Prime News
Schools act against students for 'flaming' teachers on blogs
Sandra Davie Liaw Wy-Cin
514 words
27 September 2005
Straits Times
English
(c) 2005 Singapore Press Holdings Limited
FREE speech may be the buzzword on the Internet - but libel is unacceptable everywhere.
The message has been sent out loud and clear, with five junior college students being punished for posting offensive remarks about two teachers and a vice-principal online.
The students, all girls, were made to remove the remarks from their Internet diaries, or blogs, and suspended for three days last month. Their parents were also informed.
The case is not an isolated one. Of the 31 secondary schools and junior colleges contacted, 18 said they were seeing more such incidents as the number of bloggers surges.
Seven secondary schools and two JCs have asked bloggers who criticise or insult their teachers online - 'flaming' in Internet jargon - to remove the offending remarks.
One such remark referred to a secondary school teacher as a 'prude' for disciplining a student for wearing a too-short skirt. 'Frustrated old spinster. Can't stand to see attractive girls,' the blog read.
Tanglin Secondary science and PE teacher Tham Kin Loong said: 'I've had vulgarities hurled against me, my parents and my whole family in some students' blogs.'
The 33-year-old added: 'Most of them do not realise the legal implications of what they are writing in such a public domain.'
If teachers wish to prosecute, they may have legal grounds to do so.
Singapore Teachers' Union general secretary Swithun Lowe said the union is ready to back any teacher who wants to take legal action. It has offered legal help to a few members, but they did 'not want to affect the prospects of their young students'.
Lawyers say students can be sued for defamation, even if a teacher is not named. 'As long as someone is able to identify the teacher, and it is an untrue statement that affects his reputation or livelihood, then the student is liable,' said Ms Doris Chia of Harry Elias and Partners.
An injunction can be taken to get the student to remove the blog and issue an apology, she added.
But none of the schools contacted by The Straits Times has banned blogging. Rather, many English and General Paper teachers encourage it to improve students' language and writing skills.
Schools also said they do not police blogs. They say they only check them after complaints are made.

Comments:

This is a good example of bad free speech, which I feel will solve nothing. “Flaming” teachers behind their back doesn’t help students of teachers in anyway (expect for their English which may or may not improve considering the language and short forms commonly used in Blogs), in fact, things may get worse for the student, aside from being punished, he may get “blacklisted” by the teachers. This type of free speech has no purpose but to insult others, should it be allowed? Maybe it can be allowed on a small scale, like in schools. But if we put it on a national scale, if one group of people insulted another group of people, it would probably result in a crisis.

Posted By Shen Boyuan

Will we see the truth in online diaries any more?
Letter from Berton Lim
340 words
29 September 2005
TODAY (Singapore)
AM N PM
36
English
(c) 2005. MediaCorp Press Ltd.
Sceptics may have always felt that online diary entries are written for an intended audience, but an online diary has always been a medium of expression by an individual to put his or her thoughts into words.
Given the recent events revolving around racism and flaming of teachers in web logs, will we ever get to see the truth in what web loggers feel and think again?
If we impose regulations on what people should believe in or say in their web logs, it is an infringement on democracy.
I do not advocate irresponsible individuals who spread untrue material that could threaten racial harmony or defame an individual.
Stern action should be taken by the Government so as to preserve the sanctity of this nation and ensure that our peace and prosperity is not threatened.
But we also have to realise that if we were to expect only good words from one another, the world would be absolved of conflicts of different scales.
It is simply impractical to try and limit people to think a certain way.
For example, we can prevent people from typing racist comments in their online diaries.
But does that mean these people will not be racist any more?
At best, we will only be preventing such opinions from being printed or going on the Internet, but the root problem will still not be solved.
Similarly, if students are not allowed to criticise their teachers objectively in their own free space, we will only be suppressing their negative sentiments, which can only do more harm than good in the long run.
No doubt, the relevant authorities have to exercise control if matters get out of hand.
Nonetheless, we have to embrace the beauty of free speech because that is how we find out about the thoughts of our fellow people. If we were to regulate thoughts just to see words that please our eyes, we will only be deceiving ourselves further.

Comments:

I agree with a lot of what this article says, it is true that even if we arrest all the people who post racist remakes on the net, we still won’t can’t stop people from having racist feelings. However I feel that if you have racist feelings, you should not post your feelings on the net for all to see. Rather, I feel u should discuss your feelings with other people, in a live group discussion. The writer mentioned, “if students are not allowed to criticise their teachers objectively in their own free space, we will only be suppressing their negative sentiments, which can only do more harm than good in the long run.” Even if a student was to post bad things about his teacher on the net, it might not solve anything; the only way to solve this problem is to confront the teachers themselves. Maybe what we need to do is deceive ourselves for now, so that the next generation will not learn the wrong things from the net. What i'm trying to say is that if you have something to say, u should not do it on the net. There is still freedom of speech in Singapore, its just that people ave to learn how to articulate their views in a way that will not hurt our society.

Posted by
Shen Boyuan

'Why should I keep quiet about it?'
Ben Nadarajan
810 words
9 October 2005
Straits Times
English
(c) 2005 Singapore Press Holdings Limited
Media exec, 21, is glad she made that call - now bloggers know with free speech comes responsibility
AT 3AM one Sunday morning in June, Kalin came across a blog which jolted her out of her seat.
Scrolling down the posts, she grew angrier and angrier at the nasty remarks made against Muslims.
She picked up her phone and called the police on 999.
That call led to two men being jailed on Friday for making seditious comments on the Internet - the first time in almost 40 years that this law has been used.
Animal shelter assistant Benjamin Koh, 27, and former assistant marketing manager Nicholas Lim Yew, 25, were jailed for a month and a day respectively. Lim was also fined $5,000.
Yesterday, the woman who told on the duo said she never thought the case would become such a talking point.
Speaking to The Sunday Times at the void deck of her HDB block, Kalin, who agreed to tell her story if her real name was not used, said: 'When I first gave my statement to the police, they asked me what I wanted the outcome of my complaint to be.
'I said I thought the bloggers would get a stern warning. I had no idea that the two men would be charged and even jailed.'
She does not regret what she has done though. The 21-year-old said she was fuming after reading Koh's post. She had not been able to sleep that night, and was reading her friends' blogs when she saw a link to Koh's blog.
But she did not do what others might have done - post a reply to his message - which was what some 200 others who had seen his comments did.
'I felt it was childish to post any reply. What he said was very disturbing and I could feel the hatred emanating from his post and the replies to it,' the media executive said.
'I didn't want to add to the hatred. Otherwise, I would just be like one of them.'
A subsequent message by Koh saying he wasn't scared of making those comments spurred her to make the call. Koh's blog had a link to Lim's anti-Muslim remarks on an online forum.
While Koh and Lim are the first two to be convicted of making seditious remarks online, it seemed as if it was also the first time the police operator had received a call reporting a blog.
With a chuckle, Kalin said: 'I told the officer I wanted to report a blog. He asked me which block I was at and if there was a fight going on there.
'It took me about a minute to explain to him that I meant a blog and not a block.'
The blog posting was not her first brush with racism. When she was in school, one of her lecturers made a racist remark in class. Kalin was asking her a question when she muttered that Malays were 'slow' and 'stupid'.
'That spoilt my whole day but I was too scared to report it then,' she said.
'Now that I've grown up, I'm more brave and confident.'
Earlier this year, she had also called the cops about a website which mocked and ridiculed Indians.
Kalin said: 'It's like seeing someone rob another person. Of course we need to report it to the police and not keep quiet about it. Otherwise, society will suffer.
'If the person was taking away someone's dignity, why should I keep quiet about it?'
She told her parents, both retirees, what she had done only after the two men were charged last month. She is the youngest of six children.
'My father was very worried for me,' she said. 'He was scared that those who were not happy with what I had done would hurt me.'
For now, only her family members know. She has not told even her close friends. 'After some time, when all the hoo-ha over this case is over, maybe I'll tell them,' she said. She is glad she made that call to the police though. 'Now bloggers know there is a limit to what they can say on their blogs,' she said. 'Those who complain about restrictions on freedom of speech are missing the point and the bigger issue - that racism has no place in our society.'

'I think this should serve as a reminder to Singaporeans to be very careful about making comments on matters that could affect or stir the different communities in Singapore. Race, religion and culture remain very sensitive issues.' - MR HAWAZI DAIPI, Senior Parliamentary Secretary (Education and Manpower), when asked to comment on the jailing of the two bloggers
Comments

I feel that what “Kalin” did was very brave and I feel that even with this small act, she helped Singapore’s society remain peaceful. Thanks to her report, Singapore bloggers may have become more cautious to what they post on their blog. In a way it seem that Singapore is trying to kill free speech. However the way I see it, free speech can work only if Singaporeans are sensitive to what they say on the net and do not post any comments that could be harmful to the society or its racial harmony. There must be a balance between free expression and the need to maintain racial and religious harmony.

Posted By
Shen Boyuan

Prime News
Managing 'free' speech online
Zakir Hussain
280 words
24 September 2005
Straits Times
English
(c) 2005 Singapore Press Holdings Limited
A CALL from a non-Malay friend got lawyer Ahmad Nizam Abbas, 37, worried earlier this year.
The friend was disturbed by an online posting calling for the elimination of Malays.
It was the first time Mr Ahmad had heard of the posting, but what unsettled him was that such hate material was circulating freely.
Singapore Management University undergraduate Adrianna Tan, 20, wasn't shocked. Such hate speech is not uncommon on the Net, and avid Web users like her take it upon themselves to respond and rebut such sentiments.
Last week, three men were charged under the Sedition Act with making racist comments on the Internet.
Home Affairs Minister Wong Kan Seng later expressed the hope that people would learn not to say or write such things. 'All we need is some foolhardy people who will act on what they say and we will have a racial or religious riot on our hands,' he said.
The three cases have prompted a debate on the best way to deal with racist views posted online.
Some like lawyer Colin Goh say 'education and debate should always be our first recourse'.
But others say what is posted online could take on a life of its own. So the State must send a strong signal to Net users that such behaviour is unacceptable.
The question then is: Should Net postings be treated differently from what's published in conventional media, such as newspapers? What is the right balance to strike between the value of free expression and the need to maintain racial and religious harmony?

Comments

I feel that the people who where calling for the elimination of Malays got what they deserved. Posting such strong racist comments on the net is just like to starting a fight with a person of another race. The people who posted these comments only thought about themselves, and their own hatred for the Malays. They did not consider about the people around them. What would happen if someone actually took it seriously? 'All we need is some foolhardy people who will act on what they say and we will have a racial or religious riot on our hands,' said Minister Wong Kan Seng. This could have resulted in a riot in Singapore. I feel that if these acts are not controlled by the law, if people are allowed to continue posting such remarks, Singapore’s future may not be a bright as we hope.

Posted By
Shen Boyuan

"THE race riots in Sydney, less than two months after the Paris suburb riots, illustrate the perils of the globalised world.A nasty concoction of uncurtailed freedom of speech, immigration and segregated housing caused two very sophisticated and cosmopolitan cities to spiral into anarchy."

Although it was only one of the reasons, its still a reason theres so much chaos.

Could this be the result of not having restrictions on free speech? If Singapore allowed free speech, would this happen? It may or may not, I’m sure the government isn‘t willing to risk it. The government is doing their best to control what is posted, but can only do so much. Are we going to blame the government for having such harsh control over our opinions? When what they are doing is merely trying to keep the peace. I’m not against Free speech; it’s just that I’m not sure if Singaporeans are responsible enough to handle it as it just takes a few comments to spark it all off.

Posted By Shen Boyuan

What are your views on the "freedom" of speech in Singapore, or even other countries? Is it REALLY free?

Feel free to post comments or entries (for my group members) but be responsible for what you say! =P (or you'll be in trouble ^.^)

Talk about freedom of speech on blogs... well.