Flags up.. u hv been warned!

[Apollo]

May 22, 2008 Online comments welcomed but line drawn at religious, racial-sensitive issues By Chua Hian Hou

THE GOVERNMENT is willing to listen to contrarian views expressed online, but the kid gloves will come off where Net postings that threaten the nation's racial and religious harmony are concerned.

 

The Minister for Community Development, Youth and Sports, Dr Vivian Balakrisnan, said on Thursday that the Government is willing to 'listen to honestly-held views of responsible people, especially when they are different'.

 

However, he warned that it takes seriously its duty to 'maintain the integrity and security of the State'.

 

This was the reason 'recent events' transpired, he said at a new media conference on Thursday.

 

He did not specify what the 'recent events' were, but it was likely that he was referring to the arrest two days ago of a 24-year-old Chinese man accused of making racist remarks on his blog, or online journal.

 

In his speech at the seventh annual PR Academy's conference on Thursday, Dr Balakrishnan, the guest-of-honour, made clear what he thought of new media: 'It is a source of tremendous opportunity, both economically and socially.'

 

It gives users the ability to communicate and express themselves, find like-minded people and mobilise online, he said.

 

And though it has made governing a country a much harder job, this is a good thing, he said.

 

He explained that thanks to new media, governments no longer have a monopoly on information, and cannot simply decide and act as they previously could.

 

 

http://www.straitstimes.com/Latest%2BNews/...ory_240005.html

[Watwheels]

To me they're like saying hey we'll only listen to what we luv to hear and filter out whatever we dun like to hear.

[Beei]

In short, anything they don't like to hear will be threatening the 'integrity and security of the State'.

The racist remarks from the 24yo gay is a good example..

[Rayleigh]

hahaha,,,,like class 90.5 advertisment. Hear only the good things

[Sosaria]

IMHO, the remarks were clearly very juvenile and childish. Hardly anything that would threaten the state, though. To me, it is very much an over-reaction. Removal of the remarks, and a published apology should be sufficient. Reading between the lines, all this is simply building up towards promotion of laws to control blog contents - they have learned the lesson from across the causeway...

[Beei]

That is why i said the racist comments is a good example of what they don't like to hear.

[Apollo]

Words from mrbrown...

 

Teng Lian Keng Boh BroadBand..

[Typhoonz]

They trying to show that they are working ah?

[Picanto]

even a 4 letter word can be threatning to the state. the chinese word "guan" has 2 mouths. we only have one mouth, so we must be careful.

[Typhoonz]

Then quite a bit of memebers here would gotten an invitation to lim kopi liao...

 

Me included...

[Kingcopa]

Agreed. Say machiam like never say before. Rem that Vivian once explain abt the bartop dancing. Damn lame. They can say whatever they wan. They can detain MAS n then say during the aftermath of his escape "he posed no immediate threat"

 

Guan got 2 mouth. cant win them.

[Boyboy]

trying to be even more of a nanny state again

[Gearoil]

Does passing sarcastic remarks about 'Beng' culture count or not, ar?

 

 

 

 

 

 

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Please don't flame me....I'm just another Beng wanting to attract attention!

[Picanto]

the old one mentioned that if this country is not a nanny state, we would not achieve what we have today. should we be thankful to him?

[Boyboy]

maybe only.. this one got two sides of the argument.

 

ok, let's just assume that he "brought us up", like a little kid. then yes, we shd be thankful

 

the little kid has grown. do u think we shd treat this child like the adult it is, or still act like a nanny?

 

hope u understand this analogy, though u are free to disagree with it

 

we cannot continue to dwell on or live in the past, if we are to move forward

[Boyboy]

nope. can beng-bash freely. beng is not a race or religion

[Viceroymenthol]

We can secretly hate people of other nationalities, races and religions. But we are not allowed to express how we feel. In suppressing our feelings, there will be a lack of honest and frank dialogue to find out what the real problem is.

 

The problem won't be solved, we will still go on having racist thoughts in our heads, just not expressing them.

 

One day it will all blow up into a large scale riot when all the suppressed racial issues that have not been allowed for open discussion come to the surface. Then we will see if this works or not.

 

It is like refraining from teaching your child about sex because you are afraid that your child cannot handle the truth. Then one fine day your kid comes home pregnant or has made someone else's kid pregnant because he wanted to experiment and find out for himself.

 

But this is Singapore after all, where frank discussion has never been accepted so that we can go on living in our la-la land believing everything is alright. It all contributes to having a stable, if slightly deluded, society.

[Viceroymenthol]

We can freely bash Chinese people and PRC people as well. Because that is not racist. Why? Because we are also Chinese mah. How can that be racist?