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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.
