Slashdot Mirror
Singapore Blogger Spared Jail
afaik_ianal writes "A Singaporean blogger, who pled guilty to sedition charges last month for posting anti-Muslim remarks in his blog, has avoided a custodial sentence, and has been placed on 2 years probation instead. According to the article, the 17 year old student is the third person to be convicted under Singapore's sedition laws in October. Singapore, which is unconcerned by wide criticism of its record of press freedom, appears to have been stepping up efforts against bloggers in recent months."
...Singapore treats bloggers like they do "Real Journalists".
*sigh*
It is a good thing that something similar to this never will happen in Europe!
Dvorak on Doomtech
I am actually considering moving to Singapore, and read about this while I was researching what it is like. Singapore actually is kind of to me, an interesting experiment in censorship. On the one hand, as a liberty-loving American, I'm wary of a place where speaking your mind can get you thrown in jail. On the other hand, singapore has one of the lowest crime rates in the world, is one of the cleanest countries in the world, has a very uncorrupt government, and somehow manages to keep a lot of different ethnicities (Chinese, Malay, Indian, many more) together mostly peacefully--in the most densely populated country on the planet, no less. This makes me wonder how much of it is due to the strict laws regarding racism, censorship, and morality (a lot of movies are censored or banned, pornography and oral sex is illegal, etc).
Basically, I see the censorship/nanny state-sim, and I see the apparent economic and social success of the country, and I have to wonder how much they are related. And I wonder if I would give up some of my rights to live in a country that seems to be doing just fine without them.
WARNING: If accidentally read, induce vomiting.
Being from Singapore myself I can say that Singapore never has been free - it makes a superficial attempt at looking like a democracy, but thats just to appease outsiders. Things like other political parties aren't legal... and people have been known to disappear if they hold the wrong views...
Call it oppression if you like but, you must acknowledge the fact that it makes for a more peaceful society.
Oh yeah, like that's gonna work. What happens when you suppress freedom of speech regarding religion, racism, nazism or whatever, is that racists and nazis and religious nuts all get to brew their little hatreds quietly to avoid the law, and one day it explodes without anybody seeing it coming.
Just look at France: a big majority of the (white) population is racist, as demonstrated by the last presidential election that gave 15% to the extreme right. Similarly, many arabs there are anti-french. Yet nobody openly speaks openly about these issues. The result is an extremely cloudy racial situation. In contrast, America lets its KKKs and White Powers talk freely, letting everybody witness what a stupid redneck is, and how stupid his ideas are, which actually helps prevent these ideas entering young or weak minds.
"A door is what a dog is perpetually on the wrong side of" - Ogden Nash
In Iran (where I live) this is no news, it just happens everyday! the only difference is that jail is the simplest thing that could happen to a blogger!
They also like to hang you if you happen to like getting high.
Whilst bankrolling Burmese opium lords.
(Please check the facts before modding me down. Thanks.)
My other
P.S. All Satanists are really Christians. You do realise this, don't you?
Actually a decent chunk of satanists see Lucifer as being solely a metaphor for life, or a "force" equivalent to the Christian (C.S. Lewis et al) view of God as an underlying moral force to the universe. There's a comparatively small proportion of "literal" satanists (the sort that could indeed be considered left-handed Christians), who are more correctly termed Diabolists. Less abridged summary here
For the love of God, please learn to spell "ridiculous"!!!
have u been to Singapore? how DO YOU KNOW EVERY_THING_IS_ILLEGAL???
and if you dont believe there is less crime in Singapore than in NY or many major cities in the world, do your research, read more or better still, come here and see for yourself!! You wont hear police car siren every now and then. You wont feel scared walking late at night fearing being rob or shot. I'm not saying there aint any but you don't get it everyday!
How do I know? cos I live in Singapore. that's y.
They are strict with racial profanity for good reasons and most citizens accept and respects that. The rights to respect other race is a corporate rights not an individual rights. 50 years ago, the racial riots in this place had rendered terrible consequences here. From then on, the government has made great stride to knit the community together and maintain harmony. We can make racist speach and spark a racial riot in LA and even if LA turned upside down America still survive because that is only one city. But in Singapore once a racial riot takes place, this small city state is what is has. It can't afford to take chances and let history repeat itself. Do you think that is an easy feat? Look at the chaos in France and you know what I mean. Just don't use your liberty at other's expense and you are quite safe.
They may also have weird laws but which country doesn't? One man's meat another man's poison. That's all I can say.
Excuse, but how come this new makes it to slashdot? Granted, the comments were made in a blog, but the issue is not with the blog itself but with the comments. Had he/she made the comments in a graffiti, or shouted them in a crowded place, it would be the same in regard to the law. Of course there is the issue if we like Singapur's laws, but then ours is just our opinion and who should decide on the law should be the Singapur citizens. And for do that properly, the article or any source should tell which where the comments that were made.
Do not forget that many democratic, Western countries, have laws that forbid making racist comments in public, too.
So, please do not make a "News for nerds" of everything that uses technology; just those news where the technology is a basic part or it, or where the new is about the technology. Posting this is like posting about an stalker just because he uses a cell phone to make dirty calls...
Why can't
Many people of developed nations are used to idea that the finances of civil servants, such as politicians, are public information. If people aren't accountable, you can't enforce the law banning bribes, it's worth nothing.
That's why US public system is considered de facto bribed.
I want those rose tainted glasses matey, I would live in a less anguished world.
If you were a politician in opossition you would be living in hell.
If during a political campaign you claim a politician in power is not doing his job properly and why you could do it better, the politician in question will sue you for libel, take you to court, and Singapore is still waiting for the first goverment official that loses one of these cases.
Once you lose the case (beacuse lose you will) the punishment is draconian and basically you are ordered to pay outlandish damages to make sure your larn your lesson. Several prominent Singaporean opposition figures have been bankrupted this way.
Singapore executes people with the happy detachement only to be found in China (google around, you can always find one or two recent cases that leave you cringing with disgust for their "judicial system").
Singapore was also the first country in the world to introduce nationwide filtering of the Internet (but all is of course in the benefit of the citizens of the happy city-state, what do they want foreigners spreading lies about this forward looking country!).
No, I am not Singaporean, neither have Singaporean friends, but I lived and visited there, it reminded me of "Brave New World" a bit.
IANAL but write like a drunk one.
"Tough on drugs, soft on drug lords
[...] A leading opposition figure cites "the Singapore Government Investment Corporation's 1990s investment in the Myanmar Fund, controlled by Lo Hsing Han, one of Burma's most notorious drug lords, through his Asia World Company. Lo's son, Stephen Law, is married to a Singaporean and lives in Singapore."