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Man to be charged for offensive content against Indian migrant workers using "Sharon Liew" moniker

FILE PHOTO: Getty Images
FILE PHOTO: Getty Images

SINGAPORE — A Singaporean Malay man will be charged on Thursday (2 July) for posting offensive content against Indian migrant workers.

The 34-year-old man will be charged for knowingly committing acts prejudicial to the maintenance of racial harmony under Section 298A of the Penal Code.

Police said in a media release on Wednesday that they received a report on 18 April this year relating to offensive online content against Indian migrant workers posted by a Twitter handle (@sharonliew86).

Officers from Bedok Police Division established the identity of the man on 23 April. Further investigations revealed that the man is also allegedly involved in two other cases involving other purportedly offensive tweets.

The incident was highlighted by Law and Home Affairs Minister K Shanmugam, who wrote a Facebook post in May saying that action will be taken against a man who had written offensive posts on social media under the name of “Sharon Liew”.

“Police have investigated, found the person – a man, not a female named Sharon Liew, and the man is not Chinese,” he wrote. “Done deliberately to stoke anger, unhappiness, racial tensions.”

If found guilty, the man can be jailed up to three years and/or fined.

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