Why is modern Singapore is using a British colonial law to prosecute three ethnic Chinese accused of writing racist remarks about ethnic Malays on the Internet? Singapore has previously used the Internal Security Act which allows for detention without trial--to deal with people who made racist comments.
A BRITISH colonial law which helped fight a communist insurgency is now being used to prosecute three ethnic Chinese accused of writing racist remarks about ethnic Malays on the Internet, as authorities attempt to crack down on racial intolerance and regulate online expression.
Animal shelter worker Benjamin Koh Song Huat, 27, and Nicholas Lim Yew, an unemployed 25-year-old, will plead guilty Oct. 7 to sedition for racist remarks against the minority Malay community, their lawyers said.
They face up to three years' in prison and a maximum fine of S$5000.
Experts said the Sedition Act has not been used in Singapore since it broke off from Malaysia and became independent in 1965. But analysts say the government may be using the Act to raise the case's profile in an effort to stamp out racial intolerance in a country where social cohesion has been a chief concern since Chinese-Malay riots in the 1960s left scores dead.
Singapore is 80-percent ethnic Chinese, while Malays make up 15 percent of the country's 4.2 million population and are mostly Muslim.
Lim posted disparaging comments about Malays and Islam on an Internet forum for dog lovers in a discussion about whether taxis should refuse to carry uncaged pets out of consideration for Muslims, whose religion considers dogs unclean.
In his online journal, Koh advocated desecrating Islam's holy site of Mecca.
Lim and Koh are accused of committing acts "with a seditious tendency to promote feelings of ill-will and hostility between different classes of the population of Singapore," according to court documents.
Koh's lawyer Irving Choh said it was the first time that modern Singapore, which places tight control on expression, has used the Sedition Act. A spokesperson from the Attorney General's Chambers said it could not immediately verify when the act was last used.
In a separate case, a 17-year-old student is due in court on Oct. 7 to face sedition charges for allegedly making racist comments about Malays on the Internet.
The Sedition Act was first introduced in Malaya, which later became known as Malaysia, by British colonialists for use against communist insurgents there in 1948, and incorporated into Singaporean law just ahead of independence, said Michael Hor, a law professor at the National University of Singapore.
Analysts say Singapore's Sedition Act is broad in that it includes provisions against inciting hostility among races and classes.
Hor said the government might not have used the Sedition Act in the past because it did not want trials to be used as platforms for promoting racist views.
"There is also the risk of an acquittal which would have adverse repercussions in a matter as sensitive as this," Hor said.
Singapore, which had been plagued by communist strikes in the 1940s, kept the law after independence because it was concerned with left-wing activists, Hor said. "Now, the Sedition Act is being used for something completely different."
Singapore has previously used the Internal Security Act--another colonial-era law, but one which allows for detention without trial--to deal with people who made racist comments. In 1987, four ethnic Malays were arrested under the act for saying publicly that racial clashes were impending.
Censorship is usually handled by Singapore's regulatory Media Development Authority, or MDA, which requires web sites that discuss race, religion or domestic politics to be registered and imposes fines on site owners if it deems the content on their sites as "objectionable."
"One possible reason why the Sedition Act is being used this time is that there may be a desire to have the spectacle of a trial, because it would be a more effective way of making an example of these guys than if it were left to the MDA to handle," said Mark Cenite, an American media law expert in Singapore.
Cenite said even if the accused did not claim trial, as in the case of Koh and Lim, being arrested, charged and later sentenced in court would be enough to send a strong signal against racist expression.
Singaporean authorities have said the Sedition Act--last revised in 1985--is under review to see if it should to be strengthened or amended in any way.
Sources and Relevant Links:
AP Singapore prosecutes bloggers with colonial-era sedition law 1 October 2005
Reuters Schools punish cheeky student bloggers 27 September 2005
