freedom of expression- june holidat assignment

2007-07-08T00:32:00.000-07:00

being a multiracial and multireligious country, singapore is susceptible to sensitive issues regarding religion and races. it is evident in the number of cases which spurred on religious groups to express hostility to religious groups, races blasphemises other races' beliefs. therefore there is a need for singapore to exercise some discretion in speech and expression, however this idea clashes with the democractic approach of the country, given that people believe that there should be freedom of speech in singapore, no matter if it will inflict controversies and hostility from some groups of people.
the pro-responsible party's stand is not unfounded, since in recent years, it is eveident that although singapore has been a multi-racial country for over 40 years, the youths, our future pillars of the country still possess certain extent of discrimination and biasness towards other races. this problem arises mainly due to imperfect integration between races and little understanding of other religions.
however, given the advance of civilisation, and in such advanced country like singapore, censorship and restriction to speech and expression has gradually became intolerant to singaporeans. people wanted freedom, and power to express their view,and opinions, and this, no doubt, is one of the key aspect to stable governing and democracy. on the other end of the spectrum, excessive or indiscrete expression of ideas and opinions may in turn cause instability among the hearts of the citizens. One of the cases was when a youth has racial discrimination towards the Malay race, and the youth was vindicated in the end. this case sparked off heated controversies over freedom of speech, claiming restriction of expression is a breach of demacracy, and racial dismination. it is a difficult position for singapore, to balance between democracy and inddiscimination.

Therefore, i think there should be minimal restriction to our speech and expression, as expression of speech and ideas from the citizens is key aspect to successful governance. As to the few handful cases of racial deiscrimination, law and regulation may help to curb such incidence from happening, but this is only a short term solution which may backfire. to solve racial discimination, we should focus on the roots of the peoblem. since racial discimination arises mainly due to imperfect information of other races, i feel that singapore's institutes and schools should take on the major role to educate the youths. educational bodies are the most reliable group of people to take on an impartial and untainted perspective towards other races and beliefs. As Singapore is on constant economic growth, the society came to emphasise more on academic achievements and neglected the importance of national and civics and moral education. Therefore, i believe the prevalence of racial discrimination is also a hint towards the society that knowledge about other races and religions is of tantamount importance especially in Singapore to maintain our long-standing peace and harmony between different races.

Myself

2007-03-24T07:54:00.000-07:00

my name is ong kian kiat joyce. For a brief background information, i was previously from bukit panjang government high school (BPGHS). i have 1 father, 1 mother, 2 sisters, 1 brother. basically, i like to idle at home and sleep because i have got a weak constitution, thus i have to sleep more (at least 10 hours) to regain my energy for the next day. i love music, literature and arts, but due to practical belief that studying art courses most likely do not offer a prospect as good as science stream, i had to give up my interests and pursue a very scientific path of education. i liked freedom, and love my family a lot, and hoped to spend more time than currently with them at home.i can get quite indecisive at times, especially when it comes to the direction of my future, i loved the 'artistic' sort of job, but was intrigued by the discoveries that awaits me in science, and understand the luxury monetary gains in business can offer me, i hope to help my family financial burdens but i also wanted to find the career of my interests and passion.i also like to read novels, information books that give me insights of things i cannot access in singapore and learn more about others' culture and allow me to look at things from different perspectives, but i hate politics because i studied history in my secondary school, i sometimes know how the politicians would resort to dirty hands in order to garner support and eliminate their opponents, despite how frantically they, in concealing their negative side and proclaiming welfare, progress and etc to the public. however, i admit, politics is indispensable and inevitable in this modern democracy dominant world, in everyone's endless pursuit of a utopian utopia. i also like to watch tv, movies. i prefer english movies than chinese movies because personally i find chinese movies (ancient era/ martial arts ) nowadays, are inclining to a very 'unrealistic' and shallow side. instead of entertaining the public through the understanding of chinese history and traditions, they focused way too much on employing the most advanced technologies to create extraordinary and unprecendented visionary effects that the content suffers as a result. with no logic at times, and a shallow storyline conveniently concealed behind bombastic and loud proclaims and advertisements on the astronomical sums of budget spent on the making of the movie, or even worse, spending a huge portion of the money to create props and costumes that do not even make a huge difference from ordinary one, to me, the movie altogether

general paper (GP) Joyce Ong 22/07

freedom of expression- june holidat assignment

Myself