Singapore: A man was on Tuesday convicted of sending threatening messages to Singapore Prime Minister Lee Hsien Loong via Facebook.
Tan Yeong Hong, 33, said he was frustrated after attending a “Meet the People’s Session (MPS)” on June 24 this year, only to find that the premier was not present at the event, Channel News Asia reported. Tan said he attended the MPS to pass the prime minister “an article he had typed out”. He had to settle for passing the letter to a grassroots leader instead. In the four threatening messages he sent, Tan said: “Eh, you challenged me to visit your MPS but you are not here. I will find and stage an attack on you when I have information on your public appearances. You know who I am.”
Tan also included his phone number in the messages. A police report was lodged by a senior official of the Online Communications Unit of the Prime Minister’s Office, which manages the premier’s social media accounts. Police interviewed Tan’s parents, who informed them that their son was “a violent person … always armed with a knife”. Deputy Public Prosecutor Andre Chong said psychiatric reports show that Tan suffers from paranoid schizophrenia, which had been left untreated at the time of his offences. Prosecutor Chong convicted Tan on the three counts and adjourned his sentencing to a later date for Tan to engage counsel.
