Prosecution closes case

Prosecution closes case
By Elena Chong


Christian couple Ong Kian Cheong (right) and his wife, Dorothy Chan Hien Leng (left), on the trial for sedition charges of distributing publications seditious and objectionable to three Muslims. -- ST PHOTO: ALPHONSUS CHERN

A MEDIA Development Authority (MDA) customer service officer told a court on Thursday that her office detained some objectionable publications and released the rest to a woman.

Ms Faridah Ghani testified that Dorothy Chan Hien Leng, 45, had turned up at MDA with a letter from the Singapore Post relating to two parcels which had been intercepted.

The parcels were opened in her presence and with her permission.

Ms Faridah told Chan, who was accompanied by a man, that the parcels would have to be checked for objectionable contents.

She told Chan that it would be some time and asked for her name and contact number.

Chan went to MDA again on Jan 9 last year to find out the outcome but was told that that the vetting had not been completed.

Chan then left.

On Jan 11, after the publications had been checked and were ready to be released, Ms Faridah contacted Chan.

The publications were put in a box while those to be detained were separated, she said.

When Chan came a few days later, Ms Faridah showed her two boxes, telling her that she could take back the items in one box while the other with the booklets Man in Black and What's Wrong With This? would be detained as they were found to be objectionable.

Ms Faridah was the last prosecution witness called on the fourth day of the sedition trial of Chan and her husband, Ong Kian Cheong, 50.

Ong, a technical officer, and Chan, an associate director of a bank, allegedly distributed seditious and objectionable publications to three Muslims between March and December 2007.

According to the charges, the publications had the tendency to promote feelings of ill-will, hostility, enmity or hatred between two religious groups.

The prosecution closed its case.

The judge will decide later on Thursday whether to call on the couple's defence.

Source: http://www.straitstimes.com/Breaking%2BNews/Singapore/Story/STIStory_331778.html