivate an image.

Some MPs and ministers have become adept. Tampines GRC MP Baey Yam Keng, for example, has the image of being cool and social media savvy, and is popular with the young. Emeritus Senior Minister Goh Chok Tong has also cultivated the image of being an experienced elder statesman.

Prime Minister Lee Hsien Loong, whose Instagram, Facebook and Twitter posts often garner thousands of comments, has built up a more approachable and hip image over the years.

What is clear is, while politics should never be devoid of substance, that does not mean we cannot have more style.

For surely if the YP video had been more dynamic, maybe those who saw it may have been more receptive to its message.