Regulation of political commentary on the Internet in Singapore

I do not agree that political commentary should be allowed on the internet in Singapore. The Singapore government keeps a firm control over all Medias – newspapers, television, radio and of course, the internet. They set up very strict guidelines and they expect all the citizens to abide them. Censorship, fines and many other punishments are also imposed if one does not adhere to those rules, so we can literally say that we do not have the freedom of speech and political freedom, very much unlike America. But the government has its purposes and reasons. If the members of the public abuse the internet and put on false information to defame the government, others who do not check its credibility might unknowingly believe the false information and change their perceptions views, and may result in the change of decisions in the next parliamentary voting. Such rumours are easily to fabricate, very quick to spread around, and extremely hard to correct. Also, the internet is viewed by an increasing amount of people, especially the young generation, from all over the world. People from other countries might be falsely informed upon reading such information. Censorship is therefore strictly imposed to prevent such events from happening. Even though the government has been heavily criticized for their decisions to impose such censorships, I personally do feel that it is extremely important. It can prevent slander of political would-be and current candidates. Criticism will not change the government’s decisions and actions. The capability of the government and the outcome will not change just because of the few people’s discontent. The Singapore government has been running since independence with only one party but has been doing well and steady, despite some economic downturns at times. And even though a portion of the public has been angered by some of its actions, for example, they forced people to sell their private houses to build MRT tracks etc. the general life of the people of the nation have been consistently improved and pampered.

No one is perfect and definitely the government isn’t. The government has been criticized for regulating political comments on the internet because they restrict the people’s lives. The citizens want a government who understands their needs but not to try and cover up all their flaws to impose a perfect image of themselves. They want their government to know what is going on with their lives and the many difficulties they encounter in their lives. They want their government is work for the public and not for the benefits of oneself, and by restricting their political freedom could be a huge impact on what the citizens thinks of them. However, it is almost close to impossible to please everyone in the country. If the government seeks to solve the problems for some, another will soon arises out of the previous solved problem, so on and so forth, and the chain will continue on the on, no matter what the government tries to do.

However, we cannot say that they don’t have political freedom at all. Even though the Americans criticized us of the restrictions, the government is actually very flexible when compared with communist countries like North Korea, China, and Myanmar etc. where information is heavily filtered and restricted and people who do not abide with the government would be severely dealt with. However in Singapore, political content is only filtered thoroughly during election period to prevent biasness and defamation. Also, the government has allowed a few exceptions despite banning many others, and one fine example would be the website by Mr. Brown, “Talking Cock”.

Personally, I do feel that the government’s regulation of political commentary on the internet is actually helping us. Many of the citizens do not really know what politics is and how complex it works and would believe the many rumours which spread around very easily and quickly, and by regulating the internet such unpleasant things would not take place at all. Additionally, many internet users do not know their limits and often go way beyond the line which separates right and wrong, leading to many problems and misunderstandings. Thus, I agree to the government’s regulation of political commentary on the internet.