Blogger fined S$3,100 for leading CPF protest in Hong Lim Park

SINGAPORE — In “ostensibly” championing the rights of one group of people, blogger Han Hui Hui and her activist friends had “blithely trampled on the rights of (others)”, said a district judge on Monday (June 27), as he imposed a S$3,100 fine on the 24-year-old for organising a demonstration without approval and being a public nuisance.

Her fellow protesters Low Wai Choo, 56, and Koh Yew Beng, 61, were fined S$450 each for being a public nuisance at the #ReturnOurCPF demonstration at Hong Lim Park in September 2014. All three said they would appeal their sentences.

During the CPF event, Han and blogger Roy Ngerng, 35, had led hundreds in a march around Hong Lim Park, where a carnival — YMCA’s Proms @ The Park — was also being held. Special-needs children had been performing on stage at that time, when the protestors “intruded and bulldozed” into the area, leaving the children visibly shaken, said District Judge Chay Yuen Fatt. The YMCA carnival also had to be hastily wrapped up due to safety concerns, he added.

In her mitigation, Han maintained that the case was akin to “political persecution”.

In his decision grounds, the judge brushed aside the trio’s arguments, including Han’s, that she was not the organiser and hence had no control over the demonstrators.

Han knew beforehand that then-Minister of State (Trade and Industry) Teo Ser Luck would be the guest of honour at the YMCA event, and rallied her Facebook readers to protest at the CPF event.

“(Han) initiated, instigated and led the protest marches. She also rallied the demonstrators to shout slogans,” he said. “They had marched beyond the boundaries of the Speakers’ Corner.”

The judge also rubbished the claim that the YMCA organisers had deliberately intended for both events to clash, pointing out that the carnival had been approved and planned earlier.

“This is a case where, ironically and regrettably, the accused persons while ostensibly championing the rights of a class of persons, did so by blithely trampling on the rights of another group of persons,” he said.

The trio had claimed trial to their charges, and were not represented throughout the seven days of hearing last October and in February.
​
A fourth protester, Goh Aik Huat, had caved midway through the trial and apologised in court last October. The 43-year-old was let off with a two-year conditional warning issued by the police. Other protesters such as Ngerng and Chua Siew Leng were fined S$1,900 and S$300, respectively.