Regulation of political commentary on the Internet in Singapore- Refer to TalkingCock.com/ Mr Brown

There have been many things that are brought up on the issue of freedom of speech. Nowadays, more and more of these kinds of commentaries can be seen on the internet, especially since technology had advanced together with time, for example, talkingcock.com and Mr Brown that had gained fame from being commentaries. However in Singapore, some topics of criticism could land you in trouble.

I think that what the government had been doing is right and these political commentaries should continue to be regulated. What I think is that these commentaries can indirectly change people's opinion on the government. Singapore is seen as a authoritarian country with limited liberty given to the people, but it is precisely this fact that made Singapore a politically stable country that it is now. There had not been any serious riots and strikes that could cripple Singapore growth since its independence. These strict regulations that the government post to the people have helped to maintain peace and harmony among Singapore citizens, between races and religions. Hence, this policy should also be applied to politics to prevent an unnecessary uprising.

There are many users browsing these on-line commentaries nowadays, especially the younger generations. It is important that these commentaries, sometimes biased towards one side, will not influence them. The public could make the decision and see for themselves if there's something wrong that the government did without the interference from the commentaries, hence they are not really necessary. For people that wish to express their discontent at the government, they do not need to do it that openly. Instead of criticising/complaining, one could suggest for improvements instead. Our job as citizens of a country is to help it progress, not to make it break down by our own comments.

There may be some companies or even political groups out there that pay these people to create such commentaries. In this kind of situations, it will be entirely up to the viewers to decide on whether what they read is correct and reliable as the impact that internet creates is really too big. If they decided that something wrong is in fact right, then this could hinder the country's progress. Regulations on political commentaries are useful in these times to stop the people from being influenced by the source. This is especially important during election periods, every comment on a certain political group, biased or not, is going to influence the public's opinion. This will be extremely unfair to others and if not stopped, may cause the country's future to be ruined.

However, we must also note that these political commentaries are not always harmful but actually healthy in various ways, though we must always keep in mind that we have the responsibilities to ensure that nothing abusive is done. Sometimes, these commentaries will also provide entertainment to the public viewing it and in a way help the society progress. We cannot deny that with these comments and criticism out there, Singapore manages to progress to its present state.

President’s Star Charity Show- is there a need for artistes to perform stunts to milk the public’s compassion for more generous donations?

Before I start on the topic, consider this: will you rather donate money to a charity show that you didn't know who will be benefited or to a man beside the road performing to earn a living? For me, I will choose the man beside the road, at least I know that I'm helping him with his life, the risk involved in donating to a charity show is too large, you never know if someone else, not the needy, had taken all the money.

From there, I would say that do not agree that artiste should put up stunts to attract to donate money for the organisation. The President's Star Charity Show is a widely known and highly successful Singapore charity show that involves famous artiste performing all kinds of stunts, interesting or dangerous, to ask for donations from the public. Some artiste may be able to use this shows as stepping stones to start their career in the show business and they can gain experience and probably fame from the show, while helping the needy in the same time, this forms a win-win situation for both the artiste and the needy.

The show also gives the public a sense that they are having material gains but not letting the money "fly away" without having any impact. However, this will completely defeat the purpose of doing charity, the public is not doing anything to help the needy, but to "buy" the performances of the various artiste. Though some may argue that the needy is still helped in the end is the most important, we all know that this is does not nurture people with a compassion and love to the society. In the long run, the public may no longer find this charity show interesting and stop donating their money. If the public really want to contribute anything to the needy, they can make their own donations by themselves or contribute their service to the particular organisation, but not wait until the "charity season" come and start donating their money to the artiste performing, not the needy.

Some of these charity shows take videos of the people that need help or even invite them up to talk about their own life stories and sorrows to gain sympathy from the public. However, I do not agree with this kind of acts. Humans need self esteem, and the needy, no matter how ill and how much they suffered, are still humans. Doing this will only destroy the self esteem that they have and they may view themselves as some kind of trash to the society that needs other's sympathy. I believe that inviting those that had gotten help up to talk about how they are grateful to those that helped and to the society will be better. However, some of the public may just view these people as actors and do not believe what they said.

What I think that can be done instead of having charity shows is the government should nurture the people with a kind and compassion heart since young. Start with education. The members of the public will know what to do for the needy and do not require any motivation if they have the correct mindsets.