Monday, July 02, 2007
5:18 AM
In the context of Singapore's multi-racial society, where there is cultural and religious pluralism, which author's view should be adopted?The writers of both the articles have managed to convince me and clearly argued out their stand. However, base on the context of Singapore's multi-racial society, where there is cultural and religious pluralism, I believe that Szilagyi's view on social responsibility is more crucial and should be adopted in Singapore as compared to Singer's view on the freedom of speech.
Singapore is a cosmopolitian society, therefore with people of different races and religion living so closely together, racial and religious tensions and insensitivities are very often virtually inevitable. With many being over confident about themselves and their beliefs, if the media or the citizens are given the freedom of speech, they will be given the chance to challenge the beliefs or values of other religions or races that will very often lead to racial tensions and social insecurities. For example, racial tensions between singapore and malaysia occured when freedom of speech was granted in malaya's media which many malaysians eventually misused it and gave tactless comments on other religion and races. This gradually led to rioting and the eventual separation of Singapore and malaysia. Therefore to prevent history from repeating itself, local government learnt that though freedom of expression is important in a country that uphold democracy, one cannot be given total freedom of speech. To ensure racial harmony and cohesion in singapore, newspaper articles are scanned before they are published and every speech made at the speakers' corner must be approved by the government.
Social responsibility is often emphasized and should be constantly practiced in this multi-racial country. We should be tolerant to other races practices and habits that might be of inconvenience to us and make it a point to explore the culture of other races. Most importantly, do not offend others by making indelicated remarks about other races and religions.
Overall, to prolong the existence of racial harmony in singapore, we have to apply social responsiblity to our daily lives. Once the social fabric is torn, it cannot br easily sewn together again. Therefore, since limiting the freedoom of speech can help reduce the probablity of racial tensions and promoting social responsibilty can help maintain a good relationship between various racial groups, i strongly believe that Szilagyi's views should be adopted in this multi-racial society, where there is cultural and religious pluralism.
Even then both should be used together??!
