This is the remark posted by Malik Mohammad Ghazali which got him arrested by the police for “inciting violence”. Malik posted the comment on the “I hate YOG organising committee” Facebook page.
What is your opinion on the matter? Is Malik guilty of “inciting violence”?
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From the Singapore Democratic Party website:
It is also disturbing that comments made by netizens can be taken out of context and be misconstrued by the authorities who are showing increasing signs of paranoia.
Mr Abdul’s use of the word “burn” is a figure of speech and should not be taken literally just as Mr Lee Kuan Yew’s violent imagery of meeting his opponents in a cul-de-sac and drawing a hatchet is not taken literally by the police.
Mr Lee’s actual quote: “Everybody knows that in my bag I have a hatchet, and a very sharp one. You take me on, I take my hatchet, we meet in the cul-de-sac.”
Mr Abdul is being investigated for “inciting violence and public disorder” under Section 267 Chapter 244 of the penal code. His laptop was also seized as part of the investigation. He is also being investigated for his involvement in the ‘I Hate YOG Organising Committee‘ group in Facebook.
The Young Democrats stand by Mr Abdul Malik. It is perfectly within his rights to set up the Facebook group and to be associated in any way to any political group he wishes.
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The FAP is getting very arrogant. To the poor, they treat them so miserly. Vote the FAP, the old fart out.
If i hear the school teacher said ” pls cut u hair short if not i BURN u Head !” should i report to police huh ??
Joker,
As the Hokkien people will say, “bo bian”.
That is the card the PAP will use (and eventually win)
The only way for us to be safe from such pointless arrests is, unfortunately, to double-check what we write before we post
The fact that neither TOC nor SDP published what Mr Malik had stated is already a statement in itself.
lim, are you incapable of reading? It is right there below a Charles Chia post. What were you expecting? The statement to be highlighted in red and flashing?
“I fail to see how “It’s time to burn the minister” can be read in any other way esp after someone had literally set fire to Seng Han Thong. Was it time to burn Seng Han Thong too or could it be read any other way? I find it difficult to justify a mis-read.”
So you’re telling me, in the same vein that it is perfectly okay for The Father to say he wants to chop people up with a hatchet, or that he wants his opponents to get on their knees and beg him for mercy (kudos to JBJ) but when the same tactic is used against one of his minions it’s a heinous crime? The fact that you interpreted it to literally mean setting poor Vivian on fire says a lot about your own mental faculties and ability to comprehend information. I hope you never tell someone to ‘go to hell’, because in your eyes you would be guilty of far worse a sin than poor Malik here.
Strange lot, these PAPpies. When they say something daft, they claim it was taken out of context, but when they encounter something that shatters their fragile egos, they go cry to mummy, in this case, the police and the courts.
“Sickening to see politics reaching the gutter.”
Good. Finally we can get the turds out.
To Si Bei Jia Lat
The teacher deserve to lose his/her job for murdering the english language :)
After the Seng Han Thong incident, who can tell whether the person is using a “metaphor” a not?
Disturbing to see the rah-rah crowd supporting the “burning”. Scary.
@ @ Lim
Sorry, image didn’t load for me. My computer obviously needs burning as well.
As to LKY quote, alamak, his English and our Singlish obviously diffelent lah.
“You take me on” means if one fights, then one meets in a place and fights it out (with his hatchet).
At close to 10000 years old, why no one take him on? I’m sure he can barely lift his hatchet…
Arrest Lee Kuan Yew… NOW! Oh wait, he’s our GRAND Minister Mentor. No past records of misdeeds, no need for arrest. Oh wait… a huge load of misdeeds in the past!
This is an indirect consequence of being stuck with a one-party system. Anything goes and to go an wishing wanting, requesting, chiding ….. all waste of time and energy.
Vote out the present or do away with the system and some semblance of sanity might prevail.
The Police should have an official facebook page where the officers can issue a direct warning online to Malik, or seek a confirmation of his remarks rather than arrest him straight away.
The Police must clarify the online and facebook laws and teach them to the unsuspecting public. They should give sufficient warning beforehand if they are seriously monitoring internet conversations.
As it is nearing election time, the public’s conversation would be political in nature and the PAP should learn how to take a cooling off day themselves. Are they going to arrest people who go and listen to PAP’s speech and arrest anyone who said words that are volatile in nature and can be twisted to suit the MIW.
I remember reading animal farm. Vote in a pig, end up walking on 2 legs.
The idealism that the alternative party will achieve the same successes without the same methods is indeed wishing and wanting cake and eat it.
There will be napoleans and there will be snowballs in any new regime.
Life goes on for the dumb sheep.
In my opinion, the incite to violence is not conclusive as a threat, which the police perceived, that Malik make it out to be – unless all over his FB page, there are many instances of related content that supports this threat.
The burn metephor, to call upon to burn VB is rather weak. No doubt there was a precedent that SHT actually got burnt, there is no link at this point to show that Malik mentioned burn as in reference to ‘let us do to VB what SHT has gone through’. So it appears Malik not guilty so far.
Well, knowing the full brunt of pap’s tactics, the police may try to piece together a story, by scrutinising all information from his laptop, relevant to the remarks of ‘burn’ and ‘gather together’, and thus hopefully to prove a case against him – so this one foregone!!
So, when it comes to our world-class leaders, it is a crime for us to use “violent” figures of speech like “burn”, or to make reference to past “violent acts” against them. But it is perfectly alright for them to say that “… I have a hatchet, and a very sharp one. You take me on, I take my hatchet, we meet in the cul-de-sac”, to call us “daft” and to bemoan that spurs are not stuck to our hides.
We need to reclaim our freedom and dignity and bring justice to our land. We need to vote for change.
I would like to look at this incident, from a different angle with loads of conspiracy theories.
We cannot conclude its paranoia, because we know neither the PAP nor the SPF is a paranoid unit.
1)This month being an important month, a very religious and pious month for all muslims, ie Ramadan. Where everyone gets togather.
I believe the authorites are just testing the waters, among the muslim populace. They will talk about it and get some feedback on such issues, to see the sentiments of the general muslim populace.It is certainly a large voting group with deep sentiments to Singapore.
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On the whole, I believe in the SDP’s stand. The phrase is taken out of context.
Clearly, we can see Malek calling for people to vote. That is certainly not inciting violence.
If one reads the entire paragraph. What is the idea being mooted?
Is it to incite violence or to vote the PAP out?
I beileve that should be the question to ask and not take bits and pieces to form a favourable conclusion.
A warning perhaps….but there’s another intresting event in court today, malicious prosecution.
The loads of blogs and comments going around about the govt. How many of you see this as malicious prosecution?
Tjin,
I prefer the hokkien word “lanlan” to “bo bian”.
I prefer to vote out the pigs to keep checking what I write.
this is just another testing game to see if there is still that much malays living in singapore and against them. if the support for malik is less and there is not much of a say from the malays or indian then they know that they are safe to win the next GE. if the response is rather lots more then they imagine then it’s time to have plan B to win the votes.
if malay community gonna be quite about this and not helping abdul malik then it is clear that no one care about singapura. this make easy for puppies to run around with a smile trashing them more or maybe this is all wrong. i’m just confuse and blur blur
what does the YOG flame represent?
violence?
lmao…
I live in England, pls allow me to clarify what exactly is inciting violence.
If (I mean if) you go the streets in a group, carry posters and you speak to a people gathered together saying “VB must dye (dare not use the correct word here)”, that is an issue not to be ignored. This, I am glad the authorities took action, investigating the background of the suspect & his/her connections to any extremist group etc.
If there is problem with ANYONE posting some sensitive words in FB, the SG police must be swarmed with many ‘suspects’.
It shows the power that can be had in controlling the media. ST has painted the man as a villain. Totally no journalistic professionism
Doesn’t seem violence-inciting to me, but sure means something. Anyway there’s so many vivian balakrishnans in Singapore….
if i asked dr balekampon to go and die..
would he realLEE kamikazee himself?
if not why not?
so what is known as just soothsayin comparin to incitin violences?
in the olden days when a parent cursed swore @ their children for actin stupid..
they would had shouted..not onced..not twice..butt many times..
YOU GO AND DIE BETTER
so all this parents must be charged for incitin ATTEMPT murder or manslaughter charges?
so…many issue been brought up and criticizes and debate on forum,yahoo,facebook and more but none of this people response to it immediately and bring up the issue on the table, publish it and tell us the reason behind.
admit the mistake,punish their individual puppies. but instead no action taken and simple tai chi here and there. but when come to singaporeans saying something about puppies…the action is way too fast and above the expectation. good job puppies.
human are not perfect and the same goes to them too. but for them it is not chargeable at all whereby we singaporeans are. why is this do?
it should be equal in everything no matter where the person belong to.
if want to put things straight, one have to be straighten up first.
or is it the fear of losing their jobs and positions when the picture of them is getting dimmer and dimmer?
all this going through my head and a big question. hope i’m wrong in everything. hope singaporeans malay will have a wake up call to see the bigger picture
Silly, silly to say inciting violence.
As a matter of fact, every1 in sg has the potential to be violent, for example:
if during noon time, every1 in sg aim their ass directly pointing to the sun, and fark. It can potentially create a thrust and maybe enough to swing us out of our solar system. All life as we know it would end.
when would be their mistake and their wrong doing? when will be their punishment?when will their days?
it seems everything about us. we are call so many names by them. why is this happening?
to me it is really a silly thing and what they did was way too much not thinking what it means. just simple silly and maybe self guilty that end it this way before even the GE.
“lim 26 August 2010
The idealism that the alternative party will achieve the same successes without the same methods is indeed wishing and wanting cake and eat it.”
at least it gets passed on than stay concentrated. and when you have started the kicking the ball so hard, why laugh at others who are not able to stop it.
If you want a classy Singapore, everything to have some standard, first you must change the people calling the shorts. Show them who’s boss!
He broke the law. He should be punished.
it seems like an intimidation attempt to scare those who vent their anger online against PAP
but it also seems like a manic obsessive disorder by the authorities in order to avoid a repeat of the incident involving a mentally disturbed man burning a MP. instead of looking out for real threats to politicians they are wasting their energies on this Malik. it just shows their incompetency
in the history of political leadership which were considered tyranical there are tons of cases where individuals or groups or the army resorted to violence, in desperation, to retaliate or remove those in power.
Romania – Nicolae Ceauşescu: army executed him
India – Indira Ghandi:bodyguards killed her
Iran – Reza Shah: violent revolution drove him out
Pakistan – Zulfiqar Bhutto: army hanged him
Egypt – Anwar Sadat: assasinated by Ikhwan group
Sri Lanka – Bandaranaike assassinated by Buddhist monk
Philippines – Marcos – violent revolution drove him out
….
……
……..
Malik is clearly not a threat. who knows, given the evidence in other countries, there may be real risks out there for those who feel desperate against the tyranical PAP regime. we already have seen the mentally unsound man burn a PAP MP. both ISD and PAP failed to detect or prevent that. thats because they focus their energies on non-threats like Malik
LawBreakerwillbepunished 26 August 2010
He broke the law. He should be punished.
………..
indeed i agreed with you 102%
do leekingyou break ANY laws @ all?
yes or no will do
was leekingyou ever punished @ all?
if not? why not?
is he ABOVE THE LAW?
i can laugh.hahahahahaha
mas selamat cannot catch and slip off but malik they catch and ho ha like they catch a big terrorist. a bunch of clowns.hahahaha.
“inciting violence’ ?How so ?we ask. The police or PAP can say he is ‘inciting Debates’ but not “violence” . Did Ghazali hold a knife or stick?
Surely they must get the literary meaning right, otherwise they are superficial and certainly lack integrity.
pap like that also want arrest,where is democracy in spore.VOTE out PAP.more MALIKS must voice out.MALIK u r our HEROE.
Shhh we are all being watched…
In the afternoon of 26 Aug, I notice that an article on the arrest made it to the top of the “Most Popular” list on the CNA website, only to be taken down shortly after. (Quite wisely too, or it would have overshadowed the articles covering the closing ceremony of YOG.)
Self-censorship or gag order? Either this disconcerting.
The Govt is doing the right thing, throw him in jail so that the rest of 4.5 million Singaporean can live peacefully.
How can you say something like that to burn your government or your minister, this is serious. I support PAP all the way, wait till he live under UMNO or Zanu-PF party than he will know what is evil.
Why is that so many people see red over spending 300 million? Do you know that the opening ceremony YOG location? They were standing on sand and soil that once was worth nothing and now is called “Gold Sand” in Chinese all because of LKY and PAP.
‘talk no evil’ is another simpleton.
your metality belongs to the 1965 generation.
i suggest you read more, observe more and wide your perspective.
talk no evil, why are you comparing a 1st world country govt to that of a 3rd world?
Yesterday afternoon, I noticed that an article on the arrest made it to the top of the “Most Popular” list on the CNA website, only to be taken down in the evening. (Quite wisely too, or it would have overshadowed the articles covering the YOG Closing.) Self-censorship or gag order? Either is disconcerting.
What will they find on his laptop?
Plots and schemes to burn the minister?
More likely porn and illegal downloads LOL. Even the police have them in their own.
I wonder why Singaporeans tolerate such oppressive regime similar to north korea.
Why did Malik want to shoot himself on the foot?Doesn’t he know that the elder King LEE can say anything he wants and not worrying about any repercussion.If you hate his kingdom(PAP)you also hate him.That is an indictable offense.
I challenged the police to arrest us too, we lash out alot and much more worse than Mr Malik’s comment. I dare them, hundreds of us including the Online Citizen founder, writers, authors, analyst and fellow Singaporeans who comment. I DARE THEM! We show the world what PAP capable of…….
Singapore is rule by a bunch of PAP
PARANOIDS!!
This is the bad thing about one party gaining total control of parliment. They can do watever they wish and like with no accountability to anyone.
A balance between opposition and ruling party is the most healthy environment you can get in political world. Because both party needs to think carefully before they do anything absurd.
Really hope SG’s opposition can stand out on the next GE with a few more places in the parliment. currently 2. Lets hope for a 5. And a continiuous increase in years to come.
Wah, like that next time my boss screamed at me, saying “You burn to death!”, or “F*** You”, or “Ganna shit!” in front of an audience like co-workers or in public, then can ask police to arrest him for inciting violence and hatred, etc… Like that I think police very, very busy everyday.
.
This type of third world policing we are good at. Also handcuffing photographer for ‘safety’ reason. First world stuff like preventing a commando-raid painting on SMRT carriages or retaining a limping terrorist in a max security facility — those we are still learning.
.
But this is not to paint the WHOLE singapore force as incompetent – there are many, many who has proper discernment on when & how to use their issued handcuffs. I believe this incident is a top-down issue. Another case awaiting clarification from Mr WKS.
This show that we hv a “Kia Su Kia See” ruling Govt.
YOG is going to be remembered for Malik…now.
I think Singaporeans in cyberspace were losing the gripping feeling that YOG was ending, but out of the blue,
here we have an extension.
Coutesy of the SPF.
It is like closing a chapter and opening another. Will be looking forward to what they have to offer and what kind of charges brought upon him.
If Malik will have his day in court.Who the presiding judge will be and how will the judge see it. What will be the outcome?
However,
I feel for him, its easy for us to write up a comment and sit and speak from our side. Only he knows the headache he gets, due to this act.
However, let us remind Malik, that we are watching,even if we have missed the YOG, we are watching his case very closely.
You are creating history in Singapore, in terms of words used in cyber-space.
Drawing a boundary on our current authority’s perspective on cyber-space semantics.
Be brave and strong. What your past deeds were does not matter. I wish you luck.
As Lim shows, there are people out there who will take those remarks literally. I personally don’t think the police will continue to pursue the matter once they’ve had a chat with the guy, assuming he doesn’t start actually threatening to literally burn someone during the interview.
For the sake of consistency also, I suppose LKY should be investigated.
Granted, even if taken literally, he was talking about what he would personally do, it’s not exactly inciting violence. Second, and more importantly, it was more than seven years ago, beyond statute of limitations.
Surely there is a more recent example? Why is TOC dragging up something said 13 years ago?
Go Hong Lim park and protest about this incident la!
I guess none will do so.
Singaporeans dare say, but no action!
Talk so much, later still vote PAP!
NSman questioned over blog http://www.straitstimes.com/BreakingNews/Singapore/Story/STIStory_571607.html
‘Police force is transforming Singapore to be a communist state’ of under PAP’s guidance. PAP should change the name as People’s Communist Party (PCP) instead.