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SINGAPORE: A 48-year-old man was fined S $ 1,000 on Thursday (February 4) for defacing a People’s Action Party (PAP) poster during last year’s elections, in the first such prosecution.
In mitigation, Lim Song Huat said he had not specifically targeted the PAP poster, but was unable to reach the Singapore Democratic Party (SDP) poster above it.
Lim blamed her actions on stress and her own “stupidity.”
He pleaded guilty to one count of defacing an election poster under the Rules of Parliamentary Elections (Election Advertising). Two other similar charges were considered in the sentence.
The court heard that Lim, a part-time security guard, left his home in Woodlands on the morning of July 3 last year to purchase 4D tickets.
He was on his way home after this when he passed the PAP posters that were displayed under the SDP posters. Each poster costs S $ 10, the prosecutor said.
At 9.53 a.m., he picked up a stone from the road and tried to use it to tear a poster with the image of Prime Minister Lee Hsien Loong, but to no avail.
He then used his hands to peel the poster off the back, causing more than half of it to be removed and destroying the poster. He also used a black pen to draw a horizontal line across another poster and tore a third poster, on charges that were taken into consideration.
The next morning, a police report was filed saying that two billboards were vandalized and another adjusted along the 13 Woodlands Street service road behind Marsiling Secondary School.
Closed-circuit television cameras captured Lim performing the acts and he was arrested.
DEFOCUSING THE ELECTION POSTERS IS “TOTALLY UNACCEPTABLE”: JUDGE
Deputy Prosecutor Selene Yap asked for a maximum fine of S $ 1,000 and said the crimes were “incredibly difficult to detect” as the posters were posted in public areas of Singapore.
“As your lordship well knows, election campaigns are highly regulated in Singapore,” he said. “It takes place in a short period of time and the posting of posters in public places is highly regulated. There is a limit to the number of posters that parties can put up and how long they can do it.”
He said this background was important as Lim’s actions “deprive candidates of the ability to present themselves to the electorate.”
Lim, who was not represented, asked for a lighter sentence, saying it was his first offense and citing his “stupidity” and “stress at work.”
“Due to the stupidity of my colleague’s influence, that’s why I do this stupid,” he said. “I also emailed the PAP side to do volunteer work.”
When asked by the judge why he was stressed, Lim said, “Because I am a pure Singaporean citizen, I was born in Singapore … sometimes, whether it’s elections or not, sometimes people’s opinion is like: you vote too for the PAP Same thing. It’s like we don’t have talented people. “
He acknowledged that the parliamentarians in his area “have done a good job” and installed “many facilities.”
“You know if it’s the PAP, the SDP, the Workers’ Party, we don’t have talented people there,” Lim said. “So sometimes, as a member of the public, we worry that maybe in two years, five years, what happens with Singapore will progress. So sometimes, out of frustration, you want to spill the frustration, that’s why.”
He added that he didn’t just want to destroy the PAP poster.
“Actually that day we have a poster (SDP), but because (I) couldn’t reach,” he said. “I am not only against the PAP. It is out of frustration. The voice in my head – my colleague (said) – wants to vote PAP or SDP.”
The judge said this was the first prosecution under the particular segment of the Parliamentary Elections Act, and the court must send a clear message that damaging, destroying or defacing election posters is “absolutely unacceptable.”
“While a person may have strong political opinions, this must be expressed through their votes at the polls or through other legally sanctioned means,” he said.
For defacing an election poster, you could have been jailed for up to a year, fined up to S $ 1,000, or both.
