What is the difference Before ‘Liberate’ and After the so-called ‘Liberate’?

This is just another excuse to avoid dirty political things being filmed and posted onto the net for the world to see. So by passing it as a law, so no one can do it as they can be prosecuted by the law. Its just another way of telling you people not to spread any dirty things or events that is happening here to the outside world, so they can continue to paint a different picture of singapore through their state controlled MSM, CNA, …….

Nothing good is coming out from this LHL govt. So much hype about opening up but in actual fact, they are nothing more than serve to legalize bullying.

I guess they wanted to stop the “Flyer” movie from happening…hahaha !

What is wrong in filming police enforcing the laws? They are not filming the illegal events. They are filming the legal execution of police authority to enforce the laws. Maybe, those arrest are not legal as well? Funny.

Lets say:

You film the police jiak chua (eat snake) and anyhow park their car and go coffeeshop eat.

Then you send film to police to complain.

Police will take action against the jiak chua policemen.

And then charge you for filming an illegal event also?

Smart.

means you can continue filming but show only the policeman doing their duty.
Police man are there legally, the protestors are there illegally.

I think the law is very smart..
they realised that they cannot regulate the DISTRIBUTION of content (‘coz if state media refuse to show it, someone will upload it to youtube to show)..

But with this new llaw…
They regulate the CREATION of the content. So, now , they dont have to regulate distribution since there is no content in the first place.

So I think we’ve got people with brains in gov.t

Whoa, we are becoming more of a circus. We got people with bad humor.

to tiredsingaporean: sorry, what other people are spreading is not dirty. It’s the clamping down of these people that is dirty.

How leh? Now the alternative media has to use secret camera to film stuff liao lor!

How about the undercover police filming an illegal event for evidence? Would those undercover police be committing an illegal offence? Stupid law that outlaws everything.

If filming an illegal activity is illegal, it will means that there will be no legal film evidence to suggest that the activity is illegal. Which means for an activity to be deemed illegal, the film that proves it be illegal must be first be legal, but this film legal status is voided if the activity is proven to be illegal.

Ah, logic for the mere mortals.

Those clowns can even film Gomez’s event and show it publicly and yet the same clowns who do even funnier tricks can’t even be show publicly. So another two set of laws for different people ? One for lessen mortal , and another for Immortal group ?

Obviously this entire law is to counter Martyn See, Choon Hiong, TOC and other people who have been effective in showing Singaporeans what the mainstream media does not.

Chin Yong,

Let’s not forget “innocent until proven otherwise…“, so TOC should continue filming whatever is required to highlight specific issues.

“Accordance with the law”, why not call a spade a spade ? It should have mentioned “accordance with the Kangaroo Law”, if only we have free press. Our law has been well-known internationally as Kangaroo Law, and it is a badge of honour thank to our gov.

This is call open society,Obama will laugh at you, pap makes things complicated. When we have oppositions, pap will fix it. when our oppositions can’t generate alternative ideas, the Hen will say the opposition is not up to standard. Head they win, tail they also win.

So those stomp videos are not allowed ?

And then we wonder what is illegality.

Surprise surprise, nobody’s going to tell you.

That’s crazy grammar. Illegal event? Then Reuters would be hauled away too.

Idiots.

i dare them to push this law through. i want to see how they prosecute.

The pap government has been deeply embarassed by videos of their clumsy handling of protests on the internet. Not surprisingly they reacted so adversely
and decided to ban the filming of such demonstrations. Typical pap – killing an
ant with an atomic bomb. This is not only bad for the country’s progress but it smacks of an oppressive and evil mind. Using such excessive measures over a small matter is absolutely out of line with the current world trend. Looks like Wong Kan Seng is turning the clock back to the stone age.

The kangaroos allow themselve to film others but not their own kangaroo act.
Must be pretty desperate of them now to create a utopia in forthcoming APEC.
Well, hope someone bring in a real kangaroo into APEC as a symbol of justice and righteousness.

This remind me of the argument that was discuss during my studies last time. Success often sets the stage for failure, and they refer to the process as the death spiral. So it makes me wonder whether we are on the path down this spiral

Do events include bank robberies or MP cocktail parties?

and don’t forget to remove those CCTVs around the parliament house…they may accidentally film illegal protests

is there a difference between a legal protest and an illegal protest ?

Is there a difference between Singapore pools and an Ah beng bookie ?

Is there a difference in having a SINGLE dominant party and having a opposition ?

last but not least, is there a difference …….?

It is hard to know whether it is legal or illegal.
Can we film and show Ministers and MPs giving AngBow to lessen mortal to buy supporter’s votes as it is illegal to buy supporter’s votes ?

Can we film minister telling lies “indirectly” and display dishonesty such as the time when certain clown says that “transport fare is not directly linked to oil price” ?

Is it legal or illegal to tell blatant lie and buy supporter’s vote and yet be shown on TV ? So confused by kangaroo law.

Hahaha (#11),

This just means future film evidence would be suppressed during court proceedings.

We all know what’s the motivation for proposing such laws.

But this would also made filiming your neighbour vandalising your plants illegal because vandalism is illegal or filming a loan shark spraying your house or your neighbourhood illegal because loansharking and vandalism are illegal.

SMRT must also remove all video cameras from train platform because if someone is to commit suicide by jumping in front of the train, that would make SMRT liable for prosecution for filming an illegal event. Committing suicide is illegal here.

Guess in future, video evidence will not be admissable in court because the act of filming any illegal event is itself illegal.

It’s back to who defines the parameters of legality (the ruling regime, unfortunately) and who defies them (the Internet, thankfully).

To end the govt’s strategy of ruling by law to quash dissent, you either change the govt or the repressive laws through our parliament, or you engage in civil disobedience.

But without this govt and their assorted methods of governance, our economy would falter, utter chaos would descend, and our country would burn!

Can we convince fellow Singaporeans that this is bullshit?

The fact is that it is not up to us to determine what is legal or illegal, but up to the kangaroo to determine that without telling us the reason, hence the word “accordance with the (kangaroo) law. What the kangaroo says is the final verdict, and no reason need to be given to us (just like their answer to the AIMS proposal)

Rule of Kangaroo
Like your face = Give you warning
Hate your face (Like someone like Dr Chee) = Get out of our elite uncaring face and get to enjoy free acommodation and curry rice at Changi Resort, while promotion lasts.

Unwritten rules and laws, and no wonder people at Law society complain that there is no distinct code or principle defining kangaroo law, otherwise how to be kangaroo then ?

The laws here are made to justify only 1 purpose, and that is to protect the ruling party who are behind all these laws, no matter what is the cost, even having to go to the extreme they will do it to keep them in power. We, singaporeans are being played out by these elites who are no difference from those italian mafias, the only thing is that they made it legal here.

I think the gahmen is working towards “The Biggest Joke In South East Asia” award with this law, and I’m pretty sure they will get it. Applause. Bravo.

I think this is one of the crappiest law ever. It’s ridiculous. I hope it doesn’t get passed..
Or has it??

Don’t they have anything else BETTER to propose??

Anyweeeee….my analysis is – THIS LAW cannot be possible unless they (government) don’t want their insurance money. Insurance companies rely heavily on any evidence – photo or video – to stop any insurance cheats. My 2 cents!

“Instead of educating ppl the correct way to dispose bubble gums, they’ve banned it. Please….not another crappy law.”

so if you film an illegal event with the intention of passing it to the police for evidence, the filming of the event is illegal? I don’t get it.

I’m not even sure that the people in government get it. They just pass and entire law for the sole purpose of suppressing a handful of local activists.

Alex Au of yawningbread.org calls them “Chee Soon Juan Laws”, read second part of this article: http://yawningbread.org/arch_2009/yax-973.htm

He has also commented on this specific amendment, read the second part of this article: http://yawningbread.org/arch_2009/yax-975.htm

Elections coming soon? So need to have more effective laws to stop the opposition or the common people in Singapore from letting all Singaporeans know the truth?

What’s the purpose of the law? Cannot show people the truth?

With this kind of law, Singapore is no longer a democratic government. No freedom!

And interesting thought, perhaps now they can say,

“I will make protests legal, but when the police come, you have to Move On.”

Choon Hiong’s response, “Kill the messenger”, he says – http://hochoonhiong.blogspot.com/2009/01/kill-messenger-were-singaporeans.html

Crappy people will come up with crappy kind of laws…. I think we are now much more communist than communist China itself… Even in China nowadays, i heard that demonstrations/street protest are being held… But in Singapore? sigh…

I expected it. After the world got to see what actually happened and how the police handled the various protest here they were bound to do something to prevent such discriminating evidence from being posted in the web. Thus the best solution is the stop the filming from happening at all. Such a brilliant move.

President Obama just expanded the freedom of information act and we are moving in the opposite direction. Guess we will soon expand the official secrets act so that no information about the politicians could be made public. As it is they cannot be investigated, no one knows their worth, and conflict of interest does not seem to an issue. Talk about good governance.

This will not stop me from filming or taking photos of the event and making a video collage out of them.

Also, what do they mean by illegal? Event without a license of approval, or what?

This place is becoming so 1984 (Orwell).

hey guys, don’t look with such narrow and thin lenses!

we should encourage them to push this law and get it passed. then we shall sit back and see how they prosecute criminals caught on CCTV, and everything else when video evidence is crucial. =)

This is really a very smart move by the gehmen. On paper they are telling the whole world that they are relaxing on political films, and this legalising of the film distribution will be officially recorded in the history of Singapore. However, in reality they are actually tightening the noose further by illegalising the very act of filming of any activity they deem illegal. No opposition political activity will ever get the police permit and so they will forever be illegal and hence cannot be filmed or published. Clever, very clever indeed.

The change is quite apalling and effectively makes the filming of almost anything that is not pro-government illegal. But if you read the actual Bill, the most important change that impacts the public is not explained and is instead glossed over using a generalisation.

I have attempted to dissect the proposed bill by comparing the existing provisions of the Films Act and the proposed changes as spelt out in the Bill in the following article for those interested:
My Dear Government, Why Do You Treat me So?

Chin up guys! So far only the SDP is likely to conduct ‘illegal’ activities anyways. So it doesn’t affect the rest of the parties. Besides, I believe the ‘illegal’ contents will still find it’s way onto the internet one. I’m not saying this because I agree with the law, in fact, I strongly disagree. If anything, it is one of those Chee Soon Juan laws again… and at any rate, whether you agree with SDP’s politics or not, they are a tenacious bunch and will not be deterred. The gahmen also knows it cannot push the boundaries too far if they are to avoid any comparisons to Burma junta.

Yes, but the problem is that relatively harmless protests like what happened outside MOM (report) would fall under the category of ‘illegal events of a political nature’ according to the Films Act.

Whilst I agree that the antics of CSJ and gang are of no consequence to anyone but themselves, I feel that others like in the case of the above mentioned incident are worth the man-in-the-street coverage.

“Chin up guys! So far only the SDP is likely to conduct ‘illegal’ activities anyways. So it doesn’t affect the rest of the parties.”

Unfortunately it means that anyone who post political firm in Youtube is liable. It is because the SDP push the boundary of the law that we get to see how the law can be twisted and turn to the kangaroo’s liking. This law does affect the other opp parties in just the matter of time, probably when election becomes near that you will see Fear, Uncertainty and Doubt perpetuated by the hegemony, when ambiguousity and confusion about what citizen can and cannot do that will deter many from posting political footage, legal or “illegal” on the safe side of thing. Remember you don’t ‘t need to catch all but just arrest one or two to serve as a warning.

All they need to do now to pretend the liberalization and downplay the impact and repercussion of the law to prevent backslash and public scrutiny but enact the law at the “most critical moment” with LKY providing the firepower and threat, and once election over, it will be the same cycle again. They using the same pattern over and over again. Though it might be less effective as LKY’s days are numbered.

Daniel,

it is entirely possible that there will be people who will not give two hoots about that law and simply upload anyway.

After all, it is daft, and really makes our nation look damn sia suay.

Loyola,
it is possible that people will still will upload anyway. What the gov want to do is to create the fear to discourage people from posting. On the whole, the majority of singaporean is still the obedient and fearful lot, unwilling to tread against the law.
Just imagine in education system, the teacher warn and threaten the student not to post any political video online (other than one that praise and glorify the hegemony since they know that for sure acceptable to the regime) due to such confusing law, such practice will further entrench the fear culture in the cyberspace.

I once read something about an old chinese emperor. He did not trust his people and made many laws. The people didn’t trust the emperor and thought of ways and means of avoiding the laws. The emperor made even more laws and the people became even more clever in avoiding the laws. So it goes on and on and on … what will happen? Will we be smarter than whoever makes the laws? Can we avoid becoming a nation of prisoners? Or are we already prisoners?

Hey, this law was already in place but now then they are releasing to us.
It was already in place during mas selamat escape lah…his escape from detention center was an illegal activity..that’s why they didnt film / record it…hah, ha,
By the way this is another of govt’s ‘mother’ of all cunning laws..

There’s a difference between Pro Government and Pro Pap.

My point exactly, Daniel. I believe the Gahmen knows that these laws will not deter the Chees and Seelan Pillays from doing what they’ve always been doing. But because in recent years there have been signs of people slowly joining Chee’s ranks (eg the twelve Tak Boleh Taheners), or becoming more vocal, (TOC btw, is rumored to be ‘blacklisted’ by the MSM, meaning the MSM will no longer quote or even mention TOC anymore because the negative publicity for TOC is still publicity)… the intention behind the ’stupid’ law isn’t really to stop anything except create a climate of fear. They know it’s stupid and ridiculous, but it’s really them saying ‘nia nia nia nia nia!’ to us. The last thing we should do is get discouraged.

is suicide and escaping from a facilitly considered an offence in Singapore ? I think it is, does this mean that we need to remove our cams in those areas … example someone jumping off to be hit by a moving train and someone climbing out of the toilet window and down a pipe……

I really feel sorry for them. At first I did not think that Chee and gang could not create much of an impact but now I have to admit that Chee has succeeded to some extent. Chee might be behaving like a monkey but others are begining to look like idiots. His expose has made them look bad and attempts to rebutt him have made them look desparate and clueless at times. So now we have a bunch of what someone called the Chee “laws” which really makes them look even more pathetic and desparate. I do feel sorry for them.

Does it mean that the new law (proposed by WKS) would make sure that nobody (unless authorised by the govt) can make a film of any event that is illegal according to the law, e.g. a corrupted officials taking bribe, policemen committing an illegal action, crimes taking place in the open/public, or a rape taking place in a private/hotel room, etc.?

Hi “Confused Citizen”
The filming is illegal only if the film has a political connotation. So, the filming of a rape case is not illegal unless the rape involves a politician or an MP. For example the filming of the ex-Malaysian Health Minister Chua Soi Lek of his sexual sojourn, if it had been a Singapore case, would be illegal.

It is impossible to divorce politics from life. Everything we do is an act of politicisation.

Hahaha so if the politicians are taking bribes or getting discounts, film evidence would land the filmmaker in prison…

Frankly, I am afraid to think of what will happen to our children’s life in 50 or 100 years’ time.

1. This place is becoming too expensive – food, rent, housing, transportation, entertainment, etc.

2. This place is becoming too restrictive – too many laws, rules, regulations, etc. and penalties and punishment are becoming more and more heavy and harsh.

3. Jobs are becoming too competitive, due to foreign talons taking away most of the jobs available.

4. Wages are becoming less and less, due to deliberate policies.

5. Space is becoming more congested as population density grows.

6. Public transports and facilities are being utilised by more and more foreigners.

7. Playgrounds, public areas, entertainment joints, etc are becoming more congested.

8. People are becoming less caring and more money-minded.

So, the best solution for us, the ordinary citizens, is to get out of this “elite uncaring society”. Make plans and preparation to get your future generations out of this condemned place, the soonest the better.

Garuda.

Hi (63) Loyola,
“So, the best solution for us, the ordinary citizens, is to get out of this “elite uncaring society”. Make plans and preparation to get your future generations out of this condemned place, the soonest the better.”

There is a difference between society and gov. The society is made up by those who live in the same place/country, whereas the gov is elected by the society. So I don’t think our society is “uncaring” but what I have read here and in other uncensored sites make me feel that the gov is becoming “uncaring”.

I love Singapore, but I may not love the gov if they don’t care about our society. I am feeling more and like living in prison with all these new regulations/laws. Not as if these regulations/laws are going to affect me directly, but it will affect my fellow citizens who have something to share with me. I wish I can still say, “This is home truly, where I know I must be”.

What goes up MUST come down.
Be patient, the evil regime WILL fall in time.
It’s Cosmic Law.
Dun pray pray.