SINGAPORE — A police report has been made against Dr Kho Kwang Po for allegedly publishing Facebook posts that contained anti-Islam statements, the authorities said in response to queries from TODAY.
Dr Kho — who signed on two separate open letters by doctors here questioning the safety of the Pfizer-BioNTech vaccine on children and calling for a pause in the national vaccination — had made several public posts between 2014 and April this year that purportedly claimed that Islam was a violent religion.
Responding to inquiries about these posts, a police spokesperson said on Wednesday (June 30) that a report had been made and that investigations are ongoing. It is believed that the report was filed on Tuesday.
In one of his posts dated April 13 this year, Dr Kho had allegedly written about the Muslim headscarves issue, asking if “Muslim nurses in Singapore (are) going to look like those in Saudi Arabia”.
He had also published another post on November 8 last year commenting on a violent shooting incident in Pakistan. He allegedly stated: “Everybody should study the teachings of Islam honestly and come to their own conclusion as to its true nature.’’
TODAY understands that Dr Kho had been issued with a warning over a police report made against him in 2019, but the details are not known.
Dr Kho, whose medical registration could not be found in public records, was one of five doctors who signed an open letter calling for the vaccination of schoolboys to be halted until more information emerges about the death of a 13-year-old boy in the United States.
The letter had made unverified claims that the boy had died from heart failure after receiving the second dose of vaccine.
Singapore’s expert committee on Covid-19 vaccines, to which the letter was addressed, had responded on Monday arguing that the US health authorities continued to support the vaccination of adolescents because the benefits outweigh the risks.
Infectious diseases expert and the expert committee member David Lye had also hit back at the open letter, stating that the doctors behind it were trying to “mislead” and “misinform” the public.
Besides Dr Kho, the other signatories on the letter include Dr Wong Wui Min, Dr Chia Ai Mian, Dr Louis Loo Wee Ping and Dr Yang Ing Woei.
On Wednesday, in a Facebook post, Dr Kho said that there was a “misunderstanding” with one of the undersigned, Dr Loo, who did not consent to sign the letter but “consented to having a public discussion on mRNA vaccines”.
In a disclaimer, Dr Kho said that Dr Loo did not receive the final draft of the letter and the contents of the letter were not his views or his professional opinion.
“He himself has had the mRNA vaccines and is not opposed to them,” Dr Kho wrote.
Dr Loo, a doctor at the i.Medical and i.Aesthetics clinic in Yishun, declined to comment when asked why he had agreed with the letter’s contents, and asked TODAY to contact the people behind the letter instead.
Earlier in May, Dr Kho was a signatory to an open letter from 12 doctors addressed to parents, questioning the long-term safety of the Pfizer-BioNTech vaccine for use on children.
TODAY has also reached out to Dr Kho for comment on the latest open letter and his past Facebook posts. — TODAY
