Doctor charged over anti-Islam comments in Facebook post

SINGAPORE: A doctor was charged on Wednesday (Feb 26) for an online post that contained offensive remarks against Muslims. 

Kho Kwang Po, 85, was handed one charge for deliberately intending to wound the religious feelings of Muslims over the Facebook post, which was made on Apr 21, 2021.

According to his charge sheet, Kho, a Singaporean, created and then uploaded the post which contained anti-Islam statements. The comments linked Muslims to violence and crime, and suggested that religious leaders were dishonest. 

In a press release on Tuesday, the Singapore Police Force said that it received reports about the online posts on Kho’s Facebook account on Jun 29 and 30, 2021. 

Investigations found that on Apr 21, 2021, Kho had re-posted screenshots of his Facebook posts containing the offensive remarks from five years earlier, the police said. 

Kho left Singapore in January 2022 amid police investigations and returned only in October 2024, the police added. 

The doctor appeared in court without a lawyer. Asked by the judge what he intended to do, Kho said: “I think I will plead guilty.”

The judge then asked if he would like to engage a lawyer for mitigation, but Kho said no. 

His case was then adjourned to Apr 9 for a plead guilty mention. 

Kho was previously in the news for co-authoring a letter calling for a stop to Singapore’s COVID-19 vaccination programme. 

For deliberately intending to wound the religious or racial feelings of a person, an offender could be jailed for up to three years, or fined, or both.