Here are All The Police Reports That Were Allegedly Lodged During this GE

The police have been pretty busy lately.

And it’s not because residents are disregarding safe distancing rules or declaring themselves Sovereigns while bare-faced, no, it’s because they said offensive things years ago. 

Resident: Hallo police? Someone made a comment on Facebook 2 years ago that I don’t like!

Police: Why didn’t you report it back then?

Resident: I guess I was more tolerant in my youth.

Since parties started campaigning for GE2020, a total of 8 police reports have been lodged, some against politicians, some against residents who made police reports against politicians, and others against bloggers and regular folk like you and I.

One Redditor by the name of u/maccaschocosundae took time out of their busy schedule to share a compilation of the police reports that have been submitted since GE2020 was called, and questioned if it would ever end.

So, why the sudden torrent of police reports? What the heck happened? Well, it all started with Raeesah Khan.

1. Raeesah Khan

For those who don’t know, Raeesah Khan is a Worker’s Party (WP) candidate who will be participating in her first general election this year.

The 26-year-old is contesting in Senkang GRC, along with master debater Jamus Lim and team leader He Ting Ru.

On Sunday (5 July), the police released a statement saying that two police reports have been lodged against Khan for making certain comments on race.

The comments were made on two separate Facebook posts, one on 17 May 2020, and another on 2 Feb 2018:

Khan has since apologised publicly, but many felt that the police reports were unwarranted and that the law against promoting enmity between different groups on grounds of religion or race was being weaponised for political gain.

Netizens took to Twitter to express their support for Khan and shared pictures of cats in a show of solidarity.

Which brings us to this next fellow.

2. Man Who Reported Khan

Yes, the accuser has become the accusee.

According to MS News, some netizens managed to track down the man who leaked screenshots of Khan’s posts and reported her to the police.

The man wrote on Facebook that he “was one of the first to leak out… viral screenshots” of Ms Khan’s Twitter account.

Netizens also uncovered some questionable posts on the man’s social media accounts:

On Tuesday (7 July), the police confirmed that they’re investigating the man over social media comments intended to wound religious and racial feelings.

3. DPM Heng Swee Keat

You probably thought the next person would be the Man Who Reported The Man Who Reported Khan, but no, it’s just our Deputy Prime Minister.

Those who were upset about the police reports lodged against Khan dug up some comments from PAP ministers and MPs which they perceived to be insensitive and even ‘racist’.

One of the PAP politicians they accused of making such comments was DPM Heng Swee Keat, who was quoted as saying: “older generation of Singaporeans not ready for non-Chinese PM“.

The police confirmed on Tuesday (7 July) that reports were made against DPM Heng for making a “socially divisive” comment.

They consulted the Attorney-General’s Chambers, which advised that no offence was committed.

That was a swift response.

4. PAP

Yes, someone actually reported the People’s Action Party (PAP) to the police.

It wasn’t for any dodgy comments but for the statement it issued in response to police investigations over Khan’s posts.

Many viewed the statement as a presumption of Khan’s admission of guilt. Khan is still being investigated, which means that she may not be charged at all.

Moreover, while Khan did apologise, she at no point admitted to “making highly derogatory statements about Chinese and Christians”.

A Facebook user confirmed in a post that he had lodged a report against the ruling party, claiming that the PAP statement had promoted “enmity between different groups on grounds of religion or race”.

5. Professor Ben Leong

Ok, here’s where things take a left turn.

Hitherto all the police reports have been made against politicians, people who reported politicians, or political parties.

That’s why it came as a shock when NUS Professor Ben Leong had a police report filed against him, apparently over a “racist” post.

According to MS News, Leong is known for his participation on the NUSWhispers Facebook page.

He described his trip to the police station as “rather pleasant”.

6. Education Minister Ong Ye Kung

The next man on the list was reported to the police too, but for entirely different reasons.

The netizen who reported Ong said that it was for the “possible offence of having abetted a primary school child to participate in an election activity”.

Your eyebrows are likely meeting in confusion right now. Well, you’re not the only one.

Some believe the man is referring to a recorded conversation he had with a young boy named Jony, aka ‘The Sembawang Tripadvisor’.

The video has since been taken down.

7. Surya Kumar

Remember Ivan Lim?

Days after being introduced as a new PAP candidate for GE2020, Lim withdrew his candidacy after online allegations of elitism and arrogance surfaced.

Bryant Wong, a former acting battalion RSM (Regimental Sergeant Major), was the first of many to share an anecdote about his time with Lim that cast him in a negative light.

One netizen who was not too pleased with Wong’s accusation made threatening remarks against the former Sergeant Major.

Subsequently, a Facebook user who came across Kumar’s comments reportedly lodged a police report against him.

8. Xiaxue

Blogger Xiaxue is no stranger to controversy.

In the past, she’s described climate activist Greta Thunberg’s actions as “so damn cringe” and said that the morbidly obese – referring to plus-sized models – should never be viewed as attractive.

This time, Xiaxue was dragged into the political circus after she weighed in on Khan’s “insensitive” posts.

The blogger claimed it wasn’t a good idea for Khan to “stir up racist sentiments” and called upon political parties to stop “fielding radical feminists/leftists”.

One Instagrammer who read Xiaxue’s comments dug up a dodgy tweet of hers from 2010 that had a less than flattering description of Indians in Little India.

The man who made the report filmed the process and uploaded it on Instagram, as well as footage of Xiaxue’s controversial tweet.

View this post on Instagram

@xiaxue what comes around goes around.

A post shared by Vignesh Sankar (@biggyviggy) on Jul 5, 2020 at 9:31pm PDT

The tweet has since been taken down, and Xiaxue has responded in typical Xiaxue fashion:

More Police Reports to Come?

There are only two days to go until Singaporeans cast their ballots, but considering how many police reports have been made since Sunday, it wouldn’t be a shock if more are made in the coming days.

As this Redditor says:

And on a side note, candidates have been talking about NCMP (Non-Constituency Member of Parliament) in recent days. So, what’s an NCMP? Do you know that it’s just like an MP but the allowance is much lower? Watch this video to find out more: