Calum Stuart's 25-minute documentary, "An Online Citizen", will be premiering at the Freedom Film Fest 2019 in Kuala Lumpur on Saturday (28 September). (Photo courtesy of Calum Stuart)

SINGAPORE — “In Singapore, I would say you have to be mad to go against the government.”

That’s the opening line delivered by Terry Xu, chief editor of The Online Citizen (TOC), in the trailer for a new documentary on the alternative news portal.

“Terry’s kind of a unicorn in some ways. I don’t know many others in Singapore like him,” said the film’s director Calum Stuart during an interview with Yahoo News Singapore on Tuesday (24 September).

Titled An Online Citizen, the 25-minute film will make its premiere this Saturday at the Freedom Film Fest 2019 in Kuala Lumpur.

Describing the documentary as “very observational”, the 34-year-old British national said he hopes it will shed light on Singapore’s media scene and what it’s like to operate an independent media site here.

“I hope people (who watch it) will ask why Singapore needs a guy like Terry,” said Stuart, who also works as a freelance journalist.

Acknowledging that the film could evoke strong views, he added, “Some will watch it and think he’s a hero, and some will watch it and think he’s nuts and completely off the reservation.”

View photos The documentary focuses on the operations of The Online Citizen and the work done by its chief editor Terry Xu (above). (PHOTO: Calum Stuart / 'An Online Citizen') More

Looking at who fake news law will affect

The project began when Stuart was approached by the Freedom Film Network (FFN) to produce a documentary on Singapore’s recently passed Protection from Online Falsehoods and Manipulation Act (Pofma) – otherwise known as the “fake news law” – for its upcoming festival.

Backed with a S$5,000 budget from the non-profit group, Stuart approached Xu with his pitch for the documentary in late May and was able to wrap up the project within three months.

“I think very early on I decided that rather than doing a documentary focusing entirely on Pofma, I wanted to focus on the main people the law would affect, which is essentially the independent media scene (in Singapore),” said Stuart.

With this in mind, TOC was the “obvious choice” for the documentary’s subject given its status as one of the older and “more outspoken” news sites here, he added.

Stuart said he had heard of Xu when he first arrived in Singapore about five years ago. He described him as hard-working, idealistic and “committed to what he’s doing”.

Noting that Xu can be a “very difficult guy to work with”, Stuart added that he is also possessed of the “bloody-mindedness” needed to do his work.

In working on the documentary, Stuart said he found it interesting to learn about Xu’s approach to “provoking the government” and how he considered it “an honour to be causing such a ripple in the establishment”.

Besides Xu, the film also features interviews with TOC co-founder Remy Choo, former Internal Security Act detainee Teo Soh Lung as well as former TODAY and The New Paper editor PN Balji.

While An Online Citizen also gives a “nod” to another local documentary, Jason Soo’s 1987: Untracing The Conspiracy (2015), Stuart said his film has a “very different style” and is “more theatrical” as well as faster paced.

View photos The film's poster. (Courtesy of Calum Stuart) More

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