NMP Thio gets threatening note
She gets physical threat, makes second police report in 3
months
Wednesday November 7, 2007
Ansley Ng
[email protected]
IT looked innocuous enough: A brown envelope with a single, printed
A4 sheet inside.
But the contents of this letter were hateful enough indeed, the
words "hate", hatred" and "hurt" were repeated no less than 10
times that its recipient made a police report on Monday night. It
is the second police report Nominated Member of Parliament Thio
Li-ann has made in three months.
But while she has said she will not sue her first antagonist, poet
Alfian Sa'at, who sent her a four-sentence insulting email, the
situation is different now.
"This is a physical threat, different from the usual insults," said
Professor Thio. The threats are ugly and worded unambiguously, and
Today, which has a copy of the page-long letter, chose not to
reproduce its content.
But, if carried out, the threats are serious enough to be treated
as offences causing grievous hurt. And the anonymous letter writer
even threatened her family.
"Singaporeans need to know the tactics that have been employed and
what I really want to see is free and open debate without
intimidation," said Prof Thio, who disclosed last month the first
email incident, after she gave a strongly-worded speech on keeping
Section 377A, the law on homosexual sex.
While she declined to say if she would take precautions, Prof Thio
said making a police report was the "responsible thing to do".
Police spokesman Stanley Norbert confirmed her police report. A
probe is ongoing, while the email incident is under
investigation.
Criminal lawyer Anand Nalachandran, a partner at Harry Elias
Partnership, said the letter was "malicious", and that anonymous
threats to cause hurt or death would attract stiffer punishments
because of the "ominous" factor of not knowing the threat's
origin.
The punishment for criminal intimidation to cause hurt or death is
a maximum seven-year jail term or a fine, or both. If the threat is
anonymous, an additional jail term of up to two years could be
imposed.
NMP Siew Kum Hong, who had differed with Prof Thio in Parliament,
was outraged by the threat, saying: "There is no place for such
things in our society. Whoever sent that letter crossed the line.
The police should look into it."
Mr Siew, who has received his share of abuse for asking for Section
377A to be repealed, said he has not received threats of "this
extent". "This is outrageous
I unequivocally condemn this ...
Nothing anyone says could possibly justify such a despicable
act."
