ONE of the founders of a popular website in Singapore has been sentenced to eight months in jail after being convicted of sedition for publishing anti-foreign content.
Court documents say Yang Kaiheng, 27, set up The Real Singapore website together with his Australian wife, Ai Takagi, and helped distribute accounts from visitors that contained inaccuracies.
Takagi was convicted of similar charges and started serving a 10-month sentence from April, the harshest ever imposed under the Sedition Act, which is used to deter inhabitants from promoting hostility in the multicultural nation.
Yang distanced himself from the website’s content during much of the trial, saying he was not involved in editing or approving it, before abruptly pleading guilty to six counts of sedition on Friday.
In reading out the grounds for sentencing, District Judge Chay Yuen Fatt said Yang had exploited feelings of nationalism for financial gain, The Straits Times reported.
“Brexit was a shocking but powerful display of nationalistic sentiments by the majority of the voters in the U.K.,” the judge said, alluding to the result of the recent British referendum which saw the country voting to leave the European Union bloc.
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Judge Chay raised concern that the nationalism promoted on the website could lead to xenophobia, racism, and violence.
“At the heart of this case against the accused lies the exploitation of such feelings purely for financial gain and not for some noble ideology, misguided or otherwise,” the judge was quoted as saying.
The prosecution had indicated that Yang had gained AU$550,000 (US$407,267) in advertising revenue for the website between December 2012 to April last year, the bulk of which went towards paying off his tuition fees at an Australian university and an apartment.
Following the couple’s arrest last year, netizens criticized the move as an attempt to stifle free speech and suppress political dissent.
The Real Singapore was also a hotbed for anti-government views. In March 2015, it received an estimated 2.6 million visits, or roughly 84,000 visits a day.
Additional reporting by Associated Press
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