Pinoy nurse in Singapore charged over ‘seditious’ FB posts

By Gulshan Naz: The Filipino nurse who had been sacked for posting anti-Singaporean comments on Facebook has been charged with sedition and giving false information to the police, according to a report on The Straits Times.

Ed Mundsel Bello Ello allegedly told police officers at the Ang Mo Kio Police Division and Chong Pang Neighborhood Police Post that he didn't make the posts that appeared on Facebook on January 2, the report said.

Ello's posts, which included a threat that he would "kick out all Singaporeans and SG will be the new filipino [sic] state" and a description of Singaporeans as "Stinkaporeans" had "promoted feelings of ill-will and hostility between Singaporeans and Filipinos in Singapore," the report quoted the charges as saying.

The Strait Times report also said Ello also called Singaporeans "loosers" (sic) and that he would celebrate if "disators" (disasters) hit Singapore.

Ello's comments fall under Singapore's Sedition Act, which punishes comments that "promote feelings of ill-will and hostility between different races or classes of the population of Singapore."

The Straits Times report said a pre-trial conference was set for April 21. Ello was offered bail of $10,000.

If convicted, Ello, 28, may be fined $5,000 and jailed for up to three years for sedition and jailed for a year with the same amount of fine for lying to the police.

Ello was fired by the Tan Tock Seng Hospital when his comments were made public in January. He decided to engage a lawyer to represent him for the trial.

He had told police officers that he was not responsible for the offending posts, and that his Facebook account had been hacked.

In a statement after Ello was charged in court, the Singapore Police Force said it "takes a stern view of acts that could threaten social harmony in Singapore."

"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," it said.

Singapore clamps down hard on anyone seen to be inciting communal tensions after bloody racial riots in the 1960s.

The Filipino community in Singapore is estimated at more than 170,000.

Singaporean citizens make up just over 60 percent of the 5.4 million population, with a low fertility rate forcing the government to rely heavily on guest workers