Regulation of political commentary on the Internet in Singapore- Refer to TalkingCock.com/ Mr Brown

There has indeed many issues brought up on the matter of freedom of speech in Singapore. Singapore government had set strict guidelines for the discussion of such matters. Topics of criticism could land you in troubles like fines or even imprisonment. There are hence regulations of political commentary on the internet in Singapore. Such examples could be seen from the www.talkingcock.com , Mr Brown Shows and singabloodypore.civiblog.org.

The Singapore government however do allow blog posts to comment on politics, etc, but it is strictly regulated. Now, this podcasting ban comes after the previous regulation of political content published online. From 'Singabloodypore', I learned of Yawning Bread’s must-read article entitled Blogging During Elections. There you’ll find a glimpse of our government’s regulations on the Parliamentary Elections Act, specifically related to the blogging of political content and the ease at which uninitiated bloggers can be prosecuted in Singapore. Throughout this legal document, three words kept repeating: “No election advertising”. There are also some well-known local blogs run by private individuals who have ventured into podcasting. The content of some of these podcasts can be quite entertaining. However, the streaming of explicit political content by individuals during the election period is prohibited under the Election Advertising Regulations.

Personally I feel that such political podcast or commentaries are not always harmful but actually healthy in various ways. Nevertheless, I feel that we should not hide behind anonymity. On top of this, we must ensure responsible use of the internet during campaigning as the free-for all environment of the internet is open to abuse. According to the same Channel News Asia report, the “government’s view is that people can have diverse views, but should not hide behind the anonymity of the internet, to manipulate public opinion.” This is a controversial issue since most opponents of online anonymity suggest that anonymity encourages illegal or dangerous activity (e.g. terrorism, sexual predators). However, the history of anonymous expression in political dissent is long and both honorable. In the tradition of anonymous British political criticism, the Federalist Papers were anonymously authored. Without the public discourse on the controversial contents of the U.S. Constitution, ratification would likely have taken much longer as individuals worked through the issues. While there is an intrinsic lack of control the government can have over the anonymous, perhaps the idea of anonymity leans more towards the western ideal that is freedom of expression. This might not appeal to the Singaporean government which subscribe to the so-called 'Asian Values'.

We must consider the fact that not all of them are commenting behind anonymity and sincerely wants to voice out their thoughtful inputs on the issues in their most humble and truthful opinions. So in a way, the opening political commentary could benefit a country like Singapore a lot. There are many innovative leaders in Singapore who sought to improve the systems and to give their creative ideas. For systems of a country to be successful, firstly, the government must make known to the masses that they care for them, before embarking on the systems they deem feasible. No matter how good the systems are, if you do not get the opinions of the people and force and brainwash them to submit to it, there will be many controversies raised then. Then chaos will be brought to the society which I think nobody would be pleased to see that. Having such stricter regulations and rules, many people are now reluctant to voice their own views, in fear that they would say something wrong and be landed in any trouble after which. In my opinion, this is an unhealthy approach.

Besides all of these, we have to consider the government’s point of view. As everyone knows, the Internet is a very powerful networking system of idea dissemination. For example once a rumour or false news is leaked onto the Internet, it could spread to hundreds and thousands within minutes. This has to be taken into consideration before opening the privilege of freedom of speech lest such possible false news result in fragmentation of the country.