I am glad law minister Mr Shanmugam decided to step up legislation to stem out cyberbullying. We are probably the only developed country that does not have a proper set of guidelines penalising those who engage in serial cyberbullying.
We began to see the dark danger of this fast-advancing internet era three years ago and even put up a help website for people to seek counselling assistance but due to our lack of resources we are unable to continue our services on this important aspect.
Its probable that the law minister may have receive a lot of complaints from the public regarding the lack of legislative action on this matter that triggers his current focus on cyberbullying but critics are still doubting his sincerity.
Many netizens fear that he will use the law to silence the huge influence anti-establishment socio political sites have on the country. The new internet censorship law receives a lot of flak and there is fear that the government will implement a new set of internet legislation on the pretext of safeguarding cyberspace to camouflage it's own sinister plan.
Yet on the other hand, victims of real cyberbullying acts currently have nothing to fall back on if they are tormented on line. The victim can only file a police report if the harassment goes viral but there is nothing solid on law to take him down short of filing for a lawsuit against the culprit.
In developed countries like Australia and US, cyberspace is patrolled by internet cyber police and they can take down anyone who flouts the law. The internet companies have to submit the IP addresses of the violators when requested by the law and cyberbullies are persecuted if there is enough evidence.
We at our end routinely find ourselves being harassed online by bullies and sometimes IBs even gang up to torment those who support the opposition.
Dennis Khew who cut up his ANZ credit card in support of a Singaporean who was replaced by incoming foreigners were himself harassed by a gang of pro-PAP supporters. I saw how helpless he was when they questioned him rigorously and I advised him not to engage with them as they can be unreasonable. Is such political cyberbullying allowed if it's instigated by the IBs?
Jeraldine Phneah recently was also a victim of cyberbullying and we spoke online abit about it and at the height of her personal crisis she was clearly upset and distressed by the whole episode.
I myself went through regular bouts of intense cyberbullying when Ken Thong make it his career to speak with anyone online - spreading rumours that I slept around with divorced women. He even came to one of our dinner event though he left earlier. Will he be slapped with the new cyberbullying law if he works for the white?
Nevertheless, I hope the new set of anti-cyberbullying law will come sooner than later as we have the highest internet penetration in the world and people log in their facebook even before they brush their teeth!
So far, unlike some other countries, fortunately no one has committed suicide yet due to cyberbullying and we hope there will be none. It will be a black day for our country if we find someone taking his own life because there isn't enough law to protect him online.
That will be a shame...
Gilbert Goh