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.