Cyberbullying happens when a bully uploads embarrassing photos of the victim on social media, sends threatening messages or puts up nasty posts meant to hurt the victim, for example

Question 1
Cyberbullying happens when a bully uploads embarrassing photos of the victim on social
media, sends threatening messages or puts up nasty posts meant to hurt the victim, for
example. According to Dr Daniel Fung, chairman of the IMH medical board, teenagers who
are bullied online can be very distressed by the harassment and some even refuse to go to
school. Ms Esther Ng, founder of the non-profit group Coalition Against Bullying for
Children and Youth, said a 13-year-old girl had to change school when she discovered “hate
blogs” spreading lies that she had been sleeping around with different boys. The girl was so
traumatised by the anonymous posts, which she thought were started by schoolmates, that she
plunged into depression, became afraid to leave home and refused to go to school. Said Ms
Ng: “Cyberbullying is more common now as people are wired all the time. And children are
growing up in an age where they spend more time online than with other people, and are
losing the human touch. People now have less empathy and are less forgiving.”
Singapore Children’s Society senior counsellor Sylvia Ang said cyberbullying can be more
damaging than face-to-face bullying because people are less restrained online and bullies can
remain anonymous, leaving victims more helpless and fearful. Ms Ng said what adds to the
victims’ agony is that embarrassing pictures or nasty messages posted online can be spread
widely and seen by an infinite number of strangers. In 2006, the anti-bullying group polled
about 3,500 students here aged between 13 and 17, and one in four said they had been bullied
online.

There has been much debate in the Singapore Parliament and public sphere with regards to
punishing cyber bullies with the expansion of anti-harassment laws in Singapore. The two
articles provided reflect the debate regarding the Protection from Harassment Bill in
Singapore.
Do you think that the Singapore government should make cyberbullying a criminal
offence?
In about 1000 words, write a persuasive argumentative essay defending your position in
order to argue for your particular stance on this issue. Other than providing supporting
arguments for the position you take on this issue, you MUST anticipate objections and
SIM UNIVERSITY TMA02 – 4
provide counterarguments to write the paper. Relevant information for you to gather would
be:
? Definition & types of cyberbullying
? Singapore’s laws on cyberbullying
? Issues (moral, ethical, and etc.) surrounding cyberbullying
? Arguments for criminalising cyberbullying
? Arguments against criminalising cyberbullying

paper have to be in apa style with a cover sheet and reference page.