Blogger arrested for posting racist online content
He claims that he wrote it only for friends and will apologise online
A LOCAL blogger who ranted about a commuter's behaviour on an MRT train was arrested on Tuesday night.
Police said the 24-year-old Chinese man was taken from his home at Paya Lebar Way at about 9.45 pm for 'posting contents in his blog which may wound the racial feelings of another person'.
A computer, believed to be used to post the suspect's blog, was seized for investigations, which are ongoing.
The case came to the attention of police on May 19 when they received two reports complaining of the alleged posts by the suspect.
According to a report in The New Paper on Wednesday, the blog was apparently sparked off by the suspect seeing a man of another race sitting on the floor of an MRT train.
The blogger, an undergraduate, allegedly wrote: 'There he sat, unaffected by his surroundings, smelling like he didn't shower (sic) in years and wore some really scary dirty clothes...'
He went on to make other offensive comments about that racial group in his tirade, drawing flak from local netizens, who called him a racist.
One net-user wrote: 'Stupidity has nothing to do with race at all. Just look to that blogger for proof that stupidity transcends all races.'
Added another: 'Some things, once said, cannot be retraced. Don't even make such stupid remarks in the first place.'
Under Section 298 of the Penal Code, Chapter 224, anyone with delibrate intention of wounding the religious or racial feelings of any person, causes any matter however represented to be seen or heard by that person, can be jailed up to three years, or fine, or both, if convicted.
Deputy Commander of Central Police Div HQ, Superintendent Lee Ping Yue, in a statement late on Tuesday, said that police take a serious view of such irresponsible blog postings in a multi-racial society like Singapore and 'will expend all efforts in tracking the perpetrators'.
Interviewed by TNP earlier on Tuesday before his arrest, the blogger said he was sorry for what he had written and would be more mindful of what he said he says in his blog in future.
He said he was shocked by the furore over his blog entry, which he said was only intended for his close friends. He added that he was surprised that the entry, which was written two months ago, started circulating only days ago.
'I am a very expressive person - my style of writing is over the top. I write this way to make my entries more punchy and exciting,' he told TNP.
He denied being a racist and maintained that he did not harbour any ill will towards the racial group he wrote about.
But he let on that he was in particularly bad mood the day he wrote the blog entry.
'I meant what I wrote in a different way. If people read it in another way, there is nothing much I can do,' he said, adding that he planned to put up an online apology for his comments.
He has removed the post and password-protected his blog, which was featured on blog aggregator Tomorrow.sg, and linked to several popular online forums.
Sedition Act: Past Cases
*Last month: Ong Kian Cheong, 49, and wife, Dorothy Chan Hien Leng, 44, charged under Sedition Act and Undesirable Publications Act for allegedly distributing evangelistic publication that cast Prophet Muhammad in negative light
*2006: 21-year-old accounts assistant given stern warning for putting up offensive cartoon of Jesus on blog
*2005: 27-year-old man becomes first since 1966 to be jailed - for a month - under the Sedition Act for posting racist comments online. In connected case, 25-year-old given day's jail and fined maximum $5,000. Later that year, 17-year-old blogger given probation.
http://www.straitstimes.com/Lastest%2BNews/Singapore/STIStory_239545.html
Article taken from http://forums.vr-zone.com/archive/index.php/t-278640.html
Please feel free to post your reflections on this news article.
Thank You!! ^^
I think that this person who has posted this post is rude. He should not vent his anger online and critisise other races in the process. It is selfish and irresponsible. I am shocked that he would offend people of other races.
ReplyDeleteRei(once again who is extremely sorry for not posting on Friday)
The person is mean and rude. It is surprising how technology can both be useful if used correctly and also not useful, if used incorrectly, or abused. We should all know about our responsibilities not to hurt other religions or races when we are on the internet. This will make the cyber space a much better place for us to surf in. :D
ReplyDelete-SYAFIQAHLOVESPS3 (Who just came back from watching JUSTIN BIEBER NEVER SAY NEVER and is hence changing her name to SYAFIQAH_THE_BIEB (: KAY?)
I think this person is just ridiculous. He is obviously a racist!! What has somebody sitting on the MRT train floor has to do with their religion? It's absolutely irrelevant!! Even though he is in a bad mood, he should not express his anger in a sense that he might hurt the feelings of others of similar race.
ReplyDelete-Cheryl <3
This guy is just plain rude and ridiculous! Just because he is in a bad mood does not give him an excuse to post such racist remarks! Besides, what does the guy's appearance have anything to do with his religion? This person should be severely punished and be given counselling! I agree with Syafiqah about technology. If it is used correctly, it can do wonders, but if it is abused for such bad purposes, it can cause feelings to be hurt.
ReplyDeleteEda
I think this guy is just plain mean. So what if a man sits on the floor of an MRT train and is smelly? Maybe he has just done a lot of manual work and is just tired, so he sits on the floor? Even though we may be moody sometimes, we do not have to start saying bad things about others right? I agree with both Syafiqah and Eda about technology. It can do many wonders, but it can also spoil your life. So we have to be responsible and think before we post anything on the internet. Like what Mrs Hon said today, Miss Jiang Lai is just like this man from the article above. They are just expressing their thoughts but they do not know that they sometimes do hurt others.
ReplyDelete-Gabrielle^^