Dear patdog112,
before you comment on the jailing of the bloggers as unfair, pls
think about the large picture and the historical context that this
incident was coming from. For this moment, I'm going to argue that
Singapore does not restrict the freedom of speech, but it does not
meant that people can abuse the right and make irresponsible
remarks such as racist ones. Even if you want to make
anti-government or anti-PAP remarks, I think it's your responsible
to provide a constructive and responsible response.
In case you have never bothered to check out Singapore's history,
let me give you a very short lecture on Singapore history, which
will explain why these people are tried for making their remarks in
their blog.
Have you ever heard of 1964 racial riot? Ever wondered why it
happened? If you ask me, in addition of the political situation
that time, it was mainly due to people making irresponsible
remarks, which fired up the crowd. Although, till this day,
historians and politicians are still arguing who was in fault for
starting the riot, I will say that the irresponsible remarks made
by M'sia (not meant to criticise the other side, just my viewpoint
only) had directly created the racial tension that led to the riot.
Right here, I'm not pointing the arrow to anyone, but the point
that I'm making was that the allowance of 'free speech' without
supervision can be destructive to the peace in Singapore, given its
societal pluralism. That's the reason why the Singapore government
has been advocating racial harmony.
However, pls note that right now, I'm not saying that Singapore
should not be moving towards a more liberal democracy but given the
fragile social structure of Singapore, one should exercise more
caution in making remarks, especially any remarks which explicitly
targets at any particular community in Singapore, be it Chinese,
Malay, Indian or whatever.
Anyway, when you are talking about 'min zhu' in Singapore, have you
ever considered the context by which why Singapore does not seem to
be 'min zhu' to you?
