Singapore police sends veiled threat to anonymous netizens posting on the internet
February 13th, 2010 | 
Author: Written by Our Correspondent
Embarrassed by its latest flip-flop in letting the three Singapore Polytechnic students off with only a caution for posting racist remarks on Facebook, the Singapore police now sends a veiled threat to anonymous netizens posting on the internet.
In a brief statement released to the press yesterday, it said:
“The three boys have since apologised for their actions and the offensive online page and forum removed. Police would like to remind the public that it takes a serious view of acts that can threaten the social harmony in Singapore. This includes those who do so hiding behind a shroud of anonymity afforded by the Internet.”
The three were arrested almost immediately following a police report lodged against them by a National Serviceman Mr Prhabagaran who has said that he did not want to see them jailed.
In the aftermath of the arrests which sent shockwaves across cyberspace, the Commander of Bedok Police Division and Deputy Assistant Commissioner of Police Teo Chun Ching said:
“Police take a very stern view of acts that could threaten the social harmony in Singapore. The Internet may be a convenient medium to express one’s views but members of the public should bear in mind that they are no less accountable for their actions online.”
[Source: Straits Times, 4 February 2010]
However, when police reports were lodged against Lighthouse Evangelism Senior Pastor Rony Tan for making disparaging remarks about Buddhism and Taoism a week later, the police did not arrest him as what they did to the three Chinese youths.
Instead, he was hauled up for questioning by the ISD and let off with a slap on the wrist after he apologized to representatives from the Buddhist and Taoist faiths.
With due respect to ACP Teo, the greatest threat to social harmony in Singapore does not come from anonymous netizens who have little credibility or influence, but from religious leaders like Pastor Tan who commands a loyal following.
It is religious leaders who should bear in mind the fact that they are no less accountable for their actions though they are well-established leaders in their respective communities.
In fact, they should be held on to a higher standard precisely because they are in a position of authority to influence others.
The racist remarks made by the three Chinese youths have little impact on the rest of Singapore compared to the outrage triggered by Pastor Tan’s words: who is a greater threat to social harmony in Singapore?
The Singapore police should not pick on “small fries” like anonymous netizens which will make them appear no better than bullies. They should target the real culprits who are generating social tension and conflicts in Singapore with their irresponsible, divisive and offensive remarks.
The “release” of the three youths is nothing more than a political move to appease angry Singaporeans and doesn’t change the fact that Pastor Rony Tan was spared the punishment he deserved under the law because:
“A well-established Christian leader being charged under the Sedition Act would send shockwaves through the Christian community and put the community under siege.”
[Source: Straits Times, 12 February 2010]
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40 Responses to “Singapore police sends veiled threat to anonymous netizens posting on the internet”
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wat if another religious leader had made a seditious remark about another religion?
‘kill the chicken to scare the monkey’,
Small fries…
Good bully good to eat.
But when taken too much… can still choke.
Hahahahahahahaha…
Although I agree that Pator Rory should be given equal treatment.
Oh and “Happy Holidays”!! as they say during the festive season in Canada so as not to imply any racial or religious bias.
The rap on the knuckles of the three teens instead of spending jail-time shows that every tom, dick or harry (yes even Harry!) has power, the power to force change on any unfair, unequal system.
But only when they band together for, as the saying goes,
UNITY IS STRENGTH!!!
I think the police did the right thing to let the three Singapore Polytechnic students off with only a caution.
“Singapore police sends veiled threat to anonymous netizens posting on the internet.”
That suppose to be the right thing to do but i doubt they can trace every violated posting in the internet. People can proxy their ip, post from oversea and also using wireless connection from public domain to post it. So it make more sense to educate general public to discern from the new media of the right contents and not inflammatory contents.
Police threats over the internet is just a fear input control onto those who attempted to disrupt the harmony for the public.
We are not a group of ignorant fools as the police thinks.
On the other hand, anonymous netizens should be aware of what they are posting before they click submit or soon anyone of us will be make headline in the news.
Typical PAP mafioso speak, Look, police, the world is a different place now, Singapore is not the Singapore of old where you cronies can threaten, browbeat and get away with it, wait till the next election comes around, or the next, one day all of you will be accountable to us, for sure!
TR – please enough of this Rony Tan. Lessons learned – chapter closed – now let’s move on.
Kudos to the police for putting a closure on this case before the Chinese New Year so that the boys can enjoy the festive season. Using Pastor Tan’s treatment as the yardstick, the decision on the boys is very approprieate and logical.
Goondoo says, it’s time to move on.
From the looks of it, this saga is going to be close soon with the release of the 3 youths.
I guess all netizens here are more or less concern for the youths as they were being treated unfairly. Almost not given a chance at all..
And becos of this drama created by Pastor R&T, I hereby sincerely thanks Pastor R&T, as you have indirectly helped the releases of the 3 kids
From the Mas Selamat incident, the escape of the Romanian diplomat, the rampant loan shark harassment, the SPF has shown itself to be quite incompetent. As such, it no longers command respect and fear from Singaporeans like the other times.
Of course, citizens will still co-operate when it comes to normal crimes like robbery and theft. But if it is things like political activities, I hope the SPF understands that it is not a political police and should not be a pawn for any political parties.
At the end of the day, the SPF must realise that it is a servant of the public. And as it’s watchmen, the public will in turn watch the watchmen. That is the nature of things. Only then will there be no abuse of powers and all of us can live in harmony.
I hope all the police in the SPF understands that if we have political freedom, it also benefits them. People like the opposition members and even protesters are not their enemy but fighting for them as well.
Netizens should never be afraid if you have not broken any law. For fear itself is an enemy and if we do not conquer that enemy, we do not deserve any freedom at all. Above all else, be sensible, be sensitive and always do the right thing.
Put things in perspective. The pastor is a respected older religious leader and the protocol given to him is respectful and appropriate as it would have been given to any senior religious leader in Singapore.
As for the poly boys, a sterner approach like being hauled to the police station is also appropriate because this is the age group (post secondary to the 25 years old thereabouts) who would be making the most remarks if a stern hauling action is not enforced.
Its CNY .. Give everybody a break!! Police, pastors and polys ..
Last I heard, the three kids
will be calling on Ronny Tan
personally to thank him for
his stupidity.
This issue highlighted 2 critical issues which the local police / ISD / PAP / Govt should understand (I think they do, but will not admit openly)
1. Netizen’s role as the new vigilante in local policies and politics – yes, there are lots of nut cases in cyber space – but if I am the head of ISD or Police commissioner, I will vet thru what is being said and look at some of the more rational comments.
Since they are the keepers of the peace in society, they might do well to listen a little more….
P.S. – there are Netizens in all countries…as near as Malaysia and as far away as China….they exists because the Internet exists, unless and until the ISD decides to destroy the WWW, otherwise, I recommend that they co-exists with the Netizens.
2. The treatment of Pastor Rony and the 3 kids are different due to the WHO and WHAT they are in Society….IT IS DOUBLE STANDARD, but I knew from the start there was no reasonable way which ISD could have explained this away…either they charge Pastor Rony Tan or they release the 3 kids…
In the end, they chose the easy way out and released the 3 kids..
P.S. – with the release of Rony Tan and the 3 kids, ISD better understand that they have set the precedent for future transgressions by other entities.
Personally, I have resigned to the fact that my identity will not be closed to the scrutiny of the police / isd – i.e. if they want to find me, they can…so it is my responsibility to blog rationally and responsibly.
I work on the premise that I can be hauled up by ISD tmr and I can explain what said, how i said it and why i said it.
I work on the premise that as a man, I am responsible for what i do and what i say…i implore that all Netizens to consider the same.
BE FAIR TO THE POLICE: THEY DESERVE OUR COMMENDATION, NOT EXCORIATION
Thank God! My efforts writing to AGC, the Police, ISD, DPM Wong Kan Seng, etc to politely appeal for the 3 poly boys were successful. Today ST reported on page one that the Police would not be pressing any criminal charges against the 3 Chinese boys arrested for bad-mouthing Indians. If not for Pastor Rony Tan’s case, I would be unable to pitch effectively my appeal to the police & AGC. So stop being so paranoid about the police. they deserve our commendation, not excoriation.
To be fair to all netizens who have expressed an opinion, I have to thank them for their strong views on the on the matter. Thanks to all of you for your concern! May God bless all of you!!
Obviously such widespread sentiments do help a lot for an appeal like that. So I can’t claim all the credits to myself. But I do thank the police and the authorities for taking note of my view and the the sentiments of Singaporeans on the matter. So it is true that “All things work for good with those who love God, who are called to His purpose.” Romans 8:28.
Allahu Akbar! God is Greatest!! Praised be His Holy Name!!!
interesting comment by netizen “smint” on the indirect effect of rony tan on the 3 boys.
福兮祸所依，祸兮福所伏. so a bad thing leads to a good thing, this is gratifying.rony tan at least has helped someone,though he didn’t meant to do so.
time to move on indeed, unless rony does something foolish again.
the kids were released only after the pastor was let off. i’m sure the kids would have already been jailed if that godfather didn’t make that shitty video posted on his website
Right to remind S’poreans that the Net in not anonymous. And that one has to take responsibility for one’s comments.
“Where were the community organizations that are supposed to build inter-faith trust like the Inter-Religious Organisation? Disappointingly, there was also no intra-faith peer pressure from senior Christian leaders who could have stepped forward to denounce his views and call on him to apologise. The Internal Security Department (ISD), not the community, took centre stage. Ironically, resorting to the coercive power of the State as a first resort is likely to encourage moderates to continue sitting on the sidelines.” From TOC.
TR should put pressure on Christian organisations to wake up their idea. This will keep them in check. Rony pee in his pants when ISD came knocking and kowtow immediately unlike Francis Seow and Chia Thai Poh.
ACP Teo
Pastors Rony Tan is causing riots and misleading followers.
If you want to uphold the law as a real Police Officer, you jolly know what crime the pastor had committed.
We hope you bring justice for singapore by putting Pastor Rony Tan behind bar.
The police statement is fair but Wong Kan Seng must still explain the actions of the police and ISD to all Singaporeans with regards to the 3 youths and the pastor.
The police statement is fair but Wong Kan Seng must explain the actions of the police and ISD to all Singaporeans with regards to the 3 youths and the pastor.
Great job TR for pointing out the authority’s apparently different styles of handling the 2 cases which both happen very recently.
Really a laughing stock.
Rony should start adopting another savior in his religion.
It keeps him safe when he is in this mortal realm. And goes to show that when face with a test, how much did his faith was put to measured as to secure a release?
Not much help unfortunately.
Even the RC Churches has stopped testing the waters since 1980s.
Maybe the Non-RC Churches need to know the limits of their enthusiasm & practice to what this country can permit.
Christianity is not yet a dominant force which alone can rival the establishment.
How it will grow will depend on it not stepping on too many toes when its furthering its ambitions.
if he is from opposition what’ll happen?
Funny! on Sat, 13th Feb 2010 11:16 pm
///Christianity is not yet a dominant force which alone can rival the establishment.///
I note your use of the word “not yet”. It’s interesting.
Christian make up 12%. The rest of the 88% are other religions or no religion.
The 12% of Christian would include Indians and “others”, I can safely say there are no Malay Christians, thus perhaps less than 10% of Chinese are Christians. Chinese make up 85% of the population, 58% of them are Buddhist/Toaist. The rest has no religion.
According the census, there is a continual trend of increase of Buddhist over the years, and Christains has hovered around the same numbers.
This is most interesting as it is despite the Christian’s continual “hard sell” . Look at it the other way, without hard sell, what would the trend be like?
From the comments and hateful remarks posted in TR over this incident, I now understand why Singapore was ranked 70th position among the most livable places in this world. The citizens are hateful, unforgiving, ungracious, intimidating, arrogant, impatient…plus a host of other unspeakable words in the English vocabulary.
Dear James why do you read only the “shit” or see “shits” there are beautiful and delightful “eggs”, too!
Happy CNY and enjoy.
James Tan on Sun, 14th Feb 2010 12:38 am
From the looks of it… are you a singaporean, James?
If it wasn’t for all this hateful & unforgiving comment… do you think we could have requested for a fair trial for the kids?
Think deep my friend… What we want was only justice
@ JamesTan- “DITTO”
Smint on Sun, 14th Feb 2010 8:59 am
James Tan is functioning on the same SOP that he is taught.
Step1 – if done wrong
Step2 – confess,
Step3 – all is well
Step 4 – see step1.
So now the standard charge for such an offence is,
- one phone call
- one warning
- one apology
???????????????????
VERY FRANK N SIMILAR VIEWS ON ST FORUM.
Similar to what you find on TR.
http://comment.straitstimes.com/showthread.php?s=f045d1fe1ebf0b49fa76fd368400fbd8&t=30119
It’s 3pm ona Sunday afternoon… Christian leaders of Singapore… do you know what your pastors are preaching in the churches?
@bey on Sat, 13th Feb 2010 11:17 pm
if he is from opposition what’ll happen
o
o
bey,
then he go ‘grab bars’ lor
In the end, Pastor Rony Tan of Lighthouse Church, ‘PASSED THE BALL’ to the PAP government and he happily walk away.
A story tells of two friends who were walking through the desert. During some point of the journey, they had an argument, and one friend slapped the other one in the face. The one who got slapped was hurt, but without saying anything, she wrote in the sand:
“TODAY MY BEST FRIEND SLAPPED ME IN THE FACE”
They kept on walking, until they found an oasis, where they decided to take a bath. The one who had been slapped got stuck in the mire and started drowning, but her friend saved her. After she recovered from the near drowning, she wrote on a stone:
“TODAY MY BEST FRIEND SAVED MY LIFE”
The friend, who had slapped and saved her best friend, asked her, “After I hurt you, you wrote in the sand, and now, you write on a stone, why?”
The other friend replied: “When someone hurts us, we should write it down in sand, where the winds of forgiveness can erase it, but when someone does something good for us, we must engrave it in stone, so no wind can ever erase it.”
LEARN TO WRITE YOUR HURTS IN THE SAND AND TO CARVE YOUR BLESSINGS IN STONE.
Author Unknown
An exception should be made for Rony boy. His mischief should be engraved in stone. Not sure much for the other religions to remember, but for his kind to remember.
Incidentally I would lke to question the police if Chee Soon Juan and his sister were to make the same kind of remarks as the pastor, would the police have handed the situation quite differently.
So afterall it would appear that the remarks make by the 3 teenage boys were not as serious as they had intentionally detained them. But because the pastor could not be let off that easily if on the other hand the teenage boys were to be prosecuted, it only goes to show the police had an hidden agenda in selectively choosing to take action against those who have make seditious remarks against others.
So it means the police can close one eye as and when it pleases those in power. In other words, the police is just a political tool which can be used aganst those who dare to challenge those in power, in this case the police and PAP.
What kind of standards do our police practise, I wonder, if it is not double standards ? It’s a shame that our police gives us such standards especially when Chee Siok Chin is such a danger to society that she has to be surrounded by one full cauldron of police officers when she is in fact just exercising her right to protest peacefully in front of the CPF building.
Who says our police is not biased ?
The arrest of the 3 poly students is only a ploy. The real target is Pastor Rony and the church.