Why is the Street not tweeting?

“All Thai TV & radio stations under junta’s control/Morrow 18 newspapers summoned. Social media is only hope #thaicoup.” This was a Facebook post by Thai journalist Watchiranont Thongtep aka Kay, my co-fellow at the Nanyang Technological University. Some authoritarian regimes in the region are taking baby steps towards democracy, but Thailand, a regional poster boy for free speech and democracy, has just taken steps in the opposite direction. Sites such as Facebook have become the last resort. Social media, bloggers and independent news and views portals are riding the smartphone boom like never before, creating new challenges for those in power. And, those in power are beginning to take these seriously.

In the past week or so, the prime ministers of Malaysia and Singapore acted tough on people airing their views online, in their respective countries. Lee Hsien Loong of Singapore sent notices to Roy Ngreng, an independent blogger who made libellous comments about that country’s central provident fund. Though the blogger removed the post and apologised, the prime minister’s counsel have given a fresh deadline to come up with an offer for compensation for the damage caused. The blogger is to come up with an offer by the end of Monday.

Malaysian Prime Minister Najib Razak threatened to sue a more established online news portal, malaysiakini.com, for publication of its readers’ comments regarding his handling of the political crisis in the Terengganu region. “Najib’s legal action was initiated in his personal capacity, jointly with Umno (his party)... A letter of demand, hand-delivered to the malaysiakini office late on Sunday, claimed the compilation of readers’ comments on two ‘yoursay’ articles published on May 14—A case of the PM reaping what he sows and How much will Najib spend to keep Terengganu? —were defamatory,” a news article posted on malaysiakini.com said.

Back in India, the power of the online medium has been demonstrated spectacularly by the successful campaign of the Bharatiya Janata Party’s Narendra Modi.

Yet, internet businesses are conspicuous by their absence on our bourses. Forget the Sensex, even in the broader indices such as BSE 100 or BSE 500, it is hard to find any representation. This is not surprising, considering the primary market has been dead for years. Are we still held back by painful dotcom memories?

China’s e-commerce giant Alibaba.com is set to make a splash on Wall Street, with a multi-billion dollar initial public offering. But the only pure Indian internet play is makemytrip.com, listed in the US. Don’t our investors deserve better? It is a pity the Street’s movers and shakers have not built a pipeline of these companies for listing that will allow Indian investors to avail of this opportunity. If not on the main board, these should at least make it to the platform of small and medium enterprises. If the stock market does not reflect this happening part of the economy, something is amiss. It is time we got our answers to Alibaba, Baidu and Tencent on our bourses. If we are too lazy for that, at least ensure Indian Railway Catering and Tourism Corporation is listed.

Let me tweet that first!