For many of us, social media is a space where we can express ourselves freely. But even so, there are unspoken boundaries we shouldn’t transgress, which a man, unfortunately, did when he wrote a comment allegedly threatening violence against Prime Minister (PM) Lee Hsien Loong.
Source: @perventuator on Unsplash
The police have since arrested him and are investigating the matter.
According to Channel NewsAsia (CNA), the police received a report at around 3.10pm yesterday (8 Jul) about a comment on CNA’s Facebook page threatening to incite violence against PM Lee.
The comment apparently appeared on a news post about the shooting of the former PM of Japan, Mr Shinzo Abe.
Within five hours of the report, officers from the Central Police Division managed to identify the commenter and swiftly arrested him.
They seized a laptop, a tablet, and four handphones during the operation, noted The Straits Times (ST).
Neither CNA nor ST revealed what the comment said, but MS News is looking into it and we’ll update this article should more information arise.
In the meantime, police are investigating the matter as they hold the 45-year-old suspect in custody.
The police emphasised that they do not condone any acts inciting violence in Singapore.
Anyone found guilty of “making or communicating any electronic record containing any incitement to violence” may face up to five years’ jail, a fine, or both, stated CNA.
As much as we have the freedom to post what we want online, there are actually guidelines to follow.
Even if certain comments are made in jest, we should be wary as there might be wider implications that we may not know about.
Let’s hope that the threat, if it was indeed one, was an empty one and posed no real danger to PM Lee.
Whatever the truth may be, kudos to the police for responding so quickly.
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Featured image adapted from Solen Feyissa on Unsplash and Lee Hsien Loong on Facebook.
The police have determined the suspect’s age to be between 30 and 50 years.
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