SINGAPORE — The Government is not attempting to curtail freedom of expression, but believes people should be held accountable for what they post online, said Law and Foreign Minister K Shanmugam yesterday.

The online environment, like the physical sphere, needs laws in order to curb “child pornography, harassment of people to such an extent that they commit suicide, cyber bullying (and) putting out falsehoods which have no basis”, he added.

Mr Shanmugam, who was speaking at The Straits Times Global Outlook Forum, also dismissed suggestions that the Government is clamping down on socio-political blogs and websites. Rather, it encourages responsible discussion online, he said.

Prime Minister Lee Hsien Loong last week said the Government would require registration by commentators on its REACH feedback website by the middle of next month, and encouraged other sites to do the same.

Asked by The Straits Times Editor Warren Fernandez, who was moderating the session, whether this could be seen as an attempt to curb online debate, Mr Shanmugam replied: “Nobody is talking about freedom of speech. Express what you want, but identify yourself.

“Why should people be uncomfortable expressing their views on political and social issues? I can imagine it can be uncomfortable if they want to say untruths, if they want to bully and if they want to … distort (the) truth.”

Earlier this month, Mr Shanmugam announced that the Government would put up stronger laws by early next year to better protect people against harassment, both in the real world and online.

The Media Development Authority (MDA) in June also placed 10 online news sites on an individual licensing scheme, which required them to put up a S$50,000 bond and comply within 24 hours of a directive to remove objectionable content.

On the MDA’s rules, Mr Shanmugam pointed out that, over the past 20 years, the Government had ordered the removal of online posts 24 times: Twenty-two of these were related to pornography, while two were offensive to other religions.

“The new rules are old rules because the take-down power was always there. The only really new rule is (the) S$50,000 (bond),” he said.

During the 90-minute forum, which mainly focused on foreign affairs and covered a broad range of topics from tensions in the South China Sea to the ASEAN Economic Community, Mr Shanmugam was asked for his take on increasing religiosity in the region.

Similar to trends elsewhere, there is increasing religiosity in Singapore, he said.

“If you take just Christianity, the values and the cultural wars that are taking place in the United States, you are beginning to see a replay in Singapore — over homosexuality, over gay rights (and) over abortion now.”

“Increasingly, I’m being asked questions on the right to abortion. Ten years ago, if you asked a Singaporean, ‘Do you think women should have a right to abort?’, people would say, ‘Of course.’ It was a no-brainer as far as Singaporeans were concerned,” he said.

“Today, views have changed and it’s not just older people, but young people, who are beginning to say, ‘Well you know, maybe there shouldn’t be a right to abort as you wish.’ I found that quite interesting. So you’re beginning to import some of the culture wars that are taking place elsewhere.”

While he said such debates should take place from a secular perspective, “inevitably the secular outlook (and) arguments from within the secular space, would be informed by people’s religious beliefs”.

“And those religious beliefs are getting stronger and stronger,” he added.

Mr Shanmugam also gave a glimpse of changes in store for the legal scene next year.

He said there would be “serious changes” to the Penal Code but did not elaborate, while the Law Ministry intends to make the Republic an attractive place for mediation, just as it has done for arbitration.