Put in a nutshell, the Asian model is social responsibility married to the power of the pen, and in practical terms translates into what the present Strait Tims editor has called "a time to cheer, and a time to dissent." Not for it that "prerogative of the harlot through the ages" - power without responsibility, asserted in the right to criticize with immunity, free from rules of protocol or decorum, or from the realities of power politics. And responsibility must mean not blind acceptance and endorsement of all government policies, but critical assessments and independent conclusions, and the courage to voice them whatever side of the political fence they fall on. Readers who read The Strats Times more thoroughly would know that there have been a number of occasions when it has taken editorial positions different from that of the government; but given the narrow readership of the more serious pages, these positions have tended to be lost on the general Singapore reader.
Resigned to this fact, Mr. Lim Kim San, Chairman of Singapore Press Holdings, once said: "One of our jobs is to support a good government, and we have been doing that, and helping to explain government policies. And from time to time, although the public does not, think so, we do take a stand." (6)
