• A closed-circuit television camera had captured Lim Song Huat's offending acts on July 3, 2020 
• Lim told the court that he broke the law because of his “stupidity and stress from work”
• Judge said acts of damaging and defacing political posters "potentially inflammatory and must be strenuously deterred”

SINGAPORE — A 48-year-old man was given the maximum S$1,000 fine on Thursday (Feb 4) for destroying an election poster bearing the image of Prime Minister Lee Hsien Loong in the run-up to last year’s General Election.

Lim Song Huat, a Singaporean part-time security officer, pleaded guilty to one charge under the Parliamentary Elections Act for destroying the ruling People’s Action Party's (PAP) poster — the first such prosecution of its kind.

District Judge Marvin Bay considered two similar charges in sentencing Lim. These were in relation to two other posters he destroyed or defaced at the same place; he drew a line across one of them with a pen.

He struck on the morning of July 3 last year, seven days before the July 10 polls.

Members of the PAP’s Marsiling branch had put up posters for the party’s candidates contesting Marsiling-Yew Tee Group Representation Constituency on lamp posts along Woodlands Street 13.

The posters, which cost S$10 each, were displayed beneath those of candidates for the opposition Singapore Democratic Party (SDP).

At about 9.30am, Lim left his home nearby to buy 4D lottery tickets at Block 136 Marsiling Road. He walked past the election posters as he was returning home.

He picked up a stone from the road to try to tear down a poster bearing the image of Mr Lee, who was not a candidate in that constituency but is the PAP’s secretary-general. 

These posters were placed across the island for the election.

Lim, however, failed and resorted to using his hands to forcibly peel the poster from its backing, detaching more than half of it and destroying it.

A closed-circuit television camera nearby captured his acts, and the authorities identified Lim through further investigations.

He was arrested at about 6.30pm the next day. Police seized three posters, the pen that Lim used to deface one of the other posters and the clothes he had worn then.

DRIVEN TO ACTS BY ‘STUPIDITY, STRESS FROM WORK’ 

Deputy Public Prosecutor Selene Yap sought the sentence imposed, arguing that the placement of election posters in Singapore was highly regulated.

Such offences are also difficult to detect and it was not a simple case of mischief, she said.

“What he has done essentially deprives candidates of the opportunity to present themselves to the electorate.”

Lim, who did not have a lawyer, told the court that he broke the law because of his “stupidity and stress from work”. 

When the judge asked why he was facing stress, he said that he was a “pure Singaporean” and that Singaporeans were worried about how the country would progress in two to five years. 

“Whether it’s PAP or SDP, or the Workers’ Party, we don’t have the talented people. Sometimes, you want to pour out the frustration,” Lim said.

He also claimed that he wanted to destroy SDP’s posters but could not reach them. 

During sentencing, District Judge Bay said that the courts must send a “clear and unequivocal message” that the damage, destruction or defacement of posters was utterly unacceptable.

“While a person may hold strong political views, these should be expressed by their vote at the ballot box or by other legally sanctioned means.

“Acts of defacement and destruction of political posters set up by any party for the purpose of national elections are not merely unlawful, but are also extreme, divisive and potentially inflammatory forms of expression, which must be strenuously deterred in our country.”

Those convicted of altering, removing, destroying, obliterating or defacing election posters or banners can be jailed up to a year or fined up to S$1,000.

Another man, Constantine Paul, was charged in a separate case with pulling down two posters from the opposition Progress Singapore Party in Bukit Batok on June 30 last year. 

He was set to plead guilty on Thursday, but his lawyer from the Criminal Legal Aid Scheme asked to first obtain his records from the Institute of Mental Health. That case has been adjourned until April 5.