Abstract
Cyberbullying is the online harassment which occurs in the form of spreading false and abusive information, and it can be threatening for persons. The Protection from Harassment Bill 2014 was introduced to address the issue of cyberbullying. The bill provoked debates in the society of Singapore, and there are many opponents of introducing specific laws to address the problem of cyberbullying. However, the government of Singapore should make cyberbullying a criminal offence in order to protect the Internet users from online bullying legally, to provide effective laws to control the rude online behaviours and to regulate the dangerous effects of online harassment.
The Singapore Government Should Make Cyberbullying a Criminal Offence
The Internet can be discussed as a source of a life threat for teenagers in Singapore because of such a phenomenon as cyberbullying. Referring to Kasiviswanathan Shanmugam, the Minister for Law and introducer of the Protection from Harassment Bill 2014, it is possible to state that in Singapore, “online bullying is more pervasive than bullying in the physical world” (Singapore to legislate against cyberbullies, 2014). Cyberbullying is a type of online harassment which occurs in the form of spreading false and abusive information in posts, forums, messages, social media, and chats. Cyberbullying is associated with such two important factors as the use of technology and the focus on humiliating and abusing the person (Ng & Rigby, 2010, p. 78). Thus, the Protection from Harassment Bill 2014 was proposed in order to address the issue of cyberbullying and to make it a criminal offence. In spite of the fact that there are many opponents of introducing specific laws to address the problem of cyberbullying, the Singapore government should make cyberbullying a criminal offence because it is important to protect the Internet users from online bullying legally, because laws are effective means to control the rude online behaviours, and because cyberbullying laws can protect persons from the online harassment without violating the speech rights.
Opponents of the Protection from Harassment Bill 2014 state that Singapore’s laws on severe harassment are effective enough to protect individuals from such forms of harassment as cyberbullying. Thus, there are no reasons to discuss cyberbullying as a special criminal offence which should be regulated by a specific law (Yuen-C & Pei Shan, 2014). However, in spite of the fact that current Singapore’s laws address the issues of Internet crimes, the additional laws to regulate the cyberbullying issue are necessary. It is important to note that cyberbullying is an actively developed form of online harassment which is associated with the issue of regulating online communication and privacy concerns (Singapore Ministry of Law, 2014). The online harassment is a comparably new tendency which actively spreads and affects such vulnerable categories of the population as teenagers significantly (Smith et al., 2008, p. 376). For instance, Tan Cheng Han claims that cyberbullying can be as dangerous as the real-world harassment because “it can both spread and induce others to gang up against the victim” (Au-yong, 2014). In order to prevent the spread of cyberbullying among youths, it is necessary to demonstrate the severity of the issue while developing specific laws to regulate it.
Those lawyers who oppose cyberbullying laws in Singapore note that it is difficult to control and predict the rude online behaviour. These lawyers try to draw the public’s attention to many alternative forms to solve the problem of cyberbullying rather than the focus on developing the new law (Au-yong, 2014). On the one hand, cyberbullying among teenagers can be discussed as the issue associated with ineffective education strategies. On the other hand, cyberbullying is often associated with impunity. Although cyberbullying is mainly associated with the teenagers’ online activities, the results of cyberbullying can be dangerous because bullies know that their activities cannot be punished legally. Using the advantages of Internet anonymity, bullies can stalk many persons without any adequate punishment (Patchin & Hinduja, 2010, p. 614). 14% of students in Singapore note that cyberbullying affects their emotional state significantly while comparing the effects of real-world bullying (Ng & Rigby, 2010, p. 80). The world-known example of cyberbullying is a case associated with Charlotte Dawson, the Australian model. The prolonged anonymous abuse with the help of the Internet provoked Dawson’s depression and the further attempts of committing suicide. The fact that Dawson committed suicide in 2012 supports the idea that cyberbullying can influence the victim’s physical and mental health significantly (Wu, 2014). Disciplinary procedures cannot work in cases when cyberbullying leads to teenagers’ depressions and suicides, and effective legislation is necessary.
One more approach to oppose the government’s initiative to refer to cyberbullying as criminal cases is based on the idea that is making cyberbullying a criminal offence, the government of Singapore takes the risk of discussing the issue of free speech rights’ violations. Although online activities are often associated with the free speech rights, and there are many details in discussing the content of posts and messages as the presentation of personal opinions, the issue of cyberbullying should be discussed in the other category (Smith et al., 2008, p. 376). From this perspective, the laws on cyberbullying cannot be considered as the violations of free speech rights because the right to stalk a person is not supported with references to the free speech legislation. Cyberbullying is associated with a case of harassment because of depending on false facts and rumours (Singapore Ministry of Law, 2014). This process cannot be discussed as an act of stating a personal opinion. For instance, posts containing the critique supported with arguments can be discussed with references to the free speech rights, but posts containing insults are the case of cyberbullying. Thus, the development of the specific legislation can be discussed as a single effective method to prevent cyberbullying among young persons in Singapore.
Cyberbullying is a comparably new tendency which develops in the social and technological world of Singapore. In 2014, the representatives of Singapore’s government proposed the Protection from Harassment Bill in order to address the issue at the new legal stage. In spite of the developed debates on the case, it is necessary to state that cyberbullying should become a criminal offence because such vulnerable Internet users as teenagers should be protected from online bullying. Furthermore, new effective laws to control the rude online behaviours are necessary, and new cyberbullying laws should prevent the threatening cases of online harassment which can be dramatic for victims of bullying. If cyberbullying is not addressed with the help of legislation, more new victims of online harassment can become known in Singapore and around the world because cyberbullying actively spreads and affects more persons.
References
Au-yong, R. (2014). Bill ‘unlikely to wipe out online harassment’. Web.
Ng, E., & Rigby, K. (2010). Breaking the silence: Bullying in Singapore. Singapore: Armour Publishing Pte Ltd.
Patchin, J., & Hinduja, S. (2010). Cyberbullying and self-esteem. Journal of School Health, 80(12), 614-621.
Singapore Ministry of Law. (2014). Factsheet on the Protection from Harassment Act 2014. Web.
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Smith, P., Mahdavi, J., Carvalho, M., Fisher, S., Russell, S. & Tippett, N. (2008). Cyberbullying: Its nature and impact in secondary school pupils. The Journal of Child Psychology and Psychiatry, 49(4), 376-385.
Wu, N. (2014). Does Australia need toucher cyberbullying legislation?
Yuen-C, T., & Pei Shan, H. (2014). How far does harassment Bill go?