Will jail time end racist blogging?

Associated Press reported that on Friday Oct 7th the Singapore courts sentenced the two Singapore bloggers for their racist remarks on their blogs as well as their posts on forums. Mr Koh was sentenced to a month jail time while Mr Lim was to spend a day's jail and fined $5000.

It’s important to note that both of them could have been sentenced to a maximum of 3 years. The AP reported the comments made by the Senior District Judge which lays the grounds why he sentenced both bloggers as he did.

To many observers round the world, the sentence may appear harsh especially from the view of liberal societies. This is especially so when the technology that allows users to universally blog freely appear now to be hampened by national laws.

Unfortunately for many users of the technology, it is easy to be deluded into the belief that cyberspace is the place to simply rant and vent all of one's personal irritations frustrations and bias - without any likelihood of recriminations. After all, they see it easily done by other users in blogsphere. The problem is while the blogsphere is one universal space where most believe that the free speech there is unregulated, the reality is that each individual is regulated and conversely protected by the laws of his or her domicile.

We may be the free citizens of the internet in theory but in reality, we are still very much the citizens of the country that issued our passports. And in the context of Singapore, while we are still undergoing the slow process of development and integration of social freedoms, we have to remember that we are located physically in a region where religious tolerance is absolutely key - something that the blogsphere does not concern itself about, the boundaries of national countries.

I suspect that very soon the educational institutions in Singapore will review their curriculum on the basis of our national harmony – racial tolerance by understanding the differences of our races and religion. Also, to learn that free speech while universally desired, it is not without any regulations or limitation when it harms individuals or classes of people. While this case may result in a reality check for many bloggers, I am not optimistic that it will stop completely how Singaporeans will blog with regards to sensitive issues.

Nevertheless, I hope to see a national effort put into place to educate children about the dangers of racist or defamatory speech. I think only then there may be real possibility of having the Singapore netizens use their combined energy to stop racist speech or other similar misconduct online.

Singapore Jails Bloggers for Racist Speech on Yahoo! News