Regulation of political commentary on the Internet in Singapore

Before we ask ourselves about whether there should be regulations of political commentary, we should ask why there is political commentary on the internet in the first place. Most of the time, it is due to the dissatisfaction of the people with the government. However, most people are either too scared to challenge the government directly or feel that there would not be any point in doing so. Hence, people use the internet as a medium to voice out their own opinions to make themselves feel better and at the same time, criticise the government indirectly.

Why are Singaporeans unsatisfied? People say that Singapore is corruption-free. However, is there a need for corruption if the government officials have such a high salary, much higher than the governments in countries with the largest economies such as China and USA, each month? They could put the tax which we pay to better use if they were to cut down their salaries as more could be spent on the development of Singapore instead of the government’s own personal needs. Other reasons include ERPs and rise in taxes, which are not very effective in solving the problems in Singapore. Hence, if there were regulations of political commentary on the internet, it would only be a way of achieving social stability by force, to prevent people from stirring up anti-government feelings in others, instead of hearing Singaporeans’ voices and acting accordingly. Hence, the government should remove the regulation of political commentary.

Furthermore, if the Singapore government claims that Singapore is a democratic society where people has a freedom of speech, then why are there restrictions to what people can say on the internet? If they want to change the way people feel about the government, having regulations on political commentary would only reduce the number of critiques, but the way which people feel would remain the same. You would still be able to hear taxi drivers complaining about the government once in a while. Hence, I think the government should be slightly more understanding instead of thinking that they are always right or think so highly of themselves.

However, as the actions of the government which are disapproved by Singaporeans are still within the acceptable boundaries. Hence, there is no real need to criticise the government for what they are doing as the situation in other countries are much worse compared to Singapore. In most countries, the taxes are much higher than in Singapore and so is the cost of living. Hence, the continuingly increasing in oil prices or the increase in COE would not pose much of a problem to Singaporeans, but it does make people feel that more of their hard-earned money is going into the ministers’ pockets.

Websites like MrBrown.com and TalkingCock.com only contain comments which are humorous and do not means to stir up any anti-government feelings. Furthermore, it also tells the government about the dissatisfaction of Singaporeans so that the government is more aware of what it is doing and could make improvements if there are any flaws in its plans.

Just like the things which we do in life, we would never know that we are doing something wrong if no one told us as we would not do something when we know that it is wrong. Hence, the government also needs to know what others feel about what it is doing. The government should hear the voices of the people and hence should look over the regulation again. However, I think that there should be a set of rules for people to follow so that some people do not cross the line by making racist comments on the internet and cause social backlashes.