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This article, dated 28/09/2007 from The Straits Times, is addressing the issue of racism in Singapore. Recently, the new Penal code was proposed to be revised, where the change was that it was now made a crime to make racial insults over the internet in Singapore. This change was due to the fact that the Sedition Act was used in 2005 to jail 3 men who made racist remarks, despite there being no sedition involved at all. Thus far, the government’s media censorship has made it nigh impossible for racial insults to appear in the public domain. However, this is a wholly different matter over the internet. As such, the author of the speech recommends that instead of using heavy handed methods of the law to curtail such behavior, he recommends that we use society’s own ‘self-righting moral compass’. He says that society already has its own ‘immune system’ to combat such social ills, as seen in the case of the 3 racist bloggers who were thoroughly lambasted by other bloggers. The writer suggests that this be taken one step further, where efforts to name and shame such offenders. The author thinks that currently, not enough is being done, especially by those with the power and responsibility to do so.

Having read the article, I too agree with the author that racism should not be allowed to rear its ugly head, especially not in a multi-cultural society such as Singapore. As such, it is imperative that measures are taken to ensure that racism is stamped out. As such, while I feel that the author’s suggestion of letting our society’s “immune system” do its part, I feel that this alone is not enough.

Due to Singapore’s status as a melting pot for different races and cultures, it is inevitable that throughout the course of our daily life, we will interact with people from different backgrounds. Furthermore, our small size and lack of natural resources mean that foreign investment is necessary for our country to grow and prosper. Since investors will tend to invest in countries that are stable, whatever happens to disrupt the peace and stability of Singapore should face severe consequences. In this case, comments which may spark off interracial conflict should be abhorred, and absolutely not tolerated.


From my personal point of view, racism is becoming increasingly common in society. Even in school, racial slurs and racist jokes are prevalent, with wide sweeping generalizations accepted as truth. As the author has mentioned, such small talk is nearly impossible to prevent, as the government has no suitable way of monitoring this. As such, finding a way to suppress such talk is vital. One possible way to propagate this notion of racist comments being undesirable would be the mass media. By using the naming and shaming of those who commit such offences, it would hopefully coerce people into changing their behavior for the better. This can be complemented by using the social circle of the racist to place pressure on him, such as by sacking him from his job.

This is in contrast to our current measures put in place, where the government heavily punishes offenders by bringing them to court and charging them. However, this does almost nothing in helping to reduce the racist comments made in our day to day life in ways untraceable by the government.

Having thus agreed that the way to reduce racial slurs is through another round of propaganda by the government, it makes sense to say that they will be unable to do this alone. For example, in the case of the “RK pork” skit, despite there being a huge uproar over the internet, the influential decision makers mostly kept silent over the issue, such as MPs and many religious groups. This could have been an important lesson in racial harmony, has other religious groups stood up for the Muslims, instead of just standing by. From this, we can see that helping improve racial relations lies too with many people, especially racial groups, which play a large role in shaping the influence of people.

I feel that when it comes to the issue of racism, prevention is better than the cure. Despite the author of the article not mentioning this, I feel that more effort and resources should be put into nipping the problem at its bud, before it takes root and blossoms into something worse. This would be more effective than punishing offenders with heavy handed methods after the offence has been committed and the damage done.

One way to improve interracial harmony and relations would be to increase opportunities for interaction between the different races. This will help to erase whatever unwarranted prejudices present. To do this, the government must stop fearing controversy, as mentioned in the article, as this is often a way for society to find its way forward.

Ending off, I think that the change in the penal code is but a small step forward, albeit a hopeful one, and this should revolutionize the racial scene in Singapore as it is. I feel that society should be more open to influences from other races, as there is nothing to lose in doing so.

Does democracy create stability in society? ( SS version)

Before we can begin the essay proper, we first have to define stability and democracy. Stability in society can be defined as a society with the ability to resist sudden negative change in all aspects, be it economically or otherwise. Democracy can be split into 2 sub-groups: Representative democracy and pure democracy. Representative democracy is practiced in Singapore, where the public elects MPs to represent them in parliament. Pure democracy is practiced in the US, where elections are usually contested between Democrats and Republicans. Democracy is the most widely used form of governance as people believe that their interests are being looked after by the government.

Democracy is effective as the government is more accountable to the people. Just the process of picking a government would be less chaotic using democracy, as it would mean that the government elected represents the wishes of the majority. This would also mean less opposition, and as such lead to a more stable society. People would also elect the government they believe will look after their rights, and thus the government would be accountable to the people and less inclined to act rashly. For example, in the case of the United States, decisions are made based on what is assumed to be the interests of the majority. As a democracy is based around the consent of the governed, revolts are less likely and thus lead to increased stability.

However, democracy does have its own weaknesses. As decisions are made on majority rule, this conversely means that the minority might be overlooked. The minority might feel oppressed and have an uprising, which would lead to instability. Also, a major problem with democracy is that it is assumed that the majority is always right. This has had sever repercussions in the past, such as in WWII, with Hitler’s persecution of Jews and others. He had been legally elected into power, but he abused it. Thus we can tell that democracy is dangerous is not used properly.

Democracy is one of the more liberal forms of governance, as it allows people a say in the running of their country. This is based on the assumption that people are mature enough and educated enough to make mature decisions. How far democracy will work depends on the public. Democracy is widely used as there are certain conditions being fulfilled, namely a small high-low class range and a high literacy rate. Thus democracy will only take us as far as most developed countries, but might not do as well in developing countries such as those in Africa, where the wealth is not evenly spread out.
In my opinion, democracy on its own will not help to cause stability or instability in society, but rather, this depends on the society itself, as democracy is merely a tool. I feel that a high literacy rate is thus needed in societies considering democracy so as to allow voters to carry out informed voting. However, using the scale of time, I do feel that democracy is feasible in the long run, as it ensures that the people have a say in the government.

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This article is taken from The Straits Times 27/08/2007, and it is about the rising number of crimes committed by teens in Britain, who show little care for human life. There were even cases where teens as young as 13 are being suspected, and this is proof of a rapid erosion of social morality in that culture.

Statistics also show that 40% of crime is committed by teenagers, and I find this rather shocking as it indicates that this current generation of teenagers have very little respect for human life. It has gotten to the point where citizens are afraid to go out at night out of fear of being yet another victim of violent teen crime.
This problem is largely attributed to a combination of a lenient judicial system, children from broken families, or a combination of both. This merely shows that there are major social problems, with drug and alcohol abuse also a large concern.

I find it disturbing that teens my age are behaving in this manner. In my opinion, they should be cracked down on. The authorities should send out a strong message, as the main reason teens act in this rowdy manner is that they hold the police in such contempt. If the law was to crack down harder on them, they would then fall in order.

However, we have to go beyond the surface and discover the underlying problem, and then seek to address it. This fact has already been stated by Mr Norman Brennan, director of non-profit organisation Victims of Crime Trust. "It's at a peak now. If nothing is done, we'll be at the point of no return." it is necessary that the situation is dealt with urgently, as these youth are going to be the future of Britain.

As mentioned earlier, many teens simply do not have the luxury of having kind and caring parents, or coming from a privileged background. I feel that more emphasis should then be placed on what the children learn at school. This could be through having civics and moral education like they do in Singapore.

Amidst all this furore, what many people often forget is that teenagers too are people, who often feel wronged, and so proceed to vent their anger on others. This does not apply to all, as there are some who subscribe to horde mentality, and will do things with a crowd they would not normally do alone.

It my opinion then, that these children should be taught from young moral values et al. There should also be more counselling services made available in some of these areas, and hopefully this will ensure that teenagers are well grounded morally, and thus reduce the amount of teen violence.

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