Cyberbullying in Singapore: Government Initiatives and Societal Impact

This report provides an in-depth analysis of cyberbullying as a growing social ill in Singapore. It presents findings from interviews with key figures like the CEO of a leading newspaper corporation and the Director of the Ministry of Education, highlighting statistical data indicating the prevalence of cyberbullying among students, particularly in primary and secondary schools. The report delves into the root causes of cyberbullying, linking it to mental turmoil among both victims and perpetrators, and examines the impact on student suicide rates. It details governmental initiatives, including the implementation of stricter laws and educational programs aimed at raising awareness and preventing cyberbullying. The report also includes appendices with interview question answers, offering a comprehensive overview of the issue, its consequences, and ongoing efforts to combat it. The report concludes by emphasizing the need for continued awareness and proactive measures from schools, parents, and students to eradicate cyberbullying from Singaporean society.

Running head: WRITING EXERCISE PORTFOLIO
Assignment 2
Is cyber bullying becoming a social ill day by day
Brief of the interview
In this section a brief of an important interview of the C.E.O of the leading newspaper
corporation located in Singapore. This interview was broadcast in the New Asia Channel of
Singapore as the topic of the interview is a very sensitive one regarding the cyber-bullying that is
increasing rapidly in Singapore.
Statistics of the issue
The interviewee stated that it is statistically proven that 1 out of every 4 students of
Singapore has faced cyber bullying and that has harmed their way of living the life. Under the
supervision of Mr. Zhang Wei, who is the interviewee, a team of 12 people did a series of
interviews of the students of Singapore and did a thorough survey regarding this burning issue.
After the investigation, some horrible facts were revealed and the team was shocked to see that
currently the 1/3rd of the student population of Singapore has faced cyber bullying at least once in
their student life and the rate of facing such issues are more for the students of primary schools
and that is more shocking (Barlett et al 2014).
Root cause
To find the cause it was revealed that the issue is more deep-rooted than it was predicted.
It was seen that, the victims of cyber bullying suffer badly but the people who bullies others are
actually going through a huge mental turmoil and that leads them to engage in such practices.

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The suicide rate of these bullies are actually 2 to 3 times more than the victims of cyber bullying
and this is a fact that is worth putting in some stress on it. To do the research work it was seen
that the rate of suicides among the teenagers and the young adults are higher than most of the
South-East Asian countries. Mr. Wei added that it is not rare that the friends influenced some
individuals to bully someone and to prove himself sometimes some students bully others using
the cyber platform and these kinds of activities needs to be stopped and parents should invest
more time with their kids to monitor their activities especially at the time of adolescence as that
is the most vulnerable phase of any child.
Initiatives of government
Considering these issues government of Singapore has passed a law regarding cyber
bullying and that explained that if the inappropriate contents from the internet will be taken
down and the uploader will be penalized according to the severity of their actions. After
implementing the law it is seen that rate of cyber bullying has gone down and that is where the
success of implementing the new law lies (Kwan and Skoric, 2013).

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Speech
Director of Ministry of Education on Cyber bullying, a burning issue of Singapore
Figure 1 Ministry of Singapore
7th October 2017
Tuesday
Queen’s college auditorium
At the graduation ceremony of reputed Queen’s College of Singapore, Mr. Shengwah
Kagawa, the director of Ministry of Education of Singapore was invited and he gave a speech
regarding the burning contemporary issue of cyber bullying that is majorly affecting the students
off Singapore. He said that recently the rate of cyber bullying was enhanced in a significant

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manner and the rate was alarming for the government. In many cases the victims of cyber
bullying committed suicide and they have suffered badly. This issue raised a few questions
among the parents and they have signed a petition urging for an amendment in the rules and
regulations regarding this issue (Holt, Chee and Bossler 2013). He added that after considering
the situation parliament have passed a new law and the new law became much stricter than the
previous one. It was seen that after implementing the law the rate of cyber bullying actually
decreased significantly (Teh 2014). After that the ministry of education has decided that in the
schools the pupils should be taught the negative impact of the cyber bullying so that they do not
get engaged in such practices. Kagawa added that in the last academic year almost 70 pupils
committed suicide and out of them 50 to 55 were the victims of cyber bullying and 10 to 15
individuals were engaged in cyber bullying activities. It is a matter of fact that cyber bullying has
become a social ill in the land of Singapore and the government has to step forward to eradicate
such social ill from the society. Kagawa said that the parents need to give more time to their
wards in order to keep them away from all sorts of provocations to get diverted from their goals.
The parents and the management of the primary and secondary schools should be aware of the
fact that no student should be exposed in front of any form of cyber bullying and if any student is
seen suffering from these issues the issues must be resolved right away before it becomes serious
(Ang, Huan and Florell, 2014). The laws against cyber bullying is now more strict than ever and
this is helping the situation, but the fact is one should not stay relaxed depending upon the rules
and regulations and a proper awareness regarding the issue must be raised. Considering this
situation, the ministry of education has decided to deploy a team of 10 people who would
supervise the educational institutions and will check online forums regarding this social ill.
While concluding his speech, Kagawa said that by spreading the news regarding the cyber

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bullying and incessantly broadcasting these issues on social media and national TV might help
the situation. Lastly he added that along with the teachers and parents the students should be
aware of this issue and if they face any sort of cyber bullying they should report to the higher
authorities.

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References
Ang, R.P., Huan, V.S. and Florell, D., 2014. Understanding the relationship between proactive
and reactive aggression, and cyberbullying across United States and Singapore adolescent
samples. Journal of interpersonal violence, 29(2), pp.237-254.
Holt, T.J., Chee, G., Ng, E.A.H. and Bossler, A.M., 2013. Exploring the consequences of
bullying victimization in a sample of Singapore youth. International Criminal Justice
Review, 23(1), pp.25-40.
Bhat, C.B. and Ragan, M.A., 2013. Cyberbullying in Asia. .
Hinduja, S. and Patchin, J.W., 2014. Bullying beyond the schoolyard: Preventing and responding
to cyberbullying. Corwin Press.
Kwan, G.C.E. and Skoric, M.M., 2013. Facebook bullying: An extension of battles in
school. Computers in Human Behavior, 29(1), pp.16-25.
Singhal, P. and Bansal, A., 2013. Improved textual cyberbullying detection using data
mining. International Journal of Information and Computation Technology, 3(6), pp.569-576.
Teh, M.K., 2014. Principals and Legal Risks: Contrasting Perspectives.
Barlett, C.P., Gentile, D.A., Anderson, C.A., Suzuki, K., Sakamoto, A., Yamaoka, A. and
Katsura, R., 2014. Cross-cultural differences in cyberbullying behavior: A short-term
longitudinal study. Journal of Cross-Cultural Psychology, 45(2), pp.300-313.

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Appendices
Question answers of the interview
Q1. Is cyber bullying is a social ill?
Ans. Yes and this issue is affecting the lives of the teenagers and the young adults majorly.
Q2. What age group is most likely exposed in front of this type of cyber bullying?
Ans. Mostly the students of primary and secondary schools and college students are the victims
of cyber bullying.
Q3.Do you think this issue is enough highlighted in the digital media?
Ans. Yes, recently the media is doing their job very actively and covering this type of social
issues for the betterment of the society.
Q4. Who are the bullies who are victimizing the students of Singapore?
The people who get engaged in activities like cyber bullying are mostly young adults and the
frustration level of them is driving them to commit such actions.
Q5. Is government playing their role as it is required?
Ans. Government of Singapore has recently amended the laws regarding cyber bully.
Q6. Is ministry of education taking any initiative regarding this issue?

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Ans. Ministry of Education is trying to raise the awareness regarding this issue in all the
educational institutions.
Q7. Is there any department dedicated for this issue?
Ans. Ministry of education and federal government of Singapore have already deployed two
teams regarding this social ill.
Q8. Is the situation better than before?
Ans. Definitely as according to the statistics, the severity of the issue is lesser than before.
Q9. What are the plans of government regarding this issue?
Ans. Government is taking a few initiatives and as it is a very sensitive issue, those plans cannot
be revealed publicly.
Q10. Can this issue be eradicated totally from the society?
Ans. Yes, eventually with higher awareness regarding the issue it can be eradicated from the
society.