A FILIPINO nurse who allegedly insulted Singaporeans on social media in January was charged in court Tuesday, April 7, with sedition and lying to the police.
Ello Ed Mundsel Bello, 28, was charged with two counts of publishing seditious statements on Jan. 2 and three counts of lying to the police, a spokeswoman for the Attorney-General’s Chambers told Agence France-Presse.
Bello allegedly wrote in his first post that “ Singaporeans are loosers [sic] in their own country, we take their jobs, their future, their women and soon we will evict all SG loosers [sic]out of their own country hahaha.”
He allegedly ended the post by saying, “Remember Pinoy better and stronger than Stinkaporeans.”
In a comment that same day, Bello allegedly wrote, “we will kick out all the Singaporeans and SG will be the new filipino state.”
Under the Sedition Act, it is an offense to encourage hostility among races or classes in the multiracial country, which is primarily ethnic Chinese.
“Any person who posts remarks online that could cause ill-will and hostility between the different races or communities in Singapore will be firmly dealt with in accordance with the law,” the Singapore Police Force said in a statement.
Bello also allegedly lied to police on three separate occasions during the investigation, telling them he did not write the comments on Facebook and that his account had been hacked.
Tan Tock Seng Hospital, the government facility at which Bello was formerly employed, said it decided to dismiss him after investigating three of his posts on Facebook and Google Plus. The hospital did not disclose the contents of the posts but said they touched on race and religion and called them “highly irresponsible and offensive to Singapore and religion.”
“We have dismissed Mr. Ello Ed Mundsel Bello from our hospital immediately for his… comments made in 2014 while in our hospital’s employment,” Tan Tock Seng said in a statement on Facebook.
“They have distressed members of the public and our hospital staff… His conduct goes against our staff values of respect, professionalism and social responsibility.”
The hospital said its decision to fire Bello was independent of the police investigation.
In Singapore, the Filipino population is an estimated 170,000.
The country clamps down hard on those who stir up communal tensions after the bloody racial riots that took place in the 1960s.
Singaporean citizens account for slightly more than 60 percent of its 5.4 million population. With a low fertility rate, the government is forced to depend heavily on guest workers.
(With reports from Agence France Press, GMA and Inquirer.net)
(www.asianjournal.com)
(Las Vegas April 9-15, 2015 Sec. A pg.5)
