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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."'
And does racist speech = hate speech?
This is an honest question. As much as I hate racism and hate speech, I have to admit that Dave Chapelle, whose comedy many times has to do with race, is one of the best/original comedians out there today.
Of course his is meant for comedy rather than hate, but where does one draw the line?
"Injustice anywhere is a threat to justice everywhere." - Martin Luther King, Jr.
Look, this is a city-state who canes graphiti painters. You know they'll not be looking too kindly on seditious postings.
Wonder if that could happen here?
What those who want activist courts fear is rule by the people.
I am not surprised in the slightest. Having been to Singapore many times, it is a VERY "tight" country. If you break the rules, the punishment is quite severe.
Drug dealers = death penalty. Vandalism = caning (remember that?). No selling gum. No chewing gum (at least in public). No joke.
While I don't think the totalitarianism is required, I will say that Singapore is VERY clear about the rules. Everybody knows them and everybody knows that if you break them, you do so at your own risk. They don't seem to have as many ambiguous laws as here in the US so it seems to work pretty well. The fact that some bloggers would post "maybe it will get me in trouble" stuff, is very ballsy.
Funny, and very true. A lot of people complain about the US suppressing free speech, but it's very rare for the government to charge people for making racist remarks. The only time they do is when they're making an effort to promote violence.
:)
I think racism is awful, but I'm glad I live in a country that allows people to speak their mind. I do, however, tire of people "playing the race card", which IMHO is just as bad as the racism itself. It detracts from the situations where the complaints are real.
Partially OT, so feel free to mod me down.
You have enemies? Good. That means you've stood up for something, sometime in your life. --Winston Churchill
Agreed. Prejudice is a natural human survival instinct. That's not to say stereotypes apply to everyone in a particular group, but it's a good start. It's natural to feel afraid walking alone in a ghetto, but once you get to meet one of the residents you might be pleasantly surprised at how nice they are. Still, I'd bring along my pepper spray.
If a few Chinese moonbats ranting about the Malays' alleged racial inferiority is enough to spark a conflict, the people of Singapore should just go ahead and prepare for war because clearly their neighbors are itching for a fight. Besides, the only way to get an honest dialog going is to let people speak their minds. If people are forced to censor themselves so as to not offend the people they already consider inferior then guess what you've done? You've just made them even more convicted in their racism!
Yes, that's right. If you take a group of people who already view themselves as racially, not culturally, superior to another and force them to limit their liberties so as to not offend the group they condescend to, their natural reaction will be to condescend even more because "clearly, those people are so weak that they can't even handle a bad attitude."
Conflicts like this usually have very, very deep roots and it never ceases to amaze me how American left-liberals can never fail to suggest to change a group's natural reaction instead of accepting it. Hate to break it to you people, but the reality is that the strong do not typically respect those that are weaker than they are. That is life. You do not expect a lion to respect a terrier, so why expect a group that is very economically and militarily powerful in their region to respect a group that is by comparison very weak? Are we not animals as well, and do not both religion and science agree that the strong does not respect the weak?
Yes, let's encourage them to reevaluate their attitudes and seek to become better people by accepting others' weakness. Do as the Bible idealizes, and encourage the lion to have the strength of will and character to lay down with the sheep. But do not think that it is natural, and do not think that a weekly class on "tolerance" is going to make them like those they tend to look down on. Besides, technically they already show tolerance toward them because tolerance simply means live-and-let live. It doesn't imply you like them or want anything to do with them. It means you tolerate them, which is basically what most people do to small children who behave like brats or yappy little dogs. What they need is brotherly/sisterly reconciliation between their groups, not some half-assed bullshit called tolerance.
Click here or a puppy gets stomped!
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.
I hope you will help by contributing to Wikipedia's page on Race and Intelligence.
It's a bit one-sided at the moment.
don't forget that chewing gum is a controlled substance.
jehovah's witnesses are considered a dangerous cult and their members are jailed and their literature destroyed.
fellatio without vaginal sex (consensual or not) is a crime, for which you can be imprisoned for life. this law is still actively used for prosecutions to this day.
saying "fuck you" or making an obscene gesture to a woman is a criminal offense under section 509 of the singapore penal code.
nice place.
In Singapore, racial harmony is considered nothing less than a matter of national survival. We are a tiny city state that is home to many races. We used to have racial riots in the 60's and 70's, where hundreds died in brutal street warfare. My father used to patrol his Chinese neighbourhood with a parang (machete) to keep out Malays. Race is not a laughing matter in Singapore.
There is now harmony between the races, achieved by force, reeducation and enforced mixing in housing, education and military service. In formulating policy, the Singaporean government considers people to be basically selfish and untrustworthy. People only respond to threats and incentives, brutally and unfailingly enforced. Their better natures are not appealed to, since they have none. These rules are enforced on the rulemakers themselves, since they recognize that they too are human. In my contact with people around the world, I find that this cynical view of human nature is basically correct. The few saints and heroes that exist are the exceptions that prove the rule.
Singapore considers itself to be continually under immediate threat of destruction, whether by economic decline, military invasion, social disintegration, racial or religious disharmony, crime, terrorism or simple governmental incompetence. As a tiny nation with no natural resources, we have no right to survive, and every day that we continue to exist is a miracle.
To survive, discipline is enforced and continual sacrifice expected. This sacrifice takes many forms. We sacrifice our civil rights, and our time and youth in conscripted military service. We expend tremendous effort to secure even the water that we drink and the food we eat. In return for this sacrifice, we have order, fair laws and good government. We walk our streets in safety and live in prosperity. We deserve none of these things, and they are dearly bought. There is no room for error with regards to anything that threatens Singapore's survival. We are too small to take any hits or make any mistakes. Hence the conservatism, harshness and hardheadedness of our laws and policies. We can afford no illusions.
Hence the classification of hate speech as sedition. It is a direct threat to national security and national survival. It threatens the lives of fellow citizens. We do not want to repeat the past.
I hope this also helps you to understand why we are the way we are -- why Singapore has such harsh laws, a disproportionately large military, and strictly enforced social order -- and why Singaporeans support it.
I've been working in Singapore for 3 years, and I understand where they are coming from. Singapore views racial integration seriously, too seriously for our liking perhaps. But we have to understand its reasons.
The island-nation do not have any natural resources. Its neighbors are largely Muslim populated countries plagued with political instability and strife. It has pulled itself from a struggling third world country to a first world nation in less than 30 years from the strengths of its people and good governance alone. Racial integration and harmony IS THE pillar of the country. Take that away and Singapore will not be what it is today. Thus, in this part of the world, racism is sedition.
We, Americans can't seem to understand, why Singapore, one of the safest, cleanest, richest, most modern country in the world can't accept our ideals. Perhaps it's time we try to understand before we are so quick to judge.