Comments on: to the critics of democracy and human rights http://www.bangky.net/blog/2009/10/to-the-critics-of-democracy-and-human-rights/ bangky's blog about life, politics and ip networks. an odd combination, but that's what it is. Sat, 03 Jul 2010 09:00:17 +0000 http://wordpress.org/?v=2.9.2 hourly 1 By: eternalhap http://www.bangky.net/blog/2009/10/to-the-critics-of-democracy-and-human-rights/comment-page-1/#comment-795 eternalhap Thu, 12 Nov 2009 12:42:56 +0000 http://www.bangky.net/blog/?p=1527#comment-795 oh, i had read the govt's official response to the White Paper by Amsterdam, and I thought this paragraph coincides with the point in my previous comment: "Singapore has a written Constitution that is Supreme and which guarantees fundamental liberties such as the right to life or personal liberty, right to equal protection, freedom of speech, assembly and association, and freedom of religion. <b>Such rights are not absolute. They need to be balanced against the interests of society as a whole. Just as much as the freedom of speech and freedom of assembly need to be protected, we believe that it is a fundamental human right of all our people to live in a safe and stable environment, free from violence and social disorder.</b>" (bolded words mine) oh, i had read the govt’s official response to the White Paper by Amsterdam, and I thought this paragraph coincides with the point in my previous comment:

“Singapore has a written Constitution that is Supreme and which guarantees fundamental liberties such as the right to life or personal liberty, right to equal protection, freedom of speech, assembly and association, and freedom of religion. Such rights are not absolute. They need to be balanced against the interests of society as a whole. Just as much as the freedom of speech and freedom of assembly need to be protected, we believe that it is a fundamental human right of all our people to live in a safe and stable environment, free from violence and social disorder.” (bolded words mine)

]]> By: eternalhap http://www.bangky.net/blog/2009/10/to-the-critics-of-democracy-and-human-rights/comment-page-1/#comment-777 eternalhap Sat, 17 Oct 2009 15:41:31 +0000 http://www.bangky.net/blog/?p=1527#comment-777 The article by Ho is indeed poorly written. He tries to be "intellectual" but fails. However, I think we can see the main issue which he has articulated ineffectually; that S'pore should forge its unique way of governance and no model can be pressed on it. It's a topic worth thinking about, and Ho has added nothing substantial to this debate. But let's move on. It's a bit nonsensical to suggest S'pore should outright copy the Western model of democracy or create its own model of governance from scratch. In reality, S'pore's "model of governance" has been a mixture of Western implants and local adaptations. S'pore by all definitions is a parliamentary democracy. Freedom of speech etc is guaranteed in the Constitution, but existing laws, as some critics claim correctly, do violate this principle to some extent. Taking a look at Western democracies, freedom of speech or human rights etc issues are not absolute. If there was genuine freedom of speech, I could stand up in the middle of a movie screening and shout "Fire!" - and no one can fault me, because I'm exercising my freedom of speech. Hence freedom of speech or human rights (pardon me for lumping all these airy stuff together) to a certain extent, to a tolerable limit agreed upon by society for everyone's sake. In S'pore's case, the govt has decided for society that the tolerable limits are smaller than the Western democracies. Is it appropriate for them to decide, is it acceptable for the rest of us to live with it? I think that's the juice of the whole thingy here (: The article by Ho is indeed poorly written. He tries to be “intellectual” but fails. However, I think we can see the main issue which he has articulated ineffectually; that S’pore should forge its unique way of governance and no model can be pressed on it.

It’s a topic worth thinking about, and Ho has added nothing substantial to this debate. But let’s move on.

It’s a bit nonsensical to suggest S’pore should outright copy the Western model of democracy or create its own model of governance from scratch. In reality, S’pore’s “model of governance” has been a mixture of Western implants and local adaptations. S’pore by all definitions is a parliamentary democracy. Freedom of speech etc is guaranteed in the Constitution, but existing laws, as some critics claim correctly, do violate this principle to some extent.

Taking a look at Western democracies, freedom of speech or human rights etc issues are not absolute. If there was genuine freedom of speech, I could stand up in the middle of a movie screening and shout “Fire!” – and no one can fault me, because I’m exercising my freedom of speech. Hence freedom of speech or human rights (pardon me for lumping all these airy stuff together) to a certain extent, to a tolerable limit agreed upon by society for everyone’s sake.

In S’pore’s case, the govt has decided for society that the tolerable limits are smaller than the Western democracies. Is it appropriate for them to decide, is it acceptable for the rest of us to live with it?

I think that’s the juice of the whole thingy here (:

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