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Tuesday, September 13, 20051126588500
No Human Rights for Bloggers in Singapore
"Two bloggers charged under Sedition Act over racist remarks," by Pearl Forss, Channel NewsAsia, 12 September 2005, http://www.channelnewsasia.com/stories/singaporelocalnews/view/167812/1/.html (from Slashdot).
Quoted in full, emphasis mine
Two bloggers have been charged with sedition for posting racist [sic -- tdaxp] comments online.
This is the first time bloggers are being charged in Singapore and it is sending shockwaves through the local blogging community.
Lawyers say the last time the sedition act was invoked in Singapore was at least 10 years ago.
Twenty-five-year-old Nicholas Lim Yew and 27-year-old Benjamin Koh Song Huat are being accused of posting racist comments on an online forum and on their blog site.
They are both being charged with committing a seditious act, by promoting feelings of ill-will and hostility between races in Singapore.
They were not represented by defence lawyers and were granted bail of S$10,000 each.
This charge came as a shock to many in the blogging community.
Said Singaporean blogger Benjamin Lee (Mr Miyagi):" A lot of them will be looking at their blogs and wondering if they made any legally seditious remarks. I think because of the way this will be played up, it's negative publicity for the Singapore blogging community."
"Currently if you surf the net you will come across a lot of bloggers making such comments. You will probably see a drop in such cases henceforth. At the moment I am not aware of any cases except of a case in Iran where bloggers are charged. But Iran has a different legal system from Singapore," said Leonard Loo, managing partner of Leonard Loo & Co Advocates & Solicitors.
Channel NewsAsia understands that the Media Development Authority had asked host servers to remove a racist [sic -- tdaxp] blog from the web.
Police are now investigating this matter.
While many racist blogs by Singaporeans can be found online, the blogging community is also quick to criticize any racist comments.
Channel NewsAsia has received many emails from viewers informing us about a few racist sites.
Viewers said they were "appalled as well as disappointed that a Singaporean could condemn" other fellow Singaporeans of a different race.
Lawyers warn that anybody who forwards seditious remarks to others via email can also be charged with abetment.
The case is expected to be heard in court again on September 21.
A person is deemed to have committed an offence under the Sedition Act if he performs any act which has a seditious tendency, or conspires with any person to do so.
It is also an offence to utter any seditious words or to print, publish, sell, distribute, reproduce or import any seditious publication.
First time offenders can be fined up to S$5,000, or jailed up to three years, or both.
For subsequent offences, they can be jailed up to five years and have their seditious publications forfeited and destroyed
And so much good has been given by the Singapore blogosphere!
00:15 Posted by Dan tdaxp in Blogosphere | Permalink | Comments (3) | Email this | Tags: censorship, singapore
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Bloggers Charged with Sedition
Two bloggers in Singapore have been charged with sedition for posting racist comments online. This is the first time bloggers are being charged in Singapore and it is sending shockwaves through the local blogging community (I bet!), and Singapore̵...
Trackback by: The English Guy | Tuesday, September 13, 2005
Comments
Tommy boy sorta missed your post.
Still his big fan? He's now in league with
his page mates, Kooky, MoDo, & Rich.
Defend it if you can.
Best,
N.
Still Eating Our Lunch
By THOMAS L. FRIEDMAN
Published: September 16, 2005
SingaporeSingapore is a country that takes the Internet seriously. Last week its Ministry of Defense granted a deferment for the country's compulsory National Service to a Singaporean teenager so he could finish competing in the finals of the World Cyber Games - the Olympics of online war games.Skip to next paragraph Fred R. Conrad/The New York Times
Posted by: larwyn | Friday, September 16, 2005
Larwyn,
I agree with Tom Friedman's latest column on Singapore. The country does take high-tech seriously: if it didn't, it wouldn't bother to censor.
Friedman's larger point about Singapore's emphasis on both cognitive and behavioral ways of teaching math is very good. Singapore knows that her children are good at rote learning, and wants to teach mathematical creativity. Currently, we're pretty awful at both, and aren't trying to meaningfully improve (except for baby steps in the No Child Left Behind act).
Posted by: Dan tdaxp | Friday, September 16, 2005
Yes, and:
"Mussolini made the trains run on time"*
It is a bit dishonest to not put this success
in context.
The Left/Dems are already screaming that
Bush, seeing the rebuilding of the Gulf Coast as
an opportunity, would allow private entities to
build the schools, and for the parents to be
issued vouchers.
A bit of making lemonade by those who
believe in school choice.
You know that, I rant often enought about
the state of many public school systems. New
Orleans is good example. But just trying to
implement the NCLB act runs into the wall
that is the NEA. "Goodness, you expect
us to teach these children to add, subtract,
divide and multiply to pass that math test?"
"We are spending all our time teaching to the
test. Having to teach MATH! You cut into our
teaching how minorities earn less per hour than
white men of european decent. How dare you
make these children learn the multiplcation
tables!"
Sorry, I cannot remember the exact
circumstances for the sentence of a public
whipping that was carried out on a young
American citizen a few years ago by Singapore.
That would surely "focus the mind".
Hope Rove has read Freidman's column
and is right now encouraging education
specialtists of Singapore's system to come
over and set up new schools in the 90,000 sq
miles of destruction that is now the Gulf Coast.
Actually they run schools as the real nuns
(Sisters of Mercy (Ha) & Ursuline in my case)
ran their schools all those years ago. Still know
my multiplication tables.
Thanks for opportunity to see how this
column by Freidman can be used to support
private schools and to toss out worrying about
"self esteem" vs good old American competition.
You missed the problem that I have with
Tommy lately. To appease his base he has
to imply that all problems, and history began
with the election of Bush 43.
*For those challenged by Historical Facts:
Benito Mussolini
Born: 29 July 1883
Birthplace: Predappio, Italy
Died: 28 April 1945 (Shot to death)
Best Known As: Italy's dictator during World War II
Known as "Il Duce" -- the Leader -- Mussolini was the Fascist dictator of Italy during World War II. Mussolini grew active in Italian politics in the first decade of the 1900s.
Best, as always,
N
Posted by: larwyn | Friday, September 16, 2005