A Digital Life check on the blogosphere found that no fewer than 21 politicians have set up blogs within the past year, their ranks ranging across the political spectrum.
These include the People's Action Party MPs Michael Palmer and Jessica Tan, Young PAP members Elaina Olivia Chong and Donald Aw, Workers' Party members Yaw Shin Leong and Perry Tong, and Nominated Member of Parliament Siew Kum Hong.

Previously, there were no dedicated PAP bloggers, while the Workers' Party had only three.

Where the PAP bloggers are concerned, the surge is not surprising as Dr Vivian Balakrishnan, the Second Minister for Information, Communications and the Arts, had said during a media gathering in March that the Government intends to 'move into cyberspace in a big way in order to further government-citizen engagement'. As it stands, seven in 10 homes have Internet access, and seven in 10 netizens are bloggers.

The politicians said that their blogs, which do not espouse official party lines, aim to inject personality into politics, give insight into the politicians' views, and act as a platform for citizens to voice their views.

There is no censorship.

NMP Siew Kum Hong, 32, said that his only censor is time.

Nor are their posts vetted in any way, said Mr Teo Ser Luck, Parliamentary Secretary for the Ministry of Community Development, Youth and Sports.

Ms Elaina Olivia Chong, who posts on the Young PAP blog, said: 'We write about anything and allow all comments in order to spur discussion.'

So far, their posts have ranged from local issues like foreign talent and transcripts of Parliament sessions to the personal lives of the politician bloggers.

Some have also written about their colleagues' work and their own.

NMP Siew Kum Hong, for example, writes evaluations of his speeches, as well as comments on several instances where he felt that ministers had not answered his questions during Parliament question and answer sessions.

In March, for example, he asked Dr Ng Eng Hen, Minister for Manpower, how many of the new jobs created in 2006 were taken up by Singapore citizens, permanent residents and foreigners, and if the Government did not have these figures, whether it could derive them from income tax and CPF data.

Dr Ng replied they did not have such figures, and did not answer the second question, prompting Mr Siew to write in a March 27 post that 'the Minister basically dodged the question'.

On viewership, most of the bloggers said they do not track numbers. But judging by the number of comments left, the Young PAP blog is the most popular.