Social Cohesion In Singapore Essay

I definitely do not think that Singaporeans should be allowed to speak as they wish on race and religion. If someone was to offend another person’s race or religion it can disrupt the social cohesion in Singapore. After all, one of the reasons why Singapore has been so successful is the racial and religious harmony we have here.

According to Article 14 of the constitution of Singapore, the statue explains that a) Every citizen has the right to freedom of speech and expression. b) All citizens have the right to assemble peaceably and without arms and c) has the right to form associations. However, these statues do subject to certain clauses. The Parliament by law may impose on the rights of the person if he or she does or says defamatory statements or incites to an offence. In Singapore, we are given an adequate level of freedom of speech as we a democratic country after all. However,

Amos Yee, a 16-year-old student studying in Zhonghua Secondary School, posted a YouTube video that criticized the leadership of Mr. Lee Kuan Yew after his death and also tried to find links between his leadership style and Christianity (Amos Yee, 2015). He stated the similarities between Lee Kuan Yew and Jesus that they are both ‘Power hungry and malicious but deceive others into thinking that they compassionate and kind’. This stirred the feelings of many Singaporeans in a negative manner. His video had 4000+ likes but had almost 20,000 dislikes. Many Singaporeans felt that he had crossed the line of freedom of Speech and had defamed Lee Kuan Yew and in this case, Christianity. The Government felt that Amos Yee had crossed the line in freedom of speech and charged him pertaining to the issue. I feel that the Government had to take this action, as Singapore is a multi cultural society, there is no place for racial and religious