Blocking Online Access to "Innocence of Muslims" Film Trailer

Mr Speaker, Sir, I am heartened that the public reacted calmly and rationally to this inflammatory and offensive film. It shows that within our society, people, by and large, understand the need for self-restraint and tolerance, and reject views which denigrate the faiths and beliefs of others.

The film sparked a wave of riots and attacks in various parts of the world that resulted, sadly, in injuries and deaths, to protesters, to law enforcement officials, and probably to innocent bystanders as well.

The protests came very close to home, with incidents reported in Malaysia, Indonesia, Philippines and Thailand. To prevent violence from escalating further, the video was subsequently blocked in several countries, including Malaysia and Indonesia, following requests from those countries to Google to do so.

Given the inflammatory and offensive nature of the film, and the violence spreading through several countries, the Government decided that it was necessary to take a firm stand as a matter of principle. The consequences of a single incident in Singapore could have a long-lasting impact on the inter-racial and inter-religious bonds we have built over the years. In addition to the request made to Google, the Ministry of Home Affairs at the same time also engaged community and religious leaders to reiterate our stand against religious intolerance, and re-affirm our commitment to social peace and stability.

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In multi-racial, multi-religious Singapore, we have laws against the incitement of hatred and disharmony between religious and racial groups, and we have used them when warranted. Beyond drawing the boundaries of acceptable behaviour, these laws allow the Government to act decisively against threats to the social peace and stability we enjoy. Such decisive actions assure the public that the Government will act whenever the line is crossed, and there is no need for affected groups to respond in inappropriate ways.

This episode is a tragic reminder that freedom of expression does not mean that one has unfettered rights to insult and denigrate another's religion or race, things which are held very deeply and very dear by others. Rather, we safeguard this freedom only through mutual respect of the views and beliefs of others. By observing these principles, we maintain the social peace and stability we enjoy today. This is the basis upon which our strong communal relations have been built, and we must never let this be undermined by the highly irresponsible acts of a few individuals.

I thank the Deputy Prime Minister for his reply. Sir, there are many similar provocations that we will see in the online world. So, the question is: is the ban on the trailer to "Innocence of Muslims" an exception rather than the rule? I must hasten to add that such hate speech should not be tolerated at all. But my larger concern is whether we will weaken our ability to deal with hate speech, particularly in this case where the hate speech did not originate from Singapore. The local population dealt with it in a very mature and admirable manner.

I am not so clear from the Minister's reply when is the line exactly crossed. In short, the question is whether the pre-emptive measure by the Government with regard to this trailer is an exception rather than the rule. The concern is how do we fortify ourselves, because there will constantly be hate speeches like these.

Sir, I appreciate what Prof Tan is trying to say. Prof Tan will probably agree with me that it cannot be that everything goes on the Internet. It also cannot be that the Government clamps down on everything on the Internet. So, the issue is how to draw a line and how to come to a conclusion. In fact, this is one of the dilemmas and issues which the Government has to face. MHA assesses both the content and the possible impact of the Internet content in determining whether to request the blocking of the Internet content, in this particular case, this video. The issue at hand is not censorship of Internet content but taking the necessary pre-emptive measures to prevent Internet content from inciting or being used to incite social unrest in Singapore. In this particular instance, the violent protests and religious tensions in several countries around the world, including in our neighbourhood, had been escalating and, of greatest concern, in countries which are not so dissimilar from ours.

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Given the inflammatory and offensive nature of the film and the violence spreading through several countries, the Government decided that it was necessary to take a firm stand. This was also a matter of principle, because it is not the kind of thing which we want to see. Certainly, if it was produced in Singapore, we would have taken action against it according to the law. So, even though this video was produced somewhere else and available in Singapore, we felt that it was necessary for us to do something about it, as a matter of principle, if we can.

As I said earlier, the consequences of a single incident in Singapore could have a long-lasting impact on the inter-racial and inter-religious bonds we have built over the years.

Sir, I thank the Deputy Prime Minister for the reply. I share the heartening response from the general public's calm and measured response to the incident raised in the Question. My supplementary question relates to the fact that, given that we are seeing now an increasing number of new citizens and residents in Singapore who may not have grown up in our environment of tolerance and be accustomed to the approach that we take to such issues, is the Ministry concerned that this phenomenon might lead to further incidents of issues that were raised, for example, in the trailer of the video? And, if so, how is the Ministry planning to address this, moving forward?

I should say from the outset that this issue has nothing to do with foreigners in Singapore. Even Singaporeans can be intolerant and Singaporeans have also shown intolerance for foreigners in quite unpleasant ways. Mr Speaker, Sir, what is important is that, as the Prime Minister says, we all understand, we are all human beings. There needs to be a certain generosity of spirit. We need to make greater efforts to understand each other. Singapore has always been a multi-racial and multi-religious society. People come here, they appreciate us because we are a multi-racial and multi-religious society and because of these important values that we hold. Through education, the individuals' practice and good modelling of behaviour, we hope that everyone in Singapore will subscribe to and conform with accepted patterns of behaviour both in the real world as well as on the Internet.

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