Man who incited violence by calling for ‘anti-white’ vigilante group pleads guilty
Upset that a Briton was fined instead of being jailed for assaulting a Singaporean student, Tang Koon Huat called for the creation of a vigilante group targeting white people.
The 62-year-old Singaporean, who was then a lecturer at Singapore Polytechnic, vented his feelings on Facebook about the assault on January 2016 using the moniker of “Emet Haqq”.
Writing on his Facebook page, ‘Act For Singapore’ (AFS), Tang wrote in a post, “It’s about time to form a Singaporean vigilante group to go to beat up troublesome drunk WHITE bastards in the drinking joints. Teach these bumps (sic) a lesson.”
The post was in reference to an assault case involving 34-year-old Alan Benjamin Maybury, who was fined for punching 19-year-old Lum Kwok Weng in the face on 30 November 2014. The altercation happened after Lum’s car rear-ended the taxi that Maybury was in, according to the statement of facts.
Tang, who was represented by lawyer Alfred Dodwell, pleaded guilty on Tuesday (11 April) before District Judge Matthew Joseph at the State Courts to one charge of making an online post that contains an incitement to violence. A second similar charge was taken into consideration.
Deputy Public Prosecutor (DPP) Thiagesh Sukumaran said that a member of the public lodged a police report after he came across two such posts on Facebook on 19 January last year.
During investigations, police traced the posts through the internet protocol address of the account holder of the AFS Facebook page. Tang was later identified as the person behind “Emet Haqq” and arrested on 15 April 2016.
Tang admitted that he would use the AFS page to post articles that he deemed to be of public interest. He said that he posted about the assault because of his perceptions about the influx of foreigners and the declining population of “native Singaporeans”, and felt that Maybury should have been jailed and caned.
His case has been adjourned until 16 May to allow both prosecution and defence to submit written submissions. If found guilty, Tang faces a jail term of up to five years, a fine or both.
