SINGAPORE: A doctor who posted offensive remarks against Muslims in a social media post was fined S$10,000 (US$7,700) on Monday (May 19).
Dr Kho Kwang Po, 85, is a registered medical practitioner whose practising certificate expired on Dec 31, 2020, the Singapore Medical Council previously told CNA.
Two police reports were lodged against him – one by an anonymous person who stated that Dr Kho made racist remarks on Facebook that were “highly insulting” towards Islam.
The other person reported that Dr Kho had posted seditious content denigrating Islam for “many years”.
Dr Kho, who was the only person with access to his account, first made the Facebook post on Apr 21, 2016, but reposted the same content on Apr 21, 2021, even though he had been administered a conditional warning over the original post.
His post was available for the public to see, and Dr Kho intended for the public to view it, Deputy Public Prosecutor Sean Teh told the court.
The prosecution urged the court to fine Dr Kho S$10,000, arguing that Dr Kho made the posts with some deliberation.
Mr Teh said the offence would have ordinarily warranted an imprisonment term, but the prosecution had factored in Dr Kho’s advanced age, his plea of guilt to the charge of deliberately intending to wound the religious feelings of Muslims, and how the posts had not gained significant traction.
Dr Kho’s lawyers, Kenneth Au-Yong and Josiah Tan, said their client apologised for his misjudgment.
Mr Au-Yong echoed the prosecution’s points about Dr Kho’s age and the limited impact of the social media posts.
“He is not likely to repeat this offence, and as the (prosecution) said, he has shown remorse and made a plea of guilt,” said Mr Au-Yong.
District Judge Eddy Tham said he found the words “objectively insulting”.
“As a doctor, you should have known better than to propagate such views on the internet,” Judge Tham said.
The District Judge added that he had read Dr Kho’s personal plea in mitigation, expressing his remorse, where the doctor had admitted to being overly fixated on what he read on the internet, and accepting propaganda without critical examination.
Judge Tham said he hoped that Dr Kho realised the folly of his actions.
Referring to the grounds the prosecution had raised in arguing for a fine, Judge Tham agreed that a non-custodial term would be sufficient.
He imposed the maximum fine allowed under the Magistrates’ Courts.
