SINGAPORE — Singapore media should serve as a credible and trusted observer and interpreter of developments in the country, the region and the wider world, President Tharman Shanmugaratnam said on Nov 5.
Speaking at the launch of Chinese daily Lianhe Zaobao’s English edition, he said the media must be fact-based, thorough, impartial and willing to look beneath the surface. He argued that Singapore’s multicultural society and relatively short national history position its media to act as a bridge-builder in an increasingly divided world.
President Tharman said global understanding of China has weakened even as the country has become more important economically, technologically and geopolitically. He attributed this to declining scholarship, fewer academic exchanges, fewer Western students in China and less frequent official engagement, particularly with the United States.
He said international reporting often emphasises broad cultural, ideological and governance differences, while overlooking shared policy challenges and human aspirations. “Respect differences, but respect similarities, to get a true understanding of a society,” he said, adding that the same approach is needed for South-east Asia and India.
On social cohesion, President Tharman said media should help communities develop openness and flexibility that strengthen a shared Singapore identity. He acknowledged that cultural affinity can influence views amid US-China competition, but said this was not a large problem and required continued social and community leadership.
He also said Singapore’s Chinese-Malay-Indian-Others framework would become more complex over time due to intermarriage and immigration, while stressing that race-conscious policies remain necessary for deliberate integration and shared uplift. On artificial intelligence, he warned that AI’s speed and convenience could undermine deep learning, urging schools to manage its use carefully and promote slow reading, independent thought and language learning.