Linking pornography websites to the rising number of molestation reports, forum letter writer Roslyn Snodgrass Seah has urged the government to collaborate with law-abiding citizens who are experts in internet technology to “block all pornographic websites.”
In a letter published by the national broadsheet on Monday (May 20), Seah asserted that the National University of Singapore (NUS) sexual voyeur case involving Nicholas Lim and Monica Baey does not seem to have dissuaded other students from molesting other girls on campus.
Highlighting that a police advisory released last year shows “a sharp rise in the number of molestation cases” and that this number “rose by 21.5 per cent in the first half of last year,” Seah wrote that this “sharp spike is most likely due to easy access to pornography via the Internet, now also available on the ubiquitous smartphone.”
Using the results of a survey by Touch Cyber Wellness that found that 9 in 10 teenage boys in Singapore had viewed sexually explicit material last year, Seah related that local experts have warned that viewing pornography could lead to sexual crimes.
Asserting that “statistics show where all this is headed”, since someone who views pornography “may commit sexual crimes against women when the opportunity arises,” Seah wrote that it is crucial to act “by interrupting the trajectory of such anti-social behaviour” rather than “punishing individual offenders.”
Besides urging the Info-Communications Media Development Authority (IMDA) to block all pornography websites in Singapore, Seah called on the authorities to ensure that children and parents are educated on the dangers of pornography.
Seah also wrote that “filters should be made to prevent pornographic material from seeping into smartphones or Internet television.” The letter writer concluded:
“Some citizens have developed software applications to circumvent Web-blocking. It is time to harness the expertise of the many law-abiding Internet-savvy citizens to counter this and, together with the Government, block all pornographic websites.”
Read the forum letter in full HERE.