25 October 2019
Education Minister Ong Ye Kung has set a framework on what educational institutions should or should not do when planning activities for their students.
Mr Ong said in Parliament earlier this month that among other things, educational institutions “should not work with speakers and instructors who have been convicted of public order-related offences, or who are working with political advocacy groups funded by foreigners, or who openly show disloyalty to Singapore”.
Academics interviewed by The Straits Times had differing views on Mr Ong’s statement. While some welcomed the attempt to spell out principles governing such activities, others said the guidelines were vague and could lead to self-censorship.
Mr Jiang Hao Lie, coordinator of student group Community for Advocacy and Political Education and a third-year global affairs student at Yale-NUS College, said that as a society, we have to be able to be inclusive, even of views that are uncomfortable and disagreeable, from all parties and all sides, as long as we work towards a better Singapore.
NUS political scientist Terence Lee said educational institutions would benefit “from a diversity of views from all walks of life”.
“Having said that, educators should be mindful of inviting people who have prior criminal records or have broken the law,” he said.