Anonymity in cyberspace is an illusion… if need be, we can identify you, and if we have to, we will be prepared to prosecute you.
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if you keep quoting the govt out of context and criticizing for the sake of criticizing, you will lose credibility and support. No, I am not pro govt. I am neutral. But I am sick and tired of listening to people whining. It is easy to criticize. But do you have a solution?
50) Ks on February 23rd, 2009 8.48 am
if you keep quoting the govt out of context and criticizing for the sake of criticizing,..
You are welcome to point out what is taken out of context.
First, you have to ask yourselves if the criticism is valid, second why the government is not able to do better and come up with better solution. Sometimes, it is simply that the government officials are not working hard enough or don’t think out of the box.
People will be happy to provide alternative solutions if the government is willing to provide details on how they come up with certain decision. Let us look at two examples:
1. Lift upgrading – Mr Chiam See Tong said he could do lift upgrading cheaper than HDB, it was rejected in Parliament as not possible. But later HDB came up with cheaper solution. PAP was not listening and opposed Mr Chiam for the sake of opposition.
2. Screen doors on MRT platform – PAP ministers rejected the idea some years back when the public and then NCMP Mr Steve Chia proposed it or to say they will do it recently after several incidents involved people killed.
I was referring to the issue at hand.. the quote from Dr Balakrishnan. It was made to sound as though he would prosecute everyone who criticizes the government using the internet, no? In fact, only the people who make malicious remarks will be prosecuted. Any examples of people actually being caught who shouldn’t be? Feel free to let me know. :)
54) Ks on February 23rd, 2009 9.44 am
…… the quote from Dr Balakrishnan. It was made to sound as though he would prosecute everyone who criticizes the government using the internet, no?
There is no way to take his words out of context because the words is quoted from a news report and the link to that news report is provided. Readers can read that report to determine the context of his words and make their judgment.
Ks,
As sarek_home said, the quote comes with a link to the report. Also, newspapers (including the govt-run Straits Times) uses such quotes all the time. Are they too taking the words out of context?
The fact that these quotes are posted under “Quote” says that it is a quote from an article or report or utterance. It is not meant to be a detailed or full quote from them. I think everybody knows that.
As such, there is no question about context.
from the comments above, it appears as though people are upset about the quote because it represents a repression of free speech, however from Dr Balakrishnan’s speech, people were only prosecuted because of comments that denigrated a certain religion. That is why I say it is important to not just quote a certain phrase.
How about let put it this way, would people be upset if they knew people were prosecuted because they posted racist etc comments online? I wouldn’t. Because this is defamation. It is different from free speech. Even if you were in the US, the land of freedom, you can be sued for defamation for doing this.
And that is all that I have to say. If I have said anything wrong, I apologize. But otherwise, I think this website needs to rethink some of its posts.
To Ks, #57:
Please say so if I have taken you out of context, dont bring in US and compare.
RED-man,
“Consider this; even if they linked your IP to you, they still need to prove the computer was being used by you first (just like when you have a amputated finger, they need to take the “finger” and your person DNA match to establish it is your finger in court, however obvious it is) .”
You forget about our world-famous kangaroo court. If the godfather says you are guilty even if you are not, the kangaroo will happily slap you with concocted guilt, factual guilt or not factual. It doesn’t matter if the IP belongs to you or not. The kangaroo is running the show. One big happy family running Singapore Inc.
Our court is not known as kangaroo court for nothing.
“Even if you were in the US, the land of freedom, you can be sued for defamation for doing this.”
What kind of defamation suits in the USA are you talking about.
Stop kidding us lah. Over here, what kind of defamation suits ring loud and clear for you to really take notice and remember for a long long time. Tell me leh as even for this kind, I have short memory leh.
Yes I think just ban the internet and all the PAP problems will be solved. As long as you stay away from coffee shops then you will not hear bad comments.
As long as legislature for racist blogging is not being abused by authorities to persecute political blogging, it would appear to a progressive step. Yet this is a very good tactical step to clamp down on all blogging. Using the moral high ground to clamp down on the blogging platform, and then kill off all debate, including political and policy debates. Dr Vivian Balakrishnan must have read Sun Tze’s Art of War. The way around problems caused by authorities is to ignore the authorities.
Hi KS,
You have said anything wrong, and there is no need to apologize. We are all here to share views and different views help to provoke thinking.
For example, your observation of:
“it appears as though people are upset about the quote because it represents a repression of free speech, however from Dr Balakrishnan’s speech, people were only prosecuted because of comments that denigrated a certain religion.”
is a reasonable point.
After thinking about it, I think some of the comments come from a broader context beyond Dr Balakrishnan’s speech. People are reacting the long history of PAP actions like JBJ bankruptcy, TODAY’s ending Mr Brown column, and jailing people wearing kangaroo T-shirt when they view his speech.
This is one context you can consider when you read those comments again.
Regards.