Probation for 18-year-old student who shared obscene videos in ‘SG Nasi Lemak’ chat group

SINGAPORE — An 18-year-old student was sentenced on Wednesday (Nov 2) to a year’s probation after admitting that he had shared obscene videos in the now-defunct “SG Nasi Lemak” Telegram chat group.

He is the second person to be prosecuted in relation to the chat group, in which tens of thousands of members shared obscene videos and photos of mostly Singaporean girls.

The student had earlier pleaded guilty to one charge of possessing 59 obscene films on his computer's hard disk. He had also admitted to being a member of SG Nasi Lemak.

Two other charges of sending a photo of nude women to the chat group and possessing 388 obscene images for the purpose of transmission were considered in sentencing on Wednesday.

The teenager can no longer be named in news reports because of recent amendments to the Children and Young Persons Act, which now covers persons below 18 years old.

As part of his sentence, he must remain indoors from 10pm to 6am every day for a year and perform 40 hours of community service. His parents were bonded for S$5,000 to ensure his good behaviour.

The student is the youngest of four men arrested in islandwide raids in October last year by the police, after they received 35 reports about the chat group.

The three others charged last year in relation to this case were Liong Tianwei, 38; Leonard Teo Min Xuan, 27; and Justin Lee Han Shi, 20. Lee was sentenced to a year’s probation in October.

The other two cases are still pending before the court. 

Liong and Teo are accused of being the chat group’s administrators. The chat group is no longer accessible but had more than 40,000 members when it was still active. 

A check by TODAY last year had found individuals selling illegal items such as e-cigarettes, other vaping devices, duty-unpaid cigarettes and sexual performance drugs in the chat group as well.

Adult offenders convicted of transmitting or possessing obscene material can be jailed up to three months or fined, or receive both penalties.

Those convicted of possessing obscene films can be jailed up to six months or fined up to S$20,000, or both.