Protestant couple sentenced to jail for sedition

A Protestant couple found guilty of sedition for mailing religiously offensive material to three Muslims have been sentenced to eight weeks´ jail each.

Local media reported that in his verdict on June 10, District Judge Roy Neighbour said the tracts the couple sent out were “not only offensive for religious content but also have a tendency to promote feelings of ill-will or hostility between Muslims and Christians in Singapore.”

Ong Kian Cheong, a technical officer at a major telecommunications company and his wife, Dorothy Chan Hien Leng, an associate director with UBS, a premier global financial services firm, were convicted on May 28 after an 11-day trial.

Media reported that the couple were convicted of distributing a seditious publication, “The Little Bride,” to two Muslims in October and March 2007; and sending out another seditious booklet, “Who is Allah?” to another Muslim in December that year.

According to the local Channel News Asia website, the district court said that in sending out the tracts, the couple “clearly did so with the intent of convincing the Muslim reader to convert to Christianity.”

Judge Neighbour, on passing sentence, said that such “intolerance, insensitivity and ignorance of delicate issues concerning race and religion” in Singapore “clearly warranted” a custodial sentence.

Singapore is a multi-racial and religious country where ethnic Chinese form the majority of the population. There is also a significant Malay Muslim and ethnic Indian presence.

Common sense, the judge said, dictated that fervor in spreading a faith “in our society, must be constrained by sensitivity, tolerance and mutual respect for another´s faith and religious beliefs.”

The couple, who used to attend the Berean Christian Church, were arrested on Jan. 30 last year after the Muslims filed complaints over the booklets.

The tracts are from American publisher Chick Publications. The company publishes a series of controversial Christian evangelical-themed tracts which are said to contain derogatory statements on religions such as Islam and Catholicism.

The couples´ lawyer, Selva K. Naidu, told the court that they had filed a notice of appeal against the conviction and were awaiting instructions from the court to proceed, according to Channel News Asia.