~by: Jewel Philemon~
Singapore Police Force is investigating blogger and chief editor of New Asia Republic, Donaldson Tan for re-posting an extremely offensive picture to Muslims; one of a prohibited animal in Islam, superimposed on the Ka’ba – Islam’s most sacred site, on his Facebook. In his report to the police, the complainant, Amran Junid, also highlighted a Serena Lee for posting racist comments on that FB post by Donaldson Tan.
The blogger said that his intention of re-posting the picture was to “alert people that there is a flame bait. Censorship is never an option”. He further insisted that he will not take down the picture even after being requested to do so by well-meaning friends, as he believes in the freedom of speech and that” Islam is not sacrosanct”.
Serena Lee coming out in support of Donaldson Tan said, “Make one…comment about Islam or Allah and the whole Muslim…”.
In writing to The Online Citizen to highlight that he has lodged the complaint (case no: A/20111121/2149), Mr Amran Junid said, that Mr Tan has sometimes been making racist remarks about Malay/Muslims on his Facebook interaction, but that he had “always taken it as just a comment from a misinformed individual” and so did not think much of it. But that with these new posts, it has become clear to Mr Junid that Mr Tan’s intention is to “incite racial tension between the Muslims and those of other religious beliefs”.
Mr Tan was formerly an editor with TOC. He was asked to leave TOC in January 2010, and he subsequently set-up New Asia Republic – a commentary website.
This is the third police report made within the last five days about people who have disregarded religious sensitivities. The other two police reports were lodged against Mr Jason Neo and Mr Christian Eliab Ratnam.
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Update: Serena Lee has gotten in touch with TOC to express hurt at being associated with this matter. She expressed that she was only speaking up against cyber-bullying.
TOC has communicated to Serena that we reported straight from the police report (of which we have a copy), and that no ill will was intended against her. TOC also apologised to Serena if we had unintendingly hurt her.
The following is Serena’s correspondence with us, which we reproduce with her permission:
Hi Ravi and Team,
I will accept TOC’s apology and help close the matter.
As it turns out, a number of people have spoken up for me in private messages to you and on forums. Some are friends, many are strangers. I do not know the person who threatened you or your daughter.[1]
For the record, I am completely opposed to unfair discrimination against any person of any kind on the basis of race, religion, gender, sexuality or nationality. I am also against bullying. No one has the right to threaten another. People have the right to their individual feelings and beliefs. Let us not encourage fear tactics deployed to control other people’s behaviour just because we find certain individuals offensive. There are many ways to resolve issues maturely without resorting to threats of any form or online shaming.
All this arose from a discussion on a private Facebook page. It does not end if yet more people are dragged in. It creates a climate of fear online and would drive even more people to assume anonymous identities and encourage irresponsible commentary.
There is enough suffering in this world. Please focus your energies on helping the underprivileged who are desperately in need of our time and attention.
Serena Lee
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[1] Internet lynch mob and community moderation
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i really really think theonlinecitizen should be a little more discerning and not give attention to such individuals who clearly out to incite. In fact, theonlinecitizen can be accused of being indulgent showcasing such trivial nonsense.
Most of us view Donaldson as a misinformed nut, but frankly who are we to shut him up? And aren we feeding his need for attention by giving him such exposure?
Take a chill pill folks and learn to ignore the nutty ones.
@namerequired: This is not trivial as a police report is lodged. We reported it as news and did not impose our own comments to it. We never expected that there will be 3 such cases in a short time-span of 5 days.
Singaporeans really do like jumping on bandwagons, don’t we? Bubble tea… doughnuts… Bedok Reservoir suicides… and now, police reports about racist online postings.
Also reminds me of how one high-profile accusation of racism in the BPL (Evra vs. Suarez) has triggered a small avalanche of similar cases(Ferdinand vs. Terry, Blatter vs. himself and now Eboue vs. Besiktas).
@theonlinecitizen
But 3 such cases within 5 days, doesn’t it sound ODD? People need to see these things with a bit of suspicion, clearly these aren’t coincidences rather looks like a planned attack on online activism and distorting the understanding of freedom of speech itself and you should know the perpetrators!
A little clue, if you continue following the trails of these cases 6 months to a year later you might not trace them looks typically stage planned.
It’s all being blown up and is begining to look like a witch hunt. Looks like the government has revived the bogey man
To all these people who think that they have a right to exercise their liberty, freedom of speech and etc, by insulting a religion. Think again. While you argue that Islam in not sacrosanct, so are other religions and the various personal beliefs systems out there. While you take the ‘high’ road and claim that it is your right to do so, you have done nothing but incite hate in this multi-racial society of ours. Freedom of speech does not equate to your delusional claim to insult a belief/ a particular group/ race and etc. Temper your bigotry with intelligent queries and you will find answers that you’d never thought you’d find. Stop inciting hate!
If we look past the ‘incitement’, it’s really about freedom of speech.
Personally, I’d rather we allow bigots to have their say. At least they’re out in the open, rather than festering in the dark. Considering we’re drilled in the art of Singaporean multiracialism from the moment we’re born, that such attitudes still exist suggest to me that the multiracialism force-fed to us has problems and that we need to reexamine our approach to living in a racially diverse society.
@theonlinecitizen – last time i checked making a police report doesn’t make it serious – I made one when my cat got stuck in a tree. You did not pose comments on it but giving all three stories such exposure made it ‘news’. And i think thats just gonna invite more copycats looking to garner attention – kinda reminds me of the baptist minister going around burning korans and the worldwide media frenzy that followed that.
Now I’m not arguing against reporting such incidences, I’m just saying that we need to sometimes learn to ignore these guys. just an opinion now, dont shoot me.
I find “freedom of speech” a poor excuse. People like these are the reason why freedom of speech is curtailed in this country. They don’t have the sense of responsibility that comes with such a privilege.
The trouble with stuffs like these is that you dont know where to draw the line. First, it’s religion; then race; and then your loved ones. How would you like later to find your own pictures or pictures of your loved ones abused ? Freedom of speech and liberty comes with serious responsibility. At the end of the day, why do you want to hurt others? If you’ve got issues with a particular individual, sort it out with him/her. Dont hurt others.
Even when Muslims in Singapore are given shit, MUIS, Yaacob Ibrahim and a host of bearded men supposed to be learned in Islam and charged under AMLA with the Statutory duty to guard Islam in Singapore. From these exceptionally noble personages we get deep SILENCE.
Why? Because they are afraid that their salaries which are in the hands of the Government who are comprised of non-Muslims will be affected.
Some months ago, even the founding father of the Government issued a statement which I interpret as a signal that Muslims should be less assertive if their religion. This must have frightened the Officials in MUIS and Yaacob himself. What a sorry state of leadership we have ! MUIS and Yaacob do not even dare to say that they welcome these obscenities because Muslims should bend over backwards for the sake of their livelihoods.
Donaldson is trying way too hard to be provocative – but ending up with a “racist” label.
With Jason Neo, they had to dig up his previous posting (which he had not deleted), after joining YP – that was his downfall
He got away the first time – the protests fell on deaf ears and there were no action taken by anyone – but once he had joined the YP (a party known for its clean “whiteness”) there can be no escape from reprisal. (there can be No blemish in the white party)
In this case – it is rather more serious, for one – it was a Re-post (meaning he did it not once but twice) He has captioned or labeled it as a “flame bait” meaning it is deliberately posted to provoke a “negative” reaction. He made matters worst by refusing to bulge and is unremorseful citing freedom of speech and that “Islam is not sacrosanct”.
The last point is the most serious as under Singapore’s law it can be construced as a seditious act of provocation. His citing Section (3)(2)(d) is irrevalent as the culprit is the poster and therefore this clause does not apply.
The fact is Donaldson has too often invoke “freedom of speech” and “matter of interpretation” when confronted to remove or amend some of his articles – he simply will not bugle.
His too-oft provocation (or rather insentivity) to religion might have angered some to take punitive action as he is simply too stubborn to recognise the severity of his provocation and refuse to bulge even after much persuasion to do so.
As a last resort perhaps out of frustration from repeated attempts to correct him but with no results, Amran has taken the drastic step to report him.
It could have been easily resolved if Donaldson had been more rational, less staunch and know how to take criticism and learn to respect and take other people’s objection seriously.
A little humility is in order.
Religion is afterall, in Singapore a big OB subject.
I hope he learn from this and will be
more sensitive to criticism and learn that not everything is just a “matter of interpretation” for certain issues there are serious consequences and there are limits (OB markers) and taboo subjects that one should try to veer away from – Religion is one of them.
The argument that freedom of speech means freedom to do what Jason and Donaldson did with speech seems specious to me. In the heart of Formal Logic Bertrand Russell found the sentence spoken by a barber in a village:” I shave everyone who does not shave himself.” Well who shaves the barber? This was the starting point for the whole of mathematics to be examined. It was found that in any sufficiently rich axiomatic system, there exist statements that can neither be proved or disproved.
There are things which we know to be good or bad, without subjecting the thing to strict proof. Because strict proof is illusory. A strict proof might be made of the fact that freedom of speech includes taking a dig at Islam. But to accept such a proof by acting on it is going the way of the Danish Government with the Prophet Muhammad’s Cartoons. This wrongheadedness on the part of the Danish Government has caused Muslims to protest across the world and a total of 100 reported deaths.
I think that the Singapore Government should choose the easier path and prosecute Jason and Donaldson. Ratnam seems to state a point which indeed might be freedom of speech.
The issue here is…is religion above the laws or…in the name of religion, are they allowed to commit “day light robbery”?
The public has a right to condemn/ expose/freely express outrage at religion for its atrocities committed in history and in the present.
No, religion cannot be above the laws and should not be above the laws, the comdemnation of the public and hence, the public has a right to SPEAK THE TRUTH(based on facts even though it may appear demeaning or insulting to its adherence at times)
Is there a way of talking about murderers, swindlers of tithes and offerings sounding …. without contemptuousness or polite and dignified?
Nope!
Donaldson pls take my advice. Stop playing with fire. Among the three cases yours is the worst.
I am all for free speech but it must be accompanied by a sense of responsibility.Free speech does not mean you can insult a person’s religion.
What you have done is not a racist act. It goes way beyond that. It is sacrilegious.You do not understand the Muslim psyche. Remove your posting and sincerely apologise for your foolish act!
You have gone too far Donaldson. Your gung-ho attitude is definitely out of place. If I were you I would take Jufrie’s advice. The consequences of not doing so are too scary to imagine. You will live to regret it. Mark my words.
@weallhumans I have no idea from which party the people who made the police reports are from. However, the question one needs to ask is, Did anyone from NSP force any of the three persons to make the religiously or racially discriminatory postings?
The answer is no.
No one from any party forced them to do it. Please let’s not make it political when it is not. These people by their free will discriminated publicly and when asked to bring down the postings, refused to do so. And let’s not make them victims when they most certainly are not!
If people from one party, choose to act, you might want to call them civic minded but don’t accuse them of being politically motivated.
I am not trying to defend anyone IMHO whats racist about the picture? There is no blasphemy law in Singapore. Stop being childish and grow up Amran Junid. Any thing that is too fragile wont last, would it?
I don’t label Donaldson as a racist but a prejudice. He tried to offend the Chinese Muslim, Indian Muslims, Caucasian Muslim and all Muslims. Although superimposing a pig on the ka’bah has no meaning actually cause pigs are made by Allah too. And this Serena Lee has a fixation on pork obviously, hence she can’t get over the idea that some people don’t eat pork, including Buddhist, etc. So this 2 jokers just need a timeout with lotsa pork and no Muslims around before they go bonkers. Maybe they’ll be back less uptight and open minded.
Peace
THere are many videos criticising Islam on youtube. Are we going to take them all down? Moslems should engage in inter-religious dialogues and defend their religious beliefs. Islam is not sacrosanct. It’s just another version of how the world came into existence; so why should moslems get upset about this all the time? Europe now suffers from Islamophobia because the moslems killed and burned embassies because of a cartoon. There are hundreds of religion in this world. THe moslems need to prove they are right as they believe in a one true god. IN another relgion, the hindus believe in hundreds of gods. IN the 21st century, people have been questiong the veracity of the truth claims of religions and religion is fighting a losing battle. Just keep your faith private and not impose it on others. When they start imposing on others, people will comment. REligion is a private affair. People of all religious faiths should not be made to preach to others. It’s distasteful.
@conan,
and the west has the benefited from such intellectual freedom and the society benefits from it. the people on the whole benefit from it. some laws will just make ordinary people stupid and keep people stupid in general.
Just like the bulk of muslim do not support terrorism, the bulk of Chinese do not support this idiotic Donaldson.
I can only see a 3 year kid trying to get attention here after leaving TOC.
It is not about racism or religious bigotry. In multi racial soceities we brush against one another accidentally most of the time.
We need to exercise restrain. Any action that can incite discord and possibly result in voilence should be avoided.
Not all are ready to embrace Freedom of Speech without borders.
@rightmostly
There is indeed no blasphemous aw in singapore.But there is sedition law,which is more than adequate to put away people like donladson for a long time
i’m not quite sure about donaldson’s case. if it’s a repost of a publicly accessible picture (which is nevertheless offensive to communities here), is there still a case?
and again, if there’s a repost of a foreign-based opinion, it doesn’t necessarily constitute endorsement nor a personal articulation of one’s opinion, even at that point in time. assumptions have to be made to say donaldson has done enough to make this a criminal act, because i think jason neo’s caption (in its context) is more severe than donaldson’s.
in fact, as a moderate singaporean, i actually see donaldson’s actions as parody. unfortunately, when it comes to religion, parody doesn’t sit well with many.
well, not siding with donaldson and i don’t know him, but i just wanna share another perspective on this.
He is deluded by the untruthfull idealogy of the sea of information in the web n so called freedom of “speeches” he encountered while swimming in it like most of the world, thus let his mind array n acted in an uncalled manner.. Freedom of speech is always limited no matter wat u say, the gd n bad will eventually come out of it. An civilised action is needed to be impose to nt let this get out of porportion and disturb our peace which not most countries are able to do. Be thankful n lets not the chaos of the past n present stigma some countries are facing cloud us.. P.S if this sounds political, this doesnt sugarcoat any political wings of any side other then frm the thoughts of sgian..
it is blasphemy laws they are after. if singaporeans and foreigners cannot engage the world from their home in singapore they are prisoners of singapore law.
the laws are dependent on the type of government in office. and this so called sedition law is taken to the logical end, no one in this world in any country can post anything at all.
it is blasphemy law being implemented
@Hello
The cartoon in Europe is different issue because it’s political and doesn’t apply in Singapore. The beauty of Islam is that our faith has no “face”. Placing a pig on on Ka’bah is just like placing a pig on a temple or a church, it’s just done in bad taste hoping to provoke ill feelings? The last time I checked the Quran doesn’t teaches us to impose our believes either. True, religion is personal and religions are not meant for everyone who don’t believe in it. There are countless satires online on other religions too. What’s important is what’s the agenda. If it makes no sense it’s just SPAM
that is not the donaldson tan of toc right?
Incitement of hatred is a very poor excuse to prosecute anyone. This is because just anybody can claim to be offended by any opinion expressed about anything.
Singaporeans are not wholly to blame for being over-sensitive about people criticising their beliefs. They take their tow from the government and assume unthinkingly that this shouldn’t be allowed. (The government of cos plays safe by erring on the side of the conservative — it makes their job easier.)
But think about this deeply, people. All religions are made up of beliefs — essentially, a bunch of ideas. Everyone should be free to say what they wish to about any idea, subject to the laws of libel and defamation. Ideas are not people. Ideas have no feelings. Ideas cannot feel hurt.
Of course, people can claim to feel hurt when the ideas they believe in are put down by others. But this doesn’t just apply to religion. It applies to all ideas. Why should religion be in a privileged position that people are not allowed to speak freely about it?
I think more people simply need a course in critical thinking.
What kind of freedom of speech are we really interested in when certain ideas cannot be ridiculed? Don’t just think this is right because the government says so. Think for yourselves.
But what if someone deems it as a hard truth?
@withness
Inciting racial hatred n nt prosecute them? Then wat we ought to do? Use force? Threaten him?
Others are domicile others are nt, ppl wun just sit back n relax if one critise others beliefs, why nt prosecuted them? We are civilised ppl arent we? We have brains, we got feelings, we choose wat we belief in n react according to our belief n live peacefully amongs others. Is’nt dat freedom of choice n law of humanity which overrules freedom of speech.
Nontheless To me its more that he is trying to express his fustrations towards the religion n inciting racial tension.. But everybody has a different view about this.
Sometimes I just wonder what these kind of people trying to do. Trying to start another racial riot is it??!! We should learn from history & not let mistakes repeat itself. No religion teaches bad things & so I don’t see any reason to condemn any religion at all. Everyone have different belief & as civilised human beings, we should respect those beliefs.
Doanldson & anyone who thinks like him, are just being an i***t. Even me, as a Muslim, I find it to be a waste of time getting mad or get emotional at these kind of people. These people deserve to be ignored. In fact I tink some people would make fun of them because of their narrow mindset!!
This is just distasteful. It’s like the joke about priests and young boys, it doesn’t say anything about the religion but people will automatically feel offended. So his post may be in the interest of “freedom of speech” but it was designed to offend. Freedom of speech is cool, but Americans have the right to carry arms. So freedom of speech comes with guts. I just hope that religion can be left out from now on.
I thought that it is always better to say good beautiful things than poisonous ones. But from the entries here, I understand that some people insist that freedom of speech means freedom to say anything. Well they have the freedom to do just. Just remember , every action has a reaction.
I find it ironic that there are people here saying they are all for freedom of speech, even if it means inciting hatred, but in the same breath say religions should not impose their beliefs on others.
what is next?
will this pap goverment, the people of singapore, the islamic religious bodies go after singaporeans who reject islam and post their reasoning online.
This people are just idiots. The best thing is to ignore these bigots because they are really telling others how foolish and naive they are.
If Donaldson hopes that muslims in Singapore will react in a pungent way to his remarks, he is wrong. Muslims in Singapore are a reasonable lot. We don’t react irresponsibly.
But I hope the likes of Yaacob Ibrahim and muslim leaders would come out in full force to issue a stern statement saying that such irresponsible acts cannot be tolerated and condoned in Singapore.
Mockery and ridicule are unacceptable. It is wrong to mock a religion, a race, a society or a person. It is not intellectual freedom. It is simply abusive behavior. Real intellectual freedom requires hard work. It is like watching Hardtalk on BBC. You must think very hard. The opposition leaders in Singapore have been demanding freedom of speech for a long time. They want the right of dissent. To be able to disagree with the PAP and openly express their dissenting views. Goh Chok Tong used to claim that they are only against criticism of race and religion but when Catherine Lim wrote her now famous essay about the PAP and the affective divide with the people, he was furious. He was deeply offended and took out a cannon to gun her down. But it backfired on him. The people sided with her because they knew that she was a conscientious writer. This is intellectual freedom at its best. What about Aung San Suu Kyi and Ai Wei Wei? Man and woman who have the courage to speak out against what they see to be wrong or false. Socrates criticised the Greek religious culture. He offended the traditionalists and they sentenced him to death. Theo Van Gogh did a sociological study about the condition of women in Islamic societies. He offended the muslims and was murdered. Intellectual freedom cannot be gauged by whether people are offended or not. It is too subjective. Killing people in the name of religion is totally unacceptable. Incitement is not a valid justification. Can women who dress like sluts be charged for incitement to rape?
@Conan.
You are a master at obfuscation. When the citizenry wins freedom of speech, Jason , Donaldson and maybe you yourself also win the right to freedom of speech which they have used to abuse society, mainly Muslims.
I await you to exercise freedom of speech. Try to publish some Muslim bashing to test the waters.I understand that the police are prosecuting Jason, Donaldson and Ratnam. Make up the fourth one.
@doppelganger,
will this pap government go after those who reject islam and post their thoughts on islam online. who specifically forbid them to express their new found freedom. if one is brought up to be sensitive to criticism and assume the worst of the other person, no amount of legislation can stop them from thinking such a way. now, will the pap government penalize those who reject islam?
In the PERFECT utopia that John Lennon sang about in IMAGINE.. that’s what i wish the world wld aspire for…
I find the Tempatation of Christ offensive.. but how i reacted to it, was not NOT watch it. I respect the right of others to watch it if they so choose.
Buddhists will find Buddha Bar offensive.. but they don’t go on a rampage & inflict violence on others…
EVERYONE needs to chill and follow what their religions TRULY teach.
An individual using Freedom of Speech to insult and provoke is just as guilty as someone using religion to kill.
Both groups are basically using their own personal beliefs to justify their inexplicable behaviour. It is just as simple as that.
@king, i doubt many singaporeans know what religious minorities in muslim countries must endure. and for singaporeans to comment on what is done in the name of religion is Freedom of Speech. it i as simple as is that. One does not have to assume belief is behind the facts which is clearly available and is all round us.
@king,
what belief is the driving force behind those pursuing these three in the first place.
How can insult be placed in the same category as killing? Even under Singapore law, insult is treated as a minor offence whereas murder attracts the mandatory death sentence.
When the movie DaVinci Code was screened in Singapore, nobody got killed. Nobody was even threatened. The movie was an attack on Christianity. It even called Christianity the greatest lie on earth. What the Christians did was to organise forums to defend their religion. In her blog, Marina Mahathir praised the Christians for their peaceful response.
S5:101-102 forbids questions out of fear.
Why are Muslim voices full of threats? If Islam is a religion of peace, the onus is on the Muslims to demonstrate it in words and deeds and not to force people to admit it at gunpoint. I believe the majority of Muslims are peaceful. But why are they so silent? Have they outsourced their voices to the militants? If all Muslims are like Marina Mahathir, this world will be a paradise. There will be no insulting comments posted against Islam. More people will convert to Islam and Christianity will have a more formidable competitor.
@pbum
“…and for singaporeans to comment on what is done in the name of religion is Freedom of Speech”
When you post an offensive picture with a prohibited animal of the religion, it is not a mere act of “commenting”, the term to use here is “insulting”.