two persons have been charged with sedition for their online racist comments. details are not clear yet.
timely reminder for all.
timely reminder for all.
Two persons charged with sedition
- Thread starter reachme2003
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Taken from HWZ's CAL.
SINGAPORE : For the first time in Singapore, two bloggers have been charged under the Sedition Act with making racist remarks.
Twenty-five-year-old Nicholas Lim Yew faces two charges and 27-year-old Benjamin Koh Song Huat faces three.
A subordinate court was told that both their blogs had racist content, which sparked off a heated discussion online.
The charges read that Lim had, on 16 and 17 June 2005, posted racist remarks on a web forum.
Koh was alleged to have done the same on 12, 15 and 17 June on another website.
In doing so, they are alleged to have committed an act which had a seditious tendency.
This is defined as promoting feelings of ill-will and hostility between different races of the population of Singapore.
Both men are out on bail of S$10,000 each.
The case is expected be heard again on September 21.
A person is deemed to have committed an offence under the Sedition Act if he performs any act which has a seditious tendency, or conspires with any person to do so.
It is also an offence to utter any seditious words or to print, publish, sell, distribute, reproduce or import any seditious publication.
First time offenders can be fined up to S$5,000, or jailed up to three years, or both.
For subsequent offences, they can be jailed up to five years and have their seditious publications forfeited and destroyed. - CNA
http://www.channelnewsasia.com/stories/singaporelocalnews/view/167812/1/.html
SINGAPORE : For the first time in Singapore, two bloggers have been charged under the Sedition Act with making racist remarks.
Twenty-five-year-old Nicholas Lim Yew faces two charges and 27-year-old Benjamin Koh Song Huat faces three.
A subordinate court was told that both their blogs had racist content, which sparked off a heated discussion online.
The charges read that Lim had, on 16 and 17 June 2005, posted racist remarks on a web forum.
Koh was alleged to have done the same on 12, 15 and 17 June on another website.
In doing so, they are alleged to have committed an act which had a seditious tendency.
This is defined as promoting feelings of ill-will and hostility between different races of the population of Singapore.
Both men are out on bail of S$10,000 each.
The case is expected be heard again on September 21.
A person is deemed to have committed an offence under the Sedition Act if he performs any act which has a seditious tendency, or conspires with any person to do so.
It is also an offence to utter any seditious words or to print, publish, sell, distribute, reproduce or import any seditious publication.
First time offenders can be fined up to S$5,000, or jailed up to three years, or both.
For subsequent offences, they can be jailed up to five years and have their seditious publications forfeited and destroyed. - CNA
http://www.channelnewsasia.com/stories/singaporelocalnews/view/167812/1/.html
If "opening up" includes the tolerance of racist comments, then I would rather we remain closed till eternity. Heck, it is illegal to be racist in nearby Australia, and you can be charged not just for racist comments. Would that be considered draconian?mattlock said:
Venom81 said:
now must go for the 1 character 1 kill...
A B C D E F G... :bsmilie: EVERY CHARACTER COUNTS!
All of us have friends, even good friends from other races, but let's not be naive - it just takes one spark somewhere to throw us 30 years back into the early days of Singapore when the racial riots happened.
E.g. the UK where you normally see a good deal of racial tolerance (much better than the US) - it just took the recent bomb attacks to get people started on attacking mosques, Muslims etc. Or the Rodney King riots in Los Angeles in the early 1990s: http://www.aaregistry.com/african_american_history/850/Rodney_King_riots_erupt_in_Los_Angeles
E.g. the UK where you normally see a good deal of racial tolerance (much better than the US) - it just took the recent bomb attacks to get people started on attacking mosques, Muslims etc. Or the Rodney King riots in Los Angeles in the early 1990s: http://www.aaregistry.com/african_american_history/850/Rodney_King_riots_erupt_in_Los_Angeles
mattlock said:
freedom to racism is not opening up.. its closing down, closing down of the society.
Hmmm,
this reminds mi of something, remember sometime ago, there was this government scholar who made a racist remark on this blog and it caused quite a lot of debate.... mainly cuz he is a scholar and will become a really senior "civil servant" in time to come.....wonder what happened to him? Was quite sure that he was not charged in court...... maybe someone can fill mi up on this as i was not following the news at that time.
Time to hold our "fingers" a little when we type things, there is a limit to "free speech"
this reminds mi of something, remember sometime ago, there was this government scholar who made a racist remark on this blog and it caused quite a lot of debate.... mainly cuz he is a scholar and will become a really senior "civil servant" in time to come.....wonder what happened to him? Was quite sure that he was not charged in court...... maybe someone can fill mi up on this as i was not following the news at that time.
Time to hold our "fingers" a little when we type things, there is a limit to "free speech"
I dont see how this episode should suddenly cause anyone to think twice before he types. I mean...since when is the internet free from surveilance and the rule of law? If people think they can do anything in blogs and get away with it, they only have themselves to blame for being this naive. And do any of you honestly think writing in a forum like this is not going to have any legal effect at all?
tokrot said:I am sorry but Muslim is not a race. This is what really a real mixup.
In singapore context, race and religion can be closely-linked.
Just read today straits times on the case. Seems like certain Islamic school of thought doens't allow Muslims to touch dogs which are wet, which include dog's saliva.
And most of my Muslims friends are Malays.
Just curios, have any one of you met or have malay friends who are non-muslims?
I have a Malay Christian cousin and we live in harmony. I have more things to worry about like house bills, camera lenses and clearing my holidays.
huaiwei said:
:thumbsup: :thumbsup: Not all Malays are Muslim as not all Arabs are Muslims too. Regardless of race or religion we should be more tolerable and understanding towards the other races. During the riots in the 60's life was hell. It took more than 2 decades to get us where we are today. So let us treasure it. I've seen his blog. He is just like the KKK in the US. He believes that you are an animal if you are not Chinese. He goes on to describe the other races in Singapore as rats, dirty, smelly. Really sick guy.huaiwei said:
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