absolutum dominium

~freedom of speech~

yuck. i'm really not used to the blogger interface. it uninspires me to blog. don't ask me why. it's just not xanga enough. sigh. and no, it doesn't mean i'm not blogging just coz i
m so fucking busy now tt the exams are over. i would LIKE to be busy and do more stuff, but i'm fucking broke. you hear tt? i need moolah and i'm not getting a job. and worst of all, i weighed myself recently and i'm 60kg. i gained 5kg from the exam period. KANINA!!! i don't know how i managed to gain so much weight... admittedly it's coz 1) i haven't been running at all; and 2) i've been stuffing myself with COMFORT FOOD, esp just after the exams with ice-cream and pasta and rice with creamy sauces almost everyday, to make up for the sucky YIH food.

ARGH. i'm fucking overweight can??? i've never felt so far away from my abs goal. i don't just not have abs, i have lost my waist (AGAIN) and i have a fucking big tummy!!! like i'm pregnant. *big big sob*

fuckanarthan. i'm super pissed with myself.

but enough self-pity. must lose all tt weight by july race. and prob have to DO SOMETHING about my running. i know my technique is wrong. i'm landing on my toes, which is why my calves always hurt like hell, i put unnecessary pressure on my knees and hamstrings, and it's a fucking pain and disincentive to run far. dammit must consciously force myself to correct my technique. my stamina is just so bad right now. ARGH.

k. must run. and must eat less. now if ONLY my father will STOP STUFFNIG ME WITH FOOD.

but anyway tt's not the point of this post. food and fat (me) have nothing to do with art 14 of the constitution.

anyway i was just reading the papers. all about blogging and freedom of speech. of course it's pertinent to me, since i blog (obviously) and well... i'm defnitely using my freedom of speech coz i rant rave and bitch almost all the time.

but blogging just isn't safe anymore. the reason i moved here. coz it just isn't safe.

if you read art 14 of the constitution relating to freedom of speech, of course as per our lovely little sunny island in the sea there are a whole list of provisos to the freedom, like public order health and morality, and the laws of oh yes, defamation. you have no freedom of speech subject to the laws of defamation.

lcl in his tutorials pointed out to us tt by empirical observation, it seems the laws of defamation only apply to opposition politicians. who get sued by you-know-who when they make political remarks. or journalists and/or the press when they write unobjective.biased (read: unfavourable) articles and them.

but it seems that's no lnoger the case. you get hung drawn and quartered for private statements made on your private blog by absolute busy-body strangers who shouldn't be giving a damn about it (and who btw, prob aren't any better than you, coz it's pretty obvious tt singapore is NOT a multi-racial but rather a PLURAL society and racism abounds EVERY-SINGLE-FUCKING-PLACE there is), and you get threatened about being SUED for defamation for things you write on your blog by someone who is a lot RICHER, MORE POWERFUL, more RENOWNED and much much BIGGER than you.

doesn't this remind you of the whole schoolyard bully thing?

i don't know about reputation, but this just smacks of an ABUSE OF POWER.

but i didn't say who. i don't want to get sued.

to me that's just what the laws of defamation are. a tool to be used only by the rich and powerful to oppress the weaker ones who try to oppose them.

freedom of speech my ass.

where are the boundaries? where are the OB markers? of course, any fucking moron can tell you tt free speech is not an absolute right. your right ends where your fist touches my nose.

but haha...

not on our little sunny island. not anymore.

shaun pointed out tt it will be legislated in the US that free speech on blogs is to be given the same kind of qualified privilege as journalistic comments. and he hopes tt the same will apply to singapore.

but i doubt it. coz in the first place, the press isn't even GIVEN a qualified privilege. all the defences of qualified privelege, fair comment etc, have all been REJECTED by our cj and the courts. "oh no, the singapore constitution is to be intepreted WITHIN ITS 4 WALLS." we should not look to international cases to determine our cases. because we are "different". we have "local conditions". free speech just doesn't apply here.

so you see, as far as i am concerned, singapore isn't really liberalising or opening up. maybe our pm is right and some singaporeans are becoming more politicised. BUT in a politically-correct way. in a non-offensive kind of neutral/pro-therulingparty way.

coz let's face it, as long as free speech is subject to the laws tt protect the rich and the powerful, free speech to the masses is a fallcy. even online.