Couple charged under Sedition Act Part II: Tecman in trouble

Booklets available in store, says lawyer

MDA says action will be taken against bookshop as tracts are objectionable

By Elena Chong, Courts Correspondent


Dorothy Chan Hien Leng arriving in court with her husband, Ong Kian Cheong. The couple are accused of distributing seditious and objectionable publications. -- ST PHOTO: ALPHONSUS CHERN


THE lawyer defending a couple on trial for distributing seditious tracts argued yesterday that the materials published by an American firm were openly available in a Christian bookshop in Singapore.

Tecman, at Bras Basah Complex, sold the Chick Publications tracts, said Mr Selva Naidu, as he showed pictures of the store in Bain Street with the materials on its shelves to an official from the Media Development Authority (MDA) for his response.
About this case
TECHNICAL officer Ong Kian Cheong, 50, and his wife, Dorothy Chan Hien Leng, 45, face two charges of distributing seditious publications, and one each of distributing an objectionable publication and possession of seditious tracts.

Two of the recipients, Mr Irwan Ariffin, 32, and Madam Farharti Ahmad, 36, received an evangelistic comic tract titled The Little Bride through the mail while Mr Isa Raffee, 35, was sent Who Is Allah?
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As such publications are openly and freely available in Singapore, a member of the public will not know that it is an offence to give away or even possess such materials, argued Mr Naidu.

Also, a member of the public may not know that such publications may promote feelings of ill will, hostility, enmity or hatred between different classes of population in Singapore.

Mr A.R. Madeei, the MDA's senior assistant director (publications), replied by saying that action would be taken against the book store as 11 of the tracts were objectionable.

Testifying at the continued trial of Ong Kian Cheong, 50, and his wife, Dorothy Chan Hien Leng, 45, Mr Madeei said the contents of those 11 publications could cause hatred and ill will between different religions.

The booklets are published by Chick Publications, an American firm that produces and markets Protestant fundamentalist pamphlets, DVDs, VCDs, videos, books and posters. Its best-known products are the Chick tracts, which are comic tracts available in nearly 100 languages.

Mr Madeei told District Judge Roy Neighbour that it is not possible for the MDA to examine each and every publication sold in bookshops here as close to two million books are imported.

'We allow the industry to self-regulate and refer to us publications that are in doubt,' he said.

In response to a question by Deputy Public Prosecutor Anandan Bala, the witness said a tract had a greater propensity for damage as it could easily be read and accessed compared to a book.

And if there were illustrations, he said it would definitely create more impact than words.

In his cross-examination of Mr Madeei, Mr Naidu read excerpts from four books and asked if those passages were objectionable.

The four were: God Is Not Great, The End Of Faith, The Da Vinci Code and The God Delusion.

Mr Madeei's reply was that these passages had to be looked at in context, and they might not be objectionable.

But a tract, he said, was targeted, easily accessible and understood by the young and vulnerable.

'In a tract, there is no room for debate at all. Mere statements. A book, on the other hand, encompasses different points of view and arguments,' he added.

Mr Madeei's testimony took most of the day's hearing, and he would return today. The MDA is the regulatory authority on publications.

In the afternoon, Madam Farhati Ahmad, an administration manager with the Education Ministry, testified that she felt offended and angry after reading The Little Bride. She made a police report on March 6, 2007.