Comments on: Is the Hansard verbatim, or near-verbatim? http://www.choongyong.com/2009/02/24/is-the-hansard-verbatim-or-near-verbatim/ Change the world...it starts with you and me Sun, 13 Nov 2011 01:48:00 +0000 hourly 1 http://wordpress.org/?v=3.0.5 By: tweeds http://www.choongyong.com/2009/02/24/is-the-hansard-verbatim-or-near-verbatim/comment-page-1/#comment-6962 tweeds Fri, 21 Oct 2011 23:52:00 +0000 http://www.choongyong.com/?p=123#comment-6962 With the most recent session of Parliament post-GE2011, the point of this post ought to become clearer. Like you said, Hansard is an edited verbatim record; the UK Hansard makes this equally clear. The role of the Speaker in clearing reports should not (without cause) be a significant obstacle to our belief in a fairly objective Hansard record. But I would agree that Parliamentary debates should be streamed, if not aired, in full - with a full video archive maintained and easily available. A quick search for the UK parliamentary video archive points us to http://www.parliamentlive.tv/Main/Home.aspx, where a two-year video archive is available on demand. Videos are published rapidly, usually by the end of the day or by the next working day. Certainly, such a step would score quick points for the transparency and objectivity of political process. With the most recent session of Parliament post-GE2011, the point of this post ought to become clearer. Like you said, Hansard is an edited verbatim record; the UK Hansard makes this equally clear. The role of the Speaker in clearing reports should not (without cause) be a significant obstacle to our belief in a fairly objective Hansard record.

But I would agree that Parliamentary debates should be streamed, if not aired, in full – with a full video archive maintained and easily available. A quick search for the UK parliamentary video archive points us to http://www.parliamentlive.tv/Main/Home.aspx, where a two-year video archive is available on demand. Videos are published rapidly, usually by the end of the day or by the next working day. Certainly, such a step would score quick points for the transparency and objectivity of political process.

]]> By: choongyong http://www.choongyong.com/2009/02/24/is-the-hansard-verbatim-or-near-verbatim/comment-page-1/#comment-6924 choongyong Tue, 05 Apr 2011 02:27:00 +0000 http://www.choongyong.com/?p=123#comment-6924 Hi Onionguy4, Thanks for your encouragement. :) Hi Onionguy4,
Thanks for your encouragement. :)

]]> By: Onionguy4 http://www.choongyong.com/2009/02/24/is-the-hansard-verbatim-or-near-verbatim/comment-page-1/#comment-6923 Onionguy4 Tue, 05 Apr 2011 00:34:00 +0000 http://www.choongyong.com/?p=123#comment-6923 Choongyong, please don't be disheartened by people like the above poster. It is certainly news to me that the Parliamentary debate transcriptions are not verbatim! Furthermore, it sounds pretty strange that complete Parliamentary debate video records are not available, especially given Singapore's broadband and given that data costs are so low now. At the very least it should be available at the libraries. Anyhow, I stumbled on this post by searching for "Lim Hwee Hua" on google. Given that it is on the first page of Google results (number 6, I must add), that certainly says something about the relevance of this post (despite what the previous poster may insinuate). Maybe the results in Singapore are different (I'm searching from the USA) I guess in a pre-election climate, web-savvy voters will trawl the net to find out exactly what our MPs/Ministers have been doing and promising (and have not been doing/saying) the past 5 years to figure out whether they still deserve our vote (that is, if we can even cast a vote) so I'm pretty sure this article will gather more views. Take heart. Also, I have spread the links to my friends as I feel there needs to be more public awareness on this issue. Choongyong, please don’t be disheartened by people like the above poster. It is certainly news to me that the Parliamentary debate transcriptions are not verbatim! Furthermore, it sounds pretty strange that complete Parliamentary debate video records are not available, especially given Singapore’s broadband and given that data costs are so low now. At the very least it should be available at the libraries.

Anyhow, I stumbled on this post by searching for “Lim Hwee Hua” on google. Given that it is on the first page of Google results (number 6, I must add), that certainly says something about the relevance of this post (despite what the previous poster may insinuate). Maybe the results in Singapore are different (I’m searching from the USA)

I guess in a pre-election climate, web-savvy voters will trawl the net to find out exactly what our MPs/Ministers have been doing and promising (and have not been doing/saying) the past 5 years to figure out whether they still deserve our vote (that is, if we can even cast a vote) so I’m pretty sure this article will gather more views. Take heart. Also, I have spread the links to my friends as I feel there needs to be more public awareness on this issue.

]]> By: choongyong http://www.choongyong.com/2009/02/24/is-the-hansard-verbatim-or-near-verbatim/comment-page-1/#comment-6920 choongyong Thu, 24 Mar 2011 01:30:00 +0000 http://www.choongyong.com/?p=123#comment-6920 Thanks for your comment, didn't you just made 1 comment? Ok this was a trick question. In any case, regardless of whether anyone commented on the post, I think I have at least done my small part to let whoever happens to read this be aware that the Hansard might not necessarily be completely verbatim. Thanks for your comment, didn’t you just made 1 comment? Ok this was a trick question.

In any case, regardless of whether anyone commented on the post, I think I have at least done my small part to let whoever happens to read this be aware that the Hansard might not necessarily be completely verbatim.

]]> By: Frostbite88 http://www.choongyong.com/2009/02/24/is-the-hansard-verbatim-or-near-verbatim/comment-page-1/#comment-6919 Frostbite88 Wed, 23 Mar 2011 10:28:00 +0000 http://www.choongyong.com/?p=123#comment-6919 0 comments so far, Choong Yong. All your laborious efforts came to zilch? 0 comments so far, Choong Yong. All your laborious efforts came to zilch?

]]> By: choongyong.koh http://www.choongyong.com/2009/02/24/is-the-hansard-verbatim-or-near-verbatim/comment-page-1/#comment-3940 choongyong.koh Fri, 13 Mar 2009 01:32:43 +0000 http://www.choongyong.com/?p=123#comment-3940 @Civil Advocator: something is being done, but at present it is not appropriate to publicise the actions taken. @Civil Advocator: something is being done, but at present it is not appropriate to publicise the actions taken.

]]> By: Civic Advocator http://www.choongyong.com/2009/02/24/is-the-hansard-verbatim-or-near-verbatim/comment-page-1/#comment-3918 Civic Advocator Mon, 09 Mar 2009 22:14:44 +0000 http://www.choongyong.com/?p=123#comment-3918 Assuming whatever you say is true, what are you (as a politician, I presume) going to do about this? Assuming whatever you say is true, what are you (as a politician, I presume) going to do about this?

]]> By: The Singapore Daily » Blog Archive » Weekly Roundup: Week 09 http://www.choongyong.com/2009/02/24/is-the-hansard-verbatim-or-near-verbatim/comment-page-1/#comment-3845 The Singapore Daily » Blog Archive » Weekly Roundup: Week 09 Sat, 28 Feb 2009 03:02:52 +0000 http://www.choongyong.com/?p=123#comment-3845 [...] - choongyong.com: Is the Hansard verbatim, or near-verbatim? [...] [...] – choongyong.com: Is the Hansard verbatim, or near-verbatim? [...]

]]> By: reader http://www.choongyong.com/2009/02/24/is-the-hansard-verbatim-or-near-verbatim/comment-page-1/#comment-3831 reader Wed, 25 Feb 2009 23:33:07 +0000 http://www.choongyong.com/?p=123#comment-3831 thanks, u have already done a great job in exposing the doubts. theres no trust between the govt & its citizens anymore. thanks, u have already done a great job in exposing the doubts.
theres no trust between the govt & its citizens anymore.

]]> By: Gerald Giam http://www.choongyong.com/2009/02/24/is-the-hansard-verbatim-or-near-verbatim/comment-page-1/#comment-3829 Gerald Giam Wed, 25 Feb 2009 15:19:38 +0000 http://www.choongyong.com/?p=123#comment-3829 In the UK (and Australia), their "preliminary report" of Parliament proceedings is published at the end of the day, while the final Hansard is published at 8am the next day after Parliament meets (see http://www.publications.parliament.uk/pa/pahansard.htm). In Singapore, our Hansard takes a week or more to be produced. I believe it is circulated to the MPs for their "corrections" before being published. This is not the right practice in my opinion. There is a video and audio recording of the debates. The recorder can just playback to get the exact words. There is no reason for any further amendments by MPs. I wrote to Parliament secretariat about this delay some time back, but never got a reply. I wonder why our govt can process passport applications so fast but takes so long to produce a Parliamentary report. In the UK (and Australia), their “preliminary report” of Parliament proceedings is published at the end of the day, while the final Hansard is published at 8am the next day after Parliament meets (see http://www.publications.parliament.uk/pa/pahansard.htm).

In Singapore, our Hansard takes a week or more to be produced. I believe it is circulated to the MPs for their “corrections” before being published. This is not the right practice in my opinion. There is a video and audio recording of the debates. The recorder can just playback to get the exact words. There is no reason for any further amendments by MPs.

I wrote to Parliament secretariat about this delay some time back, but never got a reply. I wonder why our govt can process passport applications so fast but takes so long to produce a Parliamentary report.

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