Man fined S$1,000 for shouting vulgarities at MP Joan Pereira during walkabout

SINGAPORE — A 57-year-old man was fined S$1,000 on Wednesday (Nov 3) for verbally abusing Member of Parliament (MP) Joan Pereira during a walkabout earlier this year.

Gan Ah Guan, a Singaporean, pleaded guilty to a single charge of intentionally causing alarm, harassment or distress to Ms Pereira, who is MP for Tanjong Pagar Group Representation Constituency (GRC).

He will serve the default jail term of five days after telling the court he had no money to pay the fine.

Ms Pereira was at the Bukit Merah View Market and Hawker Centre on March 7 while accompanied by the constituency director of the Henderson-Dawson division of Tanjong Pagar GRC.

The court heard that at about 10.50am, Gan saw her and began pointing and shouting at her in front of other members of the public.

He directed Hokkien vulgarities, one of which meant “crazy woman”, and also shouted, “Go and die”. He then left the scene shortly after.

On Wednesday, when questioned by District Judge Jasbendar Kaur on why he did this, Gan said through an interpreter: “I felt that she didn’t help the residents that much, so a lot of us don’t really like her. She also didn’t give us any donations (and) monthly subsidies for the jobless.”

He told the judge that he would not repeat his offences, having been “jobless, stressed and depressed” at the time.

Gan also repeated several times that he has been jobless for the past year, and asked for a shorter jail term as he has no money to pay a fine.

In sentencing him, District Judge Kaur agreed with the prosecution that if he needed help, he should have approached the relevant agencies for assistance.

When Gan asked the judge if he could get subsidies every month, she responded that the court does not hand out subsidies and he should “ask the right channels”.

Those convicted of the offence under the Protection from Harassment Act can be jailed for up to six months or fined up to S$5,000, or punished with both.