An Upper Hand Against Online Falsehoods In Singapore
Online falsehoods can be defined as information or statements found on the Internet that are untrue and are not fact-based with the intention to misinform other Internet users and subsequently spreading to those of the public. The intention of spreading online falsehoods in Singapore has mainly been circulating among the topic of religious and racial views, which could lead to tensions amongst racial and religious communities, tarnish reputations of public institutions, impede democratic processes such as elections and to discredit the nation. Therefore, I think that the government should enact more laws to prevent and combat online falsehood. This essay will focus on some suggestions Singapore’s government should consider while implementing more laws and subsequently stricter laws to combat online falsehood more efficiently.
Maruah from Singapore’s Human Rights’ group has stated that the government has yet to produce conclusive evidence that the new online falsehood is any different from the past and there is no need for new laws to combat them. In this essay, I endeavor to write the reasons for both with and against the implementation of new laws by the government, to combat online falsehood efficiently. Citizens of Singapore who has jobs consisting of freelance journalists and bloggers in alternative media sites have voiced out that with more cyber laws, this implementation would cost the loss of their job as it challenges their creativity and freedom of speech. However, in another article it has highlighted that professional journalism has been ‘a pillar of society’s information ecosystem’ which provides adequate communication between the government and the public. This will be able to enhance social harmony and maintain peace among the citizens and the authorities. Therefore, it is important to implement stricter laws towards online falsehood, it will create a better relationship of trust among the authorities and public by the commitments to the pursuit of truth.
Racial and religious harmony has been achieved by Singapore over the years since independence through hard work by our pioneers and it has always been a sensitive topic of achievement. As a first-world nation, Singapore is an attractive target to attack. In recent times, the case of former online blog ‘The Real Singapore’, Ai Takagi was found guilty that she had devise a story about a Filipino family who reported to the police saying that the local Indians are playing loud instruments that made their infant cry. This shows how easily someone could disrupt the peace among the different race groups by just posting an online falsehood this could be due to a fact that the last green paper that was published was 22 years ago. If Singapore’s government would add in more laws, it would deter such incident from happening again and allow Singapore to continue living in harmony. But on opposing stand, Ms Han indicated that instead of adding more laws the government should focus on the speed of tackling online falsehoods and added that media literacy would be important tool in the battle against fake news.
In a nutshell, I concluded that Singapore should have more laws to deter such online falsehoods. As Singapore’s Economy continues to prosper, our laws should concurrently improve with additional harsher laws. If Singapore maintains its’ current laws, those who wish to create fake news online will find a way to avoid the law in due time. Therefore, Singapore must be up to date with tackling such online crimes to protect the integrity of the nation.
