Regulations of political commentary on the Internet in Singapore

Modern technology has allowed people to have the freedom of speech via World Wide Web. The Internet is a global network of interconnected computers, enabling users to share information along multiple channels. Many people all around the world have come to realise that Internet and the World Wide Web are very powerful tools to be used intermittently for announcement and for media purposes. Ever since the increase in use of the Internet, more people have found a way to make use of this tool to distribute their different political ideology. Therefore, to prevent political instability within Singapore which would rock the nation’s foundations, the government has come up with regulations of political commentary on the Internet in Singapore. Many people may disagree with the regulations. However I feel that though they may be harsh, they are very useful as it protects Singaporeans from having an unstable country due to its political instability which will eventually lead to economical instability should it occur.

With new regulations, political podcasts, which are part of political commentaries that make use of the streaming of videos for entertainment or advertising, are now banned during election periods. People may think that this regulation is also partially useless, because the people can still comment on the different politically-linked things before or after the election period. However, the government has also thought of this because they also set up another regulation which states that “during non-election periods, they can continue to post but individual bloggers who step over the line of political harmfulness will be given a warning and subsequently be seriously fined or assigned a jail term.”

However, the people of Singapore have the right to know the truth about the politicians and their ideology. When this regulation is implemented, it leads to Singaporeans to have only one side of the ideology and not the cons. This means that the people can only see how good something is and the view that the governmental officers want the general public to see. However, they do not show the harmful “side-effects” of the regulation, which would be negligible and would not affect political stability if the government doesn’t want us to know.

Also in 2001, the Government instituted new regulations under the PEA governing the internet: the Parliamentary Elections (Election Advertising) Regulations (PER) which states that: candidates and parties are allowed to use the internet for election advertising. Photos and manifestoes, chat rooms, membership recruitment messages, and announcements of meetings on the web or through email are all explicitly permitted under the PER.

Having different ideas and many differing discussions on the net may also lead the citizens of Singapore to come up with biased views of the different political parties, which will affect the election, which will eventually affect the future of the political stability of Singapore. This is why people should not just believe what they see and are told, they have to base their thoughts on a very reliable source before coming up with a conclusion.

Even though the regulations may be a little harsh, it is certainly worth to have it as it does not cause too much political instability. However, it would be good to revise these regulations once in a while to suit the needs of the majority of the public better. Websites such as mrbrown.com and talkingcock.com have been coming up with funny and comical videos to relieve the stress that people are having and it also makes Singaporeans see the better side of these regulations which is aiding the government. Although it may critic the Singapore government and cross the boundary of political harmfulness, it certainly is up and running as it is cooperative. Therefore, in conclusion, I believe that what the government has done is right and these regulations should continue to be respected by countrymen.



PS. Should anyone find this post disturbing or feels that it is against the political regulations in Singapore, please email Mr. Adrian Chan at chanch@hc.edu.sg.

President’s Star Charity Show - is there a need for artistes to perform stunts to milk the public’s compassion for more generous donations?

The President’s Star Charity is an annual charity performance, as the name suggests, aired on the television. It has been run for a long time and its purpose is to garner donations from the public to help the underprivileged and the needy. These underprivileged have a wide range, encompassing the elderly, orphans, both the physically and mentally disabled people. Charitable organizations come up with innovative ways to encompass the public’s compassion so that they can garner more donations. In many cases of “innovative ways”, various pop stars and MediaCorp artistes will be present to prepare their stunts and it is said that their presence there would be able to raise more donations from the public. In my opinion, I do not see the need for artistes to perform stunts to milk the public’s compassion to garner more donations.

You may be wondering why the organizations would hire such high-priced artistes. Organizations do this because most Singaporeans have the thinking that to earn some donations, the organizations must do something for them, which in many cases, the hiring of famous people to perform stunts so that people would donate. The separate heads of the organizations also know about a typical Singaporeans’ thinking and therefore, they made use of this knowledge to milk the public’s compassion and of course, donations come together with the compassion of the public. However, I feel that this already defeats the purpose of charities and donations. Charity is compassion which should be spontaneous and can be seen through a generous offer made from the bottom of the heart. When the organizations hire the popular people to come to perform, firstly they have to make sure that the stunts that they perform are worth watching and must be able to garner more donations. The stunts are breath-taking and spectacular because these will appeal to Singaporeans and make them sympathize more with those people who are in need and make more donations. However, without these performances, people would still donate to these charitable organizations because they just simply want to help those in need.

Many people are more concerned now about where in the end the donations go to. Ever since the NKF saga incident, many Singaporeans have lost the faith in donating to such charitable organizations. Many came up with the opinion that they would rather their money go to improving their own lifestyles than giving it freely to the heads of the charity organizations. Donations have to be sincere and must come from the bottom of the heart if not the whole purpose of charity would be defeated. Artistes come up with different performances to make themselves experience pain similar to those affected. This is to say that artistes come up with a substitute stunt so that the public would witness their sacrifice to the increase in donations. They also imitate disabled people so that they know what it feels like and would understand and sympathize with the underprivileged better.

In conclusion, I do not see the need for artistes to perform stunts to milk the public’s compassion to garner more donations. Compassion is to come from one’s own heart and soul. They must be sincere and come up with the belief that these donations can help the underprivileged and the needy. This should be the motivation instead of the performances which is “necessary” for people to pay to watch. We should not harbour the intention that only when there are charity shows being broadcasted on the television should we donate. Instead, we should embrace the notation that donations can happen all year round and most importantly, everyone has a part to play to aid those in need, which will better our country.

History of the creation of a blog

Practically, this blog has been forced to be put up by Mr Chan... so it may not be interesting, therefore, i have to resort to adding in colourful pictures to brighten up the day. So there!
Disclaimer: This blog is used solely for Mr Chan's English Blog Entries, so expect it to be very long and boring for the next 8 posts.