It's a sad state of affairs, especially since the whole idea of blogging is freedom of speech.
Bloggers: We’re not racist
HISHAM Mohd Abu Bakar sat quietly in court as the prosecutor read out the seditious remarks his friend of five years, Benjamin Koh Song Huat, had posted on his blog.
Deputy Public Prosecutor Amarjit Singh called Koh’s jibes at Muslims “highly inflammatory and insulting”.
Senior District Judge Richard Magnus said they were “particularly vile”.
Hisham sat right beside his friend before the court session started on Friday and gave him a pat on the back before Koh entered the dock.
Koh, 27, was sentenced to a month’s jail.
Koh and another man, 25-year-old Nicholas Lim Yew, are the first two people to be convicted under the Sedition Act here in almost 40 years.
Lim was given a “nominal” jail term of one day.
And although both men admitted to making seditious remarks on the Internet, both told the court they were not racist and had many Muslim friends.
Koh submitted a letter from a Muslim classmate to prove his point.
Siti Ainiyah Jafarin, who has known Koh for 15 years, said in her letter that she had never heard him say anything racist.
The two became friends in 1990, when they were in the same class in Swiss Cottage Secondary School.
Madam Siti Ainiyah, 28, said: “We were very close in school. Because we lived near each other, we would take the bus together almost every day. Not one day went without us talking to each other.”
She said she laughed when she heard about the things Koh had written.
He had a tendency to “spout things he doesn’t really mean when he’s angry”, she said.
“I know he’s not that kind of person. People might change, but I really don’t believe he’s like that.”
Koh’s lawyer, Irving Choh, said his client had been “provoked” by a letter in The Straits Times, in which a Muslim woman suggested that dogs should not be allowed in taxis.
Koh works in an animal shelter and holds strong views on animal rights, said Choh, who described his client as a “disturbed individual” who had tried to kill himself three times while serving his national service.
Lim submitted his own letter to the court, apologising for his conduct.
The former assistant manager at an events management company said he has many close Muslim friends and had the “privilege of enjoying their hospitality during festive and family occasions”.
Lim’s lawyer, Helen Chia, said Lim’s actions were “childish and stupid”.
“He did not consider the repercussions of his actions and the parties that might be affected.” –The Straits Times/ANN
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