There is more freedom now compared to a decade ago, “let alone when I was your age”, said Mr Tharman. “I was a dissident, a government critic. It was completely different then, compared to where it is now. We have evolved into a society that has more freedoms, but it has some restrictions and they serve a purpose.”
He was speaking at a Pre-University Seminar on May 30 2016.
Singapore society should evolve towards more freedom of speech but some restrictions, such as on hate speech, are necessary.
Enforcement against hate speech does not mean all comment and expression is scrubbed out, but individuals have to be responsible, he said.
Mr Tharman spoke of the need to let values in Singapore “evolve quietly”, instead of having a debate to decide on values for the future, because that was not how societies evolved.
Each generation, he added, would have its own sense of purpose and values, but rarely totally divorced from their parents’ or grandparents’.
Media censorship, Mr Tharman said, was not the only test of a liberal, progressive society.
In some countries with looser reins on the media, there is much less freedom to walk safely on the streets and to advance oneself regardless of ethnicity or religion, he said.
Society has to find the right balance and some freedoms have to be curbed for it to evolve in a way that advances other freedoms, he said. “Every society faces this. We haven’t found the perfect balance, and we have to keep evolving.”
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