Draconian

WTF. Two bloggers charged under Sedition Act over racist remarks.

SINGAPORE : Two bloggers have been charged with sedition for posting racist comments online.

This is the first time bloggers are being charged in Singapore and it is sending shockwaves through the local blogging community.

Lawyers say the last time the sedition act was invoked in Singapore was at least 10 years ago.

Twenty-five-year-old Nicholas Lim Yew and 27-year-old Benjamin Koh Song Huat are being accused of posting racist comments on an online forum and on their blog site.

They are both being charged with committing a seditious act, by promoting feelings of ill-will and hostility between races in Singapore.

They were not represented by defence lawyers and were granted bail of S$10,000 each.

This charge came as a shock to many in the blogging community.

Said Singaporean blogger Benjamin Lee (Mr Miyagi):” A lot of them will be looking at their blogs and wondering if they made any legally seditious remarks. I think because of the way this will be played up, it’s negative publicity for the Singapore blogging community.”

“Currently if you surf the net you will come across a lot of bloggers making such comments. You will probably see a drop in such cases henceforth. At the moment I am not aware of any cases except of a case in Iran where bloggers are charged. But Iran has a different legal system from Singapore,” said Leonard Loo, managing partner of Leonard Loo & Co Advocates & Solicitors.

What a great country. I know that racial harmony is very important in Singapore, but such laws don’t exactly help. Laws that suppress the freedom of expression only serves to cover up the rot that exist within the society. I do not believe that posting racist comments on forums and blogs do anything other than making the person look like an idiot in the eyes of others. It is wrong, but harmless. If these two people were reporters or politicians, then such a drastic backlash might be understandable in lights of their influence over many people. But seriously, how many of you actually care about, for example, my opinions? If I talk crap on my blog, it’d just be me making an idiot of myself. The fact that the only other case of this happening took place in Iran says a lot about Singapore’s legal system.