Man jailed for inciting violence against PM Lee on Facebook post about Shinzo Abe's shooting
The 46-year-old man had difficulty finding permanent employment and was "looking for someone to blame", so he chose to blame the government, the court heard.
Kong Chee Kian arrives at the State Courts in Singapore on Mar 20, 2024. (Photo: CNA/Eugene Goh)
20 Mar 2024 11:31AM (Updated: 20 Mar 2024 02:55PM)
SINGAPORE: Disgruntled with the government and the Prime Minister, a man made a comment on a Facebook post about the shooting of former Japanese prime minister Shinzo Abe, saying someone should do the same to Singapore's Prime Minister.
Kong Chee Kian, a 46-year-old Singaporean man, was sentenced to four months' jail on Wednesday (Mar 20) for one count of inciting violence electronically.
The court heard that Kong did not like the Singapore government and the Prime Minister, who is the head of the government.
He had difficulty finding permanent employment due to health issues and was "looking for someone to blame", so he chose to blame the government, the prosecution said.
On Jul 8, 2022, Kong was at home browsing the internet on his handphone.
He read an article about a man being taken into custody after Shinzo Abe was shot.
The article was posted by CNA on its Facebook page with an accompanying caption stating that the man is believed to have shot Mr Abe.
Kong left a comment on the Facebook post, saying: "Pls someone do the same to our PM."
Another Facebook user replied him and asked if this was a threat to Mr Lee.
The police received a report soon after from an anonymous person who stated that someone had made threats to "our PM" and that they hoped action could be taken. The person said they were "not sure if this is a troll".
Kong was arrested that same day.
OTHER COMMENTS
Investigations revealed that he had made other online comments related to Mr Lee。After making the comment on CNA's Facebook page, Kong saw a post by the Prime Minister.
Mr Lee had uploaded a photo of himself with Mr Abe on his page, stating his shock over the shooting and condemning the "senseless act of violence".
Kong left a comment in Mandarin, which was translated in court documents to: "If you are going the right way, afraid that people would plot against you but you are not."
Kong later said he was trying to express his view in this comment that PM Lee "was not a good person", therefore "other people will plot against him".
Kong posted another comment on a Facebook post by Yahoo Singapore about Mr Abe's death after the shooting。
He wrote that "your good friend LHL will join you".
About a month prior, Kong responded to a post on Instagram depicting a Tamagotchi toy that asked users to comment what it was, with "wrong answers only".
Kong replied saying the Tamagotchi was "the only weapon against (Singapore) PM".
Deputy Public Prosecutor Delicia Tan sought four-and-a-half to six months' jail for Kong.
Both sides referred to the 2013 case of Gary Yue, which set a benchmark of three months' jail for cases of incitement to violence.
Ms Tan asked for a higher jail term compared with Yue, who got two months' jail.
She said the use of the internet and social media has become more prevalent as compared with a decade earlier and that Yue’s case was dated.
A deterrent sentence should be given in Kong's case, so a message is sent out that the use of social media to incite violence against others will not be tolerated, added Ms Tan.
Kong had also expressly targeted the head of the government, and senior members of the government should be inoculated from such threats, said Ms Tan, adding that Kong's offending was "sustained".
Defence lawyer Rajoo Ravindran from Kertar & Sandhu law firm asked the court to consider two months' jail instead.
Comparing the case with Yue's, Mr Rajoo said Yue's case was against a larger group of people which also included heads of government and state.
The degree of potential harm was therefore much higher in Yue's case than Kong's, said the lawyer.
He added that Kong is a first-time offender who fully cooperated with the police and is remorseful.
He has also sought counselling help.
"Kong's elderly father, who is about 80 plus, he is also in court today and the family will be providing the necessary support for Kong after his incarceration and promises this honourable court that he will remain on the right side of the law," said Mr Rajoo.
In response, the prosecutor said the threat in another cited case was to beat people up whereas Kong's incitement was to assassinate Mr Lee, which is "more serious".
District Judge Kamala Ponnampalam in sentencing told Kong that he must know by now that his offence was a very serious one.
"This is a serious offence warranting a custodial sentence. No fine. A fine would be unsuitable," she said.
She noted that Kong's comments were sustained and not just isolated. They were targeted at the head of state, with a specific threat to assassinate and not just to beat up.
"Weaponising social media platforms to incite violence today must be dealt with more firmly," said the judge.
"The aim of such a sentence is to deter likeminded offenders."
For incitement to violence, Kong could have been jailed for up to five years, fined, or both.
Source: CNA/ll(zl)
