Democracy is a government in which the power is vested in the people and exercised by them directly or indirectly through a system of representation. Most countries today, including Singapore, have adopted Democracy as the main governing system which focuses on individual freedom and rights. It means that everyone has the right to express themselves freely and this right includes freedom to hold opinions and to receive and impart information and ideas without interference by public authority and regardless of frontiers. However, recent publication of cartoons ridiculing the Prophet Muhammad has raised certain controversial issues about the limit to freedom of expression and the subsequent events that follow lead to political instability and even violence. This has come into the concern of Singapore, which being a multi-racial society is prone to racial conflicts and riots as was the case in the 1964 riots.
Freedom of expression is what makes up the fundamental principles of Democracy and an author Peter Singer believes that there should not be any limitation to this freedom of expression as it would be going against Democracy and in a way, sort of reverting back to Communism or Nazism. With the right to freely express oneself, Singer believes that it would result in progression, both in the economy of the country and the spiritual development for human. This is because certain sensitive issues such as that based on religions as mentioned are often left undiscussed, culmulating in greater conflict. For instance, people who are skeptical about some religious beliefs should be allowed to freely voice out their opinion as the restriction of that may lead to the formation of an internal anti-religious group, heightening religious tension. People with strong faith in the religion should also have the basic courtesy and tolerance level to listen to other opinion which may be offensive to them because most of the time, it is due to the discontentment of the majority which escalates simple trivial matters into global controversial issues.
Social Responsibility, however, as mentioned by another author Zsofia Szilagyi is the individual restriction of his or her own freedom of expression. As the saying goes, there is a price to everything and freedom of course has its own price to pay. One must have the maturity to know the consequences of his own actions and the social responsiblity to show respect for others in society. While it may be true that freedom of expression is part of Democracy, the government may play a part in restricting certain sensitive topics for the welfare of the society. This is when censorship comes into place. The government, in this case, is taking on a paternalistic role, believing that it would be better off for society if it was to intervene instead. However, sometimes government may fail to do so and as such, it is up to individual to do things for the welfare of the public. This is when social responsibility comes into place.
In Singapore context, both of these authors' views can be applied. Singer's belief on freedom of expression is important because in today society, the censorship already plays a great role in controlling people freedom. If even freedom of expression is not allowed, it may lead to political instablity as the principles of democracy is not achieved. It would also lead to the discussion of certain issues which may not be that sensitive as compared to that of the cartoon of the Prophet but the result of discussion of it can benefit Singapore. Szilagyi's perspective also ought to be taken note of because being a multi-racial society, there is always this fear of racial conflict and the government may not necessarily have the power to control all the media of expression available. As such, it is up to the individual to practise self-disciplinary and to take up actions deemed to be benefitial to society as a whole. However, Szilagyi's view should be adopted in preferance to Singer's because Singapore had already face a racial riot once in 1964 and the result of it was disasterous. No one knows exactly what would happen to Singapore if another similar event was to occur at this point of time when Singapore is just starting to reap the benefits of a source based economy. It may lead to economic crisis due to the lack of investors faith in Singapore or even something worse, such as a civil war. Since the consequences of the abusing of freedom of expression hold a great threat to Singapore's welfare, a safer method like the instilling of social responsibility in Singaporeans as brought up by Szilagyi should be adopted instead.
