Free Speech 2

In multi-racial, democratic Singapore, the topic on free speech seems to always attract the attention the public. In Singapore, a democratic country, free speech is 'prevalent', however that happens under the watchful eyes of the authorities. Some people claim that the authorities do this to help protect the dominance of the dominant ruling party here. However, some more logical claims by others would be that of preserving the peace and harmony between cultures and religions. Hence from these, I feel that more focus should be placed on social responsibility than leaving free speech unrestricted to allow democracy.

In multi racial Singapore, inter-racial relations might appear to be good, however they are very fragile. The relations are like a porcelain vase, beautiful on the outside, but fragile and hollow on the inside. It can all the smashed and destroyed in a moment of carelessness. Hence, it is important for individuals to be socially responsible and not express any racist views which may stir up racial tensions and finally discord within Singapore. Though that restricts free speech, it can still preserve the peace and bring along progress and prosperity to Singapore.

What is most important to a nation is basically the welfare of its citizens. And that is basically the objective of using the system of democracy. Hence, it can be said that democracy without absolute freedom of speech is still democracy, at least in Singapore, as it can be seen that it can still improve the welfare of citizens.

Hence free speech is not exactly essential for democracy. Thus more emphasis should be placed on social responsibility