Singapore Bloggers Charged Under Sedition Act

ChannelNewsAsia is reporting that for the first time in at least 10 years Singapore has invoked the sedition act and charged two local bloggers for posting racist comments on an online forum. From the article: 'Said Singaporean blogger Benjamin Lee (Mr Miyagi):" A lot of them will be looking at their blogs and wondering if they made any legally seditious remarks. I think because of the way this will be played up, it's negative publicity for the Singapore blogging community."'

Comments

Speaking as an Irishman

[$RANDOMLUSER]

Remember: It's only sedition/rebellion if you lose.

*Sigh* look at it like this.

[mcc]

Ignorance is the natural breeding ground of racism.

This means that you cannot combat racism by limiting information or expression. The only effective way you can combat racism is by countering it with good information-- demonstrating the racists wrong, rather than silencing them.

If you try to fight racism by silencing it, you are only hurting yourself in the long run. Even aside from the slippery slope problem, you inevitably wind up with a situation where the fact you are trying to silence these people brands them with a false stamp of legitimacy. The old "help help I'm being oppressed" thing is a powerful tool, even to those whose message is itself in favor of oppression; the racists can easily twist the fact the government is trying to silence them into an argument in their favor.

In the long run this just isn't helpful; it's like trying to put out a grease fire by pouring oil on it. No good will come of what Singapore is trying to do here, only collateral damage.

Re:The Price of Being Chinese

[MightyMartian]

Ah my, but it isn't just darling to see governments that are so cowardly that they fear their own citizens. Of course, such vile oppressive governments will always defend themselves via that pathetic "society must be protected" defense, but they are vile and wicked never the less.

Of course, what is more pathetic is that the West should stand up to such governments, but the West has been taken over by corporate lackeys who are only interested in bottom lines.

"We don't like what you do, but we like what you pay."