Justifying the Public Order Act through fear mongering

Justifying the Public Order Act through fear mongering

November 13, 2009, 2:05 am
Filed under: By Rachel Zeng, Singapore, Videos

This video produced by the Singapore Police Force and broadcasted on Crime Watch to the whole of Singapore is one of the worst attempts by the Singapore authorities to justify the need for a Public Order Act (POA) passed recently by the Singapore Government. The video seeks to create a sense of fear among the general public by throwing a negative light towards protests.

First of all, the video showed a pro-Democracy protest led by a white guy. Was it trying to reinforce the message that protests are part of a ‘Western style democracy’, something that has been repeated over the years by Lee Kuan Yew and echoed by our ministers? Was it also trying to imply that anyone who talks about democracy is part of the ‘Western conspiracy’ against Singapore, which also happens to be the most westernized country in South East Asia? Also, the protesters in the video were shown to be wearing red and they were not only chanting their slogans, they were violent as well. I wonder if the choice of colour here has any particular significance here… do the protesters in the video represent the activists and politicians involved in the non violent Tak Boleh Tahan protest held last year? Of course, one thing to be sure is that they were trying to create a sense of fear here towards public protests but why can’t protests be peaceful and non violent as have been carried out so far by our activists?

This video is just nauseating and I am certainly not impressed. There are so many implications here that have been made. I also disagree with the Public Order Act as it serves to take away our freedom of speech in a public space. This is something only a government that fears too much about loosing their control over the entire nation will do. Wonder how much they have spent on creating such a propaganda that leaves a bad taste in the mouths of those who have been trying to speak out in as non violent as they can against the authoritarian rule that we have here in Singapore for the past 44 years to improve the lives of their fellow Singaporeans.

Read also:

Singapore bent on protest-free APEC summit

Police video: Propaganda at its worst

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