Two persons from The Real Singapore (TRS) have been arrested and investigated by the police for offenses under the Sedition Act.
Both, a Singaporean, 26 and an Australian woman, 22 were arrested by the Singapore police on 6 February. The two are said to be owners of the social political website.
The investigation by the police is said to be on the article published on TRS which supposedly depicts the account of a witness of an incident during the recent Thaipusam festival.
Police said that they received reports on 6 February regarding an “insensitive article” that had been posted online.
The eye-witness account in the TRS article claimed that the arrests made on 3 February was sparked off when a Filipino family complained against the urumi players after their child cried and told the police to have the urumi players stop playing. The article was shared 6.5 thousands times
The video which carried the same statement had 279 thousand views and shared 5 thousands over times.
Many of the commenters were noticeably disturbed by the mention of the Filipino family in the article and the video and made negative remarks against the nationality in the comment threads.
According to the eyewitness of the Thaipusam incident whom TOC spoke to, there was no Filipino family being involved.
In a public statement made by TRS on its website, it wrote:
“One of the Editors who is involved in running The Real Singapore has been called up for Investigation by the Police along with about 4 others in relation to an article about the Thaipusam Incident which was an article compiled based on various witness accounts.
Some time in the future, we will be publishing a full story and explain clearly everything that we can share. This may also include how we work and who is behind the website but currently, as investigations are ongoing, such a full response would be inappropriate.”
The two is currently out of police custody and investigations into the case are ongoing.
“The police take a stern view of acts that could threaten social harmony in Singapore,” an SPF spokesperson said.
Anyone found guilty under the Sedition act for promoting feelings of ill-will and hostility between different races or classes of the population of Singapore, will be liable on conviction for a first offence to a fine not exceeding $5,000 or to imprisonment for a term not exceeding 3 years or to both.