In Feb 2006, Samar made the news when we put up signs which read :- “Citizens of Denmark are not welcome in Samar until further notice.”

At the time, insulting cartoons of the Prophet Muhammad, may peace be upon him, were being published by the Danish newspapers repeatedly, causing worldwide Muslim anger and condemnation.

However, what made the matter worse was that the Danish government justified the cartoons as a demonstration of the principle of freedom of speech. This created more outrage among the Muslims, and violent riots were seen in several countries.

We at Samar were angry too. How could any sensible, rational government argue that freedom of speech was more important than any community’s religious belief? So we put up the signs to demonstrate our anger at the Danish government’s position.

This made news in Singapore. Within 24 hours, we gave 5 interviews to reporters from the local media that had been alerted to the signs. But none of it was reported, except for a single news broadcast on the Malay radio station Warna. We were told by some of the reporters that a news blackout had been imposed by the Government on the incident.

In any event, we were advised by the Singapore Police Force that the Police were worried that our neighbours in the Arab District may follow suit, and that the Danish citizens in Singapore may become the target of Muslim anger. We were also firmly told that charges under the Sedition Act may be leveled against us for the signs.

So we took down the original signs, and put up an amended version :- “Citizens of Denmark who believe that freedom of speech is more important than respect for religion, are not welcome in Samar until further notice.”

This was on display for over a week, despite further police warnings of criminal charges. Doing the right thing by one’s religion or morals or family values does not always coincide with the secular law of the land.

We put up the signs as a simple demonstration that freedom of speech, or any other fundamental freedom, in any society must have its limits - it cannot be as uncontrolled as the Danish government would argue.

We hoped that the effect on the Danish citizens who were upset by our signs would be to make them understand that, in this part of the world at least, respect for God’s word is more important than freedom of speech.

Marcellus - Something is rotten in the State of Denmark.
Horatio - Heaven will direct it.
Hamlet (Shakespeare)