SINGAPORE, April 7 — The former nurse who was dismissed from Tan Tock Seng Hospital (TTSH) for making offensive comments online about Singaporeans and religion has been charged under the Sedition Act.
Ello Ed Mundsel Bello, 28, who is from the Philippines, was arrested and charged in court earlier today (April 7). He faces two charges of promoting feelings of ill-will and hostility between different races or classes among the population of Singapore, which is an offence under the Sedition Act.
He also faces three charges of providing false information to a public servant.
Under the Sedition Act, anyone found guilty of promoting feelings of ill-will and hostility between different races or classes could be fined up to S$5,000 (RM13,400), or jailed up to three years, or punished with both, for a first offence.
Under the Penal Code, anyone found guilty of knowingly giving false information to a public servant could be jailed up to one year, or fined up to S$5,000, or punished with both.
In January, Bello was dismissed from TTSH for three online posts he made last year, two of which were offensive comments on religion made on his Google Plus page, and one was a Facebook comment on Singapore. He had claimed that his Facebook account was hacked and that he had lodged a police report, but netizens uncovered other comments he had made earlier.
In a statement today, the police said it takes a “stern view of acts that could threaten social harmony in Singapore”. “Any person who posts remarks online that could cause ill-will and hostility between the different races or communities in Singapore will be firmly dealt with in accordance with the law,” they said.
They added: “Furthermore, the lodging of false police reports ties up valuable police resources which could have been deployed to deal with other crimes. It is a serious offence and those who provide false information will face the full weight of the law.” — TODAY
