freedom of expression

As everyone knows, Singapore is a multi-racial society where the government puts strong empathize on equality in all religions and races. I personally feel that Singapore should focus on social responsibility rather than freedom of expression as it would result in a relatively more peaceful, harmonious society.

During the 1960s, race riots broke out in Singapore sparked off by trivial incident. In one such case, a Chinese policeman requested a group of Muslims to rejoin the procession during the celebration of the Prophet Muhammad's birthday. He was battered to death and the media reported this, causing rising anger among the Chinese. Actually, the true cause of this particular riot is not because of the media’s report, neither is it the death of a Chinese. It is the underlying tension between the Chinese and the Malays. The incident is just a spark which ignited the bomb--tension in the society. To prevent the race riots that occurred in the 1960s from happening again, the government did the right thing by maintain a strong stand with regard to not legalizing freedom of expression. Recently, a young man who posted disparaging remarks on the Muslims on his blog had been sentenced to 1 month’s jail under Sedition Act. Although I feel that the sentence is too heavy for just a causal comment, it did the right thing as this will deter others from following in his footsteps and possibly accumulate tension between the different races in Singapore.

Another reason why Singapore should practice social responsibility is that this is the 21st century, where it is the internet era. Most information is circulated through the internet. It takes a long time to remove an offending message. By the time this is achieved, the harm had already been done. Prevention is better than cure. I believe that the best way out is educate people during schooling time on the importance of social responsibility.

On the other side of the spectrum, I support freedom of speech as this should be a basic right as a human being. The ex-prime minister encourages that too by promoting the younger generation to speak up in his speech and his talk shows. The media too respects that right by hosting a variety show that allows everyone from expressing their viewpoints. However, there should be limitations, such as no swearing, no crude words and most importantly, respect for the other races and religions.

402 words.

“Criminals are born, not made.” ‘Made’ in this sense means harsh environment in which they live in that caused some people to take a wrong path, crossing the boundary of the forbidden wall while ‘ born’ in this particular area means that some people are bound to break the law due to their character traits.
Confucius believed that all humans are born with a kind heart; it is the environment that caused them to turn evil. One cannot deny that a baby’s is the purest stage of human when he/she had never experienced any negative emotions. This seems to suggest that environment is the cause of the birth of criminals. Indeed this is so to a large extent. Recent statics have shown that more than 80% of criminals come from destitute homes. Humans tend to be easily influenced by surroundings. Who wouldn’t be violent if he/she spends ten or twenty years with abusive parents or watch extremely gory shows?
Most of the crimes committed are out of impulse. This is why majority of the criminals turn themselves or admit to their crimes in court as they knows what they have done is wrong. Recently, the news reported a case of murder whereby the murderer stayed stunned at the crime scene, even though the killing took place hours ago. The murderer must have been agitated by the victim and there and then kill the victim without so much of a thought. Otherwise, he would be escape to other countries easily. Once again, this proves that most crimes are committed due to unforeseen circumstances.
The recent attention grabbing mass killing in Virginia was committed by Cho Seung-Hui. Although investigations have shown that the mass killing was planned by him weeks before the actual killing, we have to ask ourselves what really triggered off his desire to kill? Is it his violent nature or the environment he lives in? His ex-classmates had described him as being isolated from students, was a constant target of bullies. This simply tells us that he is definitely not ‘born’ with the mentality to kill. Instead, he was ‘made’ to commit murders due to hatred in him caused by the aggressors.
On the other side of the spectrum, some people are simply born with violent nature. Examples are those with XXY chromosomes who are scientifically proven to have a tendency to have frustration-based outbursts, low self esteem, emotional, and mental disorders. These are the typical characteristic of hardcore criminals who are simply bent on causing destruction to their surroundings. However, these babies are one in more than five hundreds. In addition, if other genes in the baby are more dominant, then the extra X chromosome will have little or no effect.
In conclusion, we have to admit that minority criminals are born whereas majority criminals are made. Thus, there is no clear cut as to whether criminals are born or made. However, I would like to stress that most criminals are just like you and me, who are people who can be easily made to commit crimes due to negative feelings.

George Orwell used imagery. For examples, ‘he (the convict) was dangling with his toes pointed straight upwards, very slowly revolving, as dead as stone’, ‘clanking noise (sound of the execution)’and ‘poked the bare body’. All these aspects of imagery allow us to visualize an image of the execution ongoing, empathizing on the pain, the humiliation the convict had to bear.

These are some of the arguments for capital punishment:
· The convict should be punished severely according to his serious crime.
· Capital punishment severs as deterrence in the society.
· The convict has no right to live on as his acts had hurt or kill many people.
· Execution of death is painless.

These are some of the arguments against capital punishment:

The court has no right to deny anyone of living.
Convicts should be given a chance to change over a new leaf.
Execution of death is very painful.
Capital punishment affects not only the convict, but their families as well.

I support the implement of capital punishment as the saying goes, ‘a leopard never changes its spot’. To let a convict who had committed heinous crimes continue living is akin letting the tiger back into the wood. A prisoner still has the ability to harm others even in jail.

I believed capital punishment is justified so long as there are concrete evidences to prove that the criminal had killed or indirectly but intentionally killed others.