Interdisciplinary Studies

Freedom of speech.

Freedom of speech. This is something that Singaporeans are deprived of. Is it a good thing or a negative thing? What I feel is that most Singaporeans are not ready to accept this kind of lifestyle. We have not reached that level of society where we can learn to ignore what others have said. Take for example , if someone posts something negative about a certain race, it is bound likely to spark off a lot of negative comments from the public. You can even get jailed in Singapore for making such racist comments. One country that has freedom of speech would be the united states of America. In America, everyone has their right to their own opinions. It is how they choose to use it wisely. For example, they are allowed to make negative comments if they do not like their government. In Singapore, however, if one dares say something negative about the government, they would most likely end up having a hefty fine and get thrown in jail. One example would be when the Singapore court ordered a ‘defiant’ 76 year-old British author to serve a six-week jail sentence as he published a book denouncing judicial hangings in Singapore. He also had to serve an extra sentence of 2 weeks as he could not afford to pay a hefty fine of SGD 20,000. He willingly accepted the sentence after he derived it as ‘bloody nonsense’ . What I feel is that Singaporeans are not that open minded to adapt to this concept. Look at the girl who made the comment that only boys from Anglo Chinese School were worth dating, making snide remarks at all the other different boys from other schools were deemed ‘unworthy’. I myself, felt quite offended by that comment as well. Just based on that blog post she made, she became an over night sensation in a negative way. Many Singaporeans were upset by that particular blog post, especially those from the schools which she criticized. This generally goes to show that we as Singaporeans are still not that open minded and we would be easily offended. Especially with social networking sites now like Facebook, Twitter and Tumblr, it is not that hard for information to get around. Even with Singapore’s very own citizen journalism site, STOMP, it is enough as tons of Singaporeans, including myself visit that site for the latest information in Singapore. Basically, what I feel is that freedom of speech is something that is not to be taken for granted. With it comes responsibility, and people must know how to criticize in the right way. The media in Singapore is strictly controlled as well by the Media Development Authority (MDA). Everything that gets broadcasted in Singapore goes through the MDA for strict reviewing as to whether it is suitable for broadcasting in Singapore. Any information that criticizes Singapore’s government would immediately be banned from the state. Generally, what I feel is that Singaporeans are not able to voice out their own opinions. Especially things like racist comments, we would not want a repeat of the racist riots that occurred back in the 1960s. I have seen people who have gotten pretty harsh comments from the public about making such remarks on sites like Twitter. Even recently, three Singaporean teenagers,aged 17-18, were arrested for posting racist remarks on popular social networking site, Facebook. Under the Sedition Act, anyone found guilty of “promoting feelings of ill – will and hostility between races or classes of the Singapore population” maybe fined up to SGD $5000 or jailed up to three years, if this is his or her first offence. However, I feel that this is a good implementation as generating such remarks about other races can seriously offend other parties and people would once again start discriminating each other because of races and religion which is the case that is going on in countries such as Northern Ireland. I feel that Singaporeans in general are able to tolerate and understand everyone’s race and religion and how they live. It is a positive thing to see Chinese, Malays , Indians and Eurasians living peacefully among one other and hanging out together. It strongly emphasizes the Singapore pledge that all of us had to take daily during our Primary and Secondary school lives. Not only do we recite it, we demonstrate it strongly as well. I think that Singapore is currently fine with this implementation of having no freedom of speech as all of us are able to live peacefully with one another. If this was taken away, I feel that it would result in a lot of chaos within the country and I doubt that any of us would actually want that. Furthermore, in Singapore, the older generation tends to be more conservative. This trend has been passed on from our grandparents to our parents and to our current generation. Therefore, I would think that not having freedom of speech in Singapore is actually a positive thing.