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Singapore Blogger Spared Jail

Posted by CowboyNeal on from the shooting-off-one's-mouth dept.

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."

35 of 239 comments (clear)

  1. At least... by leviramsey · · Score: 5, Interesting

    ...Singapore treats bloggers like they do "Real Journalists".

    *sigh*

  2. How does police know about the Internet? by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 5, Funny

    So who first told the police about the existence of the Internet, and why?

  3. Educate Yourself Before Commenting by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 2, Informative

    Oh the Slashdotters will just love the restricted press and restricted freedom angle of this but, a little education may help you understand that this is not all bad. In Singapore, it is not just bad to slam Islam, it is illegal to speak ill or provacatively of any religion. So it is illegal for Christians to flame Muslims and it is illegal for Muslims to flame Christian or Jews. The law requires that everyone "just get along" or STFU! This twat posted flames and the law nabbed him.

    Call it oppression if you like but, you must acknowledge the fact that it makes for a more peaceful society.

    1. Re:Educate Yourself Before Commenting by Rosco+P.+Coltrane · · Score: 5, Insightful

      So it is illegal for Christians to flame Muslims and it is illegal for Muslims to flame Christian or Jews.

      The problem is that one group of religious nutjobs takes flaming the others quite literally.

      Also, I don't see why any of them should be spared criticism. I'm an atheist, and I'm always on the receiving end of some well-meaning advices to get me into religion, but for some reason we religion-less folks aren't allowed to criticize those who believe in fairy tales that involve some god or another...

      --
      "A door is what a dog is perpetually on the wrong side of" - Ogden Nash
    2. Re:Educate Yourself Before Commenting by radicalskeptic · · Score: 5, Interesting

      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.
    3. Re:Educate Yourself Before Commenting by rubycodez · · Score: 4, Insightful

      Large organized religions, especially Islam and Christianity, have been a curse to mankind, the cause of hundreds of millions of deaths and the worst cruelties, and continued poverty and ignorance. As an example of how brainwashed we are on the subject, point out how evil the nazis were and normal people agree; point out the Roman Catholic Church has murdered and persecuted more Jews than Hitler, and all of a sudden you get labelled as "intolerant". uh-huh....

    4. Re:Educate Yourself Before Commenting by mormop · · Score: 2, Insightful

      has a very uncorrupt government....

      Members of the government not being collared for corruption could well be because they're good at hiding it. Also, in a country where you can cane, imprison or kill people for offences that would warrant a fine elsewhere you may find the press and media are too deeply involved with or too downright scared of whoever's doing the fiddling.

      --
      Hmmmmmm..... Deep fried and look like Squirrel.
    5. Re:Educate Yourself Before Commenting by rubycodez · · Score: 3, Insightful

      you're right, and I only used RCC as example. Got modded "troll" in less than five minutes too, proving my point. Note that I don't treat any person badly or even differently because of their religion, and I myself come from a background of a religion that has done evil things too. Most all of my friends and relatives are of various organized religions that are doing and historically have done very bad things. But I'm saying its important to have the right to point out the bad things organized religions have done and are doing; while not harming any person or inciting hate for any person.

    6. Re:Educate Yourself Before Commenting by m0rph3us0 · · Score: 5, Insightful

      Athiests dont have religious beliefs. Thus people are able to critize our beliefs and we not theirs. i get this shit all the time, whenever some idiot says something ridiculous and then hides behind religion. Religion gets exempted all the time for their beliefis but athiests are never given the same benefit. Take for example Contenscious Objector status, you aren't allowed to object on a rational framework that killing is immoral, only a deeply held religious belief. Other great examples are bicycle helmet exemptions for sikhs. Or multiple wife exceptions for Muslim immigrants (in Canada). Religious exemptions just go to show how trivial and unimportant our laws are, basically saying if you believe in a fairy tale then you dont have to follow the law.

    7. Re:Educate Yourself Before Commenting by max+born · · Score: 2, Insightful

      According to Transparency International Singapore ranks 7th in the list of the world's least corrupt governments. They use a set of 16 indices and international surveys to determine corruptability.

      Number 1 least corrupt is Iceland. Last on the list is Chad. The US is 17th. Interesting thing about the US that bribing the government is not illegal.

    8. Re:Educate Yourself Before Commenting by CRCulver · · Score: 4, Informative

      Take for example Contenscious Objector status, you aren't allowed to object on a rational framework that killing is immoral, only a deeply held religious belief

      Speaking as one who asked for and received honourable discharge as a conscientious objector while serving in the United States Navy, and became very familiar with the regulations, you are simply wrong. Since a 1968 Supreme Court case, the military has not required that the objector present any religious beliefs, just a deeply held moral belief that killing is wrong. Nowadays due to stop-loss policies it's hard for anyone to leave the military as a CO, but several years ago when I left there were always successful COs who were atheists or agnostics. Look at MILPERSMAN (NAVPERS 15560 D).

    9. Re:Educate Yourself Before Commenting by Skye16 · · Score: 3, Insightful

      Where does one of these governments based on "freedom" exist?

      The word Freedom implies total freedom. 100%. That's anarchy. A "government based on freedom" is a blatant contradiction in terms.

      Governments can exist to promote some degree of some freedoms(s), and I assume that is what you meant. But stop with the trite soundbites of glorification, okay? The world is not black and white, and neither are governments. They're all just differing shades of grey.

    10. Re:Educate Yourself Before Commenting by Liam+Slider · · Score: 2, Insightful

      "Those who give up liberty for the sake of security deserve neither liberty nor security." - Benjamin Franklin

    11. Re:Educate Yourself Before Commenting by mordors9 · · Score: 3, Insightful

      Why do I get the feeling this is one of the countries that the United Nations will put in charge if ICANN is taken over by the UN.

    12. Re:Educate Yourself Before Commenting by randal23 · · Score: 2, Interesting
      Check this out:

      "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."

    13. Re:Educate Yourself Before Commenting by Tiro · · Score: 3, Informative
      The truth is that while there is not bribery or the kind of corruption you would find in a place like Sierra Leone or Russia, but there is a lot of corruption that keeps the elite 1% in control.

      If someone speaks out against the government and runs for parliament, the party that has run the place for the last 50 years sues for slander/libel and takes everything he owns. The person is also banned for running for office for a few years. Opposing the ruling party is like a peasant challenging a king, even if you are rich.

      The judges are not exactly bribed, but they know how they are "expected" to rule in these cases, and the ruling party is all-powerful.

  4. Caning! by mister_llah · · Score: 2, Funny

    Hey, come on, that American guy who messed with those cars or whatever got CANED...

    At least CANE the guy and release the video on the web...

    [preferably cane him to death and release the video as a warning to others, but whatever....]

    --
    MoM++ - A Classic Expanded - [Master of Magic 1.5]
    http://mompp.sourceforge.net/
  5. All hail Europe! by Nichotin · · Score: 4, Interesting

    It is a good thing that something similar to this never will happen in Europe!

    --
    Dvorak on Doomtech
  6. Singapore - not really free... by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 4, Interesting

    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...

    1. Re:Singapore - not really free... by putko · · Score: 2, Insightful

      "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..."

      Oh -- I guess I can't really call you an anonymous "COWARD" then, can I.

      The unclear limits in Singapore would lead a lot of people to kepe their mouth shut and head down, and just hope for the best -- because you never know when you might get in trouble.

      As Solszenitsyn mentions in his books on the gulags, the unclear boundaries of what was OK or not OK under the Bolsheviks led to people greatly restricting what they did, lest they get noticed and punished.

      --
      http://www.thebricktestament.com/the_law/when_to_s tone_your_children/dt21_18a.html
  7. Re:Those commie bastards! by radicalskeptic · · Score: 3, Informative

    Actually Singapore is a market economy. It's one of the reasons they've been able to turn their economy around since they had a recession in 2001. The government is very business-friendly.

    --
    WARNING: If accidentally read, induce vomiting.
  8. Not news! by linumax · · Score: 4, Interesting

    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!

  9. Re:energy is liberated through blasphemy by Lifewish · · Score: 2, Interesting

    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"!!!
  10. Re:What Did He Actually Say About Islam ? by DECS · · Score: 2, Insightful

    Radical Islam doesn't have the oil that's sponsoring terrorism. It's America's partners - the friendly (albeit civil rights hostile) Saudi Kingdom, that was the source of the hijackers who blew up the WTC, and members of Bush family friends (trained by the CIA) who planned the attacks.

    Also, Iraq was never radical islam - at best, a corrupt dictatorship that was nominally islamic.

    It's like a rich family got mugged by the son of their rich neighbor, so they blame the poor kids from the bad side of town.

    In Iraq's case, the rich neighbors went and burned the ghetto, creating more angry radicals, while doing nothing about the real problems in their own neighborhood.

  11. Wrong kind of dogs by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 2, Insightful
    Muslims are dogs like those cute, little dogs that Paris Hilton carries around in her purse.
    No, you naive fool. Devout muslims are like pitbulls: barking, biting, single-minded killing machines, awaiting a single moment of hesitation to go for your jugular.

    Theo Van Gogh. Twin Towers. Pentagon. USS Cole. Embassy bombings all over Africa. Tehran embassy takeover. Munich olympics massacre. THAT'S ISLAM, FOR YOUR INFORMATION.

    1. Re:Wrong kind of dogs by Stormwatch · · Score: 2
      letting people make such comments in public is just plain gay.
      Stop being homophobic, will ya?
      --
      Circumcision is child abuse.
  12. Huh? by Aqws · · Score: 3

    What did he actually say? I can't find information anywere. If it's something that I don't want hear, then I guess that's ok.

  13. More about the blogger by tcak · · Score: 5, Informative

    The Sydney Morning Herald is a little light on details. Gan Huai Shi's community service will be performed among the Malay-Muslims, the community he once expressed his racist sentiments. The Straits Times wrote: "His 180 hours of community work should also take place at Malay welfare organisations such as the Jamiyah Home for the Aged, Pertapis Children's Home and Muhammadiyah Health and Day Care Centre for the Aged."

    There is also a story behind his anti-Malay/Muslim remarks.

    "Mr Pereira told the court the youth's animosity towards Malays stemmed from the traumatic death of his baby brother 10 years ago.

    Gan, then seven, was with his mother trying to get a cab to rush his one-month-old brother to hospital. They failed to persuade a Malay couple to give up a taxi which had stopped for them. It took another 20 minutes before they flagged down another taxi. The baby was pronounced dead on arrival."

  14. News for Nerds? by cowboy76Spain · · Score: 2, Interesting

    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 /. have a rich-text editor? Editing your own HTML is so XXth century.
  15. Singapore, get off of the Internet by Mancat · · Score: 2, Funny

    I for one am tired of seeing every forum, newsgroup, and irc channel I visit being flooded by these morons.

    malay2u has joined #channel
      haiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiii
      who is r uuuu???? hellllllllloooooooooooooooooo?
      can u hlp meeeee plsssssssssss
      yy not?
      u all ar fagot
    malay2u has left #channel

    --
    hello dear sirs my name is jamesh i are india (bihar) can u guide me install red had linux 9?
  16. Uncorrupt country? by jotaeleemeese · · Score: 3, Interesting

    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.
  17. So Let Me Get This Straight... by jpiggot · · Score: 2, Funny

    You sent millions of unwanted emails, clogging my inbox with offers to make my penis hard like concrete, but chew gum while walking down the sidewalk, and it's a public ass-whipping with a cane ? Nice.

    --
    StupidChildren...the reason jesus is crying
  18. extremely inaccurate story and post by tod_miller · · Score: 2, Insightful

    Can someone explain why 'blogging' has ANYTHING to do with this damn story? You short-sighted fools.

    sedition charges last month for posting anti-Muslim remarks

    Does it matter WHERE he posted them? The fact that they were in a blog - DOES THIS MAKE THEM ANY FUCKING DIFFERENT. For fucks sake people, if you all make out that somehow, things written in blogs are somehow different to writing them in any other way? You totally miss the point of the story by focussing on some transient shitty 'technology / retracted-hyphenated word form' (noone knows what the fuck it actually means)

    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.

    I can imagine that previously they have not devoted resources to 'online' information which requires a certain amount of organisation and recruitment of people who are net savvy to track these things. They are certainly not 'stepping up efforts against bloggers' You twatish hyper-fucking-teen-girl-giggling knobjockeys. hehehehe look we can bitch and moan about our rights and bloggers, and like, start a revolution damn it! stick it to the man! yeah, fuck yeah. idiots.

    What is the worst fucking thing?

    The fact that this pissfuckingshitty word like blog is whored all over this story, and noone gives a flying fuck about the actual case, which is about a country disallowing freedom of speech against religions.

    Fuck if he posted it to a fucking bbs, forum, irc chan, news site, comment board, shoutbox, blog, profile, or any other thing you want to call text that is transmitted over http.

    I have repeated this TIME AND TIME AGAIN. Not to mention the stories (oh damn I wish /. wouldn't clowns a wider audience) from pseudo wannabe bloggers who write articles ABOUT journalistic rights of bloggers - NOT ACTUALLY ABOUT FREEDOM OF FUCKING SPEECH but their own twisted short sighted lazy, irresponsible 'DAMN these laws conflict with my interest to say any shit and drive treffic to my motherfucking ads'.

    You get it now?

    Shut the FUCK up about blogging when talking about online freedoms of speech, in fact, shut the fuck up about online, and look at the real picture you narrow minded fucks.

    He wasn't convicted under blogging laws, or for a crime of blogging. People are moving the fucking issue and not considering the reality of what he was charged for and the implications of that. Now, go ahead mod me down for swearing at the top of my voice trying to be heard in the squalid shit storm of ignorance that plagues /. these days.

    please type the word in this image: dihedral
    random letters - if you are visually impaired, please email us at pater@slashdot.org

    --
    #hostfile 0.0.0.0 primidi.com 0.0.0.0 www.primidi.com 0.0.0.0 radio.weblogs.com
  19. Singapore's new ad slogan by schnitzi · · Score: 2

    "Singapore: It's Not Just The Heat That's Oppressive."

    --



    I object to that article, and to the next reply.
  20. Let me give you the context by hoshino · · Score: 2, Informative

    For those of you who are wondering why our government considers such remarks as "sedition", no it's NOT because our government is controlled by religious zealots or anything.

    The reason is simple, racial riots broke out in Singapore in the 1960s. The government realized that being the muilti-racial country that we are, such conflicts between the communities cannot be allowed to happen again. We are a small country and if internal disputes between the races and religions breaks us up, there won't be anything left for anyone.

    Thanks to 40 years of government policies, including the racial quotas in government housing such that racial groups will not be segregated into different areas/buidlings, Singapore has enjoyed racial and religious harmony, even after Islamic extremists were arrested post-911 for plotting to blow up American targets in Singapore (under the same Interal Security Act that Singapore is always receiving criticisms for).

    So yes, maybe some of you prefer to chase after an abstract concept of "freedom", but to Singaporeans, it's a good thing that that idiot got arrested for his racist comments.