Granting students political amnesty to allow freedom of political expression

Should students be granted political amnesty?

PHOTO BY:
PappaJack

SINGAPORE – The litigation court battles involving certain members of the opposition against members of the ruling People’s Action Party (PAP) has been littered with the former’s vanquished bodies. To be embroiled in a law suit of a political nature against the PAP is as good as sounding the death knell to one’s fortunes. It will be another riches-to-rags story. No one wants to be the protagonist in such a script. Is it little wonder that Singaporeans hesitate to express their true views on certain political issues?

NUS aspires to be a world-class university. Like other world-class universities, it must promote a diversity of views among its student population. A heterogeneous mix of anarchists, socialists, green lobbyists and many others adds to the vibrancy of a campus. In a monochromatic political landscape such as Singapore, even the typical undergraduate will hesitate to express his true views on political issues because the threat of a law suit looms ahead.

When I was an undergraduate, I once had to make a presentation of a socio-political nature. Being the usual Devil’s Advocate, I always like to show the other site of the coin. The web source I cited had a large number of hard-hitting comments directed towards certain members of the ruling party. During my dry run, a fellow undergraduate came up to me and discouraged me from showing that web source because it was not politically correct. I merely told him that I was trying to be balanced, and the process of critical thinking involves working with views from multiple angles, radical as they may be.

NUS aspires to be a world-class university. Like other world-class universities, it must promote a diversity of views among its student population. A heterogeneous mix of anarchists, socialists, green lobbyists and many others adds to the vibrancy of a campus. In a monochromatic political landscape such as Singapore, even the typical undergraduate will hesitate to express his true views on political issues because the threat of a law suit looms ahead.”

This experience made me realize that self-censorship will ultimately discourage members of the intellectual community from expressing their true views of local politics. This is why students should be given some form of political amnesty so that they can express and exchange political views freely. This political amnesty can also be extended to concerned academic staff as well. Only with immunity from the various organs of prosecution can the freedom of political expression flourish.

An instance of an application of this political amnesty will be a student publicly asking a minister to resign in a ministerial dialogue if the former feels that the latter is not doing a good job. The ministry involved cannot take the student to task. Neither can the university. The minister is also not allowed to sue the student for libel. Essentially, the students should be protected from any form of future prosecution even if their actions go against the grain of the political establishment.

It will be all the more better if such political amnesty extends into academia. One may remember the two NTU researchers who were taken to task for publishing employment statistics that didn’t reflect well on the manpower ministry. Ideally, researchers should be allowed to explore different areas freely according to their academic interests. Censoring their research may not reflect well on the local academia.

The teaching staff has a pivotal role to play in the promotion of political amnesty. Educators should not penalize students even when their views are not politically correct. In fact, the former should play the Devil’s Advocate and encourage the latter to explore diverse views.

As the government re-considers its engagement strategy of netizens, it has to understand that one will truly express his views if immune from any form of prosecution. Granting political amnesty is a major step in the right direction, and benefits the government in the sense that the latter can obtain real and uncensored feedback from the ground.