Singaporean Arrested For Anti Government Remark on FACEBOOK

By Agence France-Presse, 25 Aug

SINGAPORE (AFP) – A Singaporean man who attacked the ruling party on Facebook and urge people to “burn” a cabinet minister has been arrested on charges of inciting violence, police said Wednesday.

In a statement, police said they had arrested a “man in his late 20s” on Tuesday “in connection with investigations into offences related to incitement of violence”.

The statement did not name the man or give details of the offence, but said that he was released on bail pending further investigation.

Local media identified him as Abdul Malik Ghazali, 27, who posted a series of comments on the social networking site critical of how Singapore is hosting the inaugural Youth Olympic Games (YOG).

The August 14-26 event, held for competitors aged from 14 to 18, has generated limited public interest, with many events blighted by empty seats and the host country’s athletes faring badly.

Vivian Balakrishnan, the minister for community development, youth and sports, has come under particular fire from online critics over the games.

Abdul Malik’s postings on his own Facebook page and on a separate group account called “I hate the Youth Olympic Games Organising Committee” are also critical of Singapore’s ruling People’s Action Party (PAP).

Abdul Malik, who works for a company specialising in wood and flooring, said on his Facebook page that he was arrested “due to my involvement in anti-YOG and anti-PAP Facebook pages”.

One of his postings highlighted recent floods in Singapore, the escape of detained terror suspect Mas Selamat Kastari, the amount of money spent to host the games and reports of the poor standard of food served for games volunteers.

He said it was time to “burn” the sports minister and the PAP.

“Rally together and vote them out!!!” he wrote.

Abdul Malik said in comments published Wednesday by The New Paper that “the comment is a metaphor”.

“I did not intend for it to be taken literally. I did not mean for someone to actually burn,” he said.

In another posting, Abdul Malik referred to a version of the communist anthem The Internationale on YouTube and wrote: “This song is a call to rise against tyranny and oppression… Very suited to what is happening now in Singapore.”

Prosperous Singapore — which is spending close to 300 million US dollars to host the games, more than three times original projections — follows a hardline policy on political dissent.

Public protests are banned without a police permit and anti-government critics in the political opposition and media have been successfully sued for defamation by top officials.

Some in cyberspace rallied to Abdul Malik’s defence.

One Facebook poster calling himself “Kok Meng” wrote “seems like even metaphors are forbidden these days”.

“Police should get a grip and let loose. We are a democracy.” — AFP.

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Dealing With Cyber Bullying

(Students)
-Stop Don’t respond to the bully. Victims often want to befriend the bully to solve the problem or even worse they want to retaliate. Responding to the cyberbully only escalates the problem, and in turn, the victim becomes part of the problem.



-Block Block the cyberbully or limit all communications to those you can trust. This is especially effective with bullying in chat rooms, Instant messaging, and email. Most electronic communication programs allow users to block specific screen names or email addresses. With social networking sites it may be necessary to delete the child's current account and open a new one that limits access to trusted friends. In some cases, it may be necessary for the victim to stay off the computer for a short period of time to remove themselves as the target of the attack.


-Tell Tell a trusted adult. The messages posted by the cyberbully are often vulgar or embarrassing. Victims often keep the bullying a secret for this reason. Also, kids are afraid that the adult will overreact and remove the source of the problem - the computer or cell phone -- or react in an irrational manner. Encourage children to tell someone if they are harassed or threatened online or if someone they know is bullied. Reassure the child that you will not overreact if they discuss a cyberbullying experience with you.

(Parents)
If your child is bullied online:



-Do not erase the evidence


-Contact your Internet provider, the social networking site, or cell phone company and file a complaint


-Contact the child’s school if the bullying is school-related


-Contact local law enforcement if your child has been threatened or if a crime has been committed.


-Report cyberbullying to the CyberTipline.


If the cyberbully makes statements which place the victim in reasonable fear for his or her physical safety or if the cyberbully continues to threaten or harass the victim, despite warnings, notify law enforcement.






A cyberbully can be traced. Each time the Internet is accessed, an IP (Internet Protocol) address, a type of electronic fingerprint, is established. This IP address can be used by the authorities to trace all electronic communications between computers and/or mobile phones.

Common Cyber Bullying Tactics

-Stealing someone’s online name and using it to write nasty rumors, comment, or spread gossip.




-Altering someone’s message or doctoring photographs to say something different or poke fun at a person.


-Secretly recording conversations using a cell phone, then playing the recording back for the person being discussed.


-Posting damaging information on blogs or web sites.


-Creating or taking part in Internet polling.

Know Cyber-Bullying

Cyber Bullying is the sending or posting of harmful or cruel text or images using the digital communication devices such as:
~~E-Mail
~~Instant Messaging (IM)
~~Text messages or digital images sent on mobile phones
~~ Social Networking Sites, Webpages, Blogs, Virtual Worlds
~~Chat Room or Discussion Groups (MSN & etc)
~~Interactive Game Sites.

Cyber Bullying- Videos

Here's some videos of Cyber Bullying. 

1) http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=nQ42Jwg6GhY 

2) http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=rvS9WY519Dg&feature=related

3) http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=amjIz9IbhEs&feature=related

4) http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=yCY8OgMrO08&feature=related

5) http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=YTpkJ1z4uUE&feature=related

Teaching Students to Be SAFE Online!

1) Establish guidelines for Internet use with your parents or another adult. Before you go online, decide how much time is okay for you to spend on the Internet each day and figure out what you can and cannot do. After you get more familiar with the Internet, you and your parents can talk again and change the guidelines. Post them next to the computer for easy reference.

2) Don't share your password with anyone else.

3) Before you share any information about yourself on the Internet, get your parents' permission.

4) Double-check the URL (the address of the Web site) before hitting the Enter key. Make sure the spelling is right. This will help ensure you go to the site you want, and not some other place.

5) Check with your parents or another adult you trust before going into a chat room. Different chat rooms have different rules and different types of people going to them. You and your parents want to make sure it is an appropriate place for you before you enter.

6) Don't give out your credit card number (or anyone else's) without permission from a parent.

7) Never give out your home address over the Internet.

8) Don't open files or e-mail from someone you don't know. You don't know what might be inside—the files could contain a computer virus or offensive material

9) Never agree to meet someone you met on the Internet in person without your parents' permission. You should never meet someone you met online alone. If you do set up a meeting with an online friend, meet in a public place and go with your parent or guardian.

10) Talk to your parents (or your teacher or another adult) about the kinds of places you go and things you do and see when you are online.

11) The "off" button is always there. Use it if you need to. You don't have to stay online if you don't want to.

Introduction (Cyber Wellness)

Cyberwellness is a holistic term which encompasses not only concerns around safety and security online, but also considers people's psychological and emotional well being, along with stage of development with specific regard to the range of issues that may affect children and young people in their use of new mobile and internet technologies.

For children and young people this helping them to realise that when they use the internet and mobile technologies, they are sending, receiving and communicating in a public space. Cyberwellness is about learning the skills to use and communicate with these technologies properly, keeping safe and secure, learning how to publish, disclose and interpret sources of information online and how to respect other users.