IN HIS letter ("Take care not to head down false path"; Tuesday) and earlier commentary ("A practical not ideological approach to human rights"; May 4), Mr Bilahari Kausikan suggests that Europeans have "tied themselves into knots" over free speech. But he then weaves a woolly tangle of knotted arguments himself.
It is ironic, that while warning Singaporeans of Europe's "extreme ideology of freedom of speech", his arguments seem to have much in common with another European ideology, namely, post-modern moral relativism.
Mr Kausikan says that both the Charlie Hebdo murderers and victims were equally wrong in believing they had the right to do what they did.
He states that the murderers were wrong in their interpretation of Islam and in committing murder.
That is true. But the cartoonists were entirely correct in believing that they were acting within their rights as French citizens, both in terms of the law and the centuries-old tradition of satire.
Even if one allows Mr Kausikan's qualified assertion that he draws no moral equivalency, his suggestion that there is any meaningful commonality between them is patently wrong.
There is a huge difference between thinking "I will decide what you can and can't say. And if you disagree, I will kill you" and "You and I are both free to say what we think. You are free to buy my magazine or not. You are free to disagree and satirise me in return. But watch out if you do - I may draw another cartoon".
Let us also not forget that the murderers and their associates killed and terrorised Muslims, Jews and others who had nothing to do with the cartoons nor were practising anything that could be remotely considered extreme free speech.
Mr Kausikan suggests that the Charlie Hebdo killings signal that Europe has a problem arising from free speech. On the contrary, what it signals is that the world has a problem with criminals and extremists who seek to impose their will by violence.
The suggestion that France should rein back freedom of speech is not practical, nor even expedient - it is a prescription for national suicide.
Should France, or any other country, give up the already enshrined freedoms that the vast bulk of its citizens want, it would only embolden more small-time crooks like the Charlie Hebdo murderers and far more sinister elements to play for much higher stakes in the future.
Craig Ower
